Comments on: Freelance Writing Jobs for October 20, 2008

By: Annie

Annie — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 13:38:00 +0000

@Kendra: I just popped down to comments to see if anyone else had noticed the pay rate on that particular posting. Sheesh. Notice how it’s still “an excellent opportunity” though I guess they’re being literal when they say “you can earn a LITTLE extra cash.” Yeah. Thanks. Think I’ll pass on that excellent opportunity.

Jodee, I love the categories too. Thanks for putting them into order for us. I need all the help I can get in the early morning find-a-job hours.

By: Louise

Louise — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 08:00:15 +0000

I also appreciate the categories of jobs. Looking for leads is easier. Thank you.

By: Kara

Kara — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 03:46:11 +0000

Jodee,
I wanted to pitch in my thanks as well. I always enjoy your lists and this one gave me quite a few opportunities to think about-already applied for one!

By: Kendra

Kendra — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 02:42:36 +0000

I, too, LOVE the categorization. Thank you for all of your extra work on that!

_______

On a side note, anyone else notice the rate of pay for the “Researcher and Writer Needed for Project Work” job?

“Work is assigned on a monthly basis and weekly hours vary between 10 – 20 hours depending on the assignment and the individual. Type of work is usually academic.”

Compensation is a flat $200 per month. Yikes. Do the math on that!

By: Christy

Christy — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 18:49:48 +0000

Phil,

I agree with a 15-20 hours a week minimum (although you can get away with slacking a bit on any given week) with all of the things you need to do. Also, the $725 is the stipend for the first two years. It drops to $500 after that. We are actually paid a base rate per 1000 pvs plus a bonus for year-over-year growth. The bonus is where most Guides make their money. If your site doesn’t hit $725, you get the stipend instead. If it goes over, you get whatever you get.

I think the per hour rate in the first year or so is going to be low. Much like anything else on the web, it’s an investment. I don’t know how much long-term Guides are making, but I think that those with reasonably established sites are making a solid full-time income for less than full-time work.

Lastly, the requirement for first-year Guides is 1 piece of content a week, plus a couple of blogs, forum moderation (usually not a problem in your first year) and various other things. According to the powers that be, the most successful Guides are putting up 20 pieces of content (not including blogs) a month.

=},
Christy
P.S. I don’t think most sites require a video camera.

By: Anne

Anne — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 18:49:05 +0000

Jodee,

Thanks so much for the categorizations — it made this morning’s look go ever so much more efficiently.

By: Genesis

Genesis — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 18:09:14 +0000

Love the breakdown, that makes it real easy to pick out the jobs I`m interested in. Thanks for that. There are some good ones in there.

As for the About.com jobs, I`ve applied before and had the same issue as Ann G. They never replied, so I have no idea if it`s actually worth applying. Lots of other great jobs, though today!

By: Jodee

Jodee — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 17:49:17 +0000

You guys are most welcome.

@ Patrice: Putting the leads in categories doesn’t take a lot of time. It does have me from having to type “On Site” or “Telecommute” several times, though! I do care about the readers that visit here and I want to give you guys what you want.

By: Robert

Robert — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 17:39:43 +0000

Thanks for breaking down the sites by job type. Very helpful. I RSS your site and always look for it above the other freelance sites. Thanks again!

By: RobinMarie

RobinMarie — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 17:25:22 +0000

Thanks for the categorization, Jodee, that’s really helpful!

By: JK

JK — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 16:27:07 +0000

Another thank you for the categories – very useful for those of us outside the US who can’t do the onsite stuff.

By: Anna

Anna — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 15:37:44 +0000

Loved the categorization, it was very helpful! Thanks, Jodee!

By: Brandi

Brandi — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 15:36:38 +0000

Phil, 20 hours a week is the figure I hear used most often, but in general, I think the requirement is to write at least 1 article a week (and maybe 1-2 blog posts). Plus you interact with your community. There are some sites on there that I feel probably do have 20 hours a week of work but others that aren’t updated with information that took that long to piece together. I suppose it depends largely on your cache of information and sources, too.

By: Rachel

Rachel — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 15:35:00 +0000

@Ann G — I just bought something called “digital movie creator 2.0″ from Babies R Us for $30, down from $100. It records up to 4 minutes of audio/video at a time and hooks up to a Windows XP or less machine (which is probably why it’s on sale). At which point you can do an assortment of editing procedures (like, I assume, tying together several strings of 4 minute video segments). It comes with the software, but I suspect I’ll end up downloading some freeware.

I was looking for some sort of video recorder/camcorder for my almost six-year-old nephew. This got good reviews from teachers who used it in classes with older kids. I went with something else for the nephew, but picked this up for myself because, well, $30.

By: Michelle Kafka

Michelle Kafka — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 15:13:11 +0000

Great list again thanks.

By: Mel

Mel — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 15:00:29 +0000

Another fabulous list, Jodee! Thank you.

By: Kenna

Kenna — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 14:20:48 +0000

Nice list, thanks.

By: Stacy

Stacy — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 13:33:20 +0000

Oops! Guess links aren’t allowed in the body of the comment. I linked the URL to my name instead. hth

By: Stacy

Stacy — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 13:30:39 +0000

Thanks for the leads, Jodee! And the categorization is wonderful; you rock!

Leigh, About.com now offers a handy way of checking your application status. Here’s the link: .

By: Patrice

Patrice — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 13:10:14 +0000

Another vote of thanks for your excellent work categorizing the job leads! I know it’s more work for you, but it makes things so much easier for us. Just one more proof that you really care about us freelancers and are always finding new ways to help.

By: Lisa S-O

Lisa S-O — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 13:07:03 +0000

The breakdown of the different jobs is excellent. It saves me the trouble of having to click on each one. Thank you!

By: Ann G.

Ann G. — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 12:20:07 +0000

I’ve had acknowledgments from About.com, but the last time I applied, they said that they prefer guides who have a video camera and since I didn’t, I was not going to meet their needs. I have a digital camera with video function, but without sound, that wouldn’t fit their requirements. Certain subjects require video clips, and since those are the ones that I feel I would best fit, I no longer bother applying.

By: Leigh

Leigh — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 11:16:48 +0000

I’m tempted to apply for the About business/money guide position, but every time I have applied at About, I don’t even get an acknowledgment (no, I don’t want them to fawn all over me, but an auto e-mail confirmation would be nice, so I am not sitting here wondering, “did they get my application?”). I’m hesitant to spend the time on the application if I am not even going to get a confirmation that my materials were received (and I have added their e-mail address to my whitelist, so it’s not a case of their e-mail being sent to spam).

Jodee, thanks for breaking up the list. It cut down on the amount of time I spend looking.

By: Phil

Phil — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 11:09:30 +0000

Question for anyone who has served as an About.com guide: Anyone ever break out how many hours was involved (in order to calculate a per-hour figure), the business one is up my alley, and business is a little slow, but there are certain minimums that make sense and others that don’t, no matter how slow business is.

Thanks in adevance

By: Kristen

Kristen — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 11:09:09 +0000

Thank you for categorizing these jobs; it helped me immediately zone in on the jobs I want to focus on. Thank you.