freelance-zone.com

Jennifer Mattern has some sage advice for writers who want to branch out as professional bloggers. Do you want to start earning money from your own blog? Mattern’s article is a great place to begin, but even if you’ve been in the blogging game for a while, check out her Make Money Blogging post and have a look. You’ll find some good advice I think gets overlooked in the rush to sign up for affiliate marketing programs and Google Ads; there is plenty of money to be made with e-books and digital downloads.

Of course, you have to have something to say in those e-books and downloads, but that’s another issue for another post. The real value of this article is in the common-sense approach it takes. No, not all bloggers are going to earn big money from their work. Mattern points out that many people just don’t know how to market a blog effectively. But those who take the time to learn the ropes and follow the advice laid out in the article stand a much greater chance of getting those paychecks.

I love AllFreelanceWriting.com for its BS-free writing and a complete refusal to claim that ANYBODY can do this stuff. The advice is great, the attitude is much appreciated, and if you need a good kick in the pants motivationally speaking, this site is the place. Recommended.

I just stumbled across this job site for creatives while reading through a great list of freelance resources at FreelanceSwitch. Krop.com offers a variety of gigs for creatives, and while the opportunities listed at Krop for writers are fewer than a graphic designers, you can still find some new media jobs where the boss is hungry for writing skills. In our new (dead) economy, chances are everyone you know is looking around to see where they might be able to hook up on the rebound when that main gig or gravy-train freelance work dries up.

Of course, none of the freelancers I know are hurting at present, but you never know when you might need to take a few extra jobs to replace a skittish publisher for a little while.  If your current markets are getting tougher to sell, have a look at Krop and see what you can find…

Freelance writing as a full-time occupation currently faces some scary times; will our current economic problems start affecting how much work is available? If magazines and online publishers start cutting back their budgets, what does a poor freelancer do? Here are ten ways to diversify your freelance career to keep those checks rolling in even when times are tough:

10. Branch Out. Have you been toying with adding digital photography to your skill set? Graphic design? Newsletter writing? Any of these additional skills make you more marketable AND give you great source material for opening up new freelance writing markets in trade mags and industry-specific websites.

9. Volunteer. That’s right, I am suggestion you work for free. As well as the altruistic side of things, you might discover another untapped resource for articles and advice pieces. You might even get plugged in to the for-pay part of a non-profit or charity group once they find out you are a professional writer–especially if you are willing to be flexible with your rates to help out.

8. Teach Classes. Does your local community center need a guru who can teach people how to write better cover letters and resumes? You don’t have to set yourself up as a freelance writing teacher–just show people how to write better in vital areas such as job seeking, employee evaluations, even the art of “romantic communication” might be a fun community center class you can teach. The key to these types of classes is knowing how to market your class properly to interest the people in your neighborhood.

7. Hook Up With A Temp Agency. Call your nearest temp service and explain about your writing business. Find out what you need to do in order to be listed as a writer/proofreader/editor and give it a try. (more…)

I’ve debated the merits of using Craigslist to find freelance writing gigs, but for those of you who still use CL, it’s important to avoid wasting time on the sort of idiotic scams that pop up on CL with annoying regularity. I myself fell prey to a few of these in my less informed days, so I pass along the benefit of my experiences on to you.

The following is reprinted verbatim from a recent post to the Writing Jobs section of Craigslist:

“A media blog is seeking review writers. You will be reviewing hot products of the new age and writing 500-700 word articles on them. For the application, we will require sample reviews to be written. We have 4 openings. If you are selected as a writer, work will be part-time and 20-25 jobs per week. Will be paying $100/article. Please send your request for more information (no resumes, please) to our email. Thank you.”

Now let’s dissect this ad and see why you should avoid posts like these at all costs.

1. Nomenclature written by the cluelesss. The ad is for a “media blog”. It then goes on to say that you are expected to review ‘hot products’. We’re already off to a bad start here as a media blog would, by implication, be reviewing media. Sure, it’s possible they want you to review downloads, DVDs, or other media, but in my experience, “media blogs” are commenting on either the media itself or streaming content as opposed to disc-based material. Another warning sign here is the phrase “of the new age”. What the writer MEANS to say is “hot new products of the Internet age” or some other such nonsense. As New Age pertains to a religious movement rather than technology, my bullshit detector on this tells me that the writer is a barely-literate scam artist who is throwing around terms they don’t really understand. Again, I could be TOTALLY WRONG. But we know I’m not, don’t we?

2. Confused (and confusing) expectations. The ad starts out saying they are a blog. Then the ad states that 500-700 word articles are needed. Is this a blog or a magazine? If the “blog” is paying $100 per post, the people running this are either on the scam or are the most clueless blog owners on the planet. No blog pays $100 for a blog entry. The ad says they want to fire FOUR PEOPLE at around $2500 a month each. What kind of new blog has this type of budget? Why, a non-existent one, of course! They want to shell out $10 K a month just for writers? Are you laughing yet?

3. They want you to work for free. ” For the application, we will require sample reviews to be written”. (more…)

Freelance Writing Gigs is a terrific site, and Deb Ng has done a wonderful job with getting it to a point where it is extremely useful to the writer. This resource is really worthwhile, regardless of whether you are looking for work or just wanting to read about what others in the writing field are thinking and doing…

Deborah Ng’s FreelanceWritingGigs.com is one of our favorite resource sites. There is a good mix of traditional gigs with blogger opportunities, and the presentation is top notch. One of my personal compaints about some writer’s sites with job listings is inherent user-unfriendliness. Not so with FreelanceWritingGigs.com.

For new writers, this site is a treasure trove. Jennifer Chait’s “So What” should be required reading for anyone who presumes to put up a blog about…anything. I am also a big fan of “writer beware” articles, and the piece warning about a content site called Giant Wow made me about as happy as I can get without a “paid on acceptance” check involved.

As a full-time writer, I find FreelanceWritingGigs.com quite useful in a number of areas. Anyone who doesn’t scour a fellow writer’s links section is cheating themselves out of gigs and networking opportunities. It’s also the chance to meet new people in the same boat–all still waiting for paychecks due two months ago, hunting high and low for another chance to throw some words together for money and make them stick. Your friends might not understand your job, and your family may still think you’re on some kind of extended vacation, but your fellow writers understand.

If you aren’t familiar with this excellent resource, hop on over and get acquainted with FreelanceWritingGigs.com. Highly recommended.