How to Get Freelance Writing Work

Finding freelance writing work can be challenging. While there are plenty of excellent freelance writer jobs available, there is also a lot of competition for these freelance writing opportunities. The best way to break into the freelance writing market is to build a portfolio of work and market yourself to employers and clients.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Writing Skills
• Computer

1. Begin building a portfolio. You cannot apply to freelance writing jobs unless you have a strong portfolio of work. Finding freelance writing work involves marketing yourself, and you need to be able to submit work examples. Start by writing for sites like Ehow, Associated Content, Helium, and Suite 101. Most of these sites allow you to earn a portion of the revenue from views and ad clicks, but the most important thing they allow you to do is to develop a portfolio of writing sample to use when applying to freelance writing jobs.

2. Start a blog. One of the best ways to supplement your portfolio is to create your own freelance writing opportunities. If you start a blog, you will have a great place to market your freelance writing work. You can then refer potential employers to your blog. Your blog may also become a source of income if you build up a large audience and advertise your work to the right markets.

3. Apply for work with content providers. Once you have a portfolio to demonstrate, you can apply for freelance writer jobs from some of the many content providers on the internet that will pay for content. Demand Studios, Textbroker, Bright Hub, Love to Know and Constant Content are some of the best content sites to write for. You need to have writing samples to submit to become accepted as a content provider for these freelance writer jobs, but once accepted, you will have a steady stream of work.

4. Specialize in a particular area of freelance writing. In order to distinguish yourself from the other freelance writers looking for freelance writing work, you want to start to become an expert in one area. This could mean writing mostly health articles or legal articles or articles about pets. Anything you are interested in that there might be a market for is a good specialization.

5. Apply for freelance writing work in your specialized area. This could mean applying for existing freelance jobs in your field, or going out and calling clients and trying to create your own freelance writing opportunities. Finding freelance writing work involves pitching your content to others, so if you have a strong portfolio of work and an area of expertise, it wil be easier to do so.

Tips & Warnings

• Finding freelance writing jobs gets easier after you have a portfolio of work. It may be hard to find your first freelance writing jobs, so start by creating your own work samples with online content providers that accept content from anyone.
• Produce high quality work. Finding freelance writer jobs is dependent on your ability to show employers what you can do.
• Learn about Search Engine Optimization. Becoming a freelance writer and finding freelance writing work is easier if you understand how to make your content accessible to people on the internet.
• Freelance writing work can be a great source of income, but the income is not guaranteed. Be prepared to budget carefully while finding a steady stream of freelance writing jobs to ensure you have a stable income.

[donata]

on 9/14/2009 Excellent article! Thanks for the helpful tips.
5*

[ramblin62]

on 9/10/2009 Great article on how to get freelance writing work! Building a portfolio and specializing makes perfect sense. TX.