Love your posts!

Laverne

Karen, keep trying. It really is competitive. A client who recently hired me to write his legal blog (in a very specific niche not many writers, let alone bloggers, seem to be covering), and he told me he got over 100 responses via one craigslist ad in a small city. When Deb was kind enough to post my recent blogging gig here, I got 50+ responses within the first hour (and that was at about 9pm my time). I got another 50 or more the next day even after I left a comment that the positions had been filled. And that was just from this blog. My point is, there are a LOT of people out there looking for blogging jobs. One thing I can’t stress enough is make your subject line stand out. Most people won’t even click on your response otherwise; they get too many to read them all.

You know me — anything I can do that allows me to make as much as (or more than) I did when I was in corporate American PLUS gives me the flexibility to head off to the park with my son at a moment’s notice is awesome.

Blogging. Freelance writing. Ghost writing. Editing. You name it. Quite honestly, I appreciate the flexibility and diversity of every form of writing. And I can’t say that I find one to be more fulfilling than any other.

Great post!

Blogging definitely has it´s pros and cons. I don´t like the daily work aspect, but the guy I work for insists that the writers don´t post ahead (something about the posts being pinged immediately, though they aren´t published), but on my own blogs, I do post ahead. Getting that chunk of change on a regular basis is nice though, something that most freelancers can´t rely on! A regular paycheck makes it easier to budget, too.

Karen-bob ~ I agree with everything you said. I will still cover blog jobs later because your original question is a good one.

Amanda ~ Thanks! what a nice comment. Blogging is a whole different writing form; I’m drawn to it and am glad others are too. Good luck finding gigs.

Karen-bob

Liz ~ Your story sounds a lot like mine. I don’t think you can post ahead in blogger. I only have one blogger blog and I don’t do that one for money so I’m not sure. But I know that’s been a major issue in the past for people. Maybe it’s changed. If I was less lazy I suppose I could go look.

Woolgatherings ~ Good luck grabbing that feature article. That is a huge thrill. My first magazine article ever published was a feature so it was overwhelming but in a good way. I remember that I bought the store out of my issue and the clerk was looking at me like, “What is wrong with you?”

Wendy ~ You say, “if it’s the right topic, it’s fun… so you don’t have as much of the risk of getting burned out.” This is a very good point. If you have a niche blog that you don’t enjoy it makes work a lot harder. Although sometimes those topics pay the bills. You would not believe some of the topics I’ve blogged about. However, I think blogging about topics you actually like is smarter.

You also said, “since I can write off the top of my head about a lot of what I’m blogging about, it’s not as research intensive as writing an article.” I don’t completely agree with this. I may have before I had nine blogs but now I’d say that blogging is as research intensive – if not more so than articles. A couple of my topics require a ton of research so it really depends on what you blog about. Also, the hard part about blogs for me is to try and research ahead of other bloggers. You want to be the first to break a story in your niche which requires almost daily research of some kind. Good luck heading down the blogging route.

Deb ~ bloggers like you who note, “blogging is more lucrative than more traditional writing.” Was one reason I felt comfortable making the switch to FT blogging. I think it’s more possible to make a living blogging than some people imagine. I just think it takes longer for some of us to back to our regular rates; especially if you were originally making $2 a word before. Patience is a virtue in blogging. And good point about having one or two high paying clients. I’m working on that second one.

Mariella ~ No worries about the name. I should have put my name at the top. I work for one place that wants 5 posts a day and I do that by choice at another blog. I write in advance but never for a whole month. It’s a good idea if you want a vacation though. Another option is to get some people you trust to do some guest posting while you’re gone.

I started my own blog as well which is only now starting to create income (someone approached me to advertise on it) so I’m all for blogging.

Mariella, I took a month off a little while ago and before I left, posted a months worth of posts for my blog..(word press)..it worked like a charm. Granted you can’t post up to date news information, but you can still post. Haven’t worked out how you can do that on Blogger.com though.

Jennifer, look forward to your weekly posts.

Cheers from New Zealand
Liz

Karen

I think my only gripe would be that I have to work every day. I’m used to working non-stop for days at a time and then taking a break for one whole week the next. Ever since I started blogging, I haven’t had a whole day’s off yet.

I’m going on a vacation on December and I plan to write one whole month of entries early into the month. Don’t know if it’ll work, but I desperately need rest.

What do you think, Deb? Have you every done something similar before?

Jennifer pointed out another key difference between blogging and writing – when you blog you work just about every day depending on your agreement. Sometimes this can be tedious. I did learn one thing – turn down people who expect you to have no life. I worked for a place that expected 30 articles…er blog posts a week. That was a little unrealistic and I turned them down.

My favorite aspect of blogging (besides my paychecks!) is the social networking. I met some great people and made important contacts through social networking. And I continue to meet great people!

Great post, Jennifer.