The Writing Jobs

So you want to start writing full time, but for one reason or another you're stuck at home and can't really get out. Can you make it? The good news is yes, you can. There are enough resources online to make a full time living writing. It's not easy, but it is definitely doable!

The web site that started me off from taking freelancing from a side income to a full time income was Guru.com. Guru and Elance are considered the two best auction based web sites for freelancers. These are sites where employers get to post descriptions of their projects for free, and freelancers are allowed to bid on them.

Two absolutely essential pieces of advice if you are looking to build up a freelance reputation on Guru:

1) Buy a year long subscription. Last I checked it was somewhere around $150, and it is cheaper than going month to month and is well worth the cost. One good job, or even six minimum wage jobs (the least a person can bid is $25--that's always the absolute minimum you will earn)covers the subscription easily!

2) Have patience! If you're starting out it takes time. Think about it from an employer's point of view: you have two bids, one person has ten jobs in his/her history and $1,000 in earnings with a five star rating, the other has no background. Which would you choose?

It takes time, but look at any ad that says "new writers welcome" or "SEO," or look for jobs that are ridiculously cheap. I would never again write ten 500 word articles for $30, but to get that initial positive feedback and job under my belt, I would to get going. And early on, every dollar counts.

Elance is said to have a higher ceiling than Guru, meaning that while it's extremely difficult to make a living wage just off of Guru, there are many authors who do so off of Elance now. That may be true, but Elance's minimum fee is $50, and I've noticed that it's harder to get started there. Guru is more open to new writers.

In addition, in the two years I worked on Guru, the number of jobs and amount of money paid to authors went up dramatically. It is far easier and more likely to make a full time living off Guru now than in early 2005, as outsourching continues to make Guru grow. This means that as the site continues to grow, it's not impossible to make a comfortable living, either.

At one point I was doing over $2,000 a month in jobs, 60 hours a week in work, and I was turning down any job that didn't pay over $12 an hour. I turned down repeat work, as well, so the markets are definitely improving.

I still recommend Guru over Elance, especially getting started. I've found the percentage cut that they take to be far less than what Elance takes as a cut (it's always a minimum of $10), while Guru is 8% with no minimum.

A writer who really wants to build up can get accounts with both, which is something I've done. If you want to go beyond casual, this is a great place to start, and it will even save your query letter formats to make it easier to apply for a lot of jobs and to sharpen your skills.

http://www.squidoo.com/howtobeafreelancewriter