Ranking My Favorite Freelance Writing Sites

For those on my friend's list who have considered writing for a living but do not know how to go about finding people who will pay them for it, here is some help. Several sites are looking for content and copy writers, but some are better than others when it comes to paying promptly and supplying assignments.

My favorites on the low end of the payscale:

Iwriter.com pays by the article. They've reduced the pay recently, but there is a very steady stream of work for those who want it. You can get $1.62 for a 300 word article, $2.43 for a 500 word article, and $4.05 for 700 words. If a requester really likes your work, that person can hire you directly and at a higher pay scale. This site is my favorite because you have the option of being payed weekly, bi-weekly or monthly.

Interactmedia.com is another site similar to Iwriter, but with a different payscale that is based on a per-word fee. The amount you can make varies but most of the articles I've seen people request are worth between .7 cents and 7 cents a word. That works out to about $1.40 per 200 words at .7 cents or $14 per 200 words if the assignment pays 7 cents a word. That site offers pretty steady work as well, but the good assignments get taken a lot quicker than the ones that pay poorly. Keep that in mind.

For both sites, in order to qualify, you have to sign up and provide a work sample. Neither site is hard to join as they do not have the highest standards for new writers. That works for people who are just starting out as article writers and may have a few problems with grammar, researching ability and other issues. However, if you are a seasoned writer and want to find work that is more suited to your abilities, there are other sites to consider that pay almost as quickly but have a stricter qualifying process.

Higher paying sites include:

ConstantContent.com is a site with a long list of submission guidelines. If you can manage to produce a good enough sample to join this site, you will be rewarded with access to a job board that has articles that range from $10 to $40. A person could make a really good living writing for this site, but if you have the confidence and drive to do this it would be best to leave the lower paying sites alone so that you have time to focus only on jobs that will pay you well. As for me, my confidence level is not quite there although I get really good ratings on all of the sites that I have joined.

Textbrokers.com pays slightly more than Iwriter or Interact Media, but not as much as Constent Content. Their job board is constantly full of assignments, so there should be no problem finding steady work. I love this site for the variety of assignments that are available.

Essay writing sites:

If you do not have a problem with the thought that you may be helping some student to cheat, there are a lot of academic writing companies out there that are willing to pay well for someone to write reports, dissertations, and other assignments. Now, they claim that it is only for "research", but who are we kidding? That student is going to put his or her name on those papers and quicker than you can say "I'm done", receive a better grade than classmates who put their all into their work. It is truly a shame, and somewhat scary considering that I have seen doctoral dissertations for nurses, engineers and lawyers posted to those boards. Seriously, do you want to hire a lawyer knowing that I might have been the one to do his graduate study coursework? Nevertheless, here is a list of sites that hire freelancers to do academic writing.

Essaywriters.net is perhaps the easiest site to join because while they ask if you have credentials, they do not really do a lot of checking before they hire. That is not the best endorsement of a site that I can give, but it is the truth. If you can answer a few questions about plagiarism and coherently write an essay about essays in less than 10 minutes, congratulations--you may now write on this site.

eSWO.net has a stricter joining policy. As a matter of fact, I have not yet gotten word from them concerning my application. For their site, you actually have to produce 3 writing samples--one in MLA Style, one in Chicago Style and one in APA.

Bidding sites are sites that make you bid on work against other freelancers around the world. To be honest, my experience on these sites has not been as positive as on the other sites. Freelancer.com has a lot of openings, but it is hard to make any decent money if you have to bid against people who are willing to write 1000 words for $2. Seriously, I would rather find work on the other sites. If you have the patience, and the time to wait for that big assignment, feel free to check it out. Guru.com, Elance.com and oDesk.com are all similar in the kinds of work you can bid on and the number of bidders that you are competing against.

Well, that's all for now. I have to get back to work. If this post or my previous one have inspired you to try your hand at writing for a living, good luck.