These are not affiliate sites, promotional sites, or resources I found on the web. I use everyone of these services to make money - except www.guru.com. However, a friend of mine swears that guru.com is the best place to start a freelance writing business.
Most freelance writers use two services to connect with clients:
www.guru.com
Guru.com is the place for technical writers and university graduates. It cost more money, but there is more money to make. Writers can get paid up to $1500 to make a simple ebook between 100 200 pages long.
www.ifreelance.com
ifreelance.com is the place to build your profile. There are few other places on the internet that offer freelance writers a nicer place to make their profile than ifreelance.com.
You do not need to be a professional, or have a degree to work here - as long as you don't mind writing for .01 a word until you build a substantial profile. It is all about speed and pay.
Other Sites
There are other sites like www.getafreelancer.com. These sites increase the chances of being scammed. While all freelance writers run the risk of non payment, there are things that will protect you.
First, make sure that the contract states that retainers are non-refundable. If you have a good website then your client has already seen a sample of your writing. Second, make sure the client understands that they do not own the copyright unless the contract is paid in full. Many clients will reject your work but don't think for a minute that they are not using it.
If the writer keeps their copyright until the contract is paid in full then they are guaranteeing that they will be able to resell non-exclusive' rights, or use the content in their blog, article site like www.inspiredauthor.com, as samples and free content at sites like www.novel-writer.com www.ezinearticle.com and www.get-free-content.com , or even in an online course like www.universalclass.com or www.writersonlinecourses.com
Agents
Bidding is fierce at guru.com. Many writers opt to hire an agent to bid for them. The agent's fees range from 10 50%, so choose well. Agents also have different demands and qualifications.
Most agents will contact you. Writers who sign with an agent must ask these questions.
1. What is your commission? It should be below 20%. New writers will pay more because the agent will need to edit the work.
2. How many rewrites can the client ask for before you will kill the contract? This can prove to be a major bone of contention. Many clients ask for rewrites and changes, by the time the ghostwriter makes them, the work-in-progress is several hundred of words longer than agreed on.
3. Do you pay in full as soon as the Work is submitted? Any good agent will say yes. If they say no then do not sign with that agent.
If you are anxious and do not want to wait for agents to find you, then fill in the contact' form at www.doublehdesign.com and start working with Sharon Hurley Hall. She has books here at www.todaysbooks.com and is featured at www.inspiredauthor.com She is always within the top 30 if you Google the term ghostwriter and is one of the most fair, and newbie friendly, agents you'll find.
To learn more, visit my site at www.suzannejames.com or take one of my courses at www.writersonlinecourses.com. I also teach free workshops every Friday night, all year, at 7pm Eastern, from the Novel Writer Magazine chat room www.novel-writer.com
Building a Reputation
One of the best ways to build a reputation is to write advertising blogs. I have several blogs where I post ads for clients. A writer can receive $5 - $10 for an ad in their blog. However, it is not easy to get started. Most blogs need to be at least 3 months old and have at least 50 posts before they will be accepted.
The blog must be on a site where there are not a lot of Google ads. A private blog site is best. If you want to set up a private blog or a network of blogs, then you should get a good hosting site.
I recommend siteground hosting
This is a professional company that your hosting company probably uses. You can get hosting for $70 a year, and they will install all the scripts that you need for blogs, mailing lists, and CMS. If you want to set up a professional looking site, without a lot of trouble, then use the Joomla content management system, or for something easier, wordpress or b2evolution blogs.
The competition is fierce for each writing project. Don't loose work by appearing to be an amateur, or someone who really doesn't care. My site is built on joomla at www.suzannejames.name, Sharon Hurley Hall's site at www.doublehdesign.com is built on the wordpress blog software. Siteground will install both for free.
The trick is to get a lot of inbound links to these sites. One way to do this is to write free content articles for sites like www.get-a-freelancer.com and www.ezinearticle.com. You should also start free blogs at sites like www.blogger.com, www.bloggerparty.com (www.blogsvertise.com will pay for posts at these sites, but www.bloggingads.com and www.blogitive.com will not)
You can use the free blogs to build links to the real blogs. Learning to ping the blog after every post at sites like www.pingoat.com is easy, and will dramatically increase your inbound links. The advertising sites such as www.bloggingads.com, www.blogsvertise.com and www.blogitive.com will watch the inbound links to see if your blog qualifies.
How Much Can You Earn?
I currently ghostwrite 90 articles a month for clients, and post more than 100 ads on 8 different blogs. This takes me about 70 hours a month and earns me $900 USD, about $200 from the blog posts, the rest from articles. I also ghostwrite ebooks. I write one book every couple of months and make from $500 - $1500 an ebook.
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