By Marlo Heresco
As a freelance writer, I have explored many avenues when it comes to writing companies and opportunities. If you’ve ever done a keyword search on freelance writing jobs, (which I don’t advise btw), you most likely felt overwhelmed with the more than 5.3 million search results (which is why I don’t advise the search).
To help shed a shimmer of light, I have decided to share some of my experiences with a few of the freelance writing companies I’ve dealt with. Some have been great; others have been the inspiration for the (upcoming) freelancer warnings. These experiences of mine will be shared as a mini-series of articles.
If you’ve already decided to try your hand at writing, one of the first pieces of advice I can offer is to take into consideration a very important aspect of your new career. How do you want to get paid?
Here are a few of the more common freelance payment options:
Bidding: These companies are typically resources. They list freelance jobs from other websites and companies. You sign up with an account, which is usually free, then bid on jobs of interest listed on their website. They often take a cut of your pay so expect to fork over between two and ten per cent of your earnings.
Residual: This method of payment works by offering a percentage of the earnings the website makes from ad-clicks, which people create when surfing the net. Average residual pay is around $7 / 1,000 clicks. Each company pays a different percentage per clicks, so if this is your chosen avenue, I suggest you read the fine print about their payment structure. Some companies pay as low as $2.00 / 1,000 clicks.
Per Article: These companies pay on an accepted-per-article basis. You write an article according to their guidelines. You submit it to their editorial team. If they accept it, they publish and pay. If they reject, they do not publish and they do not pay. Many of them will have a set price already for accepted articles.
Private Selling: There are website companies that ‘host’ you, allowing you to self-publish and sell your articles through their website. You create a profile, write and post your own articles. Some will have editors, some will not, but most will have writing guidelines that must be followed. If you sell an article, they take a percentage of your earnings which is usually 25% to 35%.
Unless you are independent and have newspaper and magazine companies inundating you with requests, you will need to decide how you want to begin launching your new career. Deciding how you want to get paid is a big start. It will determine the type of company you might work for or submit through, as well as the guidelines you will need to learn and follow in order to begin freelance writing.
