Five Reasons Why Writing for Online Marketplaces is a Good Idea for a Newbie Freelancer.

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When you're starting out, the real challenge lies in finding work. For freelancers with no experience or credentials, online marketplaces are a good place to start. There are many advantages to writing for marketplaces.

Better Pay

When I started looking for work some two months ago, all I found was $1-$5 articles. No one was willing to take on an inexperienced freelancer whose entire portfolio was related to an industry that was not known to the western world and about topics that they weren't interested in. Examples being, my write ups covering the private concerts of upcoming rock bands of Pakistan and opinion article on Muslim fashion. All I got were rejection letters unless I wanted to write 500 words for $1.

With marketplaces, if your article gets picked, you're paid a respectable amount. The articles that don't get picked are kept on the website servers and they earn money through the traffic they generate and the ads placed on them. Constant-Content has the option to put up an article under an option where your article is bought with one time publishing rights. It can be bought multiple times by different buyers giving you additional income.

Portfolio Building

Another advantage of marketplaces is that they help build a freelancer's portfolio. When you're new, freelancing is more of an unchartered territory. You're not sure about what to write and who to write for. You keep reading that freelancers have a better chance of making it if they carve a niche out for themselves but you haven't explored enough topics or gained enough experience to decide upon a niche. The upside to marketplaces like Helium and Demand Studios is that they give you topics to write, complete with article guidelines. Perfect guidance for someone who is wondering where to start.

Get Feedback

Marketplaces also often have a great feedback system in place. Their forums are full of helpful writers who are willing to help you out in your writing and answer any questions you might have. A website like Constant-Content even has an editorial team that goes through your article to see if it passes muster before it is put up for sale. If it doesn't they get back to you with feedback and once you've fixed the problems in your articles you're free to resubmit the article. The editors at Demand Studios send the article back for rewriting only once if the article doesn't meet with approval. If it still fails to meet the criteria then the topic is sent back to the pool of titles available to writers.

Online Mentoring

A lot of marketplace websites also provide online mentoring along with feedback. They assign online mentors who coach you and generally walk you through the glitches and hitches in your writing. Online mentoring is optional as not everyone likes to be told that they're doing something wrong or that they need to change some aspect of their writing.

Gain Confidence

The more you write, the more your confidence as a writer grows. Since I'm just starting out there are days when I'm afraid to apply for a writing gig simply because I don't have the experience. Keep reminding yourself that you won't gain experience if you don't write. Writing for marketplaces also keeps your confidence up when you're starting out. Every article written is experienced gained and credentials made.

One of the most difficult things is the wait after submitting an article. Especially if you're writing for marketplaces like Helium where they have deadlines by which publishers can buy your article. The one week wait to see whether your article was good enough to make the cut is hard to go through. So is the disappointment when your article isn't picked. The key is to keep writing and not lose hope. A good writing job is out there for you.

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1 comments:
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Francisco Castro said...
October 13, 2008 at 2:13 PM  

Olá, gostei muito do seu blog. Ele é muito bom.

Parabéns!

Um abraço

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