How to Get Writing Jobs

I'd like to apologize to my regular readers for taking last week off. You see I was busy being kicked into the gutter by Google, and the boot prints haven't quite worn off yet. The full account of what happened (and the rather bloody financial shape it left me in) can be found at this post right here, and I would encourage all readers to please check it out and help out if you can.

Now then, I'd like to talk to you all about the secret to getting writing jobs.

What is a Writing Job?

While the name should be pretty straightforward I'm going to clarify the types of jobs I'm talking about here. I don't mean getting a book published, or starting your own blog. I am not referring to joining a website where you can put up whatever content you want either, since that is essentially you getting up on a platform and trying to gather your own audience. What I am talking about are "traditional" writing jobs; where your employer pays you a fee to create content according to his or her needs.

Rocking it old school.

The advantages to traditional writing jobs are pretty obvious. They provide you a steady source of income, you have something resembling job security (or at least you know how much money a given project is worth), you can put the job on your resume, and you may even manage to get a reference for future jobs out of an employer.

In short you get all of those things that you don't get as someone who's independently employed, for lack of a better term. Not only that, but you can still run your own projects on the side while paying rent.

Step One: Tune Up

Before you even think about looking for a writing job you need to make sure you've taken a whetstone to your craft, and your words are sharp enough to shave with. If you were trying to get a gig as a lead guitarist you wouldn't leave the basement until you could shred your potential employer's face off; being a writer isn't much different.

This is actually how I write most of my editorials.

Once you've got your voice, style, and rhythm down you need to compose a couple of sample pieces. While it's more impressive if these samples have been published (it doesn't matter where, just so long as they've been published by someone), publication isn't always a necessity. You should have at least three completed pieces to hand out as samples, but the bigger a variety you have the better.

Step Two: Kick In The Door

I've had a fair number of writing jobs, both traditional and non. I've written for two college newspapers, two local newspapers, I've contributed to a now-defunct magazine called College Gentleman, run blogs on a steampunk website, been a columnist at Kobold Quarterly, edited stories for Jupiter Gardens Press, and I've contributed content for Paizo publishing's Pathfinder roleplaying game. While those jobs sound like they're all over the board (because they are), I got each and every one of them with the same, tried and true method.

I would like a job, please.

When you get a traditional, non-writing job there's a formula you follow. You fill out an application, submit it to a manager, wait for an interview, and hope you get a call back telling you when to start. When it comes to writing jobs, even "traditional" ones, things tend to be a little faster and a whole lot dirtier. As such the best way for you to get the job you want is to take the initiative, and kick in the door. Most of the time your future employer will be shocked by the splintered wood hanging off the hinges, and impressed by your initiative. If you're asked to submit some samples, then you have a more than fighting chance of getting the job.

This isn't just tough talk either; getting a job as a writer is largely in how you present yourself. If you show up with a ready portfolio, an eye-catching business card, and a firm handshake then prospective employers will mark you as someone to try out. You probably won't receive a contract and a corner office on the spot, but you might get picked up as a stringer for a newspaper, a pinch hitter for a magazine, or you'll be asked to submit a smaller section of a bigger project in a game booklet. Once your employer sees how you respond to pressure, how you work with a team, and how your quality stands up, you can expect to see more work come your way along with a potential for that full time gig and retirement package.

Just remember that you want to seem enthusiastic, sincere, and qualified. If you're sending an email then be sure you've read it a dozen times, and that you've made it very clear what you want and why you should be given a chance. If you're showing up to an event like a job fair, a convention, etc. then you want to make sure you've got copies of your resume, plenty of business cards, and that you've practiced how to pitch yourself without sounding like you're pitching yourself. In short you want to sell your future boss on the idea that you will be a valuable asset to have on speed dial.

Step Three: Repeat

I'd like to say there's a big secret to getting steady work as a writer, because if I could I'd have a best selling book on the market and I'd never have to work again. Sadly being a writer is a lot like being a sculptor or a painter; some of us land cushy jobs where we can skate by with plenty of time and effort for other projects, and most of us end up patching together a collection of odd jobs and pennies to pay rent.

A lot of us do things we aren't exactly proud of.

The difference between the writer who has enough work to pay for insurance, a new car, and the occasional cheese burger on the weekend is not usually a matter of talent or skill, though. It's usually decided by who is willing to get back up and come out swinging in the next round. If one job prospect doesn't work out you thank them for the consideration, and move on to the next company. You go to the next convention, the next job fair, the next publishers' event, and you dive in with a sharp smile and a business card in hand.

Most people think it's the fastest or the strongest fighter who's left standing at the end of the day. More often than not though it's the person who refuses to go down.

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Stop Calling Me A Starving Artist

I made the decision to become an author when I was 14. I won my first poetry competition at 16, and when I was 19 I fell victim to my first publishing scam. I remained undeterred, and when I was 24 became a freelance writer working for newspapers, magazines, websites, and anyone else who would pay me to create the content they needed. When I was 28 years old in the year 2012 I hit my stride as a fiction author and got my first taste of success. Since then I've had short stories featured in seven different anthologies, I've had four stand-alone stories published, and I've even self-published an additional three stories. If all goes well I'll be releasing my first book in 2014.

You wouldn't know it to look at my royalty checks, though.

This is $10 and one gun more than I made in royalties last year.

Whenever I start talking about the financial realities of being an author, people feel the need to give me advice. "Why don't you get a day job?" is probably the most common tip I get, in case the idea didn't occur to me. "You just need to write something that gets popular," is another one. My least favorite, typically accompanied by a slap on the back and a hearty laugh, is "Well you're just doing your time as a starving artist."

We need to stop using that phrase. Why? Well, I'll tell you why.

The Double Standard

Calling someone a starving artist or a struggling artist might be accurate, but it's also putting them in a box. If someone is a painter, or an author, or a steel sculptor there's no need to put a qualifier before it. Defining someone by the art form he or she practices is enough. By calling attention to the person's lack of financial success all the speaker is doing is invoking the double standard of the art world.

The who with the huh?

The double standard artists are forced to contend with is pretty simple. On the one hand artists are told their art cannot be defined by a price the way other work can be. Because art is judged subjectively, there's no way to put a universal price on it. On the other hand artists are judged directly in proportion to how much money they make from their art. The Catch-22 here is that an artist's success justifies the price of the art, but if you can't sell the art in the first place you can never achieve that kind of success.

If an artist does get noticed, and manages to achieve success that can also lead to self-sustaining cycles which are referred to by laymen as "the Big Break". Artists which make a lot of money like rock stars or bestselling authors are judged to be "good enough" for their success because if they weren't then why would so many people pay them for what they produce?

This reasoning shows up in bookstores all the time. People buy bestsellers not because they like the author, or even because they know what the book's about; it's the idea that a book which sold 100,000 copies must be worth something. This logic flaw goes both ways though, which is why if an author hasn't sold a lot of books people may make the assumption he or she simply isn't good enough. We assume an author's previous sales reflect his or her talent, and it's why no one feels bad judging creative professionals they see as struggling.

The True Secret to Success

What really makes an author successful? What puts food in the pantry and pays the rent check every month? What's the big secret of success that divides the struggling from the commercially successful?

You. Readers.

Yes, even this guy.

This is where those cycles I mentioned earlier come in. If a writer gets on the bestseller list, or wins an award, that writer is going to get time to promote to the masses in traditional media, genre magazines, and a dozen other places that "struggling" writers simply won't be able to reach. People see an author and think "wow, he's on TV. Guy must have written something pretty sweet to land this day time spot." By getting his or her signal boosted an author finds an audience, and that audience grows. They visit the author's blog, come to events, buy copies of the book, clamor to see a movie get made, buy merchandise, etc., etc.

You want to know how quickly that can happen? How fast someone can go from a struggling nobody to a celebrated master in a genre? The answer to that is Clive Barker.

Today people know Clive as a painter, a director, an author, and a master of horror. Once upon a time though he was a fairly fresh author with a book of short stories that was tanking badly on the British market. "The Books of Blood" is famous now, but there was a solid chance it was going to fade into total obscurity. Except that one reader thought it was pretty goddamn good, and he said so.

That reader was Stephen King.

Practically overnight the sales of the book skyrocketed, and what had looked like a half-sunk career with maybe one or two more books in it became a titan in the horror genre. Did King's opinion change the words in the book, or alter the intent that Barker wrote them with? Did his approval magically transform a struggling author into a bestseller?

No. The readers did.

The Moral of the Story

The point I've been trying to make is that all of us are authors. We put words on a page for the enjoyment of readers. By separating us into successful authors and struggling authors we are being labeled in ways that can and do affect our careers. Do people want to read the latest release from a "struggling" author? Probably not. Would they be interested in a "local" author? How about a book written by a "horror" author, or a "science fiction" author? That sort of labeling plays less on the heart strings, and more on a reader's curiosity.

Secondly, just because someone isn't on the bestseller list doesn't mean there isn't a great story waiting between those covers. I'm not saying you should just throw aside your favorite writers to start snatching up everyone you've never heard of, but just keep in mind that the number of 0's on a check doesn't necessarily mean what you're buying is a well-written story. Not that you didn't already know that of course, but it bears repeating.

Third, if you really want to help then take a lesson from Mr. King. The greatest compliment you can pay to an author is to tell someone else how great his or her book was. Leave a review on Amazon, make a post on a forum, put up your favorite quote on your FB page, or just talk to your mom and dad over coffee about this fantastic tale you couldn't put down. By doing that, and doing it honestly, you might be the first pebble of an author's own, personal avalanche.


Thanks as always for stopping by the Literary Mercenary. If you'd like to help keep this blog going feel free to donate at the "Shakespeare Gotta Get Paid, Son" button on the upper right hand side, or stop by my Patreon page. Feel free to follow me on Facebook or Tumblr. Interested in some of my books? Check out my Goodreads page.

Where to Find Online Writing Jobs

Before we get started I'd like to state this right up front; if you want to support the Literary Mercenary then remember we run on Google AdSense. Ad revenue is what keeps your author's bills paid, and it allows me to dedicate more time to bringing you helpful information. Good, now with that out of the way I'd like to talk a little bit about making money as a freelance writer and some of the places I've discovered that won't hesitate to pay you for your work.

Up Front Payment

Authors and assassins always take their money up front.

When most people think of getting paid to write, this is what they think of. The writer creates a piece of content, the client pays a fee, and the job is over. This is pretty much how magazines and newspapers worked in the good old days of traditional mass media. For writers who like knowing what they're getting paid before they start banging away on the keys though, there are still several websites that can start fattening up your collective bank accounts.

Demand Media Studios

You've likely been to a Demand Media Studios site. They run eHow.com, they run LiveStrong.com, and they run dozens of other websites in addition to partnering with even more. As far as fees and work go, Demand Media Studios is one of the higher-paying markets out there for writers who want guaranteed, up-front payment for writing articles. I myself have completed a great deal of work for them, such as this article, this article, and this article too.

The application process is simple. Simply go to the homepage at www.demandstudios.com and apply. A word to the wise though; this is not a content farm. If you don't have a college degree, or several years of experience in a professional field, this might not be the place for you. In addition to writing jobs though, Demand Studios also has room for editors looking for a way to earn extra income.

Textbroker

There are a lot of negative things written about this website, but there are only two questions you need to ask as a writer; do they offer work at a price I'm willing to take, and do they pay on time? In that area at least Textbroker is simple and straightforward. I've completed thousands of articles there myself, and it is possible to get enough work from this site to pay one's bills. Possible, but not easy. A tip for those who plan on becoming www.TextBroker.com contributors; impress your customers, get a high rating, and get added to as many teams as you can. Team assignments always have higher pay, and there's less competition over them. This shouldn't be your only place of employ, but it is a solid option.

Content Current

Yet another website which has earned a lot of shaken fists, www.ContentCurrent.com is not a website you can just go to, write a few hundred words a day and retire. However, when work gets scarce and budgets get tight, this site often has assignments that can make the difference between paying your bills and not. Assignments tend to run scarce at Content Current, but it also has the option of editing along with writing. This can be a life saver for writers who aren't afraid to wield the power of the red pen.

Royalties

It always feels like free money, for some reason.

There are few things guaranteed to perk a writer's imagination more than the notion of royalties. The idea of writing a single story, a single book, or even a single article and being paid for it over and over again is extremely appealing. There's a hitch with royalties though; they pay you nothing unless they get popular. So if no one reads your articles, or no one clicks the ads on your page (much like the ads to the right and bottom of this very post) you as the writer have spent a great deal of time and effort in creating a piece of content for nothing. On the other hand if your content gets truly and wildly popular you could see checks for hundreds of dollars, or more, showing up in your bank for months to come. Years, in some cases.

Yahoo! Voices

Yahoo! Voices was, once upon a time, a website called Associated Content. It functions off of a fairly simple principle; users write about content they know, and based on the views that content gets the writers get paid. Paid how much you might ask? Well, that depends. Yahoo! Voices works on a tier system. At the lowest tier, number 1, you make $1.50 for every 1k page views your work gets. At the highest tier, tier 10, you make $2.00 per 1k. On the upside there's no need to convince readers to click ads or sign up for anything; if people view your content, you get paid. The hard part, of course, is writing content that you are confident in, which remains popular, and which earns enough regular views to pay you an amount worth investing in.

I have an archive of over 300 articles with them here. Yahoo! Voices pays regularly and on time every single month. Getting consistent views high enough to even pay your phone bill though is going to take a lot of work, and a lot of promotion. This is not an option for the faint of heart.

Infobarrel & Xomba

Infobarrel.com and Xomba.com are both websites that can provide a lot of earning potential as long as someone has a Google AdSense account. Both websites allow users to write articles, and they will split the AdSense revenue with the content creator. While Infobarrel is more popular for articles (my account for that is located here), Xomba has the advantage in that users can create bookmarks (which is the sort of content I recommend creating. It worked great for me, as evidenced by this). Xomba doesn't let you create content that links to something you wrote, though. On the other hand, if you have a friend that creates great content then you can build a bookmark library for that other person. That person might, in turn, feel obligated to build some backlinks for your content as well.

BlogSpot and Others

Anyone who can entertain users can run a blog. If you want to make money blogging (I already covered this topic here in greater depth), all you need is an AdSense account, and an audience that is willing to click your ads on occasion. Fortunately there's no rule that says you can only have a single blog. Any activity that you're knowledgeable enough about to create content for, you can do it. For instance, in addition to the Literary Mercenary I also run a blog for tabletop gaming titled Improved Initiative. This allows you to cover a number of subjects and to market yourself and your work simultaneously to a bigger overall population. It also requires double the work of creation and promotion, and there's no guarantee of earnings if no one reads what you wrote.

Hit Lists: Finding New Jobs

Can't be afraid of a little red work.

Not all writers work for a single, stable employer. Some writers simply make their way from one want ad to another, building up a stable of steady paymasters until they have access to more work than they have time, effort, or desire for. Even writers who do have steady work might check the boards on occasion to try and fill in the cracks, and save a little bit on the side. While I can't vouch for every job at these locations, I can vouch that they collect more than enough jobs to keep you busy applying for days.

Online Writing Jobs

There's never been a website with a simpler name and purpose. Simply go to www.Online-Writing-Jobs.com and tool around until you find something that strikes your fancy. This site combs through a dozen online want ads, bringing all of the writing jobs one could want to a single place every, single day.

ODesk

Though I'm a relatively recent convert to www.ODesk.com, I can vouch that there's plenty of work available on the site. Not all of the work is meant for an American audience, which means that sometimes the prices being paid are much lower than a first world writer would be willing to accept. That said, with enough looking, it's a relatively simple matter to match a writer with an employer.

Is That All?

Of course not. I could run an entire blog meant for nothing more than writing jobs and where to get them. As of this particular moment though, these are the locations I can personally vouch for, and which I feel comfortable recommending to my fellow writers who are looking to make their ends meet. There might be further installments of this topic as I broaden my reach, or if readers decide to leave comments regarding places they've worked for that aren't mentioned here. Seriously though, do that.

Writers always have to look at the assignment and ask themselves if it's worth the time and the effort. If a writer doesn't want to work as a cashier, a security guard, or any of a dozen other low-rent jobs, these are some good places to start building up a writing job history. It also helps to start expanding your contact circle, and to get you into the professional mindset. If you're going to write, then do it, and don't look back.


As always, thanks for tuning in to the Literary Mercenary. If you want more updates then follow me on Facebook, or main line me on Tumblr. If you want to see a particular topic covered, or if you have information to enrich this particular post, then please leave a comment or drop me an email. It's your patronage and support that makes this blog possible.

Professional Rule Number One: Never Work For Free

It was Sir Walter Scott who first coined the term freelance, taking the two obvious words and cementing them together to form a new term. When it was put together, ostensibly for Ivanhoe in the 1820s, the term was meant to refer to a Middle Ages mercenary. It wasn't until the 1860s that the term was used to refer to writers, and specifically to journalists who wrote on a piece-by-piece basis rather than being on staff for a given paper.

Freelancers, much like their military counterparts, haven't always had the best reputations among the populace. They work cheap, they're often used in place of regular professionals, and they tend to have at least a few different paymasters at a time. They don't always belong to professional organizations, they don't always do the best work, and many times they're downright unscrupulous. But here's something you can all learn from the brothers and sisters of the gilded lance... we get paid.

I want one that says "Shakespeare Gotta Get Paid, Son."

 

There's this strange delusion among the professional world that artists are some second-class group of pseudo-professionals that act a lot like indentured servants who will work for the privilege of working. What's worse is that this delusion is catching, and that many creative persons are willing to accept the lie that they should be flattered just to have their blood, sweat, and tears featured in an ad campaign at all.

 

The Golden Rule

 

The first and foremost rule of being a creative professional of any stripe is that you have to be professional. Professionals get paid, period. This isn't just good advice either; it's a mantra, a code, and a creed. If you don't believe your work is worth something, then what does that say about you? Chances are that it doesn't say anything good.

 

Barter, Trade, and Goodwill

 

Before at least a few folks reading this start getting up-in-arms about the quality of art being measured with the yardstick of commerce, let me be the first to say that there's more forms of payment than just money. There's the credit that comes with having a story or novel published by a major company, for instance. There's the connections to be made by working with certain editors, and the goodwill that comes from offering a piece of work as a last-minute help to someone that needs a pitch-hitter. There's even the satisfaction of knowing something you wrote went to help out a good cause for those who write, paint, or illustrate for a charity. There's nothing wrong with any of that. It's only when someone hands over days, weeks, and months of effort in the form of a completed work, and then feels grateful when someone else makes money off of it that something is wrong.

 

But What About Exposure?

 

I will be the first to say that few things bring me closer to doing serious bodily harm to another human being than someone saying I will be paid in exposure. "Exposure" often translates to "you're getting nothing slacker, just be glad we're giving you page space or throwing your print on the cover". That attitude has become so common that many people just breaking into the creative field accept it as paying their dues, and will go for years allowing themselves to be exploited before turning a profit.

 

With that said, exposure is an acceptable payment if the publication in question is likely to get exposed. In my experience most places that offer exposure as payment are small presses which can't actually afford to pay their authors an up-front cost for stories, or they're events that are looking for a way to cut costs while still getting all the creative bells and whistles on signs, banners, etc. It all comes down to what you, as the creative professional, are all right with.

 

Look at the project from a marketing perspective. If you were asked to design a mascot for a local gaming convention which wasn't likely to get more than a few hundred attendees, that's a few hundred people who will see your art. Maybe they'll want to buy some, or maybe they won't. Maybe you get a free badge to go to the convention, or you make allies of the organizers who need you to create something to suck in the public. For some artists, particularly those who are new to the game and who don't have much of a list of achievements, that might be a worthwhile endeavor. For someone who has been a professional artist for several years, or decades, who has a long list of clients that are willing to offer more benefit for time well-spent, a free project like that isn't an effective use of time or resources.

 

Is This What I'm Worth?

 

Not all that glitters is gold, which is something creative types know better than most. However, for those who aren't creative professionals the work that we do is often seen as one part magic and two parts frivolity. The common perceptions that art is a luxury rather than a necessity, and worse that art is easy, leads many people to expect gratitude and thanks just for handing out praise. We can all agree that performing surgery on a heart is no small feat, but why is creating something that makes that heart skip a beat considered so much easier?

 

 

As always, thanks for stopping in and reading. If you're interested in my professional doings stop in at my Facebook author page, or if you're an instant gratification sort of person my Tumblr is always looking for a few good fans. For those looking for my professional credits, Amazon is a good place to look. Lastly, for people who want to line the pockets of The Literary Mercenary please tell your friends, tell your family, put me up on your Facebook feed, and keep checking back every week for new updates. Oh, and lastly, remember that this page runs on Google AdSense. It keeps the gears greased, and the snark flowing.