Writing for Pay- finding gigs
71Freelance writing-prepare, find gigs and get paid
Writing for Pay-Getting Ready
I've been scouring the Internet trying to find some writing work and have found a lot of useful information. There are two categories of sites I'll discuss.
The first one is a list of places that won't make you much money but will help you develop a portfolio of work that you can use to help you when you bid on paying jobs or submit an article or book for publication.
To get your work some exposure a couple of really good sites are Triond and Articles Base. Triond will pay you a little based on page views and ranking for your articles. I think my Triond earnings are currently less than $1 but it has given me a lot of exposure and I have gotten quite a few articles published.
Articles Base is another free site that will get you lots of exposure as well as offering some really useful writers resources. I like the way they constantly offer ways to help you improve your skills.
After you have built up a portfolio it is time to branch out. Start by learning how to use the query letter and query e-mail. You have an idea for a great article and now you want to get it published.
Writing for Pay-Build a Promo Kit
One of the best tools to help get work as a freelance writer is a promo kit. A writer's promotional kit is a pdf file containing your writer's resume, a services and rates page and some samples of your work. It is basically a mini eBook that you can give to prospective clients explaining why You and not the other guy are best suited to do the work they need.
Use it when answering job ads posted on the freelance writer job boards, Craigslist or sites like Guru.com. Ken Crawford, an expert freelance writer with years of experience, offers a free tutorial on how to build your writer's promotional kit. You can get it on his blog, The Freelancer Today. He'll guide you step-by-step in building a promo kit that works best for you.
Write for Yourself
The key to earning a secure income from your writing is residual income. You can use ads on your hubs, blogs and websites to get paid for your page views and ad clicks but the best way is to use your gift to create your own products.
My work has led me through just about every online and offline writing opportunity. I write for private clients and online content providers and I enjoy the challenge but the money just isn't there. You can easily spend hours researching and writing an article that will only earn you a one time payment that is often less than $20.
Put that effort and energy into creating your own content and then promote it to create long term income. I love the concept-work once, get paid over and over. There are several ways to approach it but one of the simplest and most effective methods is writing books and eBooks. Think about it-is selling one article once for $10 up front pay better than selling a 50 page eBook for $2.99 a thousand or more times?
My first published book, Living Monsters Dead Giants is out on Amazon and has the potential for producing a steady stream of income for many years. Why? It provides interesting information on an evergreen topic that lots of people enjoy learning about. Your work can start bringing in streams of income for you; It isn't hard to do.
My book is being sold in digital and paperback formats through Amazon and I have to say that they offer free support and resources to help the first time published writer start selling books quickly. Consider formatting your book through Amazon Create Space first. Then you can make it available as both paper and digital versions right away.
Where to publish your work:
- Kindle Direct Publishing
- Create Space
- Pubit! (for the Barnes and Noble Nook)
- iTunes (millions of Mac and iPad/iPod users download eBooks)
Writing for Pay
Now lets assume you've worked hard and have some articles published on Triond or an article in your local newspaper. Yo have started building your portfolio. Now you want to try your hand at writing for pay.
There are several ways you can do it online. If you'd like to write for magazines or other printed media then go to Writers Market and join. It only costs a few dollars a month and offers the most up to date listings of markets and submission guidelines available anywhere. Submit arrticles to these and soon youn will have a list of clients and can earn anywhere from 50 to 200 dollars per article. It won't happen overnight but it willhappen because the list of places to submit articles or even short fiction pieces to is huge.
If you want to write fiction some options are selling stories to Genre magazines like Analog or womens magazines.There are lots of these listed in Writers Market. If you want to write book you have quite a few options there as well. You can self-publish see my hub. self publish your book
You could also write e-books. This is possibly the fastest growing market in publishing today. Several quality online e-book publishers are actively looking for writers. One that I like is The Firedrakes Weyr. One plus in writing e-books is that they get published more quickly.
The last source of writing jobs I'd like to share with you is online job boards. There are a few of them and some are better than others. Elance.com and The Freelance Nation are two pretty good ones and one that I really like is a site called Writer Lance.
Here are some helpful resources for finding writing jobs:
- Freelance Writing
- The Freelance Writing Jobs Network- this site is a veritable gold mine of useful information and job leads to make your writing business grow.
CommentsLoading...
Thanks for this useful hub with lots of information here Ronnie, I have bookmarked it for future reference. Appreciate much for your well done job. Cheers!
I checked out Triond not too long ago and found it interesting. I may start writing there soon. I have never heard of Writer Lance - on my way to check it out now. Good helpful Hub - rated up and away.
Hey Grinnin 1!
Thanks for the comment. You can also find some work that pays upfront writing for textbroker.com and Interact Media. Good luck!
Thanks for the information! I didn't expect to start trying to write seriously at this point in my life, but I am truly enjoying it and want to do more. I appreciate the pointers and I'm going to try out some of your ideas. Good writer! Voted up!
Thanks for sharing this!
Have you considered Examiner.com? You have to apply and provide writing samples, but you can choose one of their categories to write in, or create your own as I did. next month, I will add a second category to write in. They require 3-4 articles, 400+ words per week - but most people write much more than that. You get paid per views.
Valuable info for freelance writers, thanks.
You Can do This Too!
 | Amazon Price: $4.99 |
VirginiaLynne Level 6 Commenter 2 days ago
Good information. I haven't tried these jobs but I have signed up for Textbroker, which is similar to Interact Media. Keep all the information coming! It helps a lot of people.