A reasonable proportion of the people who contact me are interested in freelance writing. And by far the most common question I get asked by those people is, “How do I find work?”
More specifically, people are often looking for entry level writing jobs. I always get excited by the prospect of showing someone how they can find clients and start earning money, as I firmly believe freelance writing to be a wonderful way of making a living online. As friends of mine such as Amy Harrison and Ali Luke have demonstrated, freelance writing can become a lucrative and successful career path.
Psychologically speaking, the first step is the hardest. Getting your foot on the ladder and securing your first client can seem like a hefty challenge. But it really isn’t. The barriers of entry to freelance writing are practically non-existent — finding entry level writing jobs is not that hard. It is an industry with great scale — from the guys and girls who are writing $8 articles for Text Broker to the copywriting experts who charge thousands of dollars for a single landing page. The real challenge is in positioning yourself according to your current skill level and experience.
So this list is a start point for anyone who feels that they are a capable writer. Once you start to take on clients and get a feel for your abilities you can scale your business by increasing your rates and hours worked. But before all that, you must make the first step.
With that in mind, let’s take a look at six top resources for entry level writing jobs.
1. Freelance Brokers
By freelance brokers, I mean sites such as Upwork and iFreelance — companies that act as a middle man between a client and vendor. I have personally not used these sites to source freelance work, but I have hired content writers from Upwork and it does seem to be a relatively smooth process.
The upside to using these services is that there usually tends to be some sort of protection against non-payment and breach of contract. The downside is that these sites have a reputation amongst some for attracting bargain searchers. You of course do not want to be that bargain.
2. Craigslist
A lot of people will moan and groan at the mention of Craigslist. I should make something very clear up front — you will have to trawl through a lot of crap to find decent listings. When it comes to entry level writing jobs it is probably the place I would last advise you look. But based upon what people have told me, persistence can lead to finding some decent jobs. And best of all, it is free!
3. ProBlogger Job Board
I have a soft spot for the ProBlogger Job Board as it is where I found both of my current clients. It was in fact the first place I turned to when I started considering freelance writing as a money-making opportunity. It took me just a few days and 10–15 applications to land my first client.
Whilst it is free for you to trawl the boards, those who list job advertisements have to pay a $70 fee for the privilege. This filters out the vast majority of low-end or scammy offers that you will come across on Craigslist.
4. Freelance Switch Job Board
I recently featured Freelance Switch in my top 10 pick of the LWB 100 so you already know that I love their site. Theirs is another job board in the same vein as ProBlogger’s, and although I have not sourced work from it myself, it appears that there are some pretty good offers available. You will need to become a paid subscriber (starting at $7 per month) in order to apply for jobs.
5. Freelance Writer’s Den
I include this as the fifth and final option for two reasons:
- It has a “Junk Free Job Board”, featuring well-paid, genuine job offers only.
- It is a fantastic resource for anyone who is serious about developing a full-time freelance income.
I was a member of the Freelance Writer’s Den until only recently — I am currently not a subscriber as I am not actively seeking any additional freelance work. I got a great amount of value out of the material available on there and also a lot of great advice on rates negotiation on the forum.
If you are an entry level freelance writer but aspire to be more, I would recommend the Freelance Writer’s Den as a great option.
6. Paid to Blog Jobs
It would be remiss of me not to mention my very own solution for finding all of the best freelance blogging jobs available today.
Paid to Blog Jobs is a service I created after having wasted too many hours trawling through numerous jobs boards to find the best gigs on offer. In a nutshell, we trawl all of those boards ourselves, filter out the junk jobs, and present the remaining cream of the crop to you (updated every single day). That saves you time, and almost certainly will lead you to discover jobs you wouldn’t have otherwise found.
If you’re actively in search of freelance blogging jobs, I would of course highly recommend that you check Paid to Blog Jobs out.
Where Have You Found Entry Level Writing Jobs?
So there you have it folks — six places where you can find entry level writing jobs. But for those of you who have already got their foot on the ladder, where have you found work? Let us know in the comments section!
One last thing — if you’re interested in reading more about freelance writing, click here for all of the freelancing posts I have written on LWB.
Creative Commons photo courtesy of JoelMontes