by James Roy

Created on: July 08, 2007

It's only a minor regret, and quite an inexpensive one in the scheme of things, but I recently subscribed to an online freelancer site, and I think I might have made an error in judgment when I handed over my $70. I'm an experienced freelance writer and editor, with good references and a strong track record, but I'm never going to get a gig from this site. Why not? Because no one is prepared to pay what experienced writers and editors are worth.

Here's what I mean. I recently sold an article to an Australian parenting magazine (print, not online). It took me most of one day to research and write, it ended up being 1,200 words in length, and the magazine paid me 65 cents per word, which comes to $780. Nice, huh? It's also about standard here in Australia. Even if they'd paid me $500, it would have been a pretty decent day's work, especially considering I did most of my research online and didn't have to even leave my house.

Now let's look at the online freelancer site. There are article-writing projects on there where employers are inviting proposals. And how much are they offering? In some cases, they're offering $2 per 500 word story. Are they serious? Are they really serious? That's 2.5 cents per word, for crying out loud!

But here's the problem: people are submitting proposals for those jobs, and getting them. Then they're getting screwed. Even if you could research and write five of those stories a day, who can make a living on ten dollars a day? Can you? No, me either.

So that's the first tip: don't waste your time or money pitching via these sites, because there will always be someone prepared to undercut you. Console yourself in this the knowledge that the employer in question will probably get exactly what they paid for. Shame for the writer, but they'll soon catch on.

Sure, there'll be some who land the good, well-paying gigs, but how many unsuccessful proposals will you or I waste our time writing, when we could have been writing salable articles all along?

Here's my hotter tip. Go to your library, look through magazines, see what kinds of stories they're publishing. Then procure a copy of your local writer's marketplace, or subscribe to such a site, usually run by a reputable writers' center. Then find a topic that interests you, research it, and write it fro a specific market, keeping in mind the style of the magazine you're hopefully writing it for. Is it a feature story or a filler? Does it need photos, and where can you get them? Is this a story you

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