My list of places to find freelance writing jobs for our daily job lists changes on a regular basis. As I learn of new resources or remove resources that aren’t working for us anymore, I make adjustments to my list. I also like to make these lists available to you from time to time so you can do your own thorough searches for freelance writing jobs. Plus, I think it’s fair to link to those people who make gigs available to us all.
Some of these places require a subscription fee, but many are free. I hope you find this list useful. Please know, this isn’t a full list of places to find freelance writing jobs, but it’s where I search on a daily basis.
Where I Hunt for Freelance Writing Jobs
1. Craigslist – I’ll state it again for the record: Craiglslist gets a bum rap. Because of its seedy personals section and haven for scammers, many freelancers write it off as a place to NOT look for work. I disagree. Most of the leads you find here come from Craigslist and they’re not all low payers. I found several very lucrative clients via Craigslist and you can too.
2. Mediabistro – I love Mediabistro for many reasons, but especially the job list. Most of their jobs are of the full time variety, but each day features a sprinkling of gigs for freelancers.
3. Indeed – Indeed, the job search engine, also provides many of the leads you see here on a regular basis. Expect to see gigs pulled for a variety of sources including Monster, Career Builder and others. The only problem is that places like Examiner and Hub Pages advertise in every town and every city in every state, so sometimes you’ll have to go through dozens, if not hundreds of entries for these places before finding unique gigs.
4. Freelance Daily – Like FWJ, Freelance Daily culls leads from a variety of sources including Craigslist, Indeed and Media Bistro. Leads are mailed to you each day so you don’t have to venture past your email to look for work. It’s a paying service and will set you back about $100 per year, but those who enjoy the convenience find it worth the expense.
5. About Freelance Writing – My friend Anne Wayman offers leads and advice from a seasoned vet. Check Monday, Wednesday and Friday for the gigs. We have some overlaps here and there, but between the two of us you’re covered.
6. Journalism Jobs -Features some general freelance writing jobs as well as newspaper gigs from around the world.
7. ProBlogger – Darren Rowse’s job board for bloggers has grown to feature freelance writing jobs as well.
8. Freelance Job Openings -This job board offers a mixed bag of opportunities. Most are of the lower paying variety, but every now and then, a surprising lucrative opportunity pops up.
9. FlexJobs: As its name indicates, Flexjobs includes a variety of flexible opportunities. Some are freelance, some are telecommute and some are simply flexible. Not all gigs are for writers and you’ll have to pay to play, but you might find stuff not found on the usual job baords.
10. Twitter: There are a variety of ways to find gigs with Twitter. For example, many of the freelancers I follow Tweet links to freelance writing jobs all the time. Also, I use Twitter Job Search and Twitter Search.
11. LinkedIn: LinkedIn’s job board features occasional freelance writing jobs.
12. Paying Writer Jobs – A Yahoo newsgroup where the members all share leads to writing gigs and contest entries. Be forewarned: If you’re not an active particpant you’ll be dropped from the list!
13. Telecommute Job List: Aggregates all the telecommute jobs from Craigslist. Some are freelance, some are full time and some are scams, so proceed with caution. However, this can be quite the handy tool. Use it to search for telecommute jobs beyond writing gigs, if you’re looking to work at home.
So there you have it. This is where I search for freelance writing jobs each day. I also do occasional Google searches for submission pages. Also, many businesses have a page on their websites listing available opportunities and some of these are for freelancers. I’ll search for those as well.
There are so many places to find work for all types of freelance writers. Whether you want to work for a content site, a business or a publication, if you’re diligent in your searching, you’ll find plenty of work.