Starting Out as a Freelance Writer

Freelance writing makes a great job for bloggers, single mothers and others who want to work from home. If you're a really good writer and find out where to search for writing work, it is possible to earn a decent amount of money from your writing. Here are a few pointers to help you get started as a writer.

Steer Clear of Job Bidding Services

Elance, Freelancer, oDesk, and other sites for freelancers that make you bid for writing assignments have something in common: these sites all seem to be crowded with foreign laborers who are able to write articles for extremely low prices. If you bid for work on these websites, place your bids based on what you feel you're worthy of, and refuse to get caught up in a price war. If you find yourself working for three dollars an hour, you will just wind up feeling stressed and you'll get burned out quickly.

Content Broker Sites Are Great for Getting Money Quickly

Everyone endures a situation in which the budget is tight from time to time, and for those times, websites specializing in content brokering are often the perfect choice. The Content Authority pays weekly, and Textbroker pays twice per month. The amount that these sites pay is not great, but there's almost always work to be found and the revenue will prove useful until you are able to find writing jobs that pay more.

Webmasters Constantly Need Articles

There are countless sites online that are looking for fresh content. Many Internet marketers write their own content, but quite a few of them outsource the task to writers. If you've got good writing skills, you can probably get more money for the content you write by promoting your article writing service in forums where website owners spend time.

Magazines

If getting your articles published in magazines seems unrealistic, let me assure you that it really isn't. You don't have to have a college degree to get your articles published in a magazine or newspaper. The only thing you really need is the ability to write query letters pitching article ideas to magazine editors in a convincing way, along with the ability to do the research and craft the articles in a timely manner. It is much easier to sell yourself when you have two or three publishing credits to list as experience, but quite a few freelance writers have sold magazine articles with no prior publications. Get the Writer's Market book for the writer's guidelines of magazines that accept articles from freelance writers.

From Blog to Book

How many times have you thought or heard someone say they would like to write a book when the time is right? Writing a book is a noble goal, but hard to accomplish. If you postpone it until the time is right, that time may never come. Even if you finish the book, there is a lot of work involved in getting it published and promoted, with no guarantee of success.

There is one thing that can be done to make this process much easier and more likely to succeed. Start a blog. It can be very helpful to just start writing about your subject. This doesn't have to be a big project. A few hours a week is more than sufficient. It's a great way to organize your thoughts. Also, reader comments can give you valuable feedback before you go through the trouble of submitting your manuscript to publishers. I like to include a good blogroll that includes links that are valuable to me in my research. Your readers will also appreciate this.

By the time you finish your book, it's likely that you will already have readers who are interested in purchasing it. Even if the book is never finished, you have still produced something you can be proud of. You might even be able to make some income from the blog from advertising or affiliate programs.

One of the most important steps towards finishing a book is just getting started. Starting by organizing your thoughts on a blog is a pleasant and easy way to do this. If the time comes for you to seriously tackle a book writing project, then you will have already laid a good foundation to help you succeed.