Need Work? Curious Places to Find Freelance Writing Jobs

If you’re looking for freelance writing jobs, you might be looking in all the wrong places.

Bid sites and content mills? Craigslist? You’re bound to find the usual bottom feeders there.

Maybe you’re in the habit of sifting through Writers Market to find high-paying magazines to pitch. Or using LinkedIn to make connections and pitch prospects.

Both are excellent marketing strategies to find freelance writing jobs. But they’re not the only places you can find work.

Curious? Just think for a minute about all the places content shows up in your life.

In today’s content-saturated world print is still alive and well, and more digital content is flooding the Interwebs every day. And that’s a good thing for freelance writers.

You might grumble about information overload. But turn that around and take a curious look at where all that content is coming from. You might be surprised by what you find.

When I started doing this, I found prospects in some unexpected places. And so can you. Check out these curious places to find freelance writing jobs:

Junk mail

Ever signed up for a niche e-newsletter, but only read the first couple of emails?

 

It doesn’t take long for these to start filling up your inbox or junk-mail folder. And you just start ignoring the messages. Sound familiar? It happens to me all the time.

What if you could transform some of those emails into a pitch-fest of productivity?

 

Take a curious look at what you’re ignoring, deleting, or sending to your junk-mail folder.

 

When I did this, I found 200 potential prospects to research and pitch with a letter of introduction, blog post ideas, or a query letter.

Example: Here’s one of the gems that I found in my inbox. I have no idea when I signed up for this newsletter, but I’ve written plenty about virtual work. Are they’re potential leads in your inbox?

Job boards

Job boards can also be a curious place to find freelance work.

But instead of sifting through a site looking for freelance writing jobs, check out full-time writing positions companies are trying to fill. (You may be able to get automatic  notifications when new writing jobs are posted to save time.)

You’ll find lots of full-time writing jobs like content writer, content strategist, copywriter, email writer, editor. That’s an obvious sign they pay writers. But don’t waste your time updating your resume or filling out an online application. Do this instead:

• Do a little homework on the business.
• Find out who the marketing manager or director is.
• Take a look at the company website.
• Write a letter of introduction, send it off, and move on to the next.

Example: I found a business on a job board looking for a full-time writer in my niche, and it made me curious. In just a few minutes, I found out their blog hadn’t been updated for months. Perfect. I wrote a letter of introduction and pitched some blog post ideas.

Your favorite brands

You go grocery shopping. You shop online. You’ve got a handful of favorite brands and stores you like to buy stuff from. They’re all potential prospects, if you’re curious enough to look around.

Most brands publish a blog, run social media channels with bite-sized content, and send out loads of emails. All three are potential opportunities for freelance writing jobs. But those are the more obvious routes to find work.

There’s at least one more place to look to find freelance writing jobs when it comes to big brands…custom publications.

You might get these in the mail from your insurance company, gym, hospital, or places like Costco, Whole Foods, and Wal-Mart. Or they’re an in-store freebie. These custom-published magazines can be a rich resource for freelance writing jobs. All you need to do is be a little curious. Here’s how:

• Pick up a copy and read through it.
• Pay attention to headlines, lede paragraphs, style, structure, length, sources and attribution, and topics.
• Find the masthead and editor information.
• Write a query letter and pitch a story idea or craft a letter of introduction.
• Send, rinse, and repeat.

Curiosity will help you find more freelance writing jobs

Wondering where you’re going to find more freelance writing jobs? Be curious. Look around. Pay attention to all the content that comes your way via email, text, print, snail mail, social channels, and advertising. And you’ll never run out of prospects to pitch.

Where do you find freelance writing jobs? Let’s discuss in the comments.

Beth Casey is a B2B writer living in Maine. She writes about business, digital marketing, health, and technology

The post Need Work? Curious Places to Find Freelance Writing Jobs appeared first on Make A Living Writing.

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