Writing and Stuff by Anthony Chatfield

I have wanted to be a writer for a while now. Not “since I was a little kid” while, but a good long time nonetheless. Of course, when I had these visions of literary wonder, I was going to be sitting around a massive house with a few hundred words a day to write for a major magazine, newspaper, or novel. Of course, it’s not the same thing as what I’m actually doing – that is being a pen for hire, the guy who does all the dirty work for websites across the globe. 

I’m not complaining about my job of course – being a freelance writer is probably the best job I’ve ever had or will ever have and I don’t plan on stopping any time soon. That said, there ends up being a huge difference between writing because you love it and writing because you have to do it to pay your rent and keep the Simpsons DVDs up to date. 

When I wrote in college, I wrote because I loved it. That’s about all you get out of it when you’re paying thousands of dollars for someone to “teach” you how to produce a short story. Right now, I write because it pays the bills – all sorts of bills by the way; more than I ever thought would be possible. This isn’t a new realization by any means. I have seen the effects of work in action many times before. When I was a kid, there was nothing I wanted more than to ride the lawnmower around the yard – I’ll bet you can guess how that turned out. 

And in the last two years or so, I’ve had plenty of jobs that I thought would be a lot of fun, but the longer I worked on them, the less fun they became. Writing guides for video games? That should be awesome right? Turns out that when you start looking at everything in a game as a sequence in a technical manual, it’s pretty dull. Eating out and writing reviews? Well, it could be fun if A) the food was good everytime or B) you didn’t have to think of new and exciting ways to describe the word “spicy”. 

Again, I’m not complaining. My job is great and if you’re getting into freelance writing, I can guarantee that you’ll be happy with your new lifestyle. But, if you’re getting into it for the love of writing, you’re going to be pretty crestfallen pretty quickly. 

My advice – get a really relaxing, mindless hobby. It helps to balance out how much you use your brain when writing all day and allows you to clear the slate so you can work on private projects – things like short stories or that great american novel. I like to read cheesy fantasy novels and play guitar hero. My brain gets to shut down for an hour or two and I don’t feel like writing more is only another chore when it is really something I dream about doing most every day. 

You’re going to have enough trouble already separating your personal life from your work if you start working freelance – create barriers and good ways to wind down and you can avoid feeling like the writing you do for the love of writing is the same as all that other stuff you scribble out to pay your gas bill.

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The first three months of any freelance career are a volatile, sticky, messy period. Most often, you still work a full time job, then come home to write for two or three hours, putting together half baked projects for questionable sources and wishing you could break through to where all the big boys are playing in the magazines and newspapers.

So, it’s understandable when that first opportunity to bid on a real freelance project pops up and you are a little nervous. First of all, if you haven’t gotten your first project to bid on yet, stop waiting. It’s not going to magically appear in front of you. You need to back up, survey the area, and actually start making a few decisions – ones that will be hard to make.

If you took my advice and are working on small, micropay or revenue sharing articles for sites like Associated Content, that’s perfect. You already know what people are interested in reading and have a decent amount of experience to share with potential clients. They don’t need to know why or when you wrote an article (I don’t recommend you tell them) – they just need to know it was written by you and it is well crafted.

Arriving at Elance.com

Fast forward to your first few minutes on Elance.com (you should start here, forget the other, lower stress and cheaper alternatives – the clients are here) and the rush of new things you have to do. Make sure you have a quality profile filled out, a plethora of information on hand to provide clients, and at least three or four solid samples to share in your portfolio.

Now, start looking for projects to bid on through the project search tool. There are, at any given time 350 or so projects active in the Writing/Translation section of the site. If that doesn’t sound like much to you, consider the fact that more than 7,000 new projects are created every week – they come and go quickly.

I recommend that you start with the articles category and look for small, low paying jobs with people that want something done cheaply. It’s a rough reality, but when you start writing for actual clients, they have no idea who you are and with a brand new Elance account and no one to vouch for you, the only selling point you have is the fact that you are cheaper than the competition. It will make getting started easy though as these individuals usually have a low threshold for quality assurance – if it reads well and is coherent, they’re happy.

Find that ideal first project, something with 10 or 20 500 word articles on bird feeders and get ready to write up your first bid. There are a few things to consider:

Their Requirements

What did they ask for you to give them? Read the project description thoroughly multiple times to make sure you have everything they need of you in your bid. If they asked for completion times, rates, and two samples, give them what they wanted. If they asked for a specific answer to a question they have, answer their question.

Bidding Details

In the little box where you describe your proposal, you need to be concise, well spoken and mildly persuasive. First, introduce yourself and tell them why you would be good for the project. If you have a bird watching hobby, mention it. If you have no personal connection to the project and have never written about their topic before, keep it strictly professional. Add a few details about your work philosophy – what you provide, how you do revisions, your satisfaction guarantee, etc. Finally, throw in the details. How much do you want and when can you get the project done. Starting bids vary from person to person, but for your first project, expect to bid anywhere between $5-$7 per article of 500 words – it is a horrible rate, but trust me – if you do good work, they will reward you with positive feedback and you will be bumped up in the ratings. Three or four glowing reviews and you can start asking for the larger projects with better rates.

Finally, throw in a sample or two as an attachment. Unless you have a portfolio with 20 files in it that cover every possible writing style, always include a targeted attachment as a sample to show off your work. Many times if you don’t they won’t even consider your bid – they rarely bother to email you for a sample.

The Final Review

Finally, review your information, enter your total bid and the time frame for completion and click the submit button. You will need to confirm your bid one more time on the next page, so don’t close the window just yet. When you have done that, you are officially in the running.

Remember one thing though; there are more than 9,000 writers on Elance in any given week vying for the same projects. If you don’t get one, it has no bearing on you as a writer; it just means someone else got to it first. Try again and be persistent. When you finally get that first job, things will snowball and before you know it, you will have 40 reviews, a 95% rating and will never have to bid on a project again – they’ll come to you. It’s always about persistence, no matter what happens.

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