A round-up of my best tips all in one place!
When I decided to become a freelance writer, I started out on third-party freelance sites, primarily UpWork (it was ODesk then). After the first few jobs I did, my feedback was positive and I had crafted my pitch letter, which could be quickly customized, for bidding on jobs. If I bid on a job, I typically was offered it, so I knew my pitch was good.
But after a few years, even though I was making money, I was working too many hours to be able to scale my income.
I needed to do something else. So, for two years, I worked hourly for a recruiting firm through the same platform. It was good money, but I was an employee at the beck and call of someone else. And it didn’t involve much writing or teaching, two of my sweet spot activities.
I hated it.
Like many freelance writers do, I temporarily went back to UpWork, raised my rates, and put feelers out to previous clients which helped. But, I’d been reading about freelance writers leaving UpWork in droves and finding better paying clients. I decided it was time to give it a try.
I joined a lot of different Facebook groups for freelance writers and I took a ton of free courses and a few paid ones.
Like you probably are, I spent a lot of time just searching for answers.
It seemed all the gurus offering courses were telling you what to do to become a freelance writer, but they left out the most important thing.
How do you actually go about finding freelance writing clients?
Sure, you need a portfolio to show to potential clients. You have to know how to craft a good pitch to convince them you’re the best freelancer for the job. There is information out there about contracts and pitch templates and even what to do if a client doesn’t pay on time.
All the gurus harped about the importance of choosing a niche and positioning yourself as an expert. I rebelled initially, but here’s what I did to finally choose my freelance writing niche.
But, no matter where you look, it seems no one is actually giving any details on how to find freelance writing clients. Most suggest sending hundreds of cold emails out every week, which is a ton of work without a guaranteed result.
The internet is a huge place.
More than just cold emailing
The good news is there is a better way than cold emailing hundreds of companies every week.
And as it turns out, there is more than just one way to find freelance writing clients. And you rarely have to pay to find writing jobs.
Over the last decade, I’ve come up with several very effective ways to find freelance writing clients and I’m sharing them with you.
I’ve now worked with hundreds of clients. I’ve also built multiple income streams. And I can ramp my client list up or down within a matter of days to fit my financial or vacation needs.
If you put a few of these techniques into practice and combine them with a professional looking portfolio. If you perfect how to craft your best pitch, finding writing jobs is now going to get a whole lot easier.
Get writing jobs emailed
The first step is to get some of those freelance writing jobs emailed right to you every week. There are several websites that offer curated lists of available writing jobs or paid writing markets. Sign up for as many of these as you can.
Calling All Writers: Get Writing Jobs Emailed to You
Where Are the Writing Jobs?
Once you sign up for those emails, schedule time on your calendar, to go through those lists and pick out the writing jobs that suit your niche and skills and pitch them. Make it part of your routine every day or weekly.
Find paid guest posts
The next way to find freelance writing jobs, especially if you need to get some published clips out there which you can include in your portfolio, is to write paid guest posts. Notice I said “paid” guest posts. Just because it’s a guest post, doesn’t mean you have to write it for free. Below is my post that tells you step by step how to find guest post opportunities that pay.
How Can I Get Paid to Write Guest Posts?
Why Writing for Free Should be a Last Resort Option
Now that you have some writing jobs coming to you on a regular basis that you can sort through and have a couple paid guest posts to beef up your portfolio, it’s time to ramp up the search.
These next steps will take more effort on your part so be sure to allot time to search, pitch, and follow up, every week.
Best job boards for freelance writers
The next place to search is job boards. I know. I can hear you groaning. You’ve likely tried job boards before without much luck.
But my tips will show you which job boards are the best ones for writers which will help you target your time in the right place. You’ll also learn how to use job board filters and other tips to find remote, virtual, or contract jobs if that’s what you’re looking for.
Find niche specific writing jobs
Finally, if you still need more freelance writing jobs, my next post will show you how to find the paid writing opportunities specific to your niche or topics. Believe it or not, you’re going to use Google.
But don’t worry, my tips will help you narrow down your search so you can hone in on the websites and companies that are looking for writers and ready to pay them. It’s up to you to polish your pitch to convince them you are the only writer for the job.
So there you have some of my best techniques for finding freelance writing clients that pay.
Now go get paid to write!
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Meg Stewart has been freelancing for nearly two decades. She’s a multi-passionate skill hoarder and the intersection of freelance writing, technology, and teaching is her sweet spot. Freelance Filter was founded to help writers get paid and help solopreneurs do business better. Meg and her family, (along with two dogs, two cats, and two leopard geckos), live in Northeast Ohio.