You can help others and get paid for it! You can help students’ complete academic papers.
You can help inexperienced writers get their work into print and prepared for publication.
You can provide useful content that can help others understand how things work.
Freelance writing work is fairly easy to find online. Although there are many legitimate clients and websites out there, there are also scam artists who take advantage of a writer's desire to find work. To avoid these frauds, writers should use the following tips.
There are several different bidding sites available. On the site, a client posts their job description and waits for writers to bid on it. In general, these sites are good sources of jobs. Since former writers can provide client feedback, it is easier to judge a client's track record. Writers should look at the amount a client has spent, their job history and their feedback before they bid on a project. If the client has not had any jobs, the writer should be exceptionally wary.
A vague job description does not mean that the client is a fraud. It does mean that the writer can expect problems with the client. An open-ended job description is a sign that the client does not actually know what they want. For the writer, this means more revisions and an upset client. When bidding on a vague project description, the writer is taking a huge chance. The project could end up being longer and more in-depth than the writer expected. If this is the case, the writer ends up working more for the same level of pay.
A client should never ask for an unpaid writing sample. The writer can submit examples of their work, and this is a normal part of the writing industry. If the client asks for a specific topic with a unique word count, the writer should avoid them completely. Most likely, the client asked for a sample from the other 30 writers that applied. Depending on the size of the project, the client could use these samples instead of actually hiring someone to do the work. The only time the writer should provide a custom sample is when the client is willing to pay for it.
There are certainly clients who legitimately have ongoing work. Unfortunately, this a common tactic among questionable clients. They ask for bottom-of-the-barrel bids in return for promises of future work or a future raise. Even if the client offers plenty of work, it needs to be at an hourly wage that actually compensates the writer for their time.
If it sounds too good to be true, it is. A project that involves writing reviews or testimonials will never earn a writer thousands of dollars in a week. Be wary of any project that offers unbelievable pay rates.
There are so many clients in need of writers it is ridiculous for any writer to say they cannot get work. You need to study the market carefully and know what to say when approaching potential clients.