Freelance Writing

[DuckMom]

I am wondering if anyone has any advice/experience on different freelance writing websites. I had been doing a decent amount of work for our local newspaper, but they just announced they are cutting back on the actual print copy of the paper and adding to the website content with syndicated features/wire stories, etc. I enjoyed having the extra money for things like vacations and I was still able to make my own schedule and work around my kids needs. I have also written for Demand Studios, but in my recent absence, things seem to have really fallen apart there.

With Christmas coming up, I would love to have a new income stream and would greatly appreciate any and all suggestions or ideas. I am also thinking about looking into being a Disney travel specialist (which I mentioned in another thread), but I don't want to fully abandon writing either.

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

[dothy28]

You should work on to another craft, but balance it with your passion - writing. Everything in this world is worth to write, so maybe if you are working into another type of job, you'll be able to write your experiences to your writing. Or shall I say, can share other's life experiences from your own topic.

 

[msmama]

In my experience, trying to succeed in freelancing takes about 99% of work actually finding work and the other 1% actually working. While I love it, I started to find that it wasn't worth what I was making (spending 10-20 hours finding one job that would pay peanuts).

My guess is that you'll have the most luck with connections you know from your newspaper gig.

That said, I use this sometimes (I have no idea the value of any of these websites, it's just a list I've seen): http://freelancewriterroad.com/list-of-companies-that-hire-freelance-writers/

 

[Narnia_girl]

In my experience, trying to succeed in freelancing takes about 99% of work actually finding work and the other 1% actually working. While I love it, I started to find that it wasn't worth what I was making (spending 10-20 hours finding one job that would pay peanuts).

My guess is that you'll have the most luck with connections you know from your newspaper gig.

That said, I use this sometimes (I have no idea the value of any of these websites, it's just a list I've seen): http://freelancewriterroad.com/list-of-companies-that-hire-freelance-writers/

I agree that searching for the jobs is often the hard/long part. I recently stopped doing my part-time/freelance gig at a newspaper because the pay was not worth my effort. If you are willing to write press releases you can probably make more money working for a business vs. writing for a newspaper. After I quit news writing I took a p/t job writing press releases for our local symphony orchestra. Same work as I did the paper only I don't get a byline now, but I make twice as much money. I've also written/edited local company newsletters and made good money doing that.

 

[Gracie09]

the op was in 2011. I hope she has found something.

#zombiethread

 

[msmama]

the op was in 2011. I hope she has found something.

#zombiethread

Uh!! I hate when that happens!! Why does that happen?

 

[Colleen27]

It happens when a spammer posts to the thread, bringing it to the front page. Then the spam post is caught and deleted by a moderator, leaving a zombie thread bumped for no real reason.

 

[Narnia_girl]

Oh bother! I thought someone updated it because they were interested in ideas.