Let's face it, finding jobs as a freelance writer can be tough. But there are jobs out there, if you know how to find them.
I am a writer, and I have been where you are now. But I am also a researcher, it's in my nature and in my training as a scientist. So, when I was looking for jobs, I did my research, looking for anywhere and everywhere that writing jobs could be found.
I looked at forums, jobs boards and specialist writers' sites. I tried them out, wrote them up and filed them away. Now, for the first time, I am going to share the information I have gleaned with you and here you will find the best of all the job boards where authors and writers can find work.
As well as descriptions of each site and what you can expect there, I've also tried to give some information on the quality of jobs posted and the frequency with which those jobs are updated.
FreelanceWritingGigs is one of the best websites out there for freelance writers. It is a general writing site where writing resources and guides are added almost daily. It also has a 'writing gigs' category that regularly features jobs from various job boards.
This is updated daily and most of the jobs are well-paying. However, quite a few of the jobs posted are taken directly from Craigslist.
2. Freelance Writer's Den Junk-free Job Board
This has to be one of the best of all the available writers' job sites. The site and the jobs board was created by Carol Tice and each job is vetted to remove the junk and low-paying jobs. This means that the job quality here is very high and it's updated just about every day.
There is one drawback, in that membership is $25 per month. But for the lack of spam and low-quality jobs this is worth paying. The fee also means that you tend to have only serious writers here, so your chance of actually getting a job is much higher.
Carol is a serious writer who maintains that no writer should be paid less than $50 per article and this is a rule she applies to the board. So you get much better paying jobs here as well.
I am a member of this site myself, and I get a significant portion of my earnings from this site.
3. FreelanceSwitch Jobs Board
The FreelanceSwitch site has to be one of the most popular freelance writers' site on the internet. The jobs board is also very popular. It's mostly aimed at programmers and developers, but there are a large number of writing jobs posted.
There are a number of resources available, like an hourly rate calculator and eBooks. You can even subscribe to the jobs RSS feed. However, one drawback is that need to pay $7 just to apply for a job.
The jobs and pay rates are excellent, but new jobs are not posted very frequently.
4. Krop Jobs Board
Though mainly aimed at web designers and programmers, there are a number of writing jobs on here. The jobs are all of good quality, but are not updated that frequently.
There is an excellent search engine and you can find writer-related keywords using search terms like: "writer", "copywriter", "content writer", "article", "freelance writer", "technical writer" etc.
You can also subscribe to the jobs via email, based on the keyword searches so that you only get notified of articles that are potentially of interest to you.
5. Sologigs Jobs Board
This is a jobs board for professionals. However, there is a writer-related category. This is a very active jobs board with a lot of offers.
Most of the offers aren't bad, but you will have to weed out a few silly ones before applying.
6. WritingCareer Jobs
This is updated very frequently, but a lot of the jobs are taken from other freelance bidding sites. This means that there is a whole range of pricing, some of them being silly.
You will need to do quite a bit of digging, but there are a few quality jobs available as long as you did hard enough.
7. SimplyHired
This is a general freelance directory that has a writing section. Writer jobs are only added occasionally, but the jobs that do come up are of high quality.
There is a comprehensive search system and an alerting system. So you an sign-up and then set up an alert when a job that might interest you comes along.
8. FlexJobs Writer Jobs
This is a premium jobs board that offers professional jobs. They are updated very frequently and there are plenty of offers.
It is a paid-for jobs board, however, and you will be required to pay a monthly fee of about $5 before you can apply for jobs.
There are lots of jobs here and they cater to most specialities.
9. FreelanceWriting.com
This is another quality site with lots of freelance writing jobs. The jobs pay well and are updated every Tuesday. Either visit the site every Tuesday to look at the new jobs. Or, more conveniently, subscribe to the newsletter and get the jobs postings delivered straight to your inbox.
Job offers on this board invariably pay well.
10. Whisperjobs
There are lots of jobs which are updated frequently. However, quality can be very variable and you should be careful which jobs you are applying to, so that you are not under-paid.
11. Freelancer.com
Freelancer is a general freelance site. Jobs are updated very frequently (sometimes by the minute). The sign-up process is lengthy and you have a limited number of jobs you can apply to each month (unless you upgrade your account by paying).
Jobs can be very variable, from the high-quality to the poorly paying and there is a bidding process that typically lasts a week.
12. ProBlogger Jobs Board
If you are a blogger then the problogger jobs board is one of the best sources of employment. New jobs are added regularly (typically 1 new job a day).
The majority of the jobs are blog related, but you do get more general writing jobs appearing every now and then. Most pay rates are reasonable. But, like all general jobs boards you will see some people offering little or nothing for jobs.
13. JournalismJobs.com
This is a freelance job board that mainly caters for journalistic-style work, but which also a number of quality general writing jobs.
Unfortunately, the jobs are buried within the site. It's best to use the search function to find them.
14. BloggingPro Jobs Board
This is very similar to the ProBlogger board mentioned above, but with more general writing jobs. Pay typically isn't that bad (depending on skills, of course).
15. VirtualVocations.com Job Board
Whilst not as sophisticated as the other jobs boards listed above, it does contain a lot of offers. It might take a while for you to find exactly what best suits you, but the jobs are there.
Be Realistic
Applying for jobs on the boards above is a great move towards increasing your income. However, you really should understand that applying for a job is no guarantee of acceptance.
The boards are very popular as it is, and you are probably reading this post along with thousands of other people. The secret to getting a good offer is to apply to as many of the jobs on the board above as you think you're qualified for.
Like everything in this life, you have to put the effort into the jobs boards to get results.
If you know of any other jobs boards, then please use the comment system below to bring them to others' attention.
Quite a lot of effort has gone into producing this article, please help spread the word about it by posting to Google+, Facebook and Twitter. This ensures that more people benefit from it and it helps to motivate me to write more content.
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