7 Great Ways to Find Freelance Writing Jobs: A Quick Guide

We’ve talked about getting into freelance writing and best practices for making freelance writing pay. But where are the freelance writing jobs and how do you find them? This post gives you the lowdown on kickstarting your new career.
As a freelance writer, you’re self-employed and get to be your own boss. You get to choose when you work, who you work for, and what kind of work you do. But because you work for yourself, you’ll need to do your own sales and marketing. That’s where our list of seven ways to get freelance writing jobs comes in. We’ve also included a list of placeswhere you can look for freelance writing jobs online.

7 ways to get the freelance writing jobs you need to launch your new career

1. Building a website: The first step in finding freelance writing jobs is to build a website. This gives people looking for writers in your area of expertise an easy way to find you. Your website should include your resume, a portfolio with writing samples, an author bio, and a description of the kind of work you do. Wix.Com https://www.wix.com/ offers plans for just $10-25 a month, offers hundreds of gorgeous templates, and makes it easy for beginners to get a professional-looking website up quickly. You’ll also want to get an easy-to-remember domain name so you can direct people to www.yourname.com. Wix can help you with that, too. You’ll also need to get your SEO (Search Engine Optimization) on so your sites turn up in people’s searches. Clients also prefer writers with SEO skills. To learn more, start with Moz’s “SEO for Beginners.”
2. Going on social media: Facebook, Linked In, Instagram, and Twitter are also great ways to connect with potential clients. To attract attention, you’ll need to post timely, relevant, and interesting images, videos, and links to articles that relate to the kind of writing you do and helps establish you as an expert in your field. You can also follow related accounts and ones that post job listings. 
3. Getting referrals: The best way to get freelance writing jobs is through people you know. Contact all your friends, neighbors, family members, and past coworkers, tell them you’re setting up shop, and ask if you know anyone who needs help. That way, when someone a friend or neighbor knows is in need of copy for a brochure or content for their blog, they’ll think of you. 
4. Cold-calling: If you want to write for businesses, take a look at the websites for ones in your area. Do you think a good rewrite would help bring in more customers? If so, get to work! Call them, email them, or drop by with a brief and compelling 20-60-second pitch that tells them who you are and how you can help them. 
5. Pitching editors: If you’d rather do articles and posts for newspapers, magazines, websites, and blogs, find ones in your area of expertise and send them a brief email with a catchy subject line and a description of the article you’d like to write. Many websites have sections for writers with instructions and contact information for proposing articles.
6. Guest posting: Find a blog related to the kind of writing you do, and offer to write a guest post. Sometimes they’ll pay, but even if you do it for free, you’ll get your name out there and establish yourself as an authority in your niche. This can also get your name out there and help you land clients. In some cases, writers in your field of expertise may even refer you when they’re too busy to take more work. 
7. Looking online: The Internet’s also a great source of freelance writing jobs, though the quality and pay for these jobs is a mixed bag. A great way to start is to go to Google and search “write for us + your area of expertise” or “writers wanted + your area of expertise” A list of sites looking for writers like you should pop up, and you can just follow the links. There are also online job boards, which we’ll list below.

Speaking of looking for freelance writing jobs online, this topic merits its own section. Here are four excellent places to look for new clients

1. CraigsList: CraigsList is often unfairly maligned. The Jobs and Gigs listings are great sources of peoplenear you who need your writing help. You’ll be able to meet with them face-to-face and see if they’re a good fit. They may only have small projects in mind at first, but if things go well, they can also be a great source of repeat business.
2. Online job boards: You can also find online freelance writing jobs on boards like Blogging Pro, the All Freelance Writing Job Board, Write Jobs Plus, ProBlogger, and FreelanceWriting.com. iWriter takes this one step further with a free signup process so they can match job listings to your skillset. These sites provide a list of projects with descriptions, rates they pay, and their contact info. There’s also a wonderful email newsletter called Freedom with Writing that sends lists of well-paying opportunities for writers in all kinds of genres. To sign up, click here (it’s free).
3. Online freelancing platforms: Upwork, Freelancer.com, and Fiverr let you sign up for free, create a profile and portfolio, and bid for jobs posted by companies seeking freelancers. Many writers aren’t crazy about them. Some writers aren’t crazy about them because companies often go for the lowest possible bid. But some have found ways to succeed, get good recommendations, and work their way up to higher-paying clients. And if you’re just starting out, these sites may serve as a way to build your portfolio.
4. Social Media: These platforms aren’t just places for schmoozing and posting your work or content related to your work. There are accounts that also post freelance writing jobs. On Twitter, there’s @Write_Jobs, @WahJobAgency, @WhoPaysWriters, and @JJobs_tweets.On Reddit, there’s /r/HireAWriter and /r/WritingOpportunities. Linked in not only lets you post your portfolio, they also offer job listings and let you create custom searches. Facebook also offers job listings. To find them, type, “Jobs near me” in their search bar and see what turns up.

 With all these links, you should be able to land enough freelance jobs to keep you busy.