Comments on: Freelance Writing Jobs for Thursday, April 10, 2008

By: Erika Dillman

Erika Dillman — Sat, 10 May 2008 01:50:29 +0000

Hello, I’m writing to let you know about our travel essay contest. Will you help us get the word out? If you could announce the info below on your site (and/or in a newsletter if you have one), we’d really appreciate it. We’re excited about our contest and want to reach as many outdoor adventurers, stewards, and travelers as possible. Thanks.

Travel Essay Contest

Calling all travel writers: FitnessTravelGear is looking for inspiring, amusing, informative stories about your outdoor and travel adventures. We want to hear about hiking trips, epic rides, eco resorts, rafting outings, volunteer travel, and more. Win lots of fancy outdoor gear from Outdoor Research, Steripen, Keen, Crumpler, Vasque, Teva, SIGG, Osprey, Pacsafe, Shred Alert, and McNett. Submissions due July 15, 2008. See contest details at http://www.fitnesstravelgear.com/contest.html.

(Please do not include my personal info below. Thanks.)

Thanks,
Erika

By: Bill

Bill — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 17:55:31 +0000

I’ve never run across such a stipulation as the one posted in d/visibile’s ad. It states that you must write a second article for them within 30 days of the first or not be paid for the first – if I’m reading it right. Can anyone think of a valid business reason why a publication might have such a policy?

By: Fiona

Fiona — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 12:34:39 +0000

Ann – that’s odd because I have the free Guru account and get emails about jobs all over the world. The regular client I’ve gained is in Canada.

By: Ann G.

Ann G. — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 12:32:27 +0000

@AW- Thanks for the info. I still opted out. I’m not willing to send that much personal information to a company I don’t personally know. I’m still trying to get a new debit card following the Hannaford deal. Our credit card was affected and won’t be here for another three weeks we’ve been told. The bank we use for debit cards is saying it will be another 4 weeks, and I’m going on vacation in one, so we’re going to have to carry more cash than I’m normally comfortable carrying in this case.

@Erika K – I even emailed Guru about the lack of jobs. What I was told is that if you have a free account, you only qualify to take jobs in your “region” and in VT there are no writing jobs to be had, so there is no way I can take work without becoming a paying member. I don’t think that practice is fair!

By: Diana

Diana — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 05:51:00 +0000

About the d/visible job. They pay $40 per article ONLY if they accept more than 2 articles from you within 30 days. If they only accept one or if there’s more than 30 days between the acceptance of the articles, you don’t get pay anything.

By: AW

AW — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 21:26:18 +0000

I just wanted to mention about Writers Research Group, it’s true they ask for bank information, but they’re totally legit. They’re a nice bunch of gals to work for.

The problem I had with payment (at least on the project I worked on) was that I had to wait close to 60 days to get paid (it was in the contract). Since there was a break in the work flow, that happened twice! That may not be true for the projects they’re advertising now, but I don’t think this is standard practice so I wanted to point that out.

By: Violette

Violette — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 20:31:57 +0000

I’m a paid member of Guru, for writers there are over 600 jobs available. I tried it since I was just starting out freelancing last fall. Before I signed up, I did find the free membership useless. You could look at all the jobs but I never found anything I could apply for.

I’ve had enough success that I’ve more than paid for the yearly membership; and have gotten a handleful of repeat customers. Of course since it is global you’ll see the weekly add from Thailand, write web content for $2 crap, but some good customers still show up.

I don’t know if I’ll sign up again as I’m finding other things here and there, but I’d consider it since it does pay for itself.

By: becky

becky — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 17:41:18 +0000

I had a free membership to Guru for a while and saw plenty of things available, but not a lot I wanted to bid on. I used the money from one gig to pay for a year’s membership, figuring that it’s a biz expense anyway. There’s a lot of SEO work, but it’s not great pay. It’s a lot of work to scroll through, look for stuff, write a proposal and bid. It could be worth it, but not a lot of it has worked out for me. The jury’s still out.

By: Cesar

Cesar — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 17:25:09 +0000

These are great leads, except I have a hard time getting considered because I am just starting out as a freelance writer. Aside from my own personal site, I haven’t been able to find any writing positions that allow me to get some writing experience. If possible, could some leads be for new writers trying to break into the business?

By: Erika K

Erika K — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 16:16:23 +0000

@ Ann G

I’ve done the whole “cumbersome form” thing with Guru, too. I’ve even emailed them about when new projects are coming available and their reply was that “new projects are coming in all the time.”

For a while last year, I did see a few come in per month. Now when I look, it’s the same stuff that was there last fall. What’s up with that?