My Blog List

Monday 29 March 2010

Freelance or not to Freelance?

I signed up to one of the freelance sites some time last year and didn't win any of the projects that I applied for.  At first I thought it might have been the way I was pitching myself. Maybe I wasn't doing too good a job of selling myself to potential clients. Then I noticed that some of the people winning projects over me had limited English to say the least. If that's the case then how are they going to fare at article writing? Not too well would be my guess. I presume some, but not all, people posting projects on sites like these are going with the cheapest option, getting people to work for virtually nothing (0.50 cents an hour) and in some cases they aren't even going to pay that at the end of it.

I continued on applying for work and I was on the verge of giving up when last week my bids for two separate projects were accepted.

My first project was for $30.00 or at least it was supposed to be. I accepted the work and once I did was told that they wanted 10 pieces of work done for $5.00.  Each piece ran in to hundreds of words and would have taken around 30-60 minutes. Now, here's the really good bit. Had I completed the project I would have been charged $5 for the privilege. Since I didn't sign up to work on a voluntary basis I'm afraid I declined the work. I then got a short message from the employer saying that he was 'Proceeding with other providers' Well, good luck to him, and to them, they're going to need it.

My second project is - and will always be - my favourite. I was offered $50 per 750 word article. That sounded believable as it's in line with what I'd get paid for that amount of work with magazines etc.

I accepted the work and the moment I did, I received an email stating that they wanted 100 articles for that $50, each of them taking an hour to write and research.  That isn't worth my while or anyone else's and I doubt very much that I would have been paid as my request to be paid per article was politely turned down, those weren't the terms apparently.

If anyone has had any luck with these sites please let me know.

Before I finish, I plan to start my own Freelance site sooner rather than later. One that pays people a fair day's pay for a fair days work, you get what you pay for after all. 

Friday 19 March 2010

Chicken Soup for the Soul

There can't be many people who haven't heard of the Chicken Soup for the Soul books which feature contributions from ordinary, everyday people.

They are inviting people to send in their personal stories which can be submitted by e mail but they do say it can take up to four years before your work is published.

You can get the submission guidelines here:

http://www.chickensoup.com/cs.asp?cid=guidelines

They want stories and poems which need to be 300-1200 words.

If your work is selected for publication they will pay you $200 and you'll get 10 copies of the book.

To submit your story you need this link:

http://www.chickensoup.com/form.asp?cid=submit_story

Thursday 18 March 2010

E Commerce Journal

I found this this site the other day and I've just signed up with so I'm waiting to see how it goes. From its rates of pay it looks promising and from what I can tell the site seems like an active one with plenty of people interacting which is always a good thing. There are few things worse than talking to yourself.

As you've probably guessed from the name this site is looking for articles on anything financial such as banking, payment systems, financial markets, investment schemes etc.

They offer a number of ways of earning. Articles pay $5, news pays $1 a piece, forum posts pay 3 cents each, reprinted articles pay $1, and you can earn $5 if you have an original article published.

You'll find the sign up form here:

http://www.ecommerce-journal.com/user/register

Thursday 11 March 2010

TV Writers Needed

Unreality TV are looking for people who can write about reality TV, and with all of the shows on at the moment that gives you plenty of options.

Whichever show you're a fan there is something for you. The final series of Big Brother will begin in the summer, X Factor starts in August to name a few.

They also want people who can write music reviews for a new blog they've established called Unreality Music.

This is the link you need to apply:

http://www.unrealitytv.co.uk/get-in-touch/