Freelance Writing

Before you even consider writing as a profession, I would advise you to take this free proofreading test and some of these free grammar tests. You might be the most knowledgeable person in the world about a subject, but that is pointless if you can't communicate yourself clearly. At least, that is what I always told my students (I used to teach English).




Please note: I will not post jobs that require writers to write essays, term papers, and research papers. It is my belief that these sites make their money selling these papers to students, which in its own way a type of fraud. Also, this is one of the few pages where I list jobs based upon my own feelings and experiences of them.


Constant Content
I have posted articles on Constant Content for over a year. If you are a good writer and can produce good original articles, I would recommend them. The site is free. You can set your own prices. Once you have written an article, their editors review the article. They will either accept or refuse the article. If there are any grammar or punctuation errors, they will reject it.

The biggest negative about Constant Content is that writers only keep 65% of what they sell. Constant Content keeps 35% (of which 20% goes to affiliates and 5% goes to referring authors). They have a $50 minimum before paying (through PayPal), but have been known to pay out at less if someone has difficulty reaching that mark. The other negative about this site is you have no guarantee that your article will sell. I've had some sell quickly. Others have sat there for months without selling.

Associated Content
Associated Content is sort of a mixed breed site. It gives its writers several options when submitting. You have the option of submitting an article for an upfront payment (which is usually only a couple of dollars). If you do this, you must submit it as either exclusive or non-exclusive, which gives you little control over your content. However, you can also upload it as "display only" which gives you control over your article and allows you to take it down if you desire in the future.

In addition, Associated Content also pays writers "automatic performance payments." These are payments for every thousand hits your pages get. The amount depends on how popular your pages are. It starts at $1.50 per thousand but can go up to $2.00. If you have enough articles up, you can earn a nice bit of money from this site. I do recommend them.

Demand Studios
I recently started working for Demand Studios. While they advertise that they have several different customers, the only site I've seen writing assignments is for eHow. Typically, they pay $15 for each eHow article you write. The nice thing about this site is that they pay quickly, at the end of each week. EHow articles are fairly easy to write, so the payment is not bad. The one negative is that you can only accept 10 assignments at a time, which can put your writing on hold as you wait for them to accept your articles. Still, I've been earning about $125 a week from this site.

About.com
I have applied with About.com several times. I have yet to be successfully hired. Usually, I don't even receive an answer. The last time I applied, I received an email claiming I wasn't "qualified" for the topic. I happen to have a master's degree in the subject, and have lectured at colleges about it. Since then, I've stopped bothering with them.

I do know people who work for About.com, and they are legitimate. If your application is accepted, you will go through three weeks of training as you build up a site. At the end of the training, you may or may not be hired. You do not get paid for your training. All-in-all, I've heard mixed reviews about this site.

Daily Article
Daily Article is a newer company and works similar to Constant Content. However, they only take out 20 percent compared to Constant Content's 35%. There is just one bad side, you must be willing to sell your content with full-rights. This means you give up all your rights to the article. At Constant Content, you are allowed to sell articles for usage only. I know that many writers are having good luck with Daily Article. I would suggest trying them out if you are interested.

Reviewstream
This site tells you that they will pay you to write reviews. Essentially, you can review anything. They have three rates. The regular rate varies (it was $1.50 the day I visited). However, the will only pay you this rate if it matches their "criteria." What that means I don't know and they don't say. What bothered me most was when I decided to ask them I discovered their email was: reviewstream@yahoo.com. If the review doesn't match their criteria, you can either choose to revise and resubmit it or have it published at the bulk rate. The bulk rate is only 1/5 of the regular rate. You can choose to bypass this by being a "self editor," although the rate is only $0.20 per review. Minimum payout through PayPal is $50 for regular rate, $20 for self-editors. I have the feeling that you will be writing at least 100 reviews before seeing a payment.

Families.com
This site states that they pay $3 per 300 word blog/post for beginners and US$4 per post after completion of the 90 day probationary period. The price seems a little low for my taste, and I would suggest you could make more money with your own blog.

Method Shop
Method Shop did not interest me, but if you're a technical guru, you might consider it. They are looking for reviews, tutorials, humor and lifestyle articles relating to the iPod, Palm Pilot, or just general technology. They state that they pay $20-$200 per article. The price depends on the depth and quality of content.