no need to say why i don't wanna work with paypal
but will clients work with you without it?
also what's the solution for popular site's like fiiver because in some countries, it only supports PayPal

Hello, I'm new to journalism after many years of writing creative nonfiction and getting published in literary magazines. I'm not famous or well-known at all, just saying I know how to write well. Both my parents were journalists, but they are now deceased so I can't ask them these questions. I am switching over to journalism because my creative nonfiction is about current events now, before it was all about things in the past. Sometimes decades ago. Most of them don't pay either. Anyway, for literary magazines you send in a finished product and they either accept or not. These news magazines all want pitches. I understand this and am learning how to write pitches. But I was wondering what comes after a pitch is accepted. Are there specific blogs or websites I can go to answer my questions about journalism? I'm looking to get the jargon down before I get a pitch accepted and am faced with a bunch of things I don't know about. Most people work at college newspapers or learn these things via an internship, I assume but I'm not interested in that. I'm 53 years old and just want to see my work published in news magazines that pay. I got eight of my news stories published this year but they all appeared in non-profit left-leaning political magazines that don't pay. I want a concise education in what I need to know, so I sound professional when I negotiate for pay and send in drafts. Thank you for your time! PS - I tried to post this in r/Journalsim but they rejected the post without saying why.

How do you all allocate time to prospecting/lead gen?

Do you set aside dedicated days for it, or a few hours every so often in tandem with working on projects?

Cheers and happy holidays,

I've landed 4 clients in the last 30 days, but the volume just isn't there. I'm wondering what y'all do if you have over 15 hours of unwanted free time a week. Right now, I'm writing a blog on LinkedIn to lowkey advertise my services and websites, but also hopefully attract some clients with the right keywords.

Hi everyone,

I'm a teenage girl and my dream is to one day be able to work in hockey as an NHL journalist. I want to get my foot in the door and start with freelance writing. I have my own website where I write articles and columns about my favorite hockey team, but I want to take it a step further. This is my dream and I want to do this in the future more than anything. I'd say I'm pretty educated when it comes to hockey and I love writing which is why i want to do this. I have pitched articles to a fan based writing site but I've been turned down each time. Does anyone have any advice of how I can start/improve? Thanks!

As a good writer that is able to get attention, keep it and influence actions (like sales), what stops you from using affiliate marketing?

While there are many skills such as web design, made easy with drag and drop solutions and setting up ad campaigns, the majority of the skill and results comes from wordsmithing and copywriting.

Maybe some of you do a combination of freelance contracts and affiliate marketing?

This has to be the most stupid and frustrating thing ever. I have a decent portfolio that has "big names" but all my cold pitches have yielded nothing so far. All the work I have gotten is via referrals and/or from editors with prior contact/relationship.

You pitch, wait for two weeks, send the first reminder, second reminder and sometimes a third reminder, but you don't get an answer. Some kind editors do revert with a one line reply, which is fine and preferable than radio silence despite follow-ups and reminders.

Most editors say they receive many emails that they don't have time to reply to all of them but, my pitches are cold pitches which means they sent randomly with no preceding pitch call and there is no way an editor for a niche publication (what I mainly target) is receiving a flood of emails daily.

If you are a commissioning editor, kindly try to even have an automated message and try to send even a one word email to people who pitch you telling them it is not your cup of tea.

I am looking to make more money writing. I have been freelance writing on and off for the past 12 years. Most of my clients have been business owners. I have definitely sold myself short I have been told. I have written a couple ebooks that took off while in law school.

My background is:

Law degree from a reputable law school (I am not a practicing attorney)
MA in Education from USC
Lived in 5 countries and traveled to 43
Economics degree

I also wrote a blog "Law School Case Briefs" while in law school that has helped tens of thousands of law students. I have also critiqued hundreds of Etsy shops and was once a top 0.01% seller on the platform.

However, I have no idea where to begin when it comes to finding clients. I have read the sidebar/wiki thing but am still quite lost when it comes to getting started. So far I have got all my sales from Etsy. I charge a very low rate as Etsy is absolutely saturated. (About six cents a word--and that's after raising my rates--which has resulted in 1-2 one-time clients a month).

I would love to know your advice and what I can do to succeed in the market. I have tried to optimize my Linkedin page, but see here that competition is insane.

Hello, both of my parents were journalists and ended their careers as newspaper editors. Dad for various sections. More for lifestyle/features. Both are now deceased so they can't help me now. I didn't want to follow them into a career in journalism so I did a lot of other things for work, but I always wrote because it was a strength of mine. I've even had several things published in literary magazines.

I'm middle-aged now and early this year I decided to do something I've always dreamed of: write about people in conflict zones. So I decided to do a number of these passion projects. I turned out to be pretty good at it. I wrote eight 1,200 to 1,800-word stories (out of eight that I tried) that were published in non-paying, non-profit news magazines. I realize that I am probably good enough to get paying gigs for longer narrative features. But I wonder how to word what I am doing into a pitch. I never pitched my earlier stories, just wrote them and sent final drafts in. I also want to mention that I started reading Hunter S. Thompson when I was twelve and his idea of Gonzo journalism impressed me. So, my newer stories revolve around getting people on the opposite sides of a conflict to sit down and meet, and doing a story that includes their meeting. I'm good at developing personal relationships with people, so that part was easy. However, I understand that traditional journalism strives for neutrality and you're not supposed to influence the story or outcome. So how do I put this in a pitch?

For now, I straight out tell editors this is what I am doing in the pitch. I just started sending off pitches a week ago so I'm still in the waiting period. I wonder, though, what kind of reception I'm getting. Can anybody out there who reads pitches or pitches work themselves give feedback? I've got the basics of what editors look for from combing a lot of YouTube videos and reading how-to-pitch things online. But am I going in a direction that's just going to get straight out rejected? My first eight stories were focused on people on one side of the issue, so they were very different.

Previously, I wrote creative non-fiction focused on death and trauma. I know that type of writing is going to sneak into my journalism. Is that something that editors are going to like or hate? I think of some differences such as creative, non-fiction is usually done about the past and we don't have recorded interviews or note-taking like journalists, so I'm used to making up the exact wording and using it as quotes. I know I can't do that as a journalist. Are there other things I should be aware of that might affect my writing or pitches? The pitches (I have two or three possible stories in mind) all include something like "I have gotten these two groups on opposite sides to sit down online via Zoom and talk to each other. I'm going to write a narrative feature on their backgrounds, how that affects their present views, and how they think they can reach a peaceful settlement punctuated by what happens on Zoom. I'm introducing some principles of relationship building that other people in this conflict have used and which I am familiar with myself." My previous employment included social work and a little mediation too, and I enjoy working with people and their issues. Also, some of my previous articles were in the first person, and although these next few will not be, the story will be heavily influenced by my beliefs. Thanks for your help.

On a scale of 1-10, how stable is your income -- with 10 being very stable and 1 being very chaotic.

Stable would be all your clients/contracts/projects have been longterm, lasting years.

Somewhere in the middle would be that projects ended suddenly after some months, and then it took months to find something else. So lots of work and then months of no work.

Chaotic would probably be one-off projects and which are hard to come by too.

Would love to hear details about why you rated this way, if you wanna share.

Can you also share:

• which industry do you write for
• how many yrs of exp you have

I'll go first: 6/10 (If I find a good one longterm client, nice. But if that ends - which they have after 7 months, 11 months, 6 months, 8 months, etc then it takes a few to many months to get something as good.)

It's been a rough year, fam. lol

I'm sure I'm not the only one. It feels like things are starting to move a little again, but with the holidays coming up I'm not sure if I'm going to make much headway in getting new clients?

What does December look like for you (if you could share your industry, that would be awesome!).

Right now I'm working with SaaS businesses, but they're already so unpredictable it's making me nervous for the upcoming month. I am reaching out to other businesses in my wheelhouse - beauty, wellness, home - and know they'll be busy for the holidays so not sure how likely it is they'll work with freelancers in the holiday blur.

I've been working for them for a year now as a Translator. There were some weird things with payments from the very beginning, but since there were quite few projects, I didn't pay much attention to it.
But recently my workload has increased significantly, and the problems became more obvious.
Despite the contract stating payments should be done 45 days after the invoice submission, they pay after 60 days the earliest and only after reminding and begging for weeks.
They always say that there was some disruption in the Financial department which has been lasting for 6 months now, and nothing seems to change.
Do you experience the same problems? If so, how did you solve this?
Thanks

has anyone here ever written for Little White Lies? i have some questions regarding their requirements are besides the pitches for prompts, and what the further procedure is :) i'd appreciate any tips!!

Hello, fellow subreddit members. I am a senior freelance writer with a UK-based entertainment news outlet, covering Hollywood news, celebrity stories, and other viral entertainment trends.

Due to recent pay cuts, I have been compelled to apply to other outlets for writing gigs to make ends meet. I recently joined UNILAD as a freelancer, but it turns out their freelance shifts are too infrequent to rely upon.

I am considering applying to Evolve Media sites like Superhero Hype or Coming Soon. I wanted to know how much I can expect to earn as a freelance contributor with them!

Also, please guide me on where to find additional entertainment news writing gigs. Does cold email outreach work in the entertainment niche?

As the title suggest, I'm just curious what's the norm. Should we focus on one at a time, or is two okay?

Hello, scribes! I'm thinking about getting back into freelancing after taking a couple years off. My biggest dread has always been transcribing interviews. If I talk to someone for 20 minutes, I then waste an hour listening and typing it all out.
So I'm in the market for a moderately priced digital recorder that will output to a text file. I know they're out there, so I'm wondering if anyone uses one and has a favorite.
Thanks in advance!

This seemed relevant to share here since many freelance writers have worked with Valnet, or may be actively working with Valnet. They sent a cease & desist to someone for posting on X about various things related to Valnet's websites, one of which was itemized in the C&D like this:

You relay disparaging and abusive statements via reposting that declare that Valnet is a “terrible

company”, is “trash” and is “awful to work with and their rates are shockingly low to boot”. Such statements are not only unfounded, but are relayed by you solely to disparage and damage the business and reputation of Valnet, with the goal of harming Valnet’s business and economic interests.

So if you've ever said that Valnet is a terrible company, or if you've ever said that they are trash with an awful work environment, or if you've ever criticized their rates as being too low, then Valnet actively considers you to be a potential risk to their company's reputation. And they may go as far as to send you a C&D or possible a lawsuit about it.

Also note that the above quoted text uses the phrase "disparaging and abusive statements via reposting", as in someone posted a 'disparaging statement' on X, and the person who got the C&D simply retweeted it. That was enough for Valnet to decide to itemize it in the C&D. So if you even so much as retweet a wrongthink about Valnet, it might be enough for their lawyers to start frothing at the mouth.

Just figured this was worth sharing here since I know many people on here have actively shared their honest opinions about Valnet's pay and work environment.

I cannot add links to this post because it's against sub rules, but the blogger did put up a post on their site with the full C&D PDF available, in case anyone wanted to read the full thing. Mostly though I just wanted to share this as a public service announcement & to let it be known how far Valnet might go against people who speak poorly about them.

Just found out through an old email that apparently 3 weeks ago was our last chance of requesting HP to move our niche articles (such as PetHelpful) to this Discovery platform.

Apparently if we don't request it within the 3-month timeframe, by default, our articles will be owned by TAG and we will not only lose access to our writing (can't add, edit or delete articles in Hubpages), but we won't be getting ad revenue either. Like, why would anyone choose to do nothing if it meant losing access to your content and not making money off your work? Meanwhile TAG will reap the benefits?

Anyone else from Hubpages who can shed some light?

I used to watch Spoony (Noah) back in the day. He was an early internet video reviewer alongside Angry Video Game Nerd, Nostalgia Critic and others. His writing style and sense of humor had a big influence on my own writing style. I'm just curious if anyone else was a fan of his or also influenced by his writing style.

hi guys! just wondering how you get started in freelance writing and what good websites are to market yourself on? :)

I used to work for Valnet, and just received a notice from them. It appears they're trying to get ahead of some class action lawsuit filed against them? Anyone else receive this notice in their email? I did some googling and found a casetext for a "Quintiliano v. Valnet, Inc. and Valnet U.S., Inc.,", and the email attachment I got lists the same. I definitely feel I was underpaid at Valnet, and am personally glad someone is finally holding this company to some liability.

Are there any trusted websites where i can upload my written works and people can buy them depending on the topic or something like that? it's important to mention that i write in Arabic. so if you know a website that takes writings in any language, it will be great.

I've been writing since 4th grade, and based on my experiences and achievements, I am sure that I can make a living using this skill.
The thing is, I've been working for official offices or teams only. During the one period I worked online, I was forced to write about a specific topic for the customer. i'm trying to avoid this at the moment, and i already have a lot of saved written works that i want to sell and save to pursue my education.

The title basically says it all.

If I had to guess, I’d say most of you all have experienced this from time to time, but it’s reached a boiling point lately. Writing tasks that should only take me an hour, hour-and-a-half take me well over three hours because I feel like I have to read every single thing on the internet before I can even THINK about writing about it.

Writing every sentence is agonizing because I just imagine some subject matter expert reading it and thinking, “This writer has no idea what he’s talking about.” I worry that my boss will think I’m not a good writer or, at the very least, that other writers in my agency are better than I am.

I ruminate about my work tasks during my free time. It’s a dark cloud hanging over me 24/7.

Besides changing careers (hard to do because I have a mild physical disability and am limited in my job options), how do I get out of this funk? I feel hopeless and am driven to tears lots of times.

When I’m working, I feel like I can’t even answer a simple question from my wife (we both work at home) because it takes away time I could spend reading about the upcoming writing topic.

I don’t normally ask about these things, but it’s affecting more than just my professional life.

I’m very grateful for any words of advice or encouragement. Thank you for reading my post.

One of the most foul things you can do to a writer is to have multiple editors work on their articles.

I'm tasked to a write series of 10 sales pages, each one pretty much having the same outline except for the different brand name. Similar keywords, similar SurferSEO score, same company, etc. I thought after 2-3 pages, I'd have it done right on the get-go for pages 4-10, so I was ready for all the feedback.

I've written a total eight so far, but the eight landing pages were divided into three editors for some godforsaken reason.

You all know why that's a problem. It's like trying to please three supervisors with different interpretations of what the final result should look like for each project, each week.

Imagine playing a game, but instead of getting better with each roind, you end up starting from scratch because the rules change each time you start.

• One editor really cares about the minor details like number of links, spacing, number of subheadings, and wordcount.
• Another doesn't want me to play with the subheadings, but insists on adding a conversational, casual touch over a punchy/direct-to-the-point sales writing.
• And the last one is really sensitive about the intro (thinks in your face sales writing is AI) and likes to delete stuff, then asks me to add the keywords because she deleted the lines where those keywords were placed.

I told the managing editor about this four days ago because at the rate we were going, I'm going to have an "editor's feedback" each time I pass something, and all three editors will say "I've had to send it back each time; he never learns from our feedback" when they discuss my performance.

Shame, too, since I love writing for this managing editor. She gave my LinkedIn DM a read and hired me despite zero experience about the topics. their company covered. Best part is she didn't bat an eye when I told her my rate. So yeah, I really love the company and all, but the editors...man.

I joined Fiverr in 2020 and to date, I have just worked for two clients only. I have been trying to edit my gigs all the time but with no improvements. Impressions are low with no clicks. I offer web design services and still can't crack the algorithm to my benefit. Who knows how to go about it? I just need help don't come to my inbox to charge me.

Hi,

I’m newer to freelance writing. I’m a Nurse Practitioner in Women’s Health and got into this because I like writing and want to get out evidence based medical articles to women.

I’m trying to build a portfolio, so I am not totally opposed to writing for free right now (although I never say that when I send a pitch email). However, one editor responded telling me they accept guest posts if the guest author pays $25. Is this normal? Also, when looking at the articles on their site they don’t list the author name for any that I can see. So I don’t totally see what would be in it for me unless they did allow my name to be posted.

Just wanting to see if this is at all normal because I am new to this. Thanks!

I’ve recently landed a client who insists on “unlimited revisions” for their content projects. I’ve already done 4 rounds on one blog post, and now they want more changes that feel like nitpicking.

I’m starting to think I should’ve been clearer about my revision policy upfront, but it’s a bit late for that now. How do you set boundaries with clients like this? Do you include revision limits in your contracts, and if so, what’s a fair number?

Any advice on how to handle this situation (without losing the client) would be super helpful.

Hey! So I currently work 30+ ish hours a week at a local grocery store, and I recently graduated with a history BA. I'm in that cycle of picking potential careers and just wanting money and having a job to do with writing/research involved was always a goal I've had, and it occurred to me that starting a freelancing business may be an option.

My current idea was to start out ghostwriting short stories on fiverr/upwork within the YA/fantasy/horror/romance genres, do it on the side, and then scale up from there. I understand that to actually do this, there's a ton of work involved, not great pay, and lots of outreach, but if I can get to a point where I'm able to get buy dropping my hours at the current job and staying at home writing more, it's an ideal lifestyle for me.

I wanted to ask anyone who's had experience in this niche, exactly how difficult is it to get started from scratch? What should my realistic expectations be? I understand it's not easy money, but it is something I want to do. I do have experience writing short stories but I've never actually published anything. I have plenty of pieces I could use to put together a portfolio, but I'm considering doing some newer pieces specifically tailored to the market I'm looking at. Does anyone have advice on how exactly to get started here?

I’m looking to get started freelancing, after 12-22 years (depending on what you count) of writing experience (over 10 professionally) and I do have a website… but haven’t launched it yet. I don’t intend to focus on SEO or driving traffic to my website to get leads, and I would like to focus on cold emailing.

So my Q is: how many, if any, do that (cold pitching) and yet don’t have their own website?

(Even if you use Contently or Medium or something to host portfolio material.)

Hi! I am very new to content writing and doing my first internship for a tourism based website to gain experience. My boss/editor keeps telling me my content is heavy in AI and I have repeatedly said I don’t use it. Today, I got feedback for the 5th time and was told “there is definitely AI being used because no one writes like AI does”. And gave me websites with “commonly used AI words and phrases” which is basically half the dictionary - can’t use additionally, explore, immerse, rich, lush, moreover, furthermore, authentic???

I feel this is unreasonable and have tried numerous detection tools where it’ll come up as 90% AI on one and 0% AI on another. I am getting exhausted with rewriting over and over again to get a lower %. I wouldn’t mind if it were a critique on my actual language use or grammar but the websites founder and business manager have been happy with my work.

Is this how it is for most content writing jobs ?

Is there anything I can do to make a tangible difference that isn’t hours/days of nitpicking? Or is that just part of the role. I’m not sure (I have never posted on here before so sorry if formatting was off)