Freelance Writing Resources

These resources are for journalists and professional freelance writers.

They have lots of interesting information, though some of it may not be applicable to newcomers trying to get started. (Though there are certainly plenty of journalism students asking questions as well, but they tend to be going through formal courses, newspaper apprenticeships etc.)

But they do have all kinds of relevant information for people interested in a serious income from writing.

Journalism.co.uk - I'm not sure if this is connected with the NUJ (National Union of Journalists), but is certainly seems to be a go-to place for British professional journalists.

londonfreelance.org - is a site for and by London freelancers! Run by the London Freelance Branch of the NUJ. Among other things it gives information on typical rates of pay for different kinds of work in this freelance fees guide. This tells you for example that a guideline rate for 1,000 words for online media publication is £275, while for a similar length piece that needs intense research the rate is £350. And if you can land a gig writing for a top-tier US magazine, that's a whopping £1,500 per 1,000 words, with rates from at least $3 per word.

Meanwhile issuu is a service for publishing your work yourself. You can publish in many formats - hardback books, spiral bounds reports, brochures, and e-books. Because it's print-on-demand, you can create a book or other publication and there is no upfront cost to you. When people order the book, they pay the fee you set and issuu take their cut from that. There is no charge for publishing e-books there. There is even an option to buy your own ISBNs so officially become a publishing house in your own right.

Writing for Fun - and Income?

I've always loved writing and been fascinated by language. And that love has been rather good to me - I've picked up prestigious awards with handsome prizes attached for essays and such.

Sometimes I've thought about writing professionally, but mostly I just use writing as another tool of the various trades I've been in - whether that is writing research papers in academia, consulting proposals and business reports, or advocacy for a cause I believe in.

And in the past I've blogged elsewhere for fun, written very short stories to share with friends, and think pieces on subjects that were on my mind.

Lately though I've been exploring the possibility of writing for income.

I've been researching online, and there is a lot of material out there about making money from online writing - but most of it pretty worthless.

There are also lots of "get paid to write" sites  out there. Or more accurately, sites where you get paid peanuts to write gibberish.

However I have found a couple of sites that I can recommend.

I've signed up for Constant Content, a virtual marketplace that connects  authors and people looking for writing. This is my first week with them, and so far it's looking promising. There seems to be a reasonable volume of sales, with material going at decent prices. What's best about it is that they have an editorial process that ensures only good quality writing appears on the site, and there is a nice community of authors.

Did I mention that freelancing of any kind, and especially writing, can be a solitary and lonely business? So being part of a lively community is a pretty important part of making that an appealing choice for me.

I also recommend Writing for Your Wealth. This is a fantastic site written by a woman who has done very nicely out of writing informational websites, and is full of her wit and practical wisdom. Even if you don't learn anything - unlikely! - she's a heck of a lot of fun to read.

Best of all, unlike many writers of money-making guides, the woman has integrity. She's not all about gaming Google, or parting site visitors with cash any which way you can. So if you like to do work that you can be proud of, work that is of real value to the human beings that read it, and you want to earn good money in the process, Lindsay's your gal.

Those are my experiences so far. I'll let you know how things pan out.