Real Words

There are many times in a freelance writer’s life when it becomes necessary to track down new work. Here are eighteen ways that you can start bringing in more freelance jobs today:

1. Check the classifieds. Craigslist is the best of the sites out there for daily advertisements by people seeking to hire freelancers. Be sure to check for telecommute writing positions in multiple cities and not just the ones posted on the Craigslist site for where you live. Other good sites include Performancing and Online Writing Jobs.
2. Check sites that offer job links. There are several sites that will troll through Craigslist and other advertisements for you and provide you with links to the good opportunities for freelance writing. Freelance Writing Jobs, Freelance Hub and Freelancing for Blogs are good places to check. There are also job links here on Real Words on Saturdays and Sundays.
3. Check the job boards of sites that advertise open postions for their own sites. For example, Word Press has listings when bloggers are needed for any Word Press blogs. Likewise with the Creative Weblogging blog network.
4. Advertise on your own blog or website that you’re available for work. Let people know what you’re seeking to do and provide them with links to relevant samples. If you don’t have a blog / website that gets noticed, you’ll want to get it some attention. Run a contest asking other bloggers to mention your site.
5. Advertise on writing job sites that you are available. You’re able to post your resume or write an ad that you’re available on numerous sites including Online Writing Jobs (see link above) and Blogger Jobs. Take advantage of that.
6. Get active in social networking. Make contact with people on sites like LinkedIn and let them know that you’re looking for new writing work.
7. Identify online sites that you would like to work for. Put together a great cover letter as to why you would want to work for them along with a sample of your writing ability. Contact the people who head the site with this information. They may not be hiring immediately but they’ll surely think of you when they are.
8. Cold call local businesses. Nobody likes cold calling but it can be a really effective way to start getting new writing work. When you’re in the famine time of the feast-and-famine freelance world, you should consider trying this out.
9. Put together a media kit and/or brochures and send them out to local businesses to advertise your writing skills and availability. This can be just as effective as cold calling and can be a lot less intimidating for most people.
10. Send out an email to all of your contacts. This can go out in the form of a general update about what’s going on with you but may briefly mention that you’re seeking work. Someone might bite or may at least point you in the right direction of new freelance work.
11. Add announcements on all of your social bookmarking sites (such as Mixx or Digg) that you’re always on the lookout for new work. Describe what type of writing you do and encourage people to get in touch with you if they know of availabilities.
12. Teach a class. This is a great way to earn money by doing something relevant to your writing and possibly get new writing work as well. Think of an aspect of the writing business that you know well enough to speak on. Hold a class (you can advertise locally and through sites like Craigslist) and charge a small fee for your efforts. At the end of the class, pass on your contact information and encourage anyone in the class that is seeking writing help to get in touch with you to discuss your rates. You may end up doing writing, editing or consulting as a result of this work - and if not, at least you have something new to add to your resume!
13. Drop a hello to previous clients. A simple “hey, how’s it going” can remind previous clients that you’re still around for work and may get them interested in hiring you for a new project.
14. Work on submissions to magazines and anthologies. There’s no guarantee that you’ll get paid for this work but it pays well if it pays off. And it’s better than doing nothing at all when you don’t have work flowing.
15. Write content articles for sites like HubPages. You can earn revenue for the articles that you write. On your profile, you should state that you’re seeking writing work. Make sure that the content you create is representative of the kind of work that you would do for your clients.
16. Ask other writers if they know of work that’s available. You should try to put together a social group of writing friends. That group can be through an online forum or a community networking event. Either way, you’ll have a group of people who will send work your way. Sure, they’ll keep the jobs they want but they may suggest jobs to you that don’t appeal to them (for example, if you do music journalism and a writer friend doesn’t, she might send a client who wants that your way.)
17. Circulate a press release. Come up with something stellar that you’ve done related to writing and write a professional press release about it. If you do a good job on the release, you’ll be proving that you’ve got what it takes to be a good writer and someone will likely take notice.
18. Offer to write for free. It’s not typically recommended that you write for free because it takes away from your other writing time. However, it’s better than not writing at all. If you’re in a position where there’s not a lot of work flow, volunteer to do some writing for your favorite charity. You help them out, you get a tax break, and you may find that it leads to a paying writing job with the place that you’ve volunteered.

The main thing that you should get out of this is that jobs come along when you put yourself out there. There’s always writing that can be done in order to secure new jobs down the line. Don’t get lazy and don’t burn bridges and you can make a career out of this type of work.

Question of the Day: What are some other ways to find freelance work that I’ve forgotten to include on this list?

[Tags] freelance, writing, jobs [/Tags]