Sub Op

I spotted this multi-job freelance op over in the Paying Markets forum at AbsoluteWrite.com:

"Underground Book Reviews is a community of independent authors. We write a new review of an indie book each week, free of charge.

We are looking for reviewers, columnists, judges and blogging partners in 2017. All positions are paid freelance positions, starting at $15 per article, with the potential of earning up to $75 per review. If you are interested, please fill out our contact form with the title “FREELANCE REQUEST”. Include a short resume and a link to an article or review that you have written, as well as a link to your personal website. An online presence is a must, and active involvement in the indie community is a huge plus."

I took a look at the web site, and it seems pretty interesting. With the huge volume of indie titles being published, the ops might result in steady work, too. Disclaimer: as always with any freelance position, please do thoroughly check out the job requirements, restrictions, and any applicable fine print that might be included before you sign on.

Whoopee!

I wasn't sure I could get the freelance career going smoothly in less than a year, but as of yesterday I have steady weekly and monthly work (and both jobs are really fun), plus I'm booked full-time through April of 2016 on series projects. The really nice part is building my own list of clients who are terrific to work for and offer consistently interesting assignments. I'm so much happier and relaxed, too. I'm not going to say I should have done this years ago, but I'm glad I was at the point to make the transition without regrets (because now I have zero, lol.)

So what's going on with you all? Let us know in comments.

Image credit: natamc

Job, Sub & Contest Ops

From Craigslist NY: "Brazilian Décor (www.braziliandecor.com) is a new e-commerce site dedicated to sale Brazilian Home Decoration products. We are seeking for a writer for a freelance job, someone very creative with excellent writing & editing skills. The candidates must be native English speakers. The job functions will include: Writing products descriptions; Writing articles; Templates e-mails; Create contents for Newsletters; Checking & review website contents; Etc." Apply via e-mail with 1) A cover letter with an attached resume, 2) Writing Sample(s), and 3) Hourly wage expectations. See job listing for more details.

Also from Craigslist NY: "Looking for a Ghost Writer to research and write Human Resource articles. Some knowledge of HR practice would be helpful, but not necessary in lieu of research skills. Ability to write business articles that use particular language to appeal to a target audience. A good grammarian is needed, ability to self-edit. Articles are 500 words each, $40 per article. I have a need that requires on average 6 or 7 articles per month. This can be an ongoing contract position for the right writer! Please respond with the words Ghost Writer in the Subject line. Please respond with a short note about your experience. Please also respond with two (2) samples of your writing, ideally similar length informative articles. (BE SURE TO CUT AND PASTE SAMPLES INTO BODY OF EMAIL, ATTACHMENTS WILL NOT BE OPENED.)" Telecommuting okay, see job listing for more details.

Hypersonic Tales are "currently looking for flash fiction of 1000 words or less. Please query first if your submission is any longer, so that we can reject it in a gentle manner." [Gentle? Really? I might sub to them.] Further info: "We will gladly include any links to the author's personal web page along with a short (one or two paragraphs) bio. Please do not send any previously published material. We also will be accepting cover art submissions. We pay $10. If accepted your story or comic strip will be paid $5.00. Payment for cover art will be negotiable. We require one-time use rights for a period of 12 months after initial publication. Stories accepted will appear in text and audio formats. Submission guidelines may change at the discretion of the editors." See site for more details.

Another new Twitter market, Nanoism, is accepting all genres with a soft spot for literary fiction (note: stories not to exceed 140 characters.) Payment: "We pay $1.50 for unpublished pieces and $1 for material that’s already available online. We pay a flat $5 for serials. We also include a short bio with your story, and we’ll gladly link to your personal site and/or twitter account (just fit it in the bio!)." See site for more details.

TheNovelette.com is holding a story contest: "War may be hell, but conflict is the spice of any good story. How conflicted can you be in 750 words or less?" [Oh, honey, you have no idea.] The rules: "...by submitting your story to thenovelette.com writing contest, you agree to have your work displayed on our website indefinitely, to have your work included in online and/or print collections at the discretion of the owners of thenovelette.com, and that you release thenovelette.com from any and all liability relating to your submission. Writing contest entrants must submit original work that has been written by them personally and for which they are the sole copyright owners. After vetting for appropriateness, all entries will be published at thenovelette.com. Thenovelette.com does not request exclusive rights to publish entries." Awards: "We make two awards in each contest. The first is the Reader’s Award, given to the piece that receives the highest rating from our online readers. The second is the Editor’s Award, given by our editors. Winners in each category will receive a $25 e-gift certificate to BarnesandNoble.com or Amazon.com." No entry fee, and the deadline for this one is June 15th.

Employment Ten

Ten Things About Jobs for Writers

Academic research/Writing assistant neededt needed "to work on academic research project, re-write and edit current research material, Applicant needs excellent analytic/writing skills, Experience writing academic work, Graduate experience (Masterd or Ph.D), ability to work from home, but adhere to schedule." No info on compensation, part time, send resume plus short letter demonstrating your writing abilities, see job listing for more details.

Blogger Needed to "discuss screenplay/novel/audio book of the same sci-fi/fantasy story, writers must be fluent English speakers and able to write articles with 100% perfect grammar and spelling. In addition the writer should be able to inject personality and flavor into the post, writer must be familiar with the story by listening to the audio or reading the book. Writer works from the comfort of their homes at their own time 3 times a week and must blog in popular social blogging sites. A report must be provided at the end of each monthly cycle. Please submit resume or short sample of writing." Part time (3X a week), $10/hr for each session ($120/Month), telecommuting okay, see job listing for more details.

CelebLove web site needs Celebrity Gossip Blogger/Editor to write blog posts, edit content, and oversee the site. Applicant should have some experience working for a high-traffic celeb gossip site. Part time, competitive compensation, telecommuting okay, see job listing for more details.

Content Creator for Sex Advice Web Site -- looking for writers to create questions and answers for start-up site. Knowledge of contemporary sexuality, excellent English required. Prudes need not apply. Apply with sample title/question. Position is temporary but may lead to permanent job once site becomes established. Part time, $10/hr, telecommuting okay, see job listing for more details.

Creative Writer/Editor needed for multiple ventures i.e. "ebooks, instructional guides, educational products, inventions, publications, blogs and other entrepreneurial projects." Part time, $12/hr, telecommuting okay, see job listing for more details.

Examiner.com is looking for writers, bloggers and aspiring writers interested in Fitness & Weight Loss to cover a variety of topics. Part time, contract job, very competitive compensation, telecommuting okay, see job listing for more details.

Online Shopping Editor needed to "help us find amazing deals and write creative marketing copy to pitch to online shoppers who visit our portfolio of shopping websites." Part time (about 25 hours a week), no info provided on compensation, telecommuting okay, see job listing for more details.

Social Media Guru needed to maintain company's social media presence. Requirements: "Established social media accounts (i.e. Digg, Reddit, StumbleUpon, etc), Superior writing skill, Very comfortable with the internet, Ability to work from home, but adhere to a set schedule." Part time, $10/hr, telecommuting okay, see job listing for more details.

WhatWomenNeed.com is launching new web site, and needs writers. According to how I'm interpreting the ad, this is an unpaid position at first but they believe if they do well that in 30 to 60 days they'll be contacting writers to work as columnists (which is a nice way of saying it's an audition/intern job now that might turn into paying work later if they make money and you're lucky.) Still, this might actually lead to a real job, so I'll add it to the list. See job listing for more details.

Writer/Content Manager needed to create content for online advertising broker's clients. Applicant should be comfortable writing about: Live Poker, Online Poker, Music Industry, Barack Obama/Politics, and Online Movies. No information provided on expected work hours but it sounds like a full-time job, max salary $12-15/hr, telecommuting okay, see job listing for more details.

Job Search Ten

Ten Things to Help Find Writing Jobs

Absolute Write offers a free e-zine that "...brings writers' guidelines, jobs for writers, calls for submissions, and writing contest listings straight to your inbox twice a month. And you get a free e-book filled with paying markets for writers just for joining us!" (AW also maintains a Writers Wanted discussion board/forum here with paying job listings.)

All Freelance Writing, Jennifer Mattern's blog, lives up to its name, as it is devoted to all things freelance writing. Jennifer keeps a section of freelance job listings that she updates regularly, and each job listed has a click-through link to the original posting.

The American Society of Business Publication Editors has a job connections link on their left sidebar that takes you to their job bank of classified for editorial positions.

Find your geographical region over at Craigslist and check out the writing/editing category under jobs (with Craigslist I've found some great markets for writers who actually landed jobs, and also some bogus ads that were vanity publisher hooks. Be sure to check out any employer offering a job listing thoroughly before you commit to working with them.)

Freelance Writing Jobs has web and print job listings and click-through links to writing job ads posted daily.

Indeed.com is a job classified search engine; use this to find listings for the specific type of writing job you'd like to find. Here's an example of a writing/teaching job listing it brought up when I gave it a test run.

You have to register to get a look at Mediabistro's job listings, but registration is free.

While some freelance writer job sites charge for the privilege of accessing their writing classifieds, Online Writing Jobs doesn't. Like Jennifer Mattern's site, they also feature a click-through link for each job listing that takes you to the original source, so you can check out what the employer actually posted.

Poe War also has a writer job web search engine; it returned mostly technical writer jobs to my first query, but my second returned some interesting job listings (including this one from Random House.)

If you write SF, fantasy, humor, horror or something in the darker realms of any story length, you definitely need to make regular visits to the market listings at Ralan's SpecFic and Humor Webstravanganza (this is a labor of love site, utterly wonderful, and the only writer jobs site that I've ever donated money to. Frankly someone should give this guy a medal.)

Reading the Fine Print

No good or bad news to report, but one more vexing situation to add to the current bunch. I have a half-dozen returned packages from my holiday giveaways, which due to a data entry snafu by the shipper were all sent back to me as undeliverable. I will be heading over this morning to inspect them before we send them back out (I want to make sure they haven't been damaged in the process) and I'll e-mail each of the winners involved to let them know what happened and when to expect the redeliveries.

Every time I log on I've been out looking around the writing job and market listings for sub ops, and lately I've noticed a few things that trouble me. Some of these listings need to be read carefully before you respond to them. Take this one from Craigslist NY:

Gay-themed writing wanted by new magazine: "...non-fiction articles and essays, opinion pieces, fiction and stories to be serialized."

This sounds pretty good -- they'll even take love stories (no "porn") and they pay $100 per piece upon acceptance. Depending on what length they want, this could be a good market. But here's the kicker:

"All accepted material becomes property of the magazine."

Uh-oh. Hello, hundred bucks, goodbye, all the rights. That's not such a good thing.

Here's another interesting job listing for Manhattan:

Interactive Copywriter freelance to full time position. Job description from ad details "...working on everything from banners to landing pages, however, this is more about ideas and where you take initial concepts. The content you will be working on is more "branding" focused."

They're offering a lot of money for this job, too -- the freelance (starting) position is $45/hr (DOE), and the full time salary is $80 - $100K.

Two problems I see with this one:

1) DOE in a job listing generally means "Depends on Experience." So I interpret that to mean they might pay as much as $45/hr, or $45/hr is the highest end of their scale. If you were not making $45/hr at your last job? You're not going to make it here.

2) $80 - 100K -- maybe salaries have skyrocketed since last time I checked, but I don't know any full-time starting copywriters who pull that in -- they're lucky if they make half that. It is possible that I'm wrong, too, and this being a job located in Manhattan = better pay, but six figures for a copywriter? I'm in the wrong damn job.

Finally, I found this:

Boutique publisher Havenhurst Books is advertising that they're seeking ten new titles for 2009 publication, according to this craigslist ad.

Very little real information was offered in the listing, so I went to their web site. I found almost no useful information there, either, but read at least two points that made me think this is a dressed-up subsidy (vanity) publishing outfit:

Havehurst charges all submitting authors a non-refundable $15 "processing fee" (NY publishers do not charge fees for reading submissions. They do it for nothing. So why the $15?)

Havenhurst also made this statement: "Our writers are highly self-motivated and typically have an established platform to market their books. This reduces the risk of sluggish sales that, in old guard publishing, must be absorbed by other writers on the imprint" (This just sounds uber squirrely to me.)

If you're out hunting writing jobs and sub ops, be careful to read every word of the ads and market listings, and maybe even do a little research on the publisher or publishing entity before you submit. Definitely get all the facts before you sign. If you have to pay anything to submit or apply for a writing job, don't go there. Be aware of what rights the publisher expects to acquire. And don't fall for the dangling 18K gold carrot of high pay; get the actual pay or salary terms upfront, preferably in writing.

Virtual Writing Jobs

BustedHalo.com is looking for freelancers to write feature articles, news items, profiles and opinion pieces for their online zine.

Detailed description writers needed to write content for Docstoc.com, full-time 6-8 weeks, $10/hr.

Food/Entertainment writer (experienced and published) needed to write content for a Manhattan based specialty food chain's newsletter.

Freelance writers needed for media company that owns and operates several websites; $10.00 per 300-500 word article.

LA-based online jewelry company (JoeDia.com) is looking for writers to "generate buzz and intrigue about diamonds and more." Research & write one article per week, each of 400-500 words, $50 per post.

Pimpitup.com is looking for a website content copywriter to write 500 posts for $1-3 per post.

Prefixmag.com needs writers to pen "daily blog posts about music news, culture and technology (those who can post in the morning are especially needed); review albums and concerts, songs and videos, Interview bands for Q&As, feature stories, and profiles and for PrefixTV, and write broader argument and analysis stories." Pays sliding scale, but listing shows $2 (blog posts) - $10 (features) per article, see listing for very specific application details.

Web Humor Editor needed for new website recommending the best videos on the internet, part-time, $15/hr.

Writer with knowledge of "genetics, psychology, anthropology, history, Maslow, Einstein, Diamond, Dawkins" and a "desire to change the world" needed 1-2 days per week/$150 per diem.

The Village Voice is taking applications for the fall 2008 Mary Wright Minority Fellowship, a "fulltime, three-month writing job with the Voice that provides an opportunity to work alongside veteran Voice journalists." Pays $500.00/wk for the length of the fellowship.

All of the above listings were found while cruising through in the writing/editing job sections of Craigslist LA and Craigslist NY.

Specialty Writing Jobs

Swiped from Craigslist New York:

Blogger Needed -- I'll quote directly from the listing: "An international film school is seeking a blogger to make regular entries on the school website. The blog would focus on the film, television and acting industries. Interesting news, current events, happenings and issues would be addressed in the blogs. Blogging experience or similar writing experience is a must."

Freelance Writer Wanted -- Seeking a writer for five articles about HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning.) Length 800-1000 words per article, pays $20-25 per article. Performance may lead to more work in the future. Requires the writer be a college graduate with a degree in journalism, writing or editing.

Health & Fitness Freelance Writers Needed -- the powers that be behind LIVESTRONG™.com, launching mid 2008, are looking for New York area writers with "extensive experience in the fitness, diet and nutrition areas" to write info articles for them. They're also interested in writers who can cover senior and public health topics (including locally relevant subjects). Prefer writers with accreditation in these fields. Pay varies.

Seeking Chef Bloggers -- A soon-to-launch culinary web site is looking for professionals in their industry (chefs, front of house, restaurant manager, sommelier, server, business side, etc.) to blog for them. Candidates need to be actively employed in the culinary industry, not foodies. The pay is $25-$50 per 500-word post, depending on your experience. Sounds like this could be a regular gig.

Writer for Casual Game/Comic Book Format -- A game/interactive media development company in SoHo needs a writer to work on one of their projects and write the storyline and dialogue (more may be involved, so definitely get details on this one. You'll be working with game designers and producers, and you should have familiarity with game writing and/or design. Prefer experience with comic book/graphic novel writing.

July: Supplemental Writing Income

The U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics has an interesting page of statistics about working as a professional writer or editor. Bloggers are now listed as part of the writing profession, btw, probably because so many are now being directly or indirectly compensated for their content (which now must be disclosed.)

It sounds lovely, doesn't it? Then why are so many authors unable to make a living at this gig?

The statistics reported sound nice, but novelists know that they can't depend on a fixed or salaried income from publishing their original work. We earn what we earn from contract to contract. It's difficult if not impossible to make a living as a full-time novelist; most of us are obliged to moonlight, work day jobs, or depend on the financial support of family or a spouse/partner/significant other.

It's still possible to supplement your income as a novelist while still doing some writing. You just have to set aside the big honking dream of bestsellerdom and use your skills and talent in other ways.

Before I turned pro, I always tried to find part-time jobs that somehow involved writing or publishing. I've been paid to write articles, speeches, resumes, technical manuals, sermons and ad copy. I've worked for a PhD who had me help polish his doctoral thesis and transcribed the first draft of a novel manuscript from a minister's longhand notes. I didn't make a fortune at any of this, but I enjoyed all of the jobs and I learned a little something about writing from each of them (such as never compose a novel in longhand if your handwriting sucks.)

Although I make a decent living now from publishing my original work, I still moonlight on occasion. I've written about a dozen books as a ghost writer, self-published one book, and sold articles, essays, short stories and even one blog post to various publishers and industry entities.

You can't expect writing jobs to fall in your lap, but there are plenty of employers actively looking for writers to work for them. Craigslist has writing/editing job listings by state -- here's one for Chowbaby.com, an online dining guide site looking for foodie and entertainment writers.

Cruising freelance writer sites is always good; you can find some great job listings on them. Sites like Sunoasis Jobs are great because along with their listings they offer links to job listings elsewhere.

There are web sites and bloggers who are dedicated to helping writers find work. Author Marjorie M. Liu regularly posts sub ops, contests, grants, and other writing opportunities on her blog; Angela Booth does the same with articles, inspiration and info for freelancers, fic, nonfic and web writers. My favorite place to surf for writer sub ops is Ralan.com.

One more thing to remember while hunting for writing employment: if a job isn't right for you, consider passing along the info to another writer who might appreciate the work. We all need to make a living, and that person you help might be in a position someday to do the same for you.

Related Links:

For you aspiring editors out there, Susan Basalla May's excellent article, The Realities of Jobs in Publishing.

Look for writing job listings at Publishers Weekly Jobs, PublishingJobs.com, and The Write Jobs

Nancy DuVergne Smith wrote an interesting piece here on what freelancer writers were making back in 1995.