Daily Writing Jobs

I’ve received maybe 30 emails from individuals since I’ve setup this website (yea, I know – not a lot) seeking some help in terms of finding writing jobs that will pay them.  Some of them are well-qualified, though some are not.  Not that this makes an ounce of difference online because anybody who can write at an eighth or ninth grade level can make money on the internet as a writer.  Shoot, I’ve seen projects that people actually paid for that look like they were written with spaghetti noodles on a wet napkin after going through the washing machine.  A real mess.

I’m sure that there are some writers who get paid who write at a sixth grade level, but when you start going down that low, you’re really getting into iffy territory.  Sure, I’ve seen some writing samples from foreign writers who look to write at a fourth grade level – but they don’t really get to take on too many paid writing jobs. And when they do, they aren’t making much money by USA, UK, Canada, Australia, etc. standards.

In any case – there is a common theme with these emails that I am getting, and it’s really troubling.  While one thing that bothers me is that all of these writers want my help, but they’re not even going to consider purchasing my report – they want me to essentially give them all the answers for free.  Now, this is somewhat bothersome, but not really the most troubling aspect:

The majority of these writers expect customers to find them, or magically “choose” them for their writing projects. I’ll lay this as straight as possible so that there is no misunderstanding and no ambiguity:

When you are starting out in the online writing field – you must go to potential customers.  Find out where they congregate, place your ad and your writing samples in front of them, be available if they choose to contact you and do it all over again tomorrow.

I’ll admit – for a self-taught writer, I’m very, very capable and produce excellent work.  Now, these pieces on this blog are far from perfect – they’re 5 minute pieces that I throw together for varying reasons. However, even though my clients describe my work as “excellent”, “perfect”, and some describe me as “the best”, that doesn’t mean that I didn’t start out doing the legwork trying to find clients.

Back when I started a couple of years back – I was busting my chops responding to ads, placing ads and trying to look for work.  People didn’t come looking for me back then – I had to go to them.  I started out at around $7 per article and in a few short weeks rose up in ranks to about $15 per article because apparently I had the natural ability to write.  Maybe you’re not a natural writer, and maybe you’re an excellent writer who could easily command $100 per 400 word article if you only had clients.

The problem is, though, that you do not have clients.  You do not have a reputation and you have not branded yourself to the point that your name is synonymous with the phrase “excellent writer” or “affordable writer” or “mediocre writer”.

Here is a quick and dirty “get-started” guide for new writers (new to the online world of writing, regardless of offline experience):

1. Get writing samples.  If you’re new – you want every job you can get, chances are.  Do not show off less than your best work.  Once you establish yourself and have a reputation, personally I think that this rule is much less important.  If you do not have paid clients, write something up in the field where you will be looking for work.  If you want to write articles for money, write up articles.  If you want to write press releases, write press releases.  If you want to write technical pieces for the security industry – write up samples in that area.

2. Get your stuff together.  Figure out how much you want to be paid, figure out how you will collect payment, figure out if you want a down payment (you should not expect to get 100% prepayment in all cases as a new writer), and if so – how the payment arrangements will work. Basically, you want it to look like you know what you’re doing regardless of the truth of the situation.

3. Find out where your potential clients are. Now, I will admit that this point is probably more difficult for those inexperienced in this field, but this is exactly why I put together the  Daily Writing Jobs report – to show writers where potential clients are congregating.  If you’re new, clients will not come to you – you have to go to them.

4. Get your offer in front of your potential writing clients. This means you must respond to ads and place ads yourself.  If you’re a decent writer, getting established may take a few projects – if you’re an “ok” writer, but not really all that great, it’ll take a bit longer to establish yourself – but there are crappy writers bringing in $50 – $200 every single day by putting in a full day’s work. If crappy writers are making a full-time living in the online writing field, you have to wonder why you can’t even land a single writing gig.  This tip will set you free if you have the dedication to follow through with it.

5. Continually better yourself. I’ll be honest – I still do not know what an ‘adverb’ or a ‘reflexive pronoun’ is – but I still make, on average, $30+ per hour working part time.  The only thing going for me is that I have the natural ability to write in a decent manner, but I’ve absolutely picked up on a few things over the last couple of years that have helped me to better myself in this field.  Plus, the content that I write for SEO purposes does really well in search engines – so that adds a lot of credibility to my service as well.  This article isn’t about me, though – so continually work to improve where you are lacking.

Hopefully this post will help new writers out.  If you’re serious about moving into the online writing field and you want some real help – I suggest that you pickup my report.  In the next day or so, the price will go down to under $10 for the report itself, and for an extra fee I’ll even give you one-on-one support.

If you’re completely lost and you want some mentoring in this field, feel free to contact me and we can discuss this possibility.  Mentoring will not be cheap and I do not guarantee that you will be a good candidate right off the bat (If you’re a poor writer, I’ll have you polish up your skills before I’ll consider this) – but it’s an option for those of you who are interested.

That’s it for today – I suggest you take my little list here to heart, and really work on the things that I’ve mentioned.  There are so many writing jobs available today and there are so many terrible writers getting paid while decent writers struggle to find any writing jobs… you can get paid to write online – but you can’t expect others to come looking for you when you’re first starting out – you have to go to them.