Comments on: Freelance Writing Jobs for Friday, February 22, 2008

By: Erika Krull

Erika Krull — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 16:44:07 +0000

@ Sonya,

Yeah, if they don’t have the ability, time, or consciencious mindset to write a decently constructed ad (that would take about 30 seconds to proofread and edit)…..that’s a red flag right there!

By: Sonya

Sonya — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 00:14:57 +0000

I’ve found some good stuff on Online Writing Jobs, although you do need to dig around, but, yeah, that $700 gig looks skeevy. I tend to not trust a writing job listing with blatent spelling and capitalization mistakes, ya know?

By: Shell

Shell — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 21:49:07 +0000

Clark – if you apply for a gig where you can produce the required amount of published pieces then that’s great. However, if there is a shortage then send unpublished work. Some companies request published clips only, others aren’t so choosy but just require proof of your solid writing skills.

If you don’t have the required samples then include some relevant college material. Especially work that got you some great credit.

Lastly, PDFs are quite cool but try to stick to the tried and trusted. If they request PDF files then by all means attach them. Some companies won’t accept attachments, in that case, you will need to copy your work from your original document, paste it into Notepad and then copy, and paste into the body of the email. To make it ASCII (email compliant). Always spell check thoroughly before placing work into Notepad. Also read through all work carefully, since spell checkers are not always reliable.

By: Erika Krull

Erika Krull — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 20:27:41 +0000

I’ve only had that happen a couple of times, and I’ve applied to several craigslist postings. I assumed it was because the post was actually too old or a mistake.

By: Amanda

Amanda — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 20:25:14 +0000

Is it just me, or does anyone else receive a “Mail Delivery Failed” message EVERY single time they reply to a Craigslist posting? Is it me or my email settings?

By: clark

clark — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 19:29:28 +0000

oh yeah, anyone with answers to these ?’s feel free to email timbus23@hotmail.com

By: clark

clark — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 19:27:41 +0000

random question for all the writing pros out there. is it unprofessional to include an unpublished piece along with a few published pieces as writing samples in an email? are pdf’s cool? and as i’m recently out of college is it reasonable to include a solid paper or story from college? thanks.

By: Kris

Kris — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 17:45:49 +0000

Erika… from my experience, that site is noted for job posters that make extreme demands for little pay… lots of jobs for $1.00-1.50 for a 500 word article and a “take it or leave it” attitude. They seem to know where to find desperate people.

By: Erika Krull

Erika Krull — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 17:35:22 +0000

I’ll bet no one ever makes it for the whole month!

By: Erin

Erin — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 17:32:01 +0000

Erika is right, the $700 job is a “stay away.” I got the same kind of response and mine said that I had a few hours to write a “sample” article for him and that if I couldn’t give a quality article within those few hours then I obviously wasn’t right for the job and not to bother. As I was already swamped, I just deleted it.