Freelance Writing Jobs – 40 New Writing and Editing Jobs
November 13, 2006 by Anne Wayman
Filed under Jobs
I just posted 40 new writing and editing jobs. We’ve nattered on about the ads for folks willing to write articles for $4 or less but there’s another category that keeps showing up.
Every day there are a surprising number of folks who post ads asking writers to write for free. Some of these people actually pay to post these ads. Usually it’s someone with what they think is a good idea that will make a ton of money sometime. They are sure writers will jump on the opportunity.
And you know what? I’m sure they get responses. The truth is most professional writers have, often early in their career, written for free in hopes of generating credits. It’s always an iffy proposition. Along with many others, I’ve written about this, most notably in Should I Write For Free?
What do you think? Have you written for free? What do you think of these ads? What’s your personal rule about giving away your writing?
Write well and often,
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Ahh, this topic reminds me of Linus and The Great Pumpkin…while Linus waits, and waits, and waits for the gift-showering spectral entity to appear, his friends are out collecting all the candy. When I first started freelancing, I naively worked for a (what I now know to be) questionable publishing house. I edited (very poorly written) manuscripts with the promise of royalties when the books sold. Those royalties (mostly coming from authors purchasing copies of their own books) amounted to about $1/hour for my efforts. I desperately try to think of that time period as a non-paid internship (and it did ultimately lead to much more lucrative editing assignments) but the whole experience still leaves a very sour taste in my mouth. If you’re just starting out and you’ve got the financial means to work for free (or near free), I suppose it’s okay to do so now and then IF (big if) it will give a great boost to your resume. In all other instances, I’m opposed to working for free, even if you’re a newbie. It hurts us all and someday (hopefully) you too will be a PAID writer wishing novices weren’t giving their (your) work away for free.
it’s amazing how many ways there are to be exploited as a writer… glad you found your way.
my hunch is that if you’ve got even one article on the web you’ve got the credits you need.
A