May 7th
Freelance Writing Jobs for Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Good morning FWJ Friends! There are several internships included in today’s leads. There is one for book reviewers, and a couple on automotive/motor sports topics. A couple of gigs for reporters, some web content jobs, and a few technical writing opps are also included. Hope you find something you want to apply for on today’s list.
Leads…
- Freelance Web Writers @ OfficeArrow.com
- Freelance Bilingual Copywriters @ interTrend Communications - Telecommute
- Freelance Book Reviewers @ Publishers Weekly
- Freelance Writers @ Redlands Daily Facts - Redlands, CA
- Freelance Part-Time Weekend Content Editor @ Access Hollywood - Burbank, CA
- Freelance Reporter @ The Tidewater News - Hampton Roads/Norfolk, VA
- Assistant and Weekend Editors, Interns Needed for Toronto Blog
- Fashion Magazine Looking for an Intern - Toronto
- Internet Researcher, Co-op Placement - Stipend Paid - Toronto
- Freelance Travel Writer Wanted for UK Magazines (GBP 150-1000 per article)
- Experienced French and English Editors/Proofreaders Needed ($0.03 per word)
- New Football Magazine Seeks Freelance Writers for 2008/09 Premiership - London, UK
- Fighters.com Call for Contributors
- Freelance Korean Translator for Magazine - Atlanta
- Writer for Motorsports Press Releases/Articles
- Charter School Writer Needed - Stone Mountain/Atlanta
- Copy Editor/Proofreader for Keller Williams R.E. - Telecommute
- Entertainment Web Site Seeks Freelance Contributing Writers - Telecommute
- Seeking Writers for GLBT Publication - Boston
- Science Writer/Editor - Contract - Boston
- Magazine Publisher Seeks Freelance Copyeditor ($0.03 per word)
- Content Writer - Las Vegas - Part Telecommute ($22)
- Growing Automotive Web Site Seeking Freelance Contributing Writers
- Freelance Music Writer Needed - Westlake Village/Los Angeles
- LA Reporting and Writing Interns Sought - Unpaid
- Leading Home Theater Site Looking for Qualified Blu-ray Software Reviewer ($40 per review; you keep the movie)
- Freelance Editor for Small Publishing House - Telecommute
- Editorial/Copywriting Intern - New York - Unpaid
- Women’s Business Writers @ The Glass Hammer ($30 per post)
- Writing Opportunity for Soccer Enthusiasts
- Editorial Interns @ Show Business Weekly - Manhattan - Unpaid
- Freelance and Creative Writers @ SalemGlobal Internet Website Marketing - Telecommute ($20 per hour)
- Editorial Intern @ Healthcare Informatics - New York - Unpaid
- Writing Interns Wanted - Stipend - New York
- Business Articles for Women’s Magazine
- Freelance Researcher/Writer - El Dorado Hills area
- International Affairs/Political Writers Needed - Telecommute
- Freelance Feature Writers for Luxury Home Market Magazine - San Francisco
- Technical Writer @ BigFix, Inc. - Contract - San Francisco
- Sr. Technical Writer - Contract - San Francisco - On Site
- Internships @ Glam.com - San Francisco Area - Unpaid
Good Luck!
Jodee
Posted
on
Wednesday, May 7th, 2008 at 6:46 am under
Jodee - the link for the first one, the freelance office writers leads to a scam site.
May 7th, 2008 at 7:25 amSome great leads today Jodee - thanks.
By the way, I am this close to finishing my book before my deadline of May 13 (hope to mail it off this week) and I’ve just sold my first ever short story (which also happens to be the first one I’ve ever tried writing).
May 7th, 2008 at 7:28 amFiona,
May 7th, 2008 at 7:48 amCan I ask why you say the Office Arrows posting is a scam site? It looks like a blog to me with pretty legit articles.
@ Fiona: Thanks. Congrats on the sale of your short story and being thisclose to finishing your book. Good for you!
I would like some more 411 on Office Arrows, too. If it is a scam, I can remove it from the list but I need to know more first.
May 7th, 2008 at 7:52 amThat’s odd. This time it took me straight to a legit job ad. You know what I’ve just figured out - my mouse was pointing to the job link but actually clicked on and took me to the contentlink below. My apologies everyone. Not a scam.
May 7th, 2008 at 8:02 amanyone have a sense about proofreading? is $0.03 per word fairly standard?
May 7th, 2008 at 8:07 amI worked for the guy at the International Affairs/Political Writers job 3 or 4 years ago. He was very nice and paid quickly, and although I was a newbie at the time, I think he also compensated quite well.
May 7th, 2008 at 8:38 amHi there,
Just wanted to let you know I got my first ever gig from this site! Also, like another poster, at Today.com. I was starting to think it was no use to apply for these jobs. I guess today.com is accepting just about anybody but still…:)
I have a question for those of you who signed up at Today.com.
Did anyone copy the contract? Did you read it closely? I scanned and checked on the box and went to the next step without digesting everything. I wish I hadn’t done that because now I can’t find it any where.
I guess my main thing is, I want to know whether I own the content I write or not.
If you have copied it and/or read it, can you tell me what it says, if anything, about content?
Also, if anyone else brand new signs up, I’d appreciate it if you can tell me what it says about content rights.
Thank you all.
Have a great day.
May 7th, 2008 at 8:43 amComment comment…
@ Adam - Tough to say. Writing rates vary wildly. www.writers.ca puts out a number around $45 an hour for proofing, I believe.
May 7th, 2008 at 8:46 amAdam,
I’ve done some proofreading. While $.03 a word isnt’ outstanding, if you are JUST proofreading that is pretty decent. If it turns out you are really editing some poorly written stuff, you may want to back out.
$.03 a word @ 500 words a page would be about $15 a page. I personally think it takes more work to create 500 quality words than it takes to proofread 500 needs-some-smoothing-words. If you get through each page in 20 minutes or a half hour, you might pull in $30-$45 an hour. I’ve seen profile websites of professional proofers advertising rates of about $.03 a word.
In my humble personal experience, I’d say that would be about industry standard right now. good luck!
May 7th, 2008 at 9:27 am@Fiona: No problem - I’ve clicked those content bubbles before, too. I applied for the Office Arrow job last night, and I *hate* when I get caught in a scam site without realizing it.
@Mina - You don’t own the content at Today. You can email them. They have an official blog at blog.today.com. You also may want to try WAHM. Starbirdy is the community leader for Today. You could PM her. (Check the thread on Today.) You may be able to get a copy of the contract that way. Another option would be to start the sign-up process again and read the contract; just back out before you submit anything.
May 7th, 2008 at 9:31 amwow huge selection today…do people ever have ready prewritten emails and samples to save time?
May 7th, 2008 at 9:35 amI am beginning to feel overwhelmed with so many writing assignments I have due.
I began to accept for very low paying jobs ( three dollars per article) but now have moved up to 15-30 dollars an article…anybody have any leads to higher paying jobs?
they accepted me for the today.com gig too…but now i have to write for three blogs, two web content websites and a how to place…and I still don’t know how much money i am getting in the end. My head is beginning to feel fried.
May 7th, 2008 at 9:37 amHey Brandi,
Thanks. I did go to the WAHM website and they do have a good discussion going there. I also saw where they mentioned copy rights belong to the company. Really good to know this.
Maryam, good luck with finishing up all your work. You are way ahead of me if you have moved up to 15-30 dollar articles.
Jodee, thanks for everything.
May 7th, 2008 at 10:10 amMaryam,
Wow - totally relate to how you are feeling from a few months agoin my life! I got a huge “dump” of work on me all in one week and I felt like my head was screwed on sideways for a while.
My strategy was to see how quickly I could unload the lowest paying jobs. If there is a solid practical reason you need to keep one of the lower paying ones (or it’s about a topic that is your passion), then you may need to unload something else.
Unless you are really skilled at juggling a lot of work in the past, too much work just leaves you feeling (you said it) fried. I asked one of my lower paying jobs (that was easy and I liked) if I could just go on a break for a while as I finished up a large project. Actually I did that for two places. I finished a project I’d obliged myself too, then said I needed a “time-out”. Both of them said that was fine. The second place is lower paying, so I’m not likely to return there.
This “take a sabatical” strategy might not work in your situation, but it could be an in-between solution while you either get up to speed on some projects or reassess your optimal workload. Killing yourself every day just isnt’ worth it.
Well, and figuring out the pay would help you with all of this. What’s the reason they’ve given you as to why you don’t know your pay by now?
May 7th, 2008 at 10:16 amyeah it didn’t take me that long to do, but then i was working full time for a marketing company online so i guess i had some leads. Keep digging they are around. Try demandstudios.com they pay on a weekly basis on how to articles.
May 7th, 2008 at 10:20 amI also got accepted to write essays for students
but i feel unethical in basically cheating for students…( maybe it’s the teacher in me..)
so even though they pay 50-30 bucks an article i stopped doing it, i felt a bit icky. I am surprised they keep those things up and are perfectly legal…if i was their teacher i would suspend them for that behavior
Maryam,
I agree with Mina about $15-30 articles. That’s a step in a great direction. My highest paying gig now is blogging for $30 a post. There are certainly higher paying gigs out there, but having $15-30 makes your time spent more worthwhile.
Getting my $30/post gig was the equivilent of 1/4 the work of one of the gigs I dumped (I was paid $8/500 words there)! So even though I had been trying to “downsize” for a while, I realized how it compared to that other gig and that this would be a lot better use of my time.
I’m still pretty busy now, but this better paying gig will be worth it once I do finish this other huge project in a few months.
Sorry, this has turned into a big thing about me - I’m just trying to relate what I’ve recently been through to help you out some. Hope you can find some information and get a workload that doesn’t overstretch you too much!
May 7th, 2008 at 10:23 ami haven’t calculated all of the different websites but some are blogging jobs ( five dollars to ten dollars per post) , others are web content ( three dollars to fifteen dollars) and freelance magazine articles.
May 7th, 2008 at 10:25 amGreat advise though I think I am needing to stop saying yes to everything, the varied work just keeps me fried. The web content is the most tedious and what i hate doing ( it is just mindless rewrites) and unfortunatly they give me those in bulk so I would much rather stick to simpler higher paying jobs.
Some of the articles i have done are still in review so, i haven’t been paid for them yet…i hope to make around 1200 this month but not entirely sure.
I also would rather get paid per article instead of waiting till the 30th like some of them do, it just eats up your time more.
Maryam,
I’d feel icky about the unethical essay thing, too.
May 7th, 2008 at 10:25 amMaryam,
Yeah, the “saying yes” thing is exactly what got me in trouble! I was so excited to actually get work, and I had NO idea how much I could really handle, so I nearly drowned for a while.
I think the content thing sounds like the next gig to get voted off the island
May 7th, 2008 at 10:27 amMaryam,
I feel you! Right now I’m writing for two blogs, doing piecemeal editing work for someone, with the possibility of two article jobs coming up.
What I did was create an excel spreadsheet and write down per day everything I was doing with a sum total. And I also created a projected estimate, based on the work I was doing. That made me feel better to know that I was making some money.
I do have a question of my own to pose and maybe someone can direct me to a really good article. Basically, if you are freelancing full time and you are getting these jobs from all over and getting paid through paypal and such, what happens when you go to pay your taxes for the next year? Technically you are getting paid ‘under the table’. I’m just not sure how that works.
May 7th, 2008 at 10:38 ammost reputable websites might give you tax forms, but it depends on the country they are based on.
May 7th, 2008 at 10:43 amI would keep a record of it and have things just in case, the way work is going most people will eventually work online anyways
yeah the web content thing is almost nearly voted off, fifty articles for 150 dollars is too much work for so little pay ( even if it is brainless 250 word pay)
yeah the essay thing aside from everything else you had to assure the students all the time you were doing it the way they want ( why they dont spend that much time actually doing their own work is beyond me) so it turned out to be very time consuming)
@ Lindsey - Whatever made you think that you are being paid under the table? Unless you and the buyer have some agreement where you both say, “Um, hey. Don’t declare this, okay?” then you are responsible for reporting ALL income, and this includes anything from PayPal.
The minute you receive money for a product or service, it becomes income and that means you have to declare it. It doesn’t matter which country the money comes from, which currency or which buyer you’re working for.
If you’re not declaring your PayPal income, you’re evading taxation laws.
May 7th, 2008 at 10:44 amOkay cool, I guess I just wasn’t sure I was supposed to go about reporting it. I guess I will have to look at the tax form in Canada. This is for next year, so I’m being a worrywart, but I just want to make sure I have the system in place.
May 7th, 2008 at 10:48 amMaryam,
I enjoy my writing more when I think I’m actually *using* my brain!
If I think I’m doing brainless work, I’m probably going to start reconsidering it. You may as well be working in an assembly line somewhere.
about the essays - if they have that much time to be worried about you are doing, you’d think they could use that to…um…*write something* If they don’t have enough time to actually do their work, they might not be doing college right IMO. Hmmm……
I guess I figured out how to write all my own papers in school, perhaps they could too. Plus, I’m sure working with whiny worried students was a real joyful experience too
May 7th, 2008 at 10:50 amLots of good leads lately… thank you, Jodee!
May 7th, 2008 at 10:57 amNothing for me today Deb and Jodee, but I thought I’d post and thank you guys for some sort of indirect encouragement…
I’m heading off on an around the world trip in less than a month (starting off with my sister’s wedding!), this time taking a laptop with me.
The last couple of times I’ve headed to CA I’ve kept a sort of public journal which I emailed to friends and family and they emailed onwards.
This time though, after reading Matthew Tuley’s article on making websites, I’ve finally gone and chosen a host, registered a couple of web domains, and I’m about to get some little business cards printed.
It should give me more than a hundred fine samples of my travel and blog writing!
Thanks guys
May 7th, 2008 at 11:06 amI have the contract from today.com saved, anyone can email me at gwpublications@gmail.com.
I am still a little concerned despite having spoken with their rep, simply because they have sent me three logins and websites for three blogs that I faked my way through during my ‘detective-ating.’
In theory I could fill these with content and get paid as long as I have three paypal accounts?
Lack of checks and balances worries me. They are a new company though.
May 7th, 2008 at 11:25 amRe: Paypal
I report everything I’ve been paid and here is why- Paypal has to report their income. If they were to ever have an in depth audit done and the government tracked the people Paypal was claiming to have done business with and saw you hadn’t declared that income, you could be in a heap of trouble. Who knows what records Paypal is keeping and submitting when they do their taxes!
May 7th, 2008 at 11:35 am@ AllenaT - Today.com pays by check, not PayPal. How did you manage to set up 3 accounts with them? Did you give them fake names and addresses?
May 7th, 2008 at 11:53 amGreat list of opportunites as usual. Thanks so much. I applied to a couple and will let you know if I get anything and if the opportunities are worth pursuing by others.
Thanks again.
May 7th, 2008 at 12:19 pmAllenaT, did you use the same Name and Address on all three accounts so we can figure out which sites you signed up for, or is this a case of being deceptive all around and inferring you were three different individuals with three different emails, names and addresses?
Please clarify so we can rectify the problem. PM me at WAHM.
May 7th, 2008 at 12:36 pm@ Lindsey: It would be reported as business income, and you can deduct your business-related expenses from your income.
Having gone through an audit simply because the gov’t pulls out so many names at random each year, I would never knowingly give them any reason to come back again. The auditor leaves no stone unturned in his search for hidden income, so (as an example) unless you want to have to explain that the $X dollars you deposited into your chequing account was an anniversary gift from your parents (like we did), I would declare every single penny of income.
May 7th, 2008 at 1:46 pm@ Naomi and Tai G: You are most welcome!
@ JackB: I have been looking for leads in your area and will continue to post them when I find them. I hope you will let us know where we can read about your adventures online.
May 7th, 2008 at 1:49 pmMaryam and Erika K:
Your posts stuck out to me–one with the $30 an article pay and another with earning around 1200 a particular month. I’m trying to jump into freelancing. I’ve sent some articles I wrote in college off to a few places (I found via this site and others, but I haven’t heard anything back yet. Come to find out, many were spammers! I recently graduated w/an English degree and writing is my passion. Any advice/websites to go to on landing decent jobs? I’ve seen lots of jobs paying pennies per word and I feel my writing is worth more than that. I saw the great article about setting up a blog/site and I’m looking into that. My email is msluchie@msn.com. Thanks for your help!
May 7th, 2008 at 9:37 pmThanks for the great leads! Like everyone (I bet) I’m applying to a lot of them.
I also wanted you to know that I got rejected from the today.com blogs. I offered to put up a blog for new parents who are also newlyweds. They emailed me and said they already had enough writers on that topic, so I could either do something else or move on. I’m moving on because I can’t think of something else I’d be really good at. (I bet there are lots of things, but I haven’t thought of anything just yet.)
May 7th, 2008 at 10:07 pmShermika,
Good luck! I really just fell into the good paying gig, didn’t go looking for it. I feel really lucky that way.
I have started with pretty cheap stuff too, then kept looking and applying, hoping to unload the lower paying ones. Just keeping moving is the thing I can tell you. If you keep throwing out lines and gaining experience, you’ll catch something good.
I’m no freelancing genius - at all - just persistent. And I assume everyone gets lucky now and then.
May 8th, 2008 at 9:06 pmThis was a great discussion. I am happy to have found this website. I feel like there is a community aspect to it.
Thanks guys.
May 8th, 2008 at 10:08 pm