Showing posts with label Freelance Writing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Freelance Writing. Show all posts

Friday, May 2, 2008

Freelance Writing Jobs - Tips

By Patrick Sia

For a freelancer who wishes to work on the internet and survive, these tips are his lifeline!

For writing ideas, browse the internet and you will find a lot of ideas to write excellent articles. If you are a frequent traveler, then write on the experiences you have had during your travel. Travel related articles are in high demand and can fetch premium payment. If you are passionate about dating, that niche too has a very high demand. To find out what is in demand at the present time, visit sites like the Yahoo! home page, or visit the Bestseller section on Amazon and you will find great themes that are highly sought after. News related articles and product launches are also very highly sought-after items, which can bring you money and instant fame. Celebrities and fashion related articles also have great following, and web magazines are constantly looking for those articles from freelancers.

Create your own website and write on various popular topics. A contact page is a must, and you can also put impressive testimonials on your site. Optimize your website and submit it to all the search engines. A good ranking in the search engines will bring you highly targeted traffic and business with it.

Become a member of niche forums and place your link in the signature space. Help the members on the forums and write short articles as posts, aiming to help those members. This will establish you as an expert in those topics. Places like the DigitalPoint and WarriorForum have a huge database of members, and most of the members require good articles either for their own websites or for their clients. These sites can quickly establish you as a good freelance writer and bring in steady jobs. Sometimes, you will get so many orders that you will need to hire more writers to fulfill the writing schedules. Personally edit each of those articles written by your writing team to maintain the highest quality.

Write passionately and do complete research for each assignment. Work towards creating a great style of writing. Take caution that no grammatical error escapes the quality control scrutiny. Constantly keep up with learning more and more niche topics that are in high demand.

A freelancer must be a master in his topics. Your clients will expect a great article every single time! Give it to them! Once you create a great writing style, it is far easy to embed a great story in any writing job. When there is less workload, utilize that free time to educate yourself more. The internet is a big free library, and you can find a lot of authentic reading material on any topic. You can also utilize your free time to write specimens and sample articles, which you can send to your regular clients. They might need those articles very shortly, and will be very thankful for your "help". Such considerate thinking and actions build great relations!

Create a portfolio page on your website and add your best articles there. Create many different sections and have sufficient samples. These come handy when you approach new clients or apply to the popular magazine websites. As the editors are extremely busy there, they have just enough time to gaze through a physical portfolio. When you leave them a link to your virtual or online portfolio, they can view the portfolio at their leisure. Even if busy, any editor has the knack of spotting great articles and ideas, and if your portfolio has the spark, then you can very shortly get a positive call from the editor. As a freelancer, you have hit the jackpot! That will be your day to rejoice!

Patrick is a passionate believer in the power of technology to better the lives of everyone and his passion and drive are hallmarks of his attitude to doing business.

Get work at home jobs @ http://www.WeWorkAtHomeOnline.com and http://www.MumPassiveIncome.com without the need to pay any upfront fees.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Patrick_Sia

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

Three Tips to Help You Get Into Freelance Writing

By wahbws

Writing as a freelancer can be difficult to get into unless you are willing to put forth the effort and determination to make your success in the field.

The internet industry is an absolute boom for freelancers mainly because website owners need content. It is a must to continually provide fresh new content to website visitors if you are to keep pace with the competition. While online markets will not pay as well or carry the same clout as a magazine for example, they are a great way to get started. Given the fact that the cyber world moves a lot faster than the traditional printing world, your articles can be published sooner. The more pieces you have published, the easier it will be to land bigger jobs in the future. Try visitng http://www.elance.com/ to get a better feel for contracting your services as a freelancer.

Target your local newspaper when looking for freelance writing jobs too. Newspapers have strict deadlines, and can certainly use freelancers from time to time. Writing for a newspaper can be hectic. They do have strict deadlines and you may get an assignment on a moment's notice. However, if you do a good job and complete your work on time, the editor at your local paper could open the doors to bigger newspapers and magazines for you.

Additionally, consider there are literally hundreds and hundreds of small, regional, and trade magazines being published today. A great tool for writers is http://www.writersmarket.com/. It is a database full of information on markets that buy freelance work. Market is a general term for a magazine or newspaper. The editors at smaller magazines are often times more open to working with people that have little experience.

Keep in mind that, contacting a market and offering to write for them is often called a query. Each market will have different guidelines to accept queries. Some markets may accept queries via email whereas some will want them by regular mail. Always use the proper name of the person you are sending the query to. You can find this information on the company's website or through http://www.writersmarket.com/. It is also important to know the market you want to write for. For example, if you want to write an article containing tips on how to avoid malaria for a travel magazine, make sure that magazine hasn't published a similar article in the last year.

After you have written several pieces for smaller markets, you can navigate your way into writing for larger publications. Give each venue a shot to see how freelancing works for you.

Article Source: http://www.ArticleStreet.com/

What is Freelance Writing?

By wahbws

Have you ever wondered what exactly is a freelance writer? You've probably seen a variety of television programs where a particular character works as a freelance writer of some sort or the other. A freelance writer is an independent contractor who writes for a variety of publications, in plain: self employed author. Freelance writers typically write for magazines, newspapers, and online markets. Using a freelance writer allows the publication to publish a variety of voices with different points of view and experiences. It also saves the publication money since they are paying the writer per assignment without providing benefits.

When working as a freelance writer, there are plenty of markets out there ready to employ your writing skills. The internet boom has made the demand for writers even greater as the demand for fresh quality content to be published on websites ever increases. Newspapers, both local and national routinely rely on freelancers. In the industry the term is known as "stringer reporters". Since newspapers have strict deadlines, if a story suddenly pops up and the staff writers already have other assignments, a freelancer will be called. Assignments can be given out on short notice and the work can be hectic, but writing for a newspaper is a great way to open doors to bigger opportunities.

Many people dream of freelancing for national magazines as they do hire freelancers. This can be a tough market to break into since so many people are vying for a limited number of jobs. It is best to start out with smaller regional or trade magazines and once you have several "clips", copies of your published work, you can break into the national magazines.

Typically, a freelance writer will think of a story idea and write a brief synopsis and send it to the publication's editor. This is called a "query". Different publications have different guidelines for accepting queries; some will accept them via email and some will only accept them via postal mail. If you are going to send one via snail mail, enclose a self addressed stamped envelope; if your material gets rejected the editor will send you the rejection slip in your SASE. Rejection is a big part of a writer's life. Remember, they are not rejecting you. They are rejecting your story idea. It doesn't necessarily mean you are a bad writer, it just means it is not the right time for that particular publication to publish that type of story.

Pay rates vary wildly in the freelance world. Some publications pay upwards of $1 per word and some pay one cent per word, and some do not pay at all. As a beginning writer, you will be earning fees on the low end of the scale, but as more of your work is published and you gain experience, you can begin asking for more money.

Contrary to what Hollywood portrays, you don't have to live in a big city filled with murderous tales of intrigue and sleuthing to enjoy a career as a freelance writer. If you want to work from home and enjoy writing, you can have a successful career as a freelancer right from your livingroom while in your pajamas.

Article Source: http://www.ArticleStreet.com/