Spotting A Good Freelance Writing Career By Freelance Writers Guides

Author: Sylvia Silvermaster

Being a freelance writer has plenty of benefits specially for stay-at-home mothers who want to earn money without the need of leaving their children at home. For most people, the primary motivation to go freelance is the opportunity to be their own boss and to be able to work at their own desired time. However, take note that a freelance writer's lifestyle is only ideal for those who are able to manage their work sans instructions and guidance from a superior.

The best way to start a career in freelance writing is by making your own website. Creating a simple blog will open wonderful and endless opportunities for a struggling newbie. It is a great stage to show off your talent and skills in technical or creative writing. The secret here is to write about a specific topic that interest you most and soon enough, clients will begin to contact you for your writing services.

You will need to learn to spot good freelance writing opportunities - and here's how!

• Always do a background check of the company or website listing the ad. Find out how long the website has been in existence, if they have contact information, and what kind of credibility they can provide. Honest and legitimate freelance writing opportunities are always very open about these details.

• Be selective! Look for freelance writing opportunities where the client specifies that he/she can be contacted by phone - often job offers are rather vague, and a voice-to-voice conversation with your employer about will be required is invaluable.

• Think outside the box. Look for freelance writing opportunities outside the realms of articles, novels and non-fiction. There is a huge demand for technical writing, editing, poetry, and others... and not as much supply! If there is a huge demand for something, and the supply is low, you can drive your price up!

• Find job ads that REALLY appeal to you. Believe it or not, if you can get paid to write about something that really interests you, or about something of which you are well-versed, you have found a good opportunity. You will enjoy it, find it easy to accomplish, and be able to finish it quickly!

If you follow these tips faithfully, you will get much closer to your dream of being a freelance writer! A freelance writing career can be both exciting and lucrative, if you know the secrets of finding those high paying writing assignments!

These tips help you to see the full potential of your freelance writing career. You can begin using them today to find better freelance writing jobs for yourself. Each day is a new opportunity and each new opportunity will help you grow and expand on your business.

The truth is, however, that most of what "amateurs" find when searching for good writing opportunities is so low-paying that it doesn't seem worth the effort. Why not give yourself a break and learn from an expert writer about how to really make the money roll in?

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/article-marketing-articles/spotting-a-good-freelance-writing-career-by-freelance-writers-guides-5136089.html

About the Author

The Freelance Writer's Guides site offers tips and markets for freelance writers seeking writing jobs online. Find high paying markets with write for trade publications and custom publishers. This is an excellent resource for freelance writing.

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Breaking Into The Freelance Writing Market

By Darren Krause

You have dreamed of the freedom of being a freelance writer for
some time. Being able to set your own schedule, choose your own
jobs and write the material that you want to write - yes, it
certainly has its perks. I love being a freelancer writer, and I
wouldn't change it for anything in the world. Well, I would
change some things, but, I digress.

As I search the freelance writing job boards for someone to help
me pick up some extra writing assignments, I notice that there
are a lot of novice freelance writers trying to break into the
market. I was there once, and I didn't like it much. I started
doing this back when the whole search engine article craze and
the e-books weren't around - to be a freelance writer you had to
do it the old fashioned way - query. This wasn't so bad, and I
learned a tremendous amount along the way. And still, if you
want to freelance write for most major (and minor) publications,
they still require a query letter. But, we aren't going to get
into that yet.

One of the biggest roadblocks facing a freelance writer who is
trying to break into the market are credits - or as many in
the business would call them - bylines. Many of you out there
just wanted to be a freelance writer but you have never been
published anywhere except your community newsletter. Well, funny
as it sounds, that's not a bad place to start. And that is where
I come to my first tip: To get a start, write for anyone. Of
course, exercise good judgement in deciding what you write, but
if you are serious about being a freelance writer, then it
almost doesn't really matter.

You can write for your church newsletter, the high school paper,
even a well written letter to the editor of your local newspaper
is a good clip to keep. When clips are hard to come by as a
novice freelance writer, then each one of these counts. Not only
that, but each time you write, you learn and you get better at
your craft.

As an example, I have been writing since I was 16-years-old. I
have written short stories, plays, essays, and even couple of
notebooks full of poetry. I never really tried to submit any of
it anywhere - always the fear of rejection to stop me (every
freelance writer has to deal with it, so get used to it early).
But, I learned how to write, and I kept on writing more. When I
got my first job as a reporter for a local newspaper, I did it
using my short stories and a couple of editorial pieces as my
portfolio, along with one magazine credit. I had no degree and I
had no post-secondary education whatsoever to fall back on. I
was as green as they get. But, I got the job. I had clips that
proved to publisher and editor that I could produce quality
writing.

I eventually made it to editor of that paper, and penned over
1,000 articles in two years. Now I have all of the clips that I
want. Not only that, but it was the springboard for me to make
the successful jump into freelance writing. As far as freelance
writing goes, I would have to say that I took the long way. But,
I wouldn't change anything. Earlier I eluded to the freelance
writing market for search engine articles, e-books, and there
are also web articles. In my freelance experience, these types
of assignments are two things: 1.) A dime a dozen, and 2.) Not
from major publications. You can find hundreds of people looking
for freelance writers, just because they can't write these
articles or e-books themselves. So, how can these assignments
help you break into the freelance writing market? Again it boils
down to credits. Sure, once you write one e-book you aren't
going to turn many heads. But, once you have written over 50
e-books like I have, people start to notice that you are a
capable freelance writer. The point here is, you can build your portfolio and you skills by doing work that isn't necessarily glamorous. The only downside is that these jobs typically don't
pay great wages.

For a freelance writer to make it today is a tad easier than it
was a decade ago. Anyone who does keyword assignments, web copy,
and short e-books calls themselves a freelance writer. And that
is perfectly OK - it gets you the freelance writing credits you
need to land the bigger assignments. Hopefully, they endeavor to
be more than a keyword lackey for the rest of their lives,
though. And most good freelance writers will rise above that in
their career. Keep writing!

Darren Krause has been writing for 16 years, with thousands of published credits - in print and online. His website - [http://www.imaginethiswriting.net] helps new authors with tips and insight into the world of freelance writing. His blog is also updated several times a week.

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

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