Freelance Writing Jobs for Monday, August 3, 2009

Comments

1. Anne G. says:

   August 3, 2009 at 1:09 pm

   Pushing aside negativity’s been tough! In July, I was informed the struts on my car are toast and apparently the warranty on the car only covers front struts, not rear, so that’s $400 to have those done. I finally have that money set aside and yesterday our four-year-old gas stove sprung a leak out the regulator. Had to turn off the gas to the house until we can get it fixed, which means no hot water.

   It’s been one thing after another. Also in July, our fridge died, exactly one day after the warranty ended. $250 to $300 estimated to fix, so instead I picked up a free used fridge that so far (knocking on wood) is working well. The stove warranty ended in March, so that’s not going to help. Thankfully, our neighbor said he can teach my husband how to replace it if I’ll take his daughter for a few extra days this week.

   But at this point, July was a pain in the behind and August is off to a similar start. I can only hope things start looking up. Meanwhile, I must wonder exactly why all of the appliances I bought four years ago from Sears are failing.

   Reply
2. My Autism Insights says:

   August 3, 2009 at 1:16 pm

   I also have a project I should be working on, Deb. You’re such a good influence! I have been doing some other writing and editing, also started submitting my novel. I am stepping up my job search efforts now since school is just around the corner & I’ll have so much more free time! I think I will follow your lead and get to work on that autism book. Thanks for the leads!

   Reply
3. Phil says:

   August 3, 2009 at 1:44 pm

   Re: EContent. Good pub, good editor, client of mine. Freelance opportunities sparse lately.

   Reply
4. Sue says:

   August 3, 2009 at 5:15 pm

   What Phil said about EContent. I wrote regularly for them for two years but haven’t seen an assignment in 2009.

   Reply
5. Victoria says:

   August 3, 2009 at 5:35 pm

   I’ve noticed over the last couple of months that the variety of job leads out there are really beginning to pick up again. Another great list today, thanks Deb!

   Reply
6. Barb says:

   August 3, 2009 at 5:55 pm

   Hi, I have been reading the postings and the wise comments for several months (I believe that makes me a “lurker”). I know that I have read comments about Demand Studios and I THINK they were positive, rather than negative, comments. Is that right? On Friday, there was a listing for copy editors for Demand Studios, so I was wondering whether anyone had any experience or advice regarding that aspect. Thank you to anyone who responds.

   Reply
7. Emily says:

   August 3, 2009 at 6:11 pm

   I have been lurking on this blog for several months now… quit my PR job in the beginning of July to focus on writing and I spent most of the month kind of bewildered by the new-found freedom. I’ll be trying to get more organized in August. I’m working on revisions of a novel and also plan to build a freelance business — the challenge for me right now is figuring out how to balance the two, and to keep myself from picking up freelance projects as a way to sneaky way to procrastinate on the fiction. (I’m a master at procrastination!)

   I haven’t tried any of the leads from this site so far but I check them out every morning and am sure I will as I start getting a better handle on how the type of projects I want to try for. Maybe that can be one of my August goals…

   Reply
8. Kenna says:

   August 3, 2009 at 6:30 pm

   Thanks Deb. Nice list.

   Reply
9. Deb says:

   August 3, 2009 at 7:27 pm

   @Barb – Demand Studios has a very good reputation. They pay about $15 for each article and it’s very rare that I see complaints. Some of the regulars here earn thousands of dollars per month doing work for Demand.

   Reply
10. Nina says:

    August 3, 2009 at 7:48 pm

    Hello,

    I don’t know if this is off topic. But I am wondering what challenges Freelance Writer’s have when it comes to Marketing. You see I consider myself a Freelance Writer, but I am more drawn to Research and Marketing.

    My main goal is to become a Marketer for Freelance Writers. But I want to prove that I can get clients for myself (which I have–but at a slow pace) before I start marketing to writers.

    I am pondering about writing a resource guide for writers that cater to a specific niche. For example, I would title something: 125 Unlisted Nutrition Companies that Hire writers.

    I would really like to know what writers need to make their jobs easier.

    Thanks,

    Nina Lewis

    Reply
11. write a writing says:

    August 3, 2009 at 8:14 pm

    thankies for the list

    Reply
12. Melissa says:

    August 4, 2009 at 12:26 am

    I have been writing for Demand Studios since January of this year. They pay weekly via PayPal and always on time (usually every Friday by 5:00pm Pacific Time). Article writers are paid $15 for around 400+ words for most article styles. They are continually improving their editorial proces and the software interface we use and have proven that they do listen to the writers, editors and filmmakers they pay. I make close to $1000 a month with them and I love working for them.

    Reply
13. T. W. Anderson says:

    August 4, 2009 at 6:29 am

    @ Barb:

    Demand Studios is *great* to write for. I use them as filler content. However, if you are talking about the CE position, they require a baseline of 5 years as an editor to hire you.

    I currently use DS when my wife and I decide we want to take a weekend trip somewhere, or if we want some extra cash “next weekend”. My articles usually cycle through in 3-4 days, and I get paid another 3-4 days after that, so it’s a nice way to see some “instant” gratification. Want an extra couple hundred bucks for something? Spend 3-4 hours and bang out a few How To or About articles for some extra cash.

    @ Emily:

    Best of luck. I started out 18 months ago with a clear 2 year business plan outlined. My agreement with my wife was that if I wasn’t making 500 a month freelancing within 6 months of starting, I wouldn’t continue freelancing. I’m in my 18th month and I’m making 2200-2500ish a month, working 4-5 hour days. I have enough work that if I wanted to, I could easily work 8 hour days and break 50k for my second year. Nothing to sneeze at, considering I don’t have a college degree and I walked into this with no previous experience, simply with a passion for writing.

    My business plan specifically included me focusing 1/2 of my time on freelancing, and 1/2 of my time on my fiction work. I’ve sold a few fantasy and sci-fi short stories since I started, and I’ve got a few more in circulation right now, with a couple more that are in re-vision stage before I re-sub. It’s fairly easy to balance freelancing with your fiction work as long as you sit down and clearly establish a set of goals in advance, giving yourself something to work towards.

    My personal goal is Christmas for the draft of my first novel to be done. I have outlines for novels that stretches out to 2020. The first is a 4-book fantasy series, followed by a 2 book sci-fi series, and then another fantasy series after that. I’m currently 80k into my first draft on the first novel, and I should top out around 200k by December of 2008. I generally shoot for 3 chapters a month, with each chapter running around 6-7k words. However, the last two months have seen me working on short stories vs. the novel work, so my goal of 100k words by July slipped to August, but I’m honestly not worried because I’ve got plenty of free time on my hands to make up the extra work.

    One thing I’ve noticed: in the past 18 months of submitting and selling a few stories, I’ve gone from receiving form letter rejections to personalized rejections from the editors of publications, including line edits. When I laid out my business plan I knew going into it that I was going to use my freelance experience as a journalist and content writer as the basis for my cover letters, and it has absolutely paid off. Last year I was only getting form letters, because I had no relevant experience. Now, when I send in a fiction sub, I have a detailed cover letter than includes links and references to my currently published work in print and online format, and it absolutely makes a difference. The last 2 months in particular I’ve been getting extremely detailed feedback from the same editors who 12 months ago were simply sending me form letters. In fact, the last two submissions in particular included detailed line edits, and sister publications + the names of other editors who might like my work for their publications.

    If you can prove that you have writing experience, regardless of the format, editors are more likely to look at your fiction work because you can prove that you aren’t just some joe-blow off the street who wants to call himself/herself a writer. When you are pulling in an honest paycheck for what you do, and you can show the editors that you are reliable as a writer, and you are getting published on a regular basis, they are more likely to look at your work, rather than just toss it on the slush pile and move on.

    When I started I looked at it as I did with my business back in the States: when you walk into an interview, the boss wants to see your portfolio. If I seriously want to make it in this industry, I need to establish a 2-3 year reputation as a writer…any kind of writer…before I approach an agent with my manuscript. I didn’t want to be the guy coming in with a 200k manuscript and a 4 book series but no previous writing experience. I wanted to be the guy who the agent could look at and think to himself “hmmm. He’s obviously got talent, he’s done quite a bit of work in other fields, this might just be something work taking a look at”.

    So far, it’s paying off, at least for my short stories. Personalized rejections + line edits from editors who a year ago were giving me form letter rejections shows progress. I’m still not selling every story I send in, but it’s getting better, and I’m doing exactly what I set out to do a year and a half ago: build up a reputation as a reliable writer, regardless of the field, so when I make the transition to full-time novel writing I have some experience to back it up and give the agents/editors more of a reason to look at my work and take it seriously.

    And in the meantime, I’m making a damn good wage for working a part-time job.

    Anyway…good luck with it. It was slow for me the first 3-4 months, but now I literally have to turn down work because I don’t want to work full time. Hope that inspirational story helps Feel free to pop over to my blog and shoot me an e-mail if you have further questions and need help getting established.

    Reply
14. Nicole says:

    August 4, 2009 at 7:01 am

    TW where do you get most of your work from?

    Reply
15. T. W. Anderson says:

    August 4, 2009 at 11:54 am

    Worldwide, Nicole. I actually do very little work with US clients. My current “steady” work is from a content company in the UK and a gaming journalism company out of the Netherlands. I do filler work with Demand Studios when I’m bored or we want some extra blow money, and my wife and I are also starting to do some interior painting where we live, mostly for family and friends. It started off as just her mom’s bedroom last month, but we’ve already got several projects lined up over the rest of the summer. People here aren’t used to Western-style professionalism when it comes to remodeling and so-forth, which is leading me to wonder if I shouldn’t start up another ceramic tile and natural stone company specifically to do 2 or 3 spec homes per year over here, specializing in targeting the Western clients or richer Europeans, since that was my area of expertise before moving here (ceramic and natural stone contractor for luxury homes along the Front Range and up in the ski resorts).

    Starting next year I’m going to be branching off a bit. I’m probably going to take some pottery classes with my wife this fall and start making hand-made ceramics for our part of Europe, which ties in with my wife’s Etsy shop. I’m also debating taking a photography class this winter and getting into freelance photography a bit. Mostly I’m just dabbling while I finish up my first novel and see where that takes me.

    But for now…yeah. UK content company, game journalist, Demand Studios. Those are my main three. I was writing some health-related articles for Green Diva Mom but I moved on last month when they wouldn’t raise the pay-rates. Great people, but I’m waaaay past exposure work now. It did exactly what I need it do, though…led me to higher paying gigs, and the opportunity to have my cook-book published if I can actually get the thing done by September. Toss in some short stories on the side….I stay busy

    Reply
16. T. W. Anderson says:

    August 4, 2009 at 11:56 am

    last paragraph meant …..did exactly what I needed it to do Totally mis-typed that.

    Reply
17. Siddharth says:

    August 4, 2009 at 2:55 pm

    God-damn-it!! I haven’t struck gold yet with a single writing job.
    The thing is, I’m not from the US and I’m a new writer……so naturally I can’t begin with Demand Studios,textbroker,eHow or Associated Content for beginning my writing career. I can’t even find a place where I can submit books,movies,product or website reviews!! So basically, I’m kind of stranded. I can’t land writing job bids because I lack the necessary experience which some of the other bidders have.

    I did join Helium though, but after submitting two articles and getting a writing percentage of 89% I started looking for other sites where I can earn money.
    Should I continue toiling with Helium?
    If anybody has a dime of advice to offer, I would gladly accept it.

    Reply
18. Abby says:

    August 4, 2009 at 5:44 pm

    Wow. Warning to other writers here! I emailed number 18 under General/Misc. Freelance Writing Jobs: Short Romantic Fiction Wanted. Their ad reads:

    “Looking for short romantic stories that can be made into short films. Pastoral in nature preferred. Gay, Lesbian themed OK! Paid.”
    http://chicago.craigslist.org/chc/wrg/1299196064.html

    I sent this:

    “Hello,
    Just wondering what the guidelines for submission are.
    I need to know your target word count and payment structure, at the very least, so I can turn in a good piece that’s appropriate for your market.
    Thanks very much,
    Zabrina Way”

    Their response read:

    “Hi Sabrina,

    Sorry but you priorities are all WRONG!

    THX!

    http://www.rcg11.com”

    Sounds like a nonpaying client to me. (If anyone’s curious, here’s my response to them below.)

    “Hello Mr. or Ms. Stracensky,
    I find it impossible to write short fiction without knowing how short your definition of “short fiction” is, or knowing how and if I will be compensated. A 1,000-word story is quite different to write than a 10,000-word story. My priorities consist of getting top-notch work to clients (which is impossible if I don’t know what the expectations of me are), with fast turnaround times (you specified none) and no missed deadlines, while still being able to eat every night.
    Best of luck with your project,
    Zabrina”

    Reply

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1. Freelance Writers Jobs in the United Kingdom | Online Freelance Work says:

   September 2, 2009 at 9:50 am

   [...] Freelance Writing Jobs [...]

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