Working as a Freelance writer has changed dramatically in the last 10 years. What use to be a season’s work of sending letters and making connections is now an afternoon’s work of putting out bids and spending the rest of the time working on paying projects. Markets have opened in hundreds of places as people begin to realize that they have access to creative and reliable sources of written content. The accessibility of professional writers for projects, has pushed the bar of what is the norm in word quality on websites, brochures and even sell sheets.

Finding markets on the Internet for Freelance work can be as easy as visiting yahoogroups, topica etc and join writing job newsletters and job boards.
Groups such as these allow you to find the latest highering trends:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/freelancewriters
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/workforwriters
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/webwritingbuzz
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WritersMailBox
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/writesuccess

While these types of places for writers, and about writers are definitely good sources to know about and participate in, the Internet also hosts several websites were you can find work directly from the clients. Sites such as these:

http://www.guru.com
http://www.writerfind.com (international)
http://www.freelanceworkexchange.com
http://www.freelancewriting.com
http://www.worldwidefreelance.com (international)
http://freelancewrite.about.com
http://www.burryman.com (click on the freelance job and non-fiction writing link)
http://www.writersweekly.com
http://www.smarterwork.com
http://www.writerswrite.com
http://www.elance.com
http://www.travelwriters.com (for travel writers)

These websites have been around for a while, they survived the dot.com bust, and remained separated entities. I’m positive that this list is much longer than you will need to find steady work as a freelance writers if that is what you are looking for.

Now that you have support groups, and places to find work, the next step is to get out there and get some projects. Over the next few days I’ll be posting hints and methods of finding the right jobs, making the bids, selling yourself, creating portfolios and dealing with clients. But don’t sit around waiting for me, get out there and give it a go; worst that can happen is you discover for yourself a few things that don’t work. As long as you are professional, and treat your clients in a professional way, very little can go wrong.

Posted by Glenn Hefley in Freelance Writer