Real Words

I scan the Internet almost every day in search of new job leads. I like to see what’s out there and to dip my writing fingers into different waters as often as possible. However, I actually don’t apply to new jobs very often.

Some of the reasons that I typically don’t apply to a lot of jobs include:

• Most of them are low-paying. A lot of what’s actually advertised is either no-pay, revenue-only or low-paying work and I’m not at a stage in my freelance career where that’s what I’m looking for.
• Many of them are not for the writing that I do. I am a freelance writer with a diverse background and I’ve written lots of different types of stuff but these days I primarily stick to blogging for businesses. That’s what I most enjoy doing. As a result, I don’t tend to apply for jobs to write web content, ghostwrite ebooks or any of that stuff which severely limits the number of jobs that I’m interested in applying for.
• Many of them are one-time jobs. Occasionally I’ll take on a one-time writing gig if I think that it sounds interesting. For the most part, though, I like to apply to jobs that will provide a steady ongoing source of income. A lot of what’s advertised out there doesn’t fall into that category.
• I don’t bid on jobs. Many times I’ll follow an interesting job lead only to discover that it’s on a site like elance where you have to bid against others for the work. I used to do that and don’t find that it suits me very well. It’s great for many writers but it’s not an approach to finding work that works for me so I ignore those leads.

And then there are those ads that you look at and you just know that they are some sort of scam. Like this one on Craigslist right now. The link is surely going to get flagged soon so I’ll share with you what the ad is in full:

Wine gig for blogger: $10K/mo (financial district)

“Blogger to get $10K/mo for wine gig.” B at Market St/Hyatt SF 1130 am 4/28 Kiosk 2 beat pack
Compensation: $10K/mo for six months gig; housing included

I have to confess that I’m really curious to know what this is really all about. They’re offering you housing and ten grand a month do blog about wine. Obviously that’s not really true but there must be some reason that they want you to go to that kiosk. I’m curious as to what that reason is and what people are going to find when they get there. And I’m really curious to know if they are actually going to get anyone interested in whatever it is that they’re really offering.

Mostly I hate seeing ads that are clearly scams but sometimes it’s neat just because it gets your imagination going as to what they’re all about! There’s nothing wrong with a stirred imagination - especially when you’re a writer!