Freelance writing job sites
November 20, 2006 by Lillie
As I mentioned in the last post, I recently answered a writer’s question about finding writing jobs.
I thought you might like to see the list of sites I sent her.
Here are some places to look for writing jobs and freelance projects:
http://www.writersmarkets.com/
http://sanantonio.craigslist.org/wri/ (You can also search other cities for telecommute opportunities)
http://www.geteditingjobs.com/
http://www.writejobs.com/
http://www.poewar.com/
http://www.bookcatcher.com/marketplace.php
http://www.quintcareers.com/writing/writing_jobs.html (This includes links to a number of other writing job sites)
Note this list does not include any of the freelance market sites that require a membership fee and/or solicit bids from freelancers for posted projects. I have not had success with these sites - too often the individuals and companies seeking freelancers look only at the cost without considering the experience of the bidder. And there are plenty of writers who will work for very low rates.
My goals are to keep my fees affordable for the client, to deliver more than is expected, and to make my living as a freelancer. I haven’t had to search for work for several years. My clients come to me from referrals, search engines, and trade exchanges.
Currently, I’m working with five authors on book projects, creating all the content for a gift shop’s e-commerce site, and editing an academic paper as well as ongoing work with my regular business clients. I have two people who have contacted me about editing books when my workload permits.
But when I began my freelance career, I had a lot more time and a lot less work. In the early stages of a career, using sites such as those listed above can help a freelancer build a portfolio.
<p>Another website to get freelance work is elance.com. It might be more competitive because you have to give a bid and compete with bids from other writers. </p>
<p>[ad removed]</p>
Thanks, Matt. As I noted in the post, I intentionally didn’t include bidding sites such as elance. My personal experience with such sites hasn’t been positive, and I can’t personally recommend them.
Of course it is impossible to compare the work quality of a freelancer with a big working experience with his less experienced colleague. A person who has been in writing for a long time, can do his work much quicker and without losing quality. Nowadays the services of the SEO copywriters are in great demand and the payment depends on how serious the owners of the sites are interested in getting the result desired. You can try yourself in this niche. SEO copywriting is not simply writing of the article on a given topic. This is a real strategy where such factors as the place and quantity of words in the text are taken into account. Only real masters can cope with such work.
Liza,
Many writers specialize so they become very good in one kind of writing. I don’t do SEO copywriting, and I admire writers who are good at doing so.
haha This is a great post, and it is so funny to me because I’m located in San Antonio too! I had no idea!
C,
We could be neighbors.
I live in the area of North Star Mall, north of Loop 410.
You could also checkout the website http://www.freelanceradar.com/ .It displays thousands of freelance job (including freelance writing jobs) from popular freelance websites.
Jane,
I had not heard of that site.
Would a free lance writer be interested in working as an internal writer of content, speeches and investor relations material for a bank or hedge fund? The reason I ask is we have done this search for a few clients this year and found that many of the individuals that have progressed into these type of role from lets say marketing actually lack the required creative content creation skills. This was a surprise and we were surprised at the distinct lack of interest from the journalist community – which is where we went next. I would interest in peoples thoughts?
On a side not – is it because its an office job with long hours that is putting people off or is it because essentially it is working for “banksters” ? These goods are all great money……………
Chris,
That’s an interesting question. Since this is such an old post, it doesn’t get a lot of traffic now. However, I encourage anyone reading it to reply.
My impression is that most freelancers wouldn’t be interested because most of us started and continued to freelance because we prefer the independence of being self-employed. A job with a company—any job and any company—would require us to give up the independence of setting our own hours, choosing our own clients, and working “our way.”
There are probably some freelancers who started freelancing because they were out of work and who prefer the structure of a job. I’m not sure how you would reach those people, though.