Sell Your Writing Online NOW Blog

Although the outsourcing sites are great for finding freelance writing jobs fast, many freelance writers avoid them. If you’re spooked by having to compete and make bids the information in this article will help you.

Here are some tips to turn you into a bidding dynamo.
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Do you want money sent to your PayPal account every day? Many new writers hunt for “writing jobs” online when they want to make money writing, but this is a mistake. If you want success, you must do what others don’t do.

Here are three easy steps to make quick money from your writing and quit your day job within a few weeks — a writer I know used this method and had so many  writing jobs lined up that he quit his job after three days.

1. Get Your First Testimonial for Your Writing

The people who hire you to write want to know that you CAN write. You’d be amazed at the number of “writers” who take people’s money and run. Therefore, your very first step must be to get at least one testimonial for your writing.

This testimonial should include some way to contact the person who’s given you the testimonial: a Web address, an email address, or a phone number. In other words, this testimonial must be genuine.

There are various ways to get your first testimonial. One way that works is to create a listing for your writing service on eBay, with a BIN (Buy It Now) option. If you’re familiar with eBay, and have good feedback, you can leverage this to sell your writing services.

Another way that works to get your first testimonial is to advertise on Craigslist, although this takes more time, because you need to create several unique ads.

Here’s a third way that works. This method is fast and simple, and I’ve no idea why more new writers don’t use it. Just contact a professional writer who has a blog, and offer to write a guest post. You’ll be writing for free, in exchange for a testimonial. If you’re a reasonable writer, it shouldn’t take you longer that an hour to write the guest post, and you have your testimonial.

2. Leverage Your Testimonial in Your Signature File on Forums

Now you have a testimonial, you can leverage it. Here’s how: visit forums where people who buy writing hang out. These are forums for webmasters and  Internet marketers. (Avoid writers’ forums; they can’t hire you.) Join a couple of busy forums and start interacting with others.

Your signature (the blurb at the bottom of your forum posts) must contain a snippet from your testimonial.

Like so: 

Betsy Anne Newwriter, Article Writer and Blogger

A comment on my writing: “Betsy Anne’s fast and reliable: a pleasure to work with” — hire me today to help you to build your business with my writing skills.

Be professional and courteous in all your interactions on a forum: don’t spam, just become a part of the forum, and people will hire you.

3. Offer Something More: Become an Expert

Now you’re getting writing jobs, it’s time to specialize. As a specialist, you can charge more, and you’ll be hired by clients who have larger businesses with writers on retainer.

So there you have it: three steps to make quick money writing and quit your day job. Have fun, and enjoy writing: you’ll agree it’s the best “job” you’ve ever had.

Discover real world testimonials from Sell Your Writing Online NOW (SYWON) subscribers, who are making money writing and loving it.

Technorati Tags: making money writing, writing, writing jobs

Are you heading for writing burnout? When you make money writing, there’s a big danger that your creative well will run dry, resulting in writer’s block. Let’s look at how you can develop your creativity so you never run out of things to write about, develop high productivity, and increase your income.

“Have fun” seems simplistic. After all, you have clients who depend on you, and projects you must complete — you have a mortgage to pay. What’s fun got to do with it?

Fun has a great deal to do with it. Think about a time when you were intensely  creative. For most of us, that time of high creativity ended when we were around eight years old. Would you like that childlike glee with your writing back again? Little kids are never blocked and rarely stressed. They love to play, and that’s the secret.

Here are three tips which will help you to look on your for-pay writing as fun.

1. Write for Yourself First, then for Others

In 30 years of writing, I’ve learned that my inner kid can turn off my creativity like a tap when it gets bored. The kid doesn’t care about deadlines and money, the kid just wants to have fun.

Think about when you first started writing: try to recapture that excitement. Feel it. Now complete this sentence (write it down): “To really have FUN with my writing, I’d like to write__________ and ____________ and ___________”. Keep writing. You may be surprised at what you’d love to write, just for fun.

Your “fun” writing primes the pump for all your other writing. It’s your warm glow within. When that warm glow dies, all your writing dies. So keep that warm glow alive.

2. Develop a No-Stress Writing Schedule: Get Help when You Need It

Your primary goal as a writer who’s writing for profit should be to keep your writing schedule as stress-free as possible. If there things you could pay others to do, pay them.

For example, a virtual assistant could help you with your email, and the many other housekeeping chores of your writing business. She or he could also do basic research for you, freeing up time for you to write. If you hate marketing, you can also out-source some of those tasks.

If you’re just starting out as a “for pay” writer, you may only be making $60 an hour. However, you can get a virtual assistant for $30 an hour. If you take the plunge and delegate stress-inducing tasks, you’ll be amazed at how much more you get done… and that your income goes up.

3. Shush! Stay Silent on Gestating Projects

Have many projects have you talked away? Think about it.

Gestating projects, those projects which are so new they’re just a glimmer in your eye, are delicate. You can ruin them completely if you talk about them with anyone, even your nearest and dearest. Keep all projects strictly under wraps until you’ve completed at least a first draft, or if it’s a Web site, until you have the site online.

I hope these three tips help you. They come from experience. To build your career and making money writing, remember to have fun: it’s vital. Here’s how to become prolific and write more.

Write more – become a pro writer

Yes, you can write more and become an expert writer - even if you’re a world-class procrastinator.

Did you know that when you write more, your writing improves? Many of my writing students experience this. They find that when they write more, writing is easier for them – they’re not dominated by their inner editor.

My new writing class, “Write More And Make More Money From Your Writing: Develop A Fast, Fun Productive Writing Process” is based on lessons I developed for my private coaching students to help them to write more, improve their writing, and make more money writing.

If you’re struggling with your writing, the class will help. The techniques you’ll learn in class with help you write fiction, nonfiction, and copy for business.

Discover how you can write more, improve your writing, and sell more of your writing to higher-paying markets.

Here’s the secret to great creativity and eliminating writer’s block for good: have fun with your writing.

Technorati Tags: Creativity, freelance writing, Make money writing, stress, writing