I have been applying for a few freelance writing jobs. For anyone else who has done this, do you apply with you pen name? I was going to create my own email account with my pen name to apply from, however, I was confused on how that would work when it came time for compensation. Any tips? Thank you!
haha Well, they gave a topic and you have to submit 300-500 words on the subject. I found them on craigslist. Really, I was just bored this morning and decided to look for something that could give a little experiance. They may not be legit. I'm waiting for the emails back to give me the specifics on the writing they need to have submitted, so I haven't sent them anything yet.
That's what I was thinking. I thought the point of freelance writing was that you send off articles to magazines in hope that they like it enough to publish for their standard contributor's payment. If you get renowned enough and write astonishing amounts in quick succession, then you might even be able to support yourself from the money. What's all this 'applying' business? Anyway, to answer your question - you need to use both names. The pen name you should put at the begining of each manuscript as the writer, and your real name should be on the address as the person that they make the payment to. I would suggest that you use your real name in the email account and any formal documents/contracts, and use the pen name only as an 'Author name' to be printed on your work when it's published. You could, however incluce your pen name with your real name at the end of your letters and emails. For example: yours faithfully, Joe Bloggs. ( J. L. Bloggs)
Thanks Ashleigh, that was very helpful. I used the 'applying' term, wrong chocie of words. The ads never said applying, they just wanted you to sibmit the work and if they liked it, they may ask for more. I dont know much about freelance writing, I just felt like taking a stab at it.
You're welcome And good luck to you, I've always wanted to write freelance, but so far I've just been sending off stories in the hope of getting something accepted...so, I guess that'll be my first step when it happens. I really wanna try articles, but I just can't find any magazines that accept submissions. Plus I've no idea what to write about. So are you submitting fiction or articles?
I was going to write some articles. There were two I found that I was interested in. One had to do with fashion, and one had to do with Nascar. (big fan here. haha) I wanted to step back and take a small break from the novel, and I thought it would be interesting to see if something I wrote could be accepted. I emailed the two for more information, but I haven't recieved anything yet, so they may have already found what they were looking for.
Have any of you ever tried to get your local newspaper to accept a book review from you? I ask because I noticed my newspaper (Seattle Times) has book reviews that are sometimes written by...they'll name the writer, and then it says "Special to the Seattle Times," which I think means they are not staff writers but actually freelancers. I think there's a real chance that you could try to get something submitted if you're a decent writer, and maybe have some interesting angle...such as if you're a teen writer yourself, etc. With all of the hot YA novels right now, that might be a marketable aspect. Just thinking aloud on this...it might be a shoddy idea, lol.
this sounds like one of the scammy 'middleman' things that are proliferating like crazy on the net these days and not a real 'job' or even a magazine that will print your work... to be a freelance writer means you submit your work directly to the magazine or literary journal you want to see it published in and not to some faceless, amorphous listing site, or whatever that doesn't actually publish the work... be wary of things like this one... check every venue out carefully before you submit your work...
I think you were right. I got both emails back to the ones I looked into. While I said earlier that I was the one using the term "applying", I was actually wrong, as both places had an "application" process stemming from the emails. Forms to be filled out with personal information. I was like "Um, no." I am not stupid. I should have known it would be a bit harder than looking on craigslist to be a paid writer. LOL One of the two, the fashion one, contradicted itself in the same email. It said they paid $6 an article, and you would start with 2 articles a day 5 days a week. Then it said by the end of one month you'd work you way up to ten articles a week... well, maybe I'm bad at math, but if you start with 2/day 5 days a week, that's ten. What's to work towards? haha Anyway, perhaps I'll stick to just working on my novel.
6 bucks for an article is slave wages!... no respectable freelancer would work for so little... you might as well pick tomatoes for 6 bucks a bushel...
To be honest though Maia, there are alot of places that will only pay $5 ( or £5) for a 5,000 word piece of fiction that could've taken ages to write and perfect. Hell, there are enough places that don't pay at all for fiction, no matter how long- let alone an article. The fact is that they know full well that there are so many people that want to get published just to get their names about and have a foot in the door, that they don't need to pay any more than £5 for submissions - for every person that rejects it, there will be a hundred others willing to take the £5 and be grateful. The places that pay a decent enough amount to call a 'wage' are very high profile magazines, and in order to get into those, you usually have to have your name about a bit -which means accepting a measily £5 for a while. Ultimately, I think it's worth it. Sure you couldn't give up your day job for a while - but if your dream is at the end of it, then it's totally worth it IMO. I would be more than willing to sell my work for £5 and tell the world that i'm worth a read, because I take satisfaction in knowing that I'll have an ever growing audience that will appreciate the work I did. The rest will come with time and hard work. You have to start somewhere. (I'm aware that those examples from the OP were scamming middle-man places, but my point stands for paid work in general)
