For the love of freelance writing... I want to get paid!
By eleach23
@eleach23 (20)
United States
March 10, 2012 4:19pm CST
As I was cleaning up my computer files after graduation, it occured to me that over the past year I have written over 60 academic papers and what if... just what if... I could have made even $1/page for my work? And so my quest toward online freelance writing began. I started with InfoBarrel, which I would have to say is really not for those who want to persue writing as a career as: (A) You would be broke unless you published 100 extremely popular articles, and (B)You are not allowed to use your content on other sites, such as personal blogs or websites, which makes me feel like I lost the rights to my own writing. I was happy to stumble upon e-lance, as there is serious potential to make money, but it is pretty difficult to get someone to hire you when you have no experience or job reviews. While continuing to attempt to secure jobs on e-lance, I stumbled upon a number of sites that claim to pay you for your work, such as Keys for Cash and Capital typing. As of now, I feel like I have wasted at least 5-10 hours of my time, got paid to work for nothing, and ultimately feel like there is no chance at making enough money to have writing be my sole means of gaining income. Does anyone out there have any words of hope and encouragement? Or venting and discouragement is just fine as well... as I suppose that if I cannot find information on how to make more than just a little extra spending cash doing this, I will happily accept some empathy instead!
1 person likes this
5 responses
@1hopefulman (45120)
• Canada
11 Mar 12
You may sitting on a gold mine! They may be worth a lot of money. Find a good place to post those articles.
I find that in my old age I discovered that I love to write. I also love to see that I get many hits on the articles and that also earn a little bit of money. Anyways, it's all for the love of writing!
1 person likes this
@eleach23 (20)
• United States
12 Mar 12
I certainly hope so! It is really nice to hear that someone just likes to write because they enjoy the hobby. I have gotten so over-zealous with trying to turn a profit that it is nice to be reminded that I do this because it is what I love and no matter what I should do it for that reason and only that reason. Your post (and please don't take this the wrong way, as it is meant as a HUGE compliment) almost makes me want to stop trying to freelance, so that I can genuinely enjoy writing again without a deadline and not on a topic in which I have no interest. Thank you for your response and for making me remember the "writer within" and how much more important that is than compensation. Best of luck to you in your writing ventures!
1 person likes this
@1hopefulman (45120)
• Canada
12 Mar 12
Thank you for being discerning in what I was trying to say!
Maybe, just maybe, it would be better to earn a living in some other way than writing and then write for your pleasure and enjoyment and hopefully others will come to love what you write. If the compensation follows great, but since you earn in another way, you can wait for it.
However, it would ideal if one can do what they love and the money would come so that one could continue to do what they love without having to worry about money issues. That would be ideal but it doesn't always work out but one never knows? All the best! 
1 person likes this
@laura1991 (177)
•
10 Mar 12
hiya. I to have been looking for ways to earn money from my writing. last year i joined Helium.com. you choose an article title and write an article on it. they can be $1-£2 if they are good enough to get purchased. when you start doing better you may get invited to write on titles that are for only a select number of people. these will generally pay more. the ones i did paid $5 each.then when you really establish yourself you may get titles that are exclusive to you and knowone else. I havent got that far yet.
I tried to join elance but there was a problem with the phone verifying call. so i joined odesk instead which i think is basically the same thing. i only joined this yesturday so i cant really say how good it is. you can take tests on there which will show on your profile. there are tests such as creative writing tests, english grammer etc. it is also for jobs such as meail marketing, telesales, web design, personal assistant aswell as for writing so it might be a good thing to look at if you are interested in those things aswell.
i hope this helps. its really difficult to find places that genuinly pay for your writing.
@eleach23 (20)
• United States
10 Mar 12
Thank you for responding to my post! I have heard some good things about Helium, but have never heard of Odesk and look forward to checking it out. I like the sites with the skills tests... I feel like it gives me a chance to prove that I am a skilled writer before I have the chance to gain experience on the site. Thanks again for the info and best of luck to you in your writing endeavors!
@laura1991 (177)
•
10 Mar 12
i like doing the tests aswell. and if you do badly on the tests you can choose to hide them from public on your profile. so knowone will know!lol. it seems to be a good sight. i have applied for about 10 jobs already so fingers crossed i get some work out of it. but like you i have know proper writing experience. just that from helium and i used to be a secretary/receptionist which may help with the call centre jobs. googd luck with your writing. how useful did you find capital typing and key for cash?are they not worth joining?
@eleach23 (20)
• United States
11 Mar 12
Lol- you are right about being able to hide the results! I just wish I didn't have to wait 2 weeks to take them again on e-lance! As far as Key for Cash and Capital... I will have to get back to you on that because I signed up with both of them today and they said that they had to screen me for approval before allowing me to look at jobs. So I'm hoping that is good???? :) Who knows... I don't even know what to expect now days! All I know is I got time and writing ability and I need to find someone with money and no degree!!! Ha ha.. (j/k...kinda. Anyhow I appreciate your response and so far I'm at least really happy that I joined this site!
@rogue13xmen13 (14403)
• United States
11 Mar 12
Join the club. I like to get paid for my writing as well because I could always use the extra cash. The thing is, well, right now, I do have a lot of places that I do surveys for and I have mylot and those are two ways of earning a little bit of income.
@constancenunn (72)
• United States
11 Mar 12
I write for triond.com , if you submit at least 100 articles you will see progress. A lot of people complain but they don't write but a couple of articles. I also signed up with wikinut.com and i'm just gonna write for a few that's safe. triond pays 10th of every month.
