Suess's Pieces

Lots of you have indicated in comments here and on my various guest posts that you are digging my tips about working as a freelance writer.

In that light, I’d like to point you to the JobMob website, where I have recently shared my advice on identifying the scammers and schemers of the online freelancing world.

Check out Top 10 Signs of the Worst Freelance Writing Jobs Ever.

As always, if you have questions you’d like to ask me about freelance writing, drop me a note.

Photo credit: andrewb

When I was a fledgling writer, I subscribed to a lot of different feeds for freelance writing jobs. Although most of my gigs these days come to me directly through my freelance writing website, I still browse my aggregated feeds from time to time to keep up with the state of the writing market and, truth be told, to amuse myself.

A Quick Note on Job Postings that Qualify for Ridicule on Suess’s Pieces

Many people from all over the world are more than happy to take jobs that pay $1 for 500 words, and I’m not here to judge what’s decent pay for all of humanity. So low pay in and of itself isn’t enough to warrant attention. What I’m here to highlight are the employers who write funny or insulting job ads.

Like This Guy Who Thinks Freelance Writers Can’t Do Math

I am looking for some great writers or team of writers… I have hundreds of articles to be written every week. So the more you write, the more you earn. I pay $2 per 500 words and $3.75 per 1000 words. The pay will be monthly, as most of my clients pay me monthly. Since, I can work on this trust, I need the same from my writers too.  (emphasis mine)

Apparently, my esteemed writing professionals, the more you write for this guy, the less you earn. If you’re going to work for this guy, I suggest slapping a page break in your next 1,000-word article or saving it in two separate files and billing him twice for 500-words. Apparently, this is how employers Do More with Less on oDesk.

Also, if any of you reading this are freelance writing n00bs, be very wary of submitting an entire month’s worth of writing without any pay.

A Little Unsolicited Freelance Writing Advice from Emily

If you want my professional opinion, trust is not a currency you should deal in – especially with clients you don’t know and haven’t worked with before. When getting started on oDesk or a similar job site, always request a minimum of 25% paid upfront from new clients. As a one-person business, you have every right to CYA. (If you want to offer some leeway to long-term clients after they’ve established rapport, that’s up to you.)

Photo credit: cohdra

When I stopped working at The Saturday Evening Post to focus on divorcing my Ex, I thought my place in line for a Successful Writer badge was lost forever. I had a modestly successful blog and a handful of samples for my portfolio, but I also had bills to pay. I took a 9-to-5 job as an administrative assistant and didn’t think about calling myself a writer again for several months.

Not surprisingly the writing bug returned to me, and I started scouring the web for a way back in to the biz. In addition to building relationships with real, honest-to-god clients of my own, I decided to see what other opportunities were out there for aspiring writers. What I found were a slew of opportunities out there for good writers, and even more for people who mostly suck at it.

My curiosity got the better of me, and I poked around a few sites in an attempt to see what I might be missing. As a result, you get a few reviews of freelance writing sites to help you decide if and how to break into the world of freelance writing.

I didn’t just read the FAQ pages for these sites, I signed on to work for them. Here’s what I found:

Textbroker.com: Here you sign up for an account, write a short sample for review and then wait a couple of days for an editor to rank your writing ability. How much you earn per word is based on your initial ranking, a number between 1 and 5. I was given an initial rank of 4, the highest rank you can get to start out. The pay for a level 4 writer at this site is 1.4 cents per word. So, if you write a hundred words, you get $1.40. Veteran writers are scoffing right now, and they should be. That’s really crappy pay.

eCopywriters.com: eCopywriters is a lot like Textbroker, except the ranking system goes from 1 to 7. When I submitted my sample, the editors at the site ranked me as a 2. Pretty low on the totem pole, but still I was earning 2 cents per word—more than the highest initial pay rate at Textbroker. My biggest gripe about eCopywriters is that it takes forever to get paid. The wait for their clients to approve your work is long and maddening.

Suite101: After signing up with Suite101, I agreed to write 10 posts in 90 days. They have since done away with quotas. Suite101 is one of those residual income sites that pays you based on ad revenue generated by your articles. The key to getting the most for your writing is to optimize your articles for search engines. The Suite101 editors post anonymous stats for their top ten earners each month, and the person in the number one position repeatedly earns over $2,000 every month. Of course, that person also has 700+ articles in the system. I have ten articles and have been writing since June. So far I’ve earned enough money to buy an 8 oz bottle of shampoo at the drugstore but not enough money for them to actually make a payout to me.

oDesk: oDesk introduces you to your competition. Buyers post assignments and you bid against your peers to be awarded the job. Landing the first job might be difficult if you don’t already have writing samples to back you up. You can accept hourly positions and fixed price positions at oDesk. I only did fixed price jobs and only applied to jobs that offered what I considered to be an acceptable wage. Overall my experience with oDesk was good. If work ever dries up, I may go back to them for more jobs.

Bottom line? If you’re a freelance writing hopeful looking to build a portfolio working online, you have plenty of options. Some are definitely better than others.