That seems to be the issue – being given the chance to prove yourself. No one wants to risk paying good money to someone who is not a proven success. They don’t want to waste the time that possibly could be making them money. And that’s understandable.

But where does that leave new freelancers? Struggling to get someone to listen and give them a shot.

Personally, I know how write SEO web content, blog, copy edit and write, blurbs for advertisements, ghostwrite, proofread, edit, and more. I can happily learn anything I don’t already know and don’t mind the research for things I’m not as familiar with. Yet I don’t have many clients to my name or things published.

So it’s a bit lean right now. With hubby having had a week’s vacation, and my having to get used to bi-weekly pay from several places, nothing at the moment at the weekly pay place, and other issues, it’s been a bit of a rough week financially.

So I thought I’d try and see if some magazines would be interested. I queried one and am to do a sample for another. I’ve heard that writing for magazines is bad – slow pay because you have to wait for it to be published (although most of the ones I’ve checked out, and that is quite a few, offer payment when the story is accepted) and hard to get accepted.

We’ll see how hard it is. What I’m looking for is the potential client base. A national magazine loved by cat owners is an excellent place to be published and then list on the portfolio. Exposure is good.

Slowly things seem to be falling in place. I’ll update about the magazines.

Magazine Writing is a post from: Crystal Writing

Inkwell Editorial is a great site. There’s new info all the time and all of it is extremely useful and encouraging. There’s also free reports and ebooks to buy, mostly at very reasonable prices. Some of them are so cheap I was really surprised!

Fab Freelance Writing may be one of my favorite sites of all time. Angela Booth offers courses, advice, free reports, ebooks, a great newsletter, and lots of other information. She’s encouraging, real, and does just what she says she will – she gives you the tools and encouragement you need. Wonderful site for anyone starting a writing career of any kind.

2 Great Freelance Info Sites is a post from: Crystal Writing

Now, I don’t think I’m too good to write for content mills, as I’ve said before. But I have to admit – sometimes the work is a huge amount of work. It’s very hard for me to buckle down and write about things like car stereos or dating sites. I hate writing about anything dealing with dating. Why? It’s a personal thing. I’m married, I didn’t do much dating, and it makes me a bit uneasy trying to write about something I’m not even that knowledgable about and there is no way I’m going to be doing research first-hand. But other things are hard to write about too – car engines, abortion, things like that.

Now, I understand that work is just that – work. It’s called work because it’s not fun. It’s something you do to make ends meet while you figure out how to do what you actually enjoy to earn the money you need.

The hard part is the fact that what I enjoy the most is exactly what I’m doing to work – writing.

I would much prefer to work on my book than write about brake fluid. Yet my book isn’t bringing money in at the moment. Not yet at least. When it is, then I’ll be able to possibly focus more on my books and less on carburetors. Until then though, I gotta buckle down and get into the groove of things.

I think once I get more than one steady client, things will pick up and I’ll be able to settle into a good routine that will allow me to do both work and play writing. Then I will be able to say – I got it.

Getting There is a post from: Crystal Writing

Some freelance writers consider it beneath them to work for a content mill – no matter what. They even skip freelancing during slow periods to work in a regular job rather than work for content mills. Even if they make as much as they would in a content mill. While some freelance writers are indeed good enough that working for any content mill would be a step down, many really haven’t gotten to that level yet. In order to decide whether a content mill is a good thing or not, you really have to be honest with yourself. Brutally honest.

Personally, I think some (not all) content mills are a good thing. I’ve had my bad experiences with them, and good ones. They are not all alike and while you won’t make the money you could be making when you’re working for a content mill, you’re still making money. I don’t consider it beneath me to write for content mills for two reasons.

1 – I am no where near as experienced as many freelancers. Quite simply, I don’t have what it takes to qualify for many of the better paying positions. I have experience yes, but I don’t have lots of content published online. I spent most of the last year and a half working as a ghostwriter for pennies and as a result, I ended up with lots of experience but no published content or clients to show for it. Therefore I can’t prove what I know very easily. See? Being honest. And it’s hard to say I am not good enough for many of those gigs. But I’m not. Not yet anyway. All I need is a bit of a chance. That chance will come.

2 – While I keep applying for better gigs, and keep trying to get more clients of my own, I need money. Like every week. I supplement my husband’s income with what I make as a freelancer and while it doesn’t make us rich by any means, it does make it where we aren’t continually worried. There’s food on the table and the bills are paid. I work for better paying content mills, and yes, I work a lot. But it gives me enough to make sure we’re doing okay.

That said, some content mills really are the devil. The first one I worked for was like that. Let’s compare it to my other first gig, Break Studios.

I was invited to work at this content mill – which I later discovered was just someone hiring writers to do projects that were too many for them, and then they were using an assumed name – and I knew nothing about freelancing. I was desperate for something that would earn a bit of money. This writer took me in and molded me. I ended up convinced that not only was $2.50 a very good pay rate for a 500 word article requiring research, but that I also wasn’t good enough to work anywhere else. So I slaved away, working sometimes 50 or more hours a week, staying up late at night while my husband and son slept in order to get projects done. If I made $100 a week, well, I was delighted.

But as time went on, I realized I wasn’t having the freedom that so many people talk about having when they freelance. I was continually stressed. My son didn’t notice because I made sure he had all the attention he needed but my husband noticed. I wasn’t sleeping enough because I couldn’t – when I was trying to squeeze everything in just to try and hit $80 in a week, sleep just wasn’t going to happen on top of everything else I did around the house. That’s not to say my husband didn’t help me – he did and does. But he works too, so he wasn’t always at home. I got depressed and frustrated.

I didn’t know where to look for anything else. When I did try to look, I was bowled over by the huge wealth of information. To make matters even worse, I didn’t have time to sort through it all, let alone make a resume or portfolio or anything.

Then a friend became a freelance journalist. She was doing better than I was and only had one client. She kept trying to make suggestions, my husband did, but I was stuck in a depressive loop and couldn’t figure out how to squeeze in my own creative writing with all the rest of my normal household duties (cleaning, cooking, looking after my son, etc, all things I rather enjoy,) let alone researching freelancing!

But as time went on, I got more and more resentful of the person I was working for. I found out that the “company” didn’t exist. It was a single person with a fake name who had people working on projects meant for them. Someone who continually poor-mouthed and claimed they couldn’t pay more because they didn’t have it. Work was piling up and when reminded that I had my own family, they gave me the cold shoulder and harassment. Nagging messages, rude ones. Posts made public on the work forum meant to embarrass.

I ignored it for a long time. But I was getting angrier and angrier. I had to beg to have a day off to take my son for his well-child exam – 2 and a half weeks in advance. And then work two weekends to make up for it. A five day vacation to spend with my husband on his was over 2  weeks notice, begging, and then working multiple weekends straight. Low pay, lousy hours – it wasn’t what I wanted.

I was up until 2 AM one night working on a data entry project. Rude message. I quit that night. At that time I had been planning on giving a 2 week notice, just to be polite, because I will give them this – they did teach me how to write for the web, SEO, and all that good stuff. But enough was enough. I don’t like being used.

I found a nasty public message, more in my inbox. Wanting more than I could give, reminding me this was all I could do. Now, this time, I had had enough. This time I was angry. I informed them that I quit, gave them the work I had done, and walked away.

Never did get my final check. But c’est la vie. In all honesty, small price to pay.

Rather than be angry, I’ve decided to think of it like an internship. Those are usually unpaid or very low wages. And you get treated like crap. But you learn and this is what happened here.

I’m not mentioning the name of the “company” because it’s just a forum that you can’t find without being invited to. I won’t mention the writer because the name is fake and from what I can figure out you can’t find anything about them. And I don’t want to suddenly be in trouble because someone gets offended.

Now I work for other content mills. But these are real places. Ecopywriters, Textbroker, Quality Gal, Break Studios. Also get assignments from places like Experts 123. Thrilling? Not really. But it’s exposure wiht some and others just money. The pay is so much better! And I feel better about things now, because I get to work on my own terms.

No, it’s not glamourous, but it’s pay. It’s a step up and in the right direction. I’m on my own and loving it.

And I’m not giving up. I’v e applied to lots of places and have some interested potential clients. So things are looking up. I set my own hours, choose my own work. I make more in a day than I used to make in a week. So in my experience, no, content mills aren’t the devil.

But do be careful which one you choose.

Content Mills – Good or the Devil? is a post from: Crystal Writing