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TIPS ON GETTING FREELANCE WORK

By Deborah Greenspan

There’s a lot of freelance work out there, but how do you get it to come to you?  Do you look for work on the net? In your neighborhood? Over the phone?  Here’s a short list of methods you can use to build your freelance writing business.

1.  If you’ve been writing professionally for a while that’s great; you’re ready to go on to step 2.  If you’re just starting out, however, that’s okay too.  All you need

      is some experience—some titles of works you’ve produced

      that can be put on your resume.  It’s easier to get your

      work published online than anywhere else, so for starters,

      try offering free articles to ezines. 

  2.  Create a resume of your work.  Write down everything you

      ever wrote on these pages, even if it’s just an

      especially well-done school paper.  You should include

      the names of companies for whom you’ve worked, the work

      you did for them, and anything else about the work that’s

      important. For an example of this type of resume, visit

      http://www.angelfire.com/fl/debsworld/resume.html

  3.  Decide what type of work you want to do.  Are you interested

      in writing for business, marketing, video, magazines?  Pick

      one (don’t worry, you can always add new categories to your

      areas of expertise). 

  4.  Depending on the work you’ve chosen to go after, make a

      list of types of companies where you might find that work. 

      For instance, if you want to write video, then you’ll want

      to list video production companies and advertising companies.

      But if you want to write for magazines, then you’ll need a

      list of magazines and ezines that pay.  You can find out

      about the magazines from the “Writer’s Market.”  Ezines can

      be researched through search engines. 

  5.  Depending on your credentials—degrees, experience etc.— you’ll

      begin to apply for work for which you’re qualified by making  

      phone calls and sending out resumes.  If you have a fax

      machine or know how to use your computer’s internal fax modem,

      you can easily fax resumes to hundreds of numbers.  Or if you

      can put together a list of email addresses, you can send resumes

      over the web.  The more resumes you get out there, the more

      likely it is that you’ll get a response.  As in everything

      else these days, it pays to advertise.

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