Freelance Writing Jobs

Work at Home Idea: Learn How to Be A Freelance Writer

For those who are looking for something with a more flexible schedule; freelance writing is an excellent way to provide you with that. This type of job can have grueling deadlines to meet, but you usually don’t have a set time schedule to stick by, like you would with a 9-5 job.

Where to find Freelance writing jobs:

Some of these jobs can be found on the more popular online job boards, but typically writers use the bidding sites like Guru.com or Elance. While these sites have paid memberships, you can use some of the free membership packages to get you started. Some of these sites ask for a fee for providing you with this service, which is taken out of your earnings after you complete a project.

Skills you Need:

A freelance writer should possess knowledge of the English language and have good spelling and grammar skills. Another important skill you should have is being able to proofread your work or at least have someone available to proofread it for you.

While it isn’t necessary to have a college degree in English literature to do freelance writing, you should have a good understanding of how writing structure works. This would include how to come up with a title for your piece, Introduction, points to support what the piece is about and a conclusion. All parts need to be able to flow together well in order to write a good article or piece.

Good researching skills will be a must. Every piece of work you will be asked to do will require some type of researching for pertinent and factual information. Providing false facts will only hurt your chances for more work in the future.

Tools you need:

A freelance writer should have a good computer with a high speed internet connection. The computer should have word processing software as well as good virus/spyware/firewall software programs for internet surfing protection. A printer may be handy to print out your projects for better proofreading.

More handy tools to have by your computer are a dictionary and a thesaurus. While these tools can be used on online sites, it’s still much faster and easier to use the printed book versions in most cases. You should also have some notebooks and pens handy for jotting down quick notes before writing articles.

How much money can you make?

Usually, freelance writers are paid per project that they do. Articles can bring in anywhere from $8-$20, while eBooks can bring in $15-$20 a page. This also depends on your experience as a writer or in a particular field that you’re writing about, like financial writing. Some will get paid per hour rates, such as $20-$50 an hour.