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| Finding A Broader Freelance Writing Market. |
September 8th, 2008 by Chris De La Rosa
Visited 948 times, 2 so far today |
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All of us who make our living as freelance writers know how much work goes into drumming up clients. Eventually it gets easier, but initially it can be difficult, especially if the rent is due and you have no projects lined up. Finding A Broader Freelance Writing Market is a good way to expand your options and get work.
Most freelancers know enough to check the obvious places by doing an online search. Just in case you’re sitting there in a panic, wondering what I mean, type “freelance writing jobs” into your browser, then go nuts reading and applying for gigs. Personally, I like using Genuinejobs.com. They email me with the newest listings each week, so I don’t have to go hunting for them, but do what works for you. There are a ton of job resources for writers on the web, so there’s no lack of opportunity. To get you started, there are a few listed in a hub that I wrote awhile back.
Try to keep in mind that there are markets outside of the online world. I started my writing career submitting articles to newspapers and magazines. Depending on the market, it can be a very lucrative business. The guidelines for print publications are available in books like The Writer’s Market, and many can be found on the publisher’s websites.
Other offline markets could include: brick and mortar businesses, theatres, corporations and charities. Perhaps you could do some article or content writing for their websites, or give them pricing on doing a monthly newsletter for them.
What we writer types often forget, is that we are self-promoting salespeople. We may not like that part of the process, but it’s necessary to our financial survival. As luck will have it though, we also wonderfully creative beings that can imagine all sorts of selling scenarios guaranteed to fatten our job list and our wallets.
Finding A Broader Freelance Writing Market – A Challenge.
In an effort to encourage freelance writers, I have a gift for each writer who does something within the next week that broadens their market search. Leave the details of you what you did in the comments section, and then check back to see if your gift has been sent.
The prize is the link to a new site that lets you choose topics immediately, write about them, then get paid every week. Write as many articles as you want, as long as there are topics in the pool – your pay is figured out according to how many words you’ve written. The site’s only been around a week, so it’s brand spanking new. I’ve been using it myself as one of the beta testers, it’s great and I got paid. I will continue to get paid every Monday provided I write at least one article during the week. A sweet, reliable gig. Good luck, get your creative juices flowing!
P.S. I am a writer on this site, but have no other affiliations with it, in case that matters to you.
This is a guest post by Shirley Anderson.
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This entry was posted on Monday, September 8th, 2008 at 4:18 am and is filed under freelance work. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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13 Responses to “Finding A Broader Freelance Writing Market.”
Inthedoghouse Says:
September 8th, 2008 at 2:24 pm I have learned that writing is a gift. Finding a writer who is able to submit good content on any subject is hard to do. Writing is a challenging and skilled profession, as well as hobby for many. Thanks for all the incredible sources and links for a writer to increase their contacts in the field of writing.
Kathryn Skaggs Says:
September 8th, 2008 at 3:26 pm Hi Shirley -
You’ve caught my attention! Great article and true true true… This past month I participated in the 30DC to increase my knowledge of online marketing. I have been writing like crazy, but ignoring the marketing end of the ‘business’. I now consider myself in business online, and currently have five active blogs to which I am the sole contributor. It looks like it’s time to let more people know about what I do and start making some money:-)
Ricardo Says:
September 9th, 2008 at 2:48 am Just what I was needing to read. At this moment I´m starting to learn how to write on things that I never thought about and it´s quite a challenge. Thanks for the links.
Shirley Says:
September 10th, 2008 at 7:59 pm Inthedoghouse, I also think that writing is a gift, but some people harbour the belief that it is a learned art. I think it can be learned, but the final output will show the difference. Someone can be gifted, yet not like writing much, too. In that case, the work will lack passion.
Thanks so much for coming by, and also for broadening your freelance writing market area by investigating new links. Your bonus link has been emailed. Please leave a note here if you do not receive it.
Shirley Says:
September 10th, 2008 at 8:01 pm My goodness, Kathryn! Have you ever been a busy little bee!! You have definitely earned the bonus work link, which has already been sent to you. If you don’t get it shortly, please let me know. Good luck!
Shirley Says:
September 10th, 2008 at 8:03 pm It’s good to challenge yourself, Ricardo. You’ll just keep getting better and better! I have just sent you the bonus link. Let me know if you don’t have it shortly. Keep writing and learning, you’ll do great.
Joyce Says:
September 11th, 2008 at 11:01 pm Hi Shirley, Enjoyed your article, and am finding that breaking into freelancing is a bit
intimidating. Love to write but not sure if I am good enough to be paid for it.
I do not have a website of my own, but a good friend does, and it’s for custom gifts for pets, etc. So I talked her into letting me write some articles highlighting her site, and some of her special items such as memorial gifts for those who have lost their beloved pets. I explained to her that I would write several different articles, submit them to as
many article directories as I can find and see how much new traffic that might bring to her website. She agreed and so I am busy putting these together and am very hopeful that the articles will bring her some new sales as well as give me some experience in writing and submitting articles online. Appreciate your thoughts on writing and hopefully I can gain some confidence with my own work.
Shirley Says:
September 15th, 2008 at 6:05 am Hi Joyce
I love how you took the initiative to get started! That was very brave of you. When a writer exposes their work, they feel very vulnerable. They are putting themselves out there for the world to see. We seem to have a strong aversion to having our beloved words rejected. They are our ‘babies’ and mean a lot to us writer types.
Don’t doubt yourself or your ability. If you have the dream, don’t let anything stop you. If it’s just a matter of practise, get it and keep heading for the golden challice. You will get there.
I have written hubs dealing with the topic of writing - query letters, some places to submit to, etc. I’m posting a new one in the near future about online courses and resources for writers. You can access those articles at this link: http://hubpages.com/profile/Shirley+Anderson
You can also sign up for a HubPage of your own. Write anything you want, get feedback and advice. It’s free, great practise, and they are a very kind and helpful community. Anything like that may be a good way to get your feet wet and build a list of samples at the same time. It will also help calm stage fright. 
I’m afraid that I can’t email you the site link I promised because your name is not hyperlinked, so here it is: http://www.wordhire.com
Good luck, Joyce. Don’t forget to have fun with the craft. Your passion will shine through!
Regards,
Shirley
Joyce Says:
September 17th, 2008 at 6:01 am Hi Shirley,
Thanks so very much for your kind encouragement. Your are right, just need to
“go for it” with my writing. Will always regret if I did not at least try to accomplish this goal. Thanks as well for the links, really appreciate it. Will be checking in on your articles. Take care, and hope you have continued success with your writing.
Shirley Says:
September 17th, 2008 at 7:57 am Hi Joyce:
You’re very welcome, thank-you for your well wishes. I always try to encourage writers for precisely the reason you mentioned. If you don’t at least try, you’ll always wonder and regret.
You could also set up your own blog to help you get over your shyness with exposing your talent, and again, to get some public practise in. There are many free blogging platforms, so you have nothing to lose.
Best of luck, and let me know if I can help.
Shirley
Jerre Says:
February 8th, 2009 at 5:42 pm Hi!
I found the website a couple of months ago, but just found this post right now! I appreciate the discussion about finding freelance writing jobs. I am a high school English teacher who is starting to return to writing and editing - this time, as more of a full-time freelance basis (while substitute teaching). My current position - a long-term sub job - takes up so much time and energy, that I have almost nothing left to give for writing, creating sample pieces for resumes, or reading about the profession. Anyone have some ideas on how to balance the teaching load with quality time for job searching and writing?
Thanks - love the site, love the name!!!
Shirley Anderson Says:
February 9th, 2009 at 10:31 pm Hi, Jerre!
Wow, you’ve got a full plate. I am a full-time freelancer and believe it or not, I suffer from the same problem. I’m not out teaching but I am constantly looking for gigs, writing, participating in writing communities and forums. The time flies by and pretty soon, you realize that you’ve been sitting at the computer for 18 hours, you’ve written very little and your brain has turned to mush. Next day, same thing. The longer it goes on, the harder it is to write good stuff. You really want to guard against not taking down time, it really affects your clarity and enthusiasm. I’ve learned that the hard way.
Probably the easiest way for you build up at a manageable pace would be to start submitting to places like HubPages (click on my name, I’ve set it to take you to the tour page) where you can start an article and just work on it as time and energy permits before publishing. You can learn a lot there and use links to your hubs (articles) as clips. There is also a hubber who has a hub full of names of authors who are willing to write for pay, should anyone be looking for a writer.
When I worked in an office, I would write on my breaks, lunch hour, before work and/or after work, weekends, whenever I could find a few minutes or a block of time. I don’t know if you can do that, but it keeps you working towards towards your goal of freelancing.
If you can find the time, you may want to think about blogging, too. It’s another good way of getting a lot of your work online fast. Once you have some articles published, you can offer to write guest posts for site owners and use your posts as clips. Blogging can be time consuming, but if you stick to a topic you know well, perhaps you can write it on your lunch hour and just type it to your blog when you get home.
You really need some sample clips to secure jobs. Carve out some time somewhere and work away at it. You’ll get there. Please though, remember to take some ‘down time’.
Good luck, Jerre!
Shirley
P.S. I assumed that you are looking to write online articles. If not, let me know.
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