How To Find Freelance Writing Jobs On The Internet

Is it at all possible to find freelance writing jobs via the internet? How can you do so and how do you avoid scams

If you are already a writer and you want to expand your horizons or if you are good at writing and want to freelance there are many sites which can help you get writing work. Many of the sites have a good reputation, some even guarantee payments. There are sites which offer fixed price jobs as well as sites which offer hourly paid jobs. What you have to be careful about are scams which promise you the moon, and you get nothing even though you have put in major work effort and time.

The work sites

You can Google and check out these work sites. All of them have a registration process, some charge for the registration, others charge a commission for the work you do through the site, some do both.  here are a few of the more popular ones.

www.guru.com
www.rentacoder.com
www.getafreelancer.com
www.elance.com
www.AssociatedContent.com
www.constant.content.com
www.scriptlance.com

The kind of work available

There are all kinds of writing jobs available. There will be article writing, blogging, website content, SEO writing, PLR writing, ghostwriting, ebooks and more. You may also find very creative work like short stories, plays, script writing, and storyboards to be done at some sites. However, do keep in mind, that most of the time, the work is not going to be credited to you – you are not going to get a byline, so if that is important to you, you have to look for places where you can post your own writing under your own name.

How do the sites work

Most of the sites have buyers and providers. Jobs are listed and requirements for the projects are also listed. Most of the buyers have a budget for a particular project. Some buyers are interested in good quality writing; some are interested in a very cheap price and are not particular about quality. It is up to you to decide what project you would be comfortable working on and put a price on your work. If a buyers selects you with your terms and conditions, great. Once you get experience in writing for a site and the ratings, and if your work is of acceptable standards, you can definitely make money.

Sites like Odesk often have hourly rate jobs. They check the hours you put in because you have to download their software and they take screenshots of the actual work being done, so buyers can be sure that they are paying for a certain number of hours.

On some sites you can either post your ready articles or projects and if buyers are interested, they will place bids. On other sites you can actually post your articles and will get paid depending on the number of hits you get.

Is it possible to make a comfortable income from these sites?

There are writers who can make a living from these sites if they are good, consistent in their work and willing to put in the long hours necessary. If you get good buyers and repeat customers, you can certainly make money.

However, there are downsides. You may not make the same amount of money every month. You will not have any security regarding income, perks, promotions, days off as you would do with a regular job. If, in future, you want to seek employment you may find it difficult to prove that you have done the work.

And then there are amazing success stories as well – blogs making lots of money or blogs turned into best-selling books as well!

Other Resource:

http://www.allsands.com/writing/freelancewritin_tfh_gn.htm
http://www.fundsforwriters.com/Real_Life_Markets_UK.htm
http://allfreelancewriting.com/
http://www.freelancewritingsuccess.com/