Freelance Jobs 30th Nov

Here's today's freelance jobs:

Transcriptionist wanted for book to MS word transcription gig here.
Looking for a ghostwriter. Click here for more details.
Technology news researcher wanted here.

Working writers wanted here.
Comment: The ad has me totally confused, so either I'm drunk, or the ad poster was drunk, or we're both drunk.

Blogger job! Get paid per post! Somebody wants a paid blogger here.
Comment: There's precious little blogging gigs available for pro bloggers. Sad, huh? But then, it's a free market, and you get paid for your talent and experience, and bloggers, um....never mind.

Copywriter & SEO specialist wanted here.
Comment: And then the ad goes on to day that they don't need a pro. Well, means I can still apply. What?

Writers wanted. Columns, reviews, features. Click here.
Comment: Nice gig.

Low budget, jungle based horror script needed here.
Comment: Ultra-trashy trailer trash!

Ezine looking for short fiction and poetry submissions here.

Author wanted here.
Comment: The OJ Simpson kerfuffle seems to have put Hollywood into muder mystery overdrive.

Data researcher wanted here.
$150 per report on the music industry. More details here.
Ghostwriters wanted here.
Data entry and web researcher needed here.

Just bumped into a marketing pitch disguised as a press release. If it weren't for the fact that some poor schmucks actually fall for this kind of gimmick, this would be kinda funny. "30+ Year Veteran Translator Unlocks the Door to Success on the Translation Market Scene for Frustrated Freelancers...Before anything else, they must first "install the Success Mindset Tripod in their brain..."

Hmm...Been been watching too many sci-fi movies, I guess.

Print On demand - Free

By the end of this post, you will be able to self publish, sell and recieve money for writing your own book, without having spent a dime. Writing this post for writers like me, stumbling and taking little baby steps towards a bit of fame and a slice of the book writers' pie. Not to mention the artistic satisfaction of having written and published a book.

First, I thought self-publishing help for writers was just a hustler's avenue to making a few quick bucks off of a few unsuspecting and naive writers. But as I dig into it, it looks like there's a genuine possibility that you could write a book and self publish it, by means of a system called "print on demand".


First you write a book. Are we done yet? No? Take your time. Done? Let's move on to how to get it published. C'mon. You can't seriously expect to learn how to write a book from reading some ultra-trashy trailer trash blog, can you? You want to write a book? Start writing.


Self Publishing for book writers. Step 1 : Print on demand :-
The concept is very simple.
1. You write the book.
2. You upload your book to a print on demand ( POD ) publisher.
3. You decide and set, with a few clicks, what sort of book you want and how it should look.
4. You promote, the publisher accepts orders and payments, prints and ships the book and sends you your cut.

And you're done. As simple as that. Here's a small list of publishers who offer freelance writers free print on demand publishing:

• CafePress - When a customer orders your book, we will produce it, charge your customer, ship the book, and handle the customer service using true print-on-demand technology.
  
• Lulu.com - Lulu.com lets you publish and sell print on demand books and eBooks, online music and images, custom calendars and books. Free self-publishing.

The two publishers above will not charge you anything. You write and promote, they print and you split the profits.

Secondly, there's the question of an ISBN number and bar codes for your book. No bookstore will stock your book unless you have them. Do the above mentioned companies print your books with an ISBN number and a bar code? Yes, they do. Do other POD publishers provide one? Check first.

Book Promotion :
So what exactly are you going to do, other than write your book? You promote and publicize it. How? There's two ways and you should probably be doing both.

The first and traditional method is the old fashioned way. Word of mouth. Submit your book to book reviewers and any and all sites, magazines and publications, both online and in print, which are willing to talk about your book.

The second method is to start an affiliate program for your book. For every person or webmaster who sends you a visitor, who then buys a copy of your book, you split the profits with your affiliate. Part profit is better than no-profit.

To wrap it up, this may sound nutty, but it's true. Print on Demand is also a trademark of Cygnus Business Media, Inc. Finally, here's a couple of great resoures for POD or print on demand.
An Incomplete Guide to Print On Demand Publishers
POD-dy Mouth

Freelance Jobs 29th Nov

Let's assume you're a writer. What's the meaning of the word 'obvious' ? Well, it's obvious, ain't it? Something which even a blind bat hanging upside down could tell. Apparently the Supreme Court of the U.S.A., endowed with the collective wisdom of the nation, is currently unable to tell us what exactly is the meaning of the word 'obvious'. The NYT has the whole sordid story.

Here's today's freelance jobs:

Transcriptionists wanted to transcribe congressional hearings here.
Comment: Holy cow, I'd give an arm and a leg for this gig. All I'd have to do is move to DC. Sigh!
Freelancer wanted for researching, writing copy and proofreading here.
Comment: Anyone got an apartment free near the Capitol? I want to move to DC pronto.
Centrist political movement seeks writer here.
Comment: Is living in a tent outside the White House gates allowed? If any of you wanna share my tent, let me know...
Freelance journalist for politics and policy wanted here.
Comment: Heard Karl Rove has a lotta free time on his hands nowadays. But then, he was fired from his policy post. So, maybe not....

Yoga blogger wanted here.
Looking for someone to do some internet research ( finding links ) here.
Children's poet / song writer wanted here.
Blogger Jobs available here.
Data entry typist wanted here.
Paid Blog poster wanted ( blogging gig ) here.
Magazine looking for freelance feature writers here.

Article writer needed here.
Comment: Be careful with this one, huh?

Academic freelance writers wanted here.
Mag looking for feature writers here.
English language arts specialist ( freelance ) wanted here.

Pseudo Journalism

Bloggers can't be journalists, in the proper sense of the word, which includes reporting, digging up news and verifying facts with interviews and requests for comments. Still, there's no reason not to behave like an ethical writer and follow the guidelines which news organisations follow, wherever possible.

In that pseudo journalistic spirit, I have sent emails to a trio of writers who are featured as exhibits in an article on writers' block. I'm hoping they'll reply, which will verify either my astounding intuition or my vivid imagination, depending on whether I'm right or wrong. That's a polite way of saying that I'm scared silly I'll be making an ass of myself, which I won't be if the writers reply back either confirming or denying my accusations. I'll scratch them out of the article, in all good faith, if they deny.

Good practise or chicken? You decide.

BTW, speaking about old vs. new media, "The California Supreme Court issued their ruling on Barrett v Rosenthal today which determined that web publishers are not liable for publishing material written by someone else and recovery for defamation must be sought from the original source only" according to www.blogher.com to which another female blogger, Michelle Malkin replies "Seems to me that some bloggers want to enjoy the benefits of MSM status (fighting for the same coverage as traditional journalists under shield laws, as in the Apple case), but avoid the consequences (getting sued if they re-publish defamatory material online)."

Also, a Kentucky lawyer who wants to blog about law comes up facing a unique problem. He needs to pay $50 to the "The Kentucky Attorney's Advertising Commission" every time he wants to make a post, because his posts and his blog are seen as "advertising for his practise". How about we apply this rule to all political blogs, huh?

A Glorious Disaster

Writing about what you want to versus what you need to is a conflict that bedevils many writers, yours truly included. What happens when you get the pig headed urge to write about something you're passionate about, even if you have little or no chance of making it a commercial hit? A glorious disaster.

Credit where it's due. This column by E.J.Dionne Jr. mentioned a book of the same name about Barry Goldwater's 1964 presidential campaign by J. William Middendorf II. Got me thinking about a few movies and albums which were awash with artistic genius, but commercial flops at the time, and then went on to become bestsellers when history proved them right. So I decided to dig into similar debacles in the literary world.

---

The Legacy By Sybille Bedford

This piece about Sybille Bedford in the New Yorker says "..She may have had too much fun, because she also spent many years not writing. Most of the long magazine pieces were bunched together in the nineteen-fifties and sixties. The novels came out haltingly. For that reason, and also because her interests were so widely dispersed, she is something of a loose piece in the literary canon..."

What it does not say is that her most acclaimed novel, The Legacy, was at first declared "dull" by her own publisher. It's been reprinted and has gone on to become a massive bestseller.

---

Ulysses by James Joyce
A trendsetter and path-breaking novel, it made waves as much for the literary content as for the controversy surrounding the obscenity in the book. The book, first published in Paris in 1922, and unavailable in English until 1934, has had a huge amount of influence on romantic writing and writers since it's publication.

---

Moby-Dick by Herman Melville
Melville put in an intense amount of labor over the book, writing all day long, from 1850 to 1851. But the literary genius in the pages was a wasted effort and the book was a commercial flop. Only in the 1920's was the book rediscovered and took it's rightful place as one of the greatest novels ever written.

There is a common thread running across all three of the above mentioned authors, as well as notable personalities such as Orson Welles and Brigitte Fontaine, who went through a similar agony, of producing underappreciated masterpieces. All of them bucked conventional wisdom and led lives which, while entertaining to read about, no doubt caused a lot of pain and anguish to concerned parties. It's almost like all of them stood up and gave a middle finger to society at large, in the form of the masterpiece, and said, "Take that!" And That, Ladies and Gentlemen, is a glorious disaster.

Freelance Jobs 28th Nov

Only a couple more days to December. Which means the beginning of a long, drawnout depression. That's probably because of all the resolutions and the 'what happened in this year' roundups in print and television programming. Gets me thinking about what I did in the entire year and what I managed to accomplish - Squat. Time to hit the bottle. But before that, here's today's freelance jobs:

Politcal question writer needed
Comment: I take back the depression. Just remembered that 2007 and 2008 are going to be a total ball, with Hillary and McCain and Obama and Gore. It's going to be wonderful, to be able to dig up dirt on the high and mighty and splash it on the internet.

Internet content writer wanted
Mag calls for submissions from writers
Technical writer wanted
Researcher / Writer needed
Business contract writer

Writer needed
This is for Hollywood. If you apply, you're ultra-trashy trailer trash. See yesterday's 'writers news roundup' if you don't know what I'm talking about.

Celeb blogger wanted
Comment: If you're a blogger with delusions of grandeur....Just kidding. That's bloggers who blog about celebs.

Creative art writer wanted
Freelance proofreader / Copy editor

Fighting swords with pens

Article in Reuters Alertnet says "Khairallah feels that he lives in the shadows of foreign journalists, who often get accolades for articles that he really gathered the bulk of the information for. He feels unappreciated. He dreams of being a famous journalist one day, and of receiving prizes for his work.....

Before the war, Khairallah was getting paid as little as $5 per story and today he gets around $10 from local newspapers and $20 from international publications, but he did not want to disclose their names for security reasons. "I hope one day my name will be recognised, maybe when Iraq gets true democracy and press freedom becomes a reality and not a theory," he said."


Feel that tiny string tugging at your heart? That's the pathos of an unsung hero fighting the guns and bombs in Iraq with his pen. You're appreciated, Khairallah, by me and anyone who's reading this post. Not much, but best I can do at the moment...The poor idealistic chump is a ghost writer, for all the wrong reasons. He's not ghost writing because no-one wants to give him credit. He's ghost writing because he's scared to take the credit. Here's a list of Iraqi bloggers who, it seems, aren't as reticent about taking credit.

Related Links:
1. Council On Foreign Relations
2. Press in Iraq Gains Rights But No Refuge
3. World Press Review - Iraq in the International Press
4. Report: U.S. paying Iraqi newspapers
5. Committee to Protect journalists

Book Review : The Business of Changing the World

I haven't written a book review on "The Business of Changing the World" by Marc Benioff and neither do I plan to. Let's just say that I'm doing a review of a book review. Look, the review inspired me to make a decision to donate a part of my profits to charity. The fact that I don't make a profit made the decision easier, of course...


Quote from this book review by Tom Taulli on The Motley Fool says

"Throughout much of the book, Benioff has focused mostly on big companies. But he makes it clear that all companies should be involved in philanthropy.

That's what he did when he started Salesforce.com (out of his apartment). He innovated something called the 1-1-1 model, in which his company would donate 1% of profits, stock, and employee time to community efforts. According to Benioff: "People are here to do more than just make money -- they want to help make the world a better place during their time here." Interestingly enough, Benioff was also able to get Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) to adopt the 1-1-1 model."

Ok. So let's start the review of the review. What do I like about it? The subject matter. Great choice of book for a review. Secondly, the minute I bumped into the title, three things came to mind:
1. Bill Gates and his foundation.
2. Google and charity.
3. Bill Clinton and aids.
The book reviewer scored two out of three. And Clinton ain't strictly speaking a business, so let's give the book reviewer a pass on that one.

The book gives the reviewer a chance to focus on the personal history of the author, his involvement with big corporates and personalities and getting them involved in charity. Unquestionable hit. Big corporates and personalities involved in charity is a big draw, as we saw in the kerfuffle over Bill Gates and Warren Buffet's retirement plans ( Is there a book out on that yet? No? Why on earth not? ). And the reviewer can end off with a request for charity for his own company's philanthropic efforts. Unquestionable hit with his own editor.

Freelance jobs coming up in a few hours.

Writers News Roundup 27th Nov

Author David Gilmartin apologizes to Granite City after citing it as one of worst places in his novel "The Absolutely Worst Places to Live in America". Article in St. Louis Post Despatch says "Gilmartin said the city was ideal for Steel mill employees, wife-beaters, potheads, ultra-trashy trailer trash, dirty half-dressed kids, obnoxious churchgoers, Pentecostals, high school soccer stars, hoosiers (and) derelicts."
Gilmartin better stay away from Granite City for some time. Some good points to take away though. We now have ultra-trashy trailer trash ( that's like super duper double top-secret ). And I now know what Pentecostals are.

British writers are better than LA counterparts says Neve Campbell. She's quoted in Fametastic as saying "They have some background in literature before they decide to come up with a story."
True.True. There's a lot of script writer wanted ads on Craigslist. That should teach Hollywood not to hire ultra-trashy trailer trash freelance writers off of Craigslist.

Check out this genre of novels called "Cook lit" novels. "Such novels meet two requirements: They feature at least one character who cooks, and they include recipes." says The Register Guard which has cooked up an article on this.

Save As Draft

Relax folks. Everything's under control. Iraq's not about to split up into three pieces. I'm serious. Not just channeling Baghdad Bob. I did an analysis of previous occupations of foreign territory by the U.S.A. Conclusion? Iraq is not lucky enough to get even a three way split. Bit more on that later...



Here's today's freelance jobs:

Novel writer wanted
Comment: They basically want someone to rewrite Romeo and Juliet with a few changes in location. Says on their website "...producing unique and quality films working with young new innovative thinkers..."
Web content writer wanted
Movie bloggers needed for blog posts
Copywriter wanted
Article writers wanted
Web content writer ( gardening )
Web content writer ( babies - cute ones )
Web content needed

I just had a few great ideas for articles, and I saved all of them as drafts. Which set me to thinking that this "save as a draft" thingy is probably the greatest innovation on the net since email and search engines.

To bloviate some more about drafts, there's a lot of squabbling going on over the draft. I'm a little confused as to exactly who wants to introduce the draft and who is oppposing it. Seems like a shifting sea of sand, which changes according to who's in power. President Bush started the war. Needless to say, he opposes a draft, so far. Bet you a brownie he'll be proposing one the day he's back in Texas, clearing brush and writing his memoirs. John Kerry accused the President of planning to introduce a draft during the 2004 elections. Now Dem Rep. Charles Rangel, who's been mooning about a draft for a few years now, wants to introduce legislation. The republicans are hopping mad and conservative bloviators are piling on Rangel. Question time : Do we need a draft? Are we going to get one? Who decides? Isn't this idea dead before it even takes off?

Well, depends on if we need a bigger force and if it is or is not possible by sending out recruiters to cajole volunteers into joining. If not....This again depends on how long we plan to stay in Iraq. If you're gonna cut and run, then there's not much drafting to be done, huh? So, ultimately, whether or not we need a draft or we're gonna get one, is not going to be decided by the White House, or by Nancy Pelosi or Harry Reid, but by Baker and new def-sec Robert Gates. Which, BTW, means that after all the talk and all the brovado, Junior ( Bush 43 ) still needs to go to Dad ( Bush 41 ), to clean it up after it hits the fan.....

A Baghdad Bob like statement, if I may. Iraq is not about to split into three pieces. Why do you think there's two Koreas? Germany? Yougoslavia? Because we, umm..won, sortof. Whenever the U.S.A. achieves a pseudo victory, there's a split. If we lose, like in Vietnam, there ain't no split, but the bad guys take the whole cake. What do you think is going to happen in Iraq? A split or Vietnam II? Judging from this administration's track record, we'll be seeing Vietnam II somewhere in mid 2009 when the next President orders a withdrawal from Iraq. This is also going to the main reason that the Republicans are in for one more thumpin in 2008. So, if you're a conservative, might as well stay at home.

Tick-Tock-Tick-Tock

Timeless title. Hope Time Inc. ain't got a trademark for Time. First I wanted to bloviate about Limericks, but a post about limerick writers wouldn't be much good without a limerick, huh? Then I got round to a darker subject. Time. Far as I'm concerned, there's always been time to write that novel next year. And that next year has been coming and going for nearly a decade.

There's always something more important - Money, career, family...Now I'm coming round to the concept that it's now or never. I have to write that book now, or I never will. If life is a mountain climbing expedition, then there's a bridge you cross, when you start feeling that you've crested the hill and you're on your way down. Um....you ever seen a bridge on the crest of a hill?

Anyway, I guess I passed that rhetorical bridge to nowhere some time back. The hourglass is less than half full and I can see the sand slipping down. How much time do you have before you can start a book writing career? Tick-Tock-Tick-Tock-Tick-Tock.....

Need help writing that book? Write a book in under 28 days flat!

Don't you want to leave behind you footprints in the sands of time? Besides it's NaNoWriMo ( National Novel Writing Month ). Start writing now!

Churning out a book ain't beans
For I'm broke and without means
Iraq's still burning
Clock keeps turning
I'm a cynic in mourning, searching for the innocence of my teens.

Finding Online Jobs

This is not a tutorial for earning money on the internet. This is a howto for telecommute freelancers to learn how to use search engine keywords to search for and find online freelance jobs which are in your field of expertise.

Yahoo! Hotjobs searches for the hottest jobs on the net for you.

The biggest problem on the net is that there's so much information that it's next to impossible to categorize and find exactly what you want. It's sort of like gold nuggets mixed into muck and you have to wade into the muck to get the gold. Using the right keywords can save you a heck of a lot of time and help you find the right job. Let's get down to specifics:

Do you type in "freelance writer jobs" or "writing jobs" or just "freelance writers"? No can do, Dickens. All these keywords just take you to the same resources and websites, such as this blog, which fleece the unsuspecting and naive freelance writer, which would be you. There's hundreds of thousands of writers looking at the same handful of writing gigs listed on these websites. That's not going to get you anywhere. So? Think. Think. Who needs freelance writers? Publishers and those who sell written matter to publishers!

Web content writer? Web content providers.
Book reviewer? Get your book reviewed.
Essay writer? Custom essays.
Ghost writer? Literary services.

Do I have to reach in and ring some more bells in your head? You don't search for say "hack writing jobs". You search for people and companies who publish or help publish your writing. If you're a translator, you search for companies who provide translation services. Ditto for transcription. You find these companies, check out their site to see if they have any available openings and then you send them an email describing yourself as an untapped genius waiting to be discovered. Even if they don't have an opening.

The one exception I would keep away from this list is for data entry typists. You don't search for companies who provide data entry services, cause they most likely won't be hiring you cause most of them are based in India or Brazil or Russia.....

Wouldn't this method apply to offline and fulltime jobs also? Most likely would. But how would I know? I haven't done a honest day's work in my entire life.

Freelance Jobs 26th Nov

Here's today's freelance jobs:

Writers wanted ( home improvement )
Personal finance writers sought
New magazine looking for freelance writers
Proofreader wanted for ebook

Earn money hanging out online
Comment: Just when I think the net couldn't get any dumber, they go and do something which TOTALLY REDEEMS THEM!
BTW, if you've seen Dumb & Dumber, you know what's the best part of the movie? Where Harry Dunne gets his tongue stuck on the ski lift. Totally gross.

ARTChic magazine looking for feature writers
Freelance entertainment reviewers
Website copywriter wanted
Freelance editor
Freelance copywriters

It's Sunday already, and I need to laze around and poke my head into the pillow with the TV on full blast and the pizza within reach.

The Ethics of Plagiarism..errr...Writing

Regis Behe, writing for The Evening Bulletin, bloviates on the ethics of writing. Focuses on plagiarism and out-right dishonesty among writers in particular. Inspired by the same plague, uhh...plagiarism, I'm quoting from the article:

"The Frey controversy was the impetus for "Can You Handle the Truth? Ethics in Writing," the theme of this year's 412: Creative Nonfiction Literary Festival. The event takes place today through Nov. 11 at various sites in Pittsburgh. Lee Gutkind, a professor of English at the University of Pittsburgh and the event's organizer, says there was a need to respond to the media frenzy that erupted after revelations Frey had distorted facts." - www.theeveningbulletin.com

Lemme tell you, Prof., the whole kerfuffle had nothing, absolutely nothing to do with Frey and his writing. What it did have to do with was Oprah. The fact that Oprah touted his book in the first place was the only reason that the whole thing boiled over and kept simmering for a long time. Anyway, you guys have fun at your conference.

I can't say the same thing about Kaavya Viswanathan, the Harvard student who lifted whole sections from Megan McCafferty's books. That little imbroglio was just a small symptom of a very deep illness, which is known as book packaging. Want to more about why a teenager got a $500,000 advance for her first book?
"The answer just might be found on the copyright page of 'How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got a Life.' There it says: 'Copyright 2006 by Alloy Entertainment and Kaavya Viswanathan.'" - www.boston.com

I suggest you read the whole article, and let me tell you, the minute you finish reading it, any naive or idealistic hopes you may have of getting your manuscript printed based upon your talent as a writer will be dashed into tiny little pieces. That's reality for you. And a note to Prof. Lee Gutkind. If you are going to yak at your conference about writers and ethics, you might actually manage to do a bit of good, if you were to raise the issue of book packaging.

The Pushcart Prize

"The Pushcart Prize - Best of the Small Presses series, published every year since 1976, is the most honored literary project in America. Hundreds of presses and thousands of writers of short stories, poetry and essays have been represented in the pages of our annual collections." - www.pushcartprize.com by Bill Henderson.

Ok. So far, so good. Now how do you get that trailer trash you call your "masterpiece" into one of their annual prints? Read on...

Any magazine or book editor may submit upto six nominations. The catch is that the editor can only submit stuff which his publication has actually printed. So let's dig up that email address list and fire away at that sorry chump who actually printed your drivel. Beg, cajole, threaten to flood your editor's mail box with manuscripts, but get yourself nominated for the pushcart prize. That's half the battle won. At least you can say that you've been nominated for the pushcart prize......


Oh yeah, in case you're really serious about getting your writing featured with them, you might buy the last few editions of the pushcart prize and read through them, just to get a feel of the kind of stuff that actually gets printed. Besides, it might be enjoyable. After all, these are the writings of award winners. The Pushcart Prize XXXI: Best of the Small Presses (2007 Edition) by Bill Henderson

Writers News Roundup 25th Nov

Freelance political cartoonist with toygun arrested says article in the NYTimes. One of José Varela's demands? "That the truth be told". You gotta read the full article.

BTW, this is no ordinary cartoonist. He has published cartoons in a book called Cuban Miami. He came in second for "Outstanding Editorial Cartoon" at the 15th Annual Hispanic Print Awards. Varela, un ''hombre bueno'', según sus amigos .

Writers and critics make their picks of 2006. Details in The Guardian

Aspiring novel writers know how arduous it is to get published ( Tell me bout it ).
Inside Bay Area has news about a new publishing house called Wingspan Press which uses a novel publishing system called "Book-On-Demand".

Talk about innovation. Author Martha Powers enlisted a producer to create a short trailer for her book and is using Youtube to spread the video, says this piece in the BookCatcher
Why do brilliant ideas seem so simple after someone else does it?

Freelance Jobs 25th Nov

With reference to the previous post, while sweeping the net looking for sites referencing "hack writers", I bumped into a site which provides writing services. Seemed to be big enough to support a few writers, so I fired off an email. Well, see for yourself....

Me: "Hi, I'm a hack writer. My blog: http://jobsearch-online.blogspot.com/ Give me some writing gigs, please? My dog is hungry....."

Prompt came the reply, within half an hour:

"I'm happy to hear only the dog is hungry. I'll forward this to our head writer who will keep it on file...."

Do you know what would happen if a hammer had happened to be within reach of my hands....Grrr!

On to today's freelance jobs:

Writers needed for alternative health projects
Comment: The guy who wrote this ad is a writer. He also writes for the web, specially with google in mind. How I know?
"You will massage and expand existing short texts on health issues." Indicates he's a writer who cares enough, even in an ad, to manipulate sentences and words with double meanings. Also, look at the title. 99% of all ads feature titles with the first letter of every word in capital. This one does not. Indicates he's worked with SEO long enough to make it a reflex habit not to capitalize. So now you know how to spot an SEO copywriter...

Data research & entry ( Internet research and writing reviews )

Writer for political humor
Comment: Relax. They already have a writer. Me!

freelance shopping writer
Writer / Researcher wanted

Poet wanted for short gig
Comment: "I am writing a book of poems for a woman - just one book, that will not be published commercially." Tsk! Tsk!

Freelance furniture writers
Movie bloggers wanted
Looking for article writers

Hack Writers

I've blogged about paying and non-paying publishers who need articles. Well, I just bumped into one who will give you no money, no linkback, nothing, nada, squat. Anyway, it led me on to look into the term 'hack writers'. And here's where it goes from being mildly funny to gross and hilarious.

Becoming a Writer "Your embryo journalist or hack writer seldom asks for help of any sort; he is off after agents and editors while his more serious brother-in-arms is suffering the torments of the damned because of his insufficiencies" - Becoming a Writer by Dorothea Brande

But first things first:

" Why do it? After all Hacks is free, no one gets paid. Well it's an on-line portfolio - a showcase for good writing from beginners to experienced old hands like passionate filmgoer Alex Grant who used to write for Variety. That's the beauty of Hackwriters, you never know who might be reading it. Editor's really are looking for new writers. (I guess we're becoming a low-rent Reuters) Need a writer in India, USA, Australia, Japan, China? We've got em"
- www.hackwriters.com

You know, the way they say it, I'm kinda, sorta thinking that it might be cool if you were to write a piece and they published it....

On to hack writers. Here's what wikipedia has to say about hack writers.
"A hack writer is a writer for hire, paid to express others' thoughts or opinions in felicitous verbiage, often in the form of political pamphlets."

OMG! I had no idea I was a hack writer. Are you a hack writer? Find out here.

Well, I did warn you it was going to be gross and hilarious. And there's lots more crazy cookies in this particular cookie jar.

Here's one which says "A Hack is to a period what an Embryonic writer is to a comma and a Yearner is to a dash."
Hmmm....

Finally, if you want to test your knowledge about writers and hack writers, click here.

After going through all these links, I have come to a very profound conclusion. I am not a nutcase. I am a hack writer.

Freelance Jobs 24th Nov

Today's freelance jobs ( mostly for freelance writers ):

Seeking career freelance writers

Reader needed for ecology research
Comment: Nice gig.

Tech-Savvy Freelance Journalists (U.S. nationwide)
Work From Home Computer Research

Witty blogger wanted to write about pets
Comment: Me! Me! I do great with pets. Funny pets. All kinda pets. You give me the gig, I promise I'll get one.

New writers ( female ) to write about shopping an spending
Comment: When it rains, it pours!

Seeking poetry submissions

Talented fiction writer wanted
Comment: "The character is young male who works a day job and lives in Washington dc. He is a big dreamer who is slightly compulsive and lazy."
Anyone wanna bet that the ad poster is a lazy, young ( leaning towards middle age ) male with a day job in DC and delusions of grandeur?

Which brings me to an important point - How much of yourself comes out in your writing? This is a much debated issue when writers are writing about writing. Do you chicken out and glorify yourself? And another question with a twist - Does your writing affect your mental balance? Meaning does a tragedy writer drown in gloom all the time? If you write funny stuff, do you start seeing humor in everyday situations? I dunno. You tell me. For me, life is a big joke. .... .... ....Ok! All right! I made that up. You happy now?

A novel idea for would-be writers

"I'm speaking from experience here. I've been working on my first novel for more than five years. My second is a much more recent development. Currently, the race is on to see which one I'll abandon first."
- A novel idea for would-be writers by Bill Nash writing for www.venturacountystar.com

But he makes a couple of good points. One, that a good novel makes you forget about the fact that you're reading a book, and you get drawn into the plot and the characters, rather than thinking about the writer and his amateur effort at a novel. Secondly, he's got something to say about opening ice-cream factories in your mind. Hmmm....

Click here

All good points, but the thing I like best about the column is the title. Novel, as in book and Novel, as in new. A single word in the title expresses the entire concept and focus of the article. I gotta take title writing lessons from this guy.

Guide to AP style writing

Look, I know freelance writing on the net is a far cry from an op-ed on the NYT or a stab in the back media critique in Romenesko's Poynter Online. Still, you'll learn something new, the value of which can never be underestimated. And even if you don't use the AP style all that much while ranting on the net, it just might creep into your writing and you'll start sounding more like a professional writer than a balding and slightly overweight social misfit sitting in your mom's basement tapping away at your keyboard.


" A publication's use of a particular style provides consistency, accuracy, and tone. For example, the styles of The New York Times and Rolling Stone differ significantly. The AP style falls somewhere in between, aiming at a general audience with a tone that is neither too elite nor too common. Although you won't find an explanation of the logic of AP style in the stylebook, it has been my experience that AP likes information presented so it is:

1. Totally accurate.
2. Totally clear to anyone with a high school education.
3. As tight as can be, given No. 1 and No. 2.
4. Inoffensive, unless there is an overriding reason, central to a significant news story, to include potentially offensive words or concepts."

- Dr. Michael S. Sweeney, Utah State University

Sorry, Doc, for the blatant and brazen copy-paste, but you put it much better than I could possibly attempt. Here's what I did - Bookmarked the page. I'm going to refer to it every time I write an article for a client and go through the entire article and cross check every sentence against Dr. Sweeney's checklist. Once I'm reasonably comfortable with it and I can remember every tiny detail about the AP style, I'm going to take the Doc's test and see how I do. I urge every freelance writer visiting this page to visit the link above and go through it in it's entriety.

Here's a few additional links which might help you get used to the AP style of writing :

• Style Guide - Wikipedia
  
• AP Style Book ( Purchase required )
  
• Writers's Style Guide : Introduction
  

And just in case you think it's not worth the effort, take a look:

Experienced Proofreader / Researcher / Editor
Comment: Must have knowledge of AP style..

Professional Freelance Proofreaders
Comment: Must have working knowledge of AP Stylebook...

Copy Editor
Comment: Must have a strong grasp of AP style...

Tech savvy Political Blogger
Comment: Should have knowledge of AP Style...

Copy Editor - Proofreader
Comment: Must have prior experience and knowledge of AP Style....

Assistant Editor
Comment: Must know AP style...

Internship
Comment: Must have a working knowledge of the Associated Press style guide..

Go get that style book! One small point - I'm slightly ashamed that this post, while in the spirit of the AP style, does not confirm to it's standards. Gimme some time, huh?

Freelance Jobs 23rd Nov

Breaking! Hot off the wires! News for writers :

Writers block hits malware authors
That's one writers block I'm happy to see.

Column reaction turns readers into writers
I'd love to see my readers turn into writers ( Uh...ain't you all writers already? ). Anyway, these are the choice comments:
"I can appreciate any columnist who can reference her undergarments in a political analysis.(Did you know a British paper described Ann Coulter as "Rush Limbaugh in a miniskirt"? Now, that's just sick.) "

and the response:

"You may love Ann now, but have you seen Rush Limbaugh in a miniskirt?"

Magnificient! Wish I had readers, uh..writers, whatever..like these.


Uh...Forgive my ignorance, but is that Coulter or Limbaugh?

I'm not quoting Wonkette here cause the gal who started it, Ana Marie Cox, ain't running it anymore. She sold out( yeah, in both senses of the word ) for a writing gig in Time. Which is funny, cause this pic is from Time. I must be going nuts. But you gotta see this Ann Coulter pelted with pies video. What bravery!

Today's freelance jobs :

Tech Blogger Needed
Transcriptionist for audio recordings wanted
Looking for intelligent writers
Comment: Hmmm...Intelligent, huh? Kinda tall order, isn't it?
$15 for a 30-words review
Freelance travel writers wanted
Comment: I normally don't list travel writing gigs. But this one looks like you can write about it without travelling. Sounds kinda stupid, but....
Freelance financial services writer
Small business article writers needed

Freelance Turkey

Nice title, huh? Funny, catchy, on-topic and related to today's news. Which is Thanksgiving. A happy Thanksgiving to all my visitors. Sometimes I wonder why it's necessary only for the Prez to pardon a turkey. Why can't each of us buy a pair and pardon one of em? That way you could eat your turkey and free it too. Feel good and eat good. Ahh...I sound like I'm pushing a cereal ad. Forget the presidential turkey and let's move on to a presidential daughter - Barbara Bush was relieved of her purse and cell phone by an enterprising purse snatcher. And that too right under the noses of the secret service who were in tow while she was having dinner.

But the best part is in the comments:
"I see a Congressional Medal of Honor in this agent's future. Isn't that what Bush gives to everyone who screws up?"

And the response to the above comment:"I can't believe you wrote this, you low life scum....." - blogs.abcnews.com

Sigh! Now that we're done with the turkeys and pardons and the Bush family, let's get on with freelance writing. You know, the best writing comes out of a combination of two factors:
1. Your knowledge of the subject matter.
2. Your love of the subject matter.

Of course, your writing ability matters, but that's a secondary factor. You need to understand the complexities and the realities of the sector / subject before you have something valuable to offer to readers. Secondly, if you have a liking for the subject, and you really have strong views about it, it shines through in the writing and will reach out and ring some bells in the reader's head. That is what makes good writing. Without either of these, you're just a smartaleck, pompous ass.


"Brooks is sitting on some of the most valuable journalistic real estate in the world and he never seems to have a damn thing to say. His columns are filled with the most trite, banal, superficial pablum I've ever seen in the New York Times. It's just such a frustrating waste of space." - www.washingtonmonthly.com
True. True.

So are you a writer or an ass?

Freelance Jobs 22nd Nov

I wish I was an Itanium chip, instead of a plodding old celeron. Means that I desperately need to work on my schedule and do some multitasking. I blog a bit, the articles pile up. I write the articles, everything else piles up, including the dirty dishes in the sink. The reason being that I'm mortally scared to break a burst of um...creativity. So once I start writing an article for a client, you could bang drums around me, but I refuse to stop. I type until I finish the entire article.


"...the book is packed with subversive techniques for looking productive without actually doing anything." - Newsweek - Bonjour Laziness
Hey, my kinda book. I need to get a copy. Au revoir, mon ami. Apologies for my limited French.

Course, within 24 hours, I'll have scratched up the whole thing and rewritten it. But that's a different matter. My point here is that I need to start some sort of schedule. Articles in the morning, other writing gigs in the afternoon, when you can take it a bit easy. And then blog late in the evening. You think?

Today's freelance gigs:

Editor wanted for proofreading
Proofreader wanted

Blogger for dogs and design
Comment: I gave it a bit of thought, but I have no clue what dogs and design have in common...

Political writers wanted
Comment: Great job. I'm itching to apply. But my existing clients will probably throw me to the fishes if I take on one more gig.

Joke writers wanted ( late night comedy )
Comment: This ain't a paying gig, but if you read my post about making money from jokes, you'll understand why I listed it.

Copywriter wanted
Full time or part-time copywriters wanted
Web content writer
Independant publisher looking for writers

Copywriter for ads
Comment: Uh..the ad is on Craigslist. The guy wants you to write ads for posting on Craigslist. Either this guy is totally nuts, or it's some wag who's going to have a whale of a time laughing at the responses.

Web content writers needed

Writers Make Your Point

Making Your Point:

While many search engine strategies suggest different and sometimes downright loony ideas for SEO copy writing, there's one thing most everyone agrees on - Make your point in the first paragraph. The focus, or key idea behind the entire piece, should be described in short in the first couple of lines.

Writers wanted - Hot markets need fresh writers.

There, see - That wasn't so difficult, was it? I'm writing this post to make writers realize that you need to make your point in the first paragraph, which I did. Then comes the difficult part - Which is to analyze, debate, provide facts supporting your arguments and list the benefits. End off with a question and / or a Nostradamus kind-of prophecy of what's to come in the future. That tells the readers that they actually learned something new and invites them to participate in the debate. Now let's see if I can manage to do all this...Uh, oh! How do I get myself into these situations?

Analysis, Debate and Facts:

The argument for front-loading your article is obvious - The average attention span of a webpage visitor is a few seconds, 10 seconds at the most. If in those first few seconds, you don't come up with some solid text or interesting subject matter to induce the visitor to click or scroll down, you're toast and the visitor has moved on to another site. Here's my take on how to do this, monetize it to the maximum, and then move on to the second paragraph:-

What you do is state precisely and concisely what the article is about in the first paragraph. Just below it, you place a banner or text link advertisement which provides the same service / product. There's a good chance that the visitor, rather than just close your window, might decide to click on the ad and see what's inside. So, now we have 3 choices - Continue reading, click on the banner or just close.

I have done this time and again, and I have analyzed my traffic stats and these are the results:

Articles not following front-loading:

Visitors who scroll down : 10%
Visitors who close the window : 85%
Visitors who clickthru to another link : 05%

---

Articles following front-loading:

Visitors who scroll down : 35%
Visitors who close the window : 40%
Visitors who clickthru to another link : 05%
Visitors clicking on banner : 20%

---

The percentage of visitors who close your window just dropped by about 45%.

Now forget about the 65% of visitors who either clicked on the banner or just closed your window. You're left with about 35% of visitors who scrolled down to read further. These are the visitors who are somewhat impressed with your knowledge. Now you can bloviate to your hearts content. Explore your thinking, lay out the facts, take the article and your point, to it's logical conclusion.

There's not much point in writing a "Eureka" moment at the fag end of an article, if no one is going to see it. There's a reason why advertisers pay more to be placed in a prime slot. That's because there's more of an audience there. And that's why the best programming is also slotted on primetime. SEO copywriting is no different. You place the best ads and put your best content in a place where there's a maximum audience and chance for clicks.


Question / Prediction :

Um...I can't think of one. So, this is my question. Do you have a question? Post it in the comments. C'mon - I'm allowed one screwup per post. As for the Nostradamus thing, here's my prediction - Neither Hillary Clinton nor John McCain is going to be the next President. Why? What do you mean "Why"? Did anyone go and ask Nostradamus "Why"? And, does this have anything remotely to do with front-loading or freelance writers or article formatting or web content or SEO copy writing? Nope. But it's the fag end of the article, and I can jump upside down if I want to.

Freelance Jobs 21st Nov

You know, just when you think you've scanned pretty much everything and found all the good links in a particular category, you bump into a priceless link. Makes you realise your earlier effort was below grade and you start all over again. That's what happened with the "Paid Publishers" post. I spent a lotta time finding links yesterday and today I find there are even more and better publishers than the ones I posted. So what am I supposed to do? Simple - I gave up on the post and moved on.
Someday, when I have a bad case of Writers block, I might revisit the post and update the links. But right now, there's no block. In fact, the posts are flowing out faster than I can write them.


"You live in San Francisco, California. Your dog, Rascal, has been depressed ever since his playmate, a vivacious beagle named Patches, moved away. You've tried all the tricks to cheer him up, everything from ordering his favorite pizza to romps at the beach, all with no luck. He's still moping around, making frequent trips to stare out the kitchen window at Patches' former backyard.

You've decided to seek professional help and want to locate a good dog psychologist. But how do you find one? Click on the Start button to discover the secrets of successful searching. " - www.learnthenet.com

Sorry if I quoted their entire friggin page. No way to explain it without. It's really priceless. Magnificient marketing. I should be taking web content writing lessons from them.

Today's freelance jobs:

Freelance proofreaders
Paranormal / Conspiracy writers
Coastal issues / news writer ( California )
Business plan writer needed
Looking for entertainment writers
Mortgage copywriting help wanted

Get paid to write
Comment: Be careful, huh? When someone promises to pay you the sky and the earth and everything in between....

Call for sarcastic / humorous / satirical articles
Lifestyle and fashion articles wanted

Publishing company seeks ghost writers
Comment: I knew I should have written that book that I had in my head when I was in college. They're paying $15K for a 250 page book. Big money.

Write a book in under 28 days flat!

Creative writers needed
Comment: I'm not really sure I understand what they want, but they seem sincere, and it's a genuine gig. I just hope they understand what they want...

Need Articles? Part II - Non Paying Publishers

Yesterday I listed a ton of publishers who need articles and pay for them. Even though that post is still to be updated with a lot more publishers ( if you know any, please add them in the comments ), I'm moving on to publishers who provide bylines, a link to the freelance writer's site, chocolates, fame and miscellaneous freebies, points and goodies, but not cold hard cash. While this may seem less attractive, it all adds up in the end, especially if you have a good site. So the resources in this post include not only the publishers who need articles, but won't pay for them, but also a list of resources to help you - A freelance writer who knows squat about websites - build and monetize a great site.

Comprehensive list of publishers who need articles :

• StrangeHorizons - Weekly web-based magazine of and about speculative fiction.
  
• EscapePod - Escape Pod narrates fun science fiction and fantasy short stories, with commentary and review.
  
• Croqzine - Focus is the DIY crafty community with a craftivism edge.
  Note: they got a lotta craft in there, so if you have anything to do with craft, go for it. Also, I have no friggin clue what they're talking about.
  
• Bridge Magazine - This idée-force led to the development of a publication where innovative and discerning artistic expression in the fields of literature, poetry, visual art, music, and more could be stated without inhibition, alongside intellectual work exploring a similarly unrestricted scope of thoughts, images and conceptions.
  Uh...Ok.
  
• The Sidewalk’s End - Fiction, poetry, short plays, nonfiction, and photos/artwork of any genre or subject will be considered for publication.
  
• Front Sight Magazine -
  
• Christian Mommies ( C'Moms ) - We have a few secular and non-Christian authors in our archives, but we prefer Christian authors as they share our audiences world view. We take special notice of articles that apply God's Word to moms daily lives.
  Yeah, like the lil kid who sleeps through an entire morning and lets mommy blog without needing to change diapers. Now that's God's own work.
  
• Humor Is Relative - Humorous essays and stories submissions for possible inclusion to Humor Is Relative's archives are welcomed.
  
• Mostly Fiction - If you love to read and want to let others know about a book you enjoyed then maybe you should consider submitting reviews to MostlyFiction.com.
  
• Mommy Savers - Somethin to do with work at home moms, or is it create havoc by staying at home? Whatever...
  
• The WC News - That's The Work at Home Moms Community ( WC for short ). Again, articles for and by WAHM's. Hey, I think I need to put a trademark on CHAHM (Creating Havoc At Home Mom ).
  
• The Heuristic Squelch - UC Berkeley's only intentionally funny campus publication. Funniest squelch I ever read. I gotta go faster, otherwise I'll end up doing this all day. No more comments.
  
• Relevant Magazine - Relevant's tagline is: God. Life. Progressive Culture. We target culture savvy twentysomethings who are looking for purpose, depth and spiritual truth. We speak to an audience of independent thinkers, ones who were raised on pop culture and who are hungry for God but don't embrace dead religion. Our purpose is to challenge Christians to a deeper spiritual walk and a larger worldview.
  
• American Profile - No fiction, nostalgia, poetry or first-person stories. Coverage of people and places must be enlightening and thorough, and have a broad national relevance. We also cover health, gardening, home projects and finances.
  
• American Western Magazine - Western short stories, Essays, Equine Columns, and articles on Old West History, Western Personalities, Re-enactors, Travel, Home Decor, Lifestyle, Art, Fashion, and Food/Cooking...
  
• Write From Home - The focus of this site is to help writers manage kids and clips under one roof. I am particularly interested in problem-solving articles and essays.
  
• The Dominion ( CA ) - The Dominion is looking for articles on topics ignored or obscured by the mainstream media in Canada that convey not just facts or news, but which reveal something about life in Canada by adding to the reader's understanding of her daily activity and environment.
  
• World And I - THE WORLD & I is intended primarily for a thoughtful, educated audience. We accept articles from journalists but also place special emphasis on scholarly contributions. Sorry, can't resist a comment - Pompous ass! I'd like to see him milk a frisky cow at 4.00 a.m. and then ask him for his worldview....
  
• Brooklyn Metro Times - magazine for radical Brooklyn. Less said the better. Spent a couple of minutes trying to navigate the site, but couldn't make head or tail of it. So it's all yours...
  

OK...Reckon it's time for a break. But before I take off, there's something very, very important you should know. I'm writing this at the very bottom because I want only those who went through the entire post to read this:-

There's literally tens of thousands of online and print mags which need articles from freelance writers and pay with bylines and linkbacks to your site. So why I did I choose the motley bunch of publishers listed above? It's because Google likes them. If you have a Google toolbar, you'll notice that every single one of them, without any exception, has a Pagerank of 3 or above. A linkback to your site from each of them would virtually assure healthy search engine traffic to your site from Google and Yahoo, not to mention the fact that since these sites get a lot of search engine traffic, they'll be sending a lot of traffic to you directly. Which brings us to your site and what you're supposed to do with all that traffic.

Website building and monetization for freelance writers:

1. Get yourself a blog and sign-up for Google Adsense.
2. Start blogging in your spare time.
3. It's important that you update your site everyday and add new posts, to keep visitors coming back.
4. Improve the look and design of the site. A good looking front page is worth a lot. Make it easy to use, fast to load, informative and rich with links and resources. What? I'm still working on the look and design.....
5. Buy a small and easy to remember domain name, which people can typein. It's sorta difficult to typein www.jobsearch-online.blogspot.com. No one except me does it. I'm still thinking about the right domain name to buy. One of these days....Sigh!. OK. Over and out.

Freelance Jobs 20th Nov

It's groundhog day already. I need to rewrite the article I submitted a week ago. Definitely blows my schedule to bits. I just decided to up my writing output, both for this blog and other writing gigs I have. Plus, I wanted to play around with a little SEO on the blog template and do some link exchange with other like-minded and impoverished writers, so that I get some comments and talk to someone other than myself. And then there's the transcription kit sitting around unopened. Besides, I need to get some sleep. Those late night movies and junk food are taking a toll.


"The study found that teenagers who got more sleep had more A's and B's, while teens who got less sleep got more C's and D's." - www.pamf.org
Now they tell me! All those nights in college staying up nights, studying hard and scratching my head wondering why I wasn't getting better grades.

These are all valid and plausible reasons to put off rewriting the article. Let the procrastination begin.

Today's freelance jobs:

Essay writer needed
Movie reviewers wanted
Ghost writers needed ( not books, just small articles )
Copy writer wanted
African American mag looking for freelance writers
Fashion copy writer
Freelance blogger job
Web page writer
Web content writer
Technical writer required
Data entry gig
DC bloggers wanted
Non fiction book writer
Looking for translators

San Francisco's loony left

Note: This post has nothing to do with freelance writers or freelancers. Well, not directly, at least. I suppose I could manage to weave a few threads around San Francisco's loony left and freelancing. But that's besides the point. What I really wanna do is write about libruls. The loonier the better. It's stress relief after writing a gigantic post about writers and publishers.


www.valleywag.com - A webpage dedicated to the Google founders. Didn't really take a look, but looks nice.

First things first. Is San Francisco's liberal and progressive brigade loony? Yes. Newsweek tells me they voted to impeach both the Prez and the VP, they voted to withdraw troops from Iraq pronto, the SF school board voted to eject the junior ROTC from the city's high schools. All this while the rest of the country goes about passing initiatives to prohibit same sex marriage.

But what I'm really interested in is the culture which nurtures and allows the growth of trail-blazing technology and entrpreneurship. Is there a co-relation between the city's blue tilt and it's being a mecca for the whiz kids of the internet revolution? You tell me.

Is there any relation between the fact that Google is the internet's biggest star and the fact that 93% of Google employees contributed to Democrats in the last election cycle? You tell me.

Again, Google's plan to blanket San Francisco with free wireless internet has generated a storm. But for a different reason. While the rest of the country sucks up to the Telecom industry and stops blanket wireless internet coverage, San Francisco is arguing about whether Google's plan is an invasion of privacy. Also, it's no accident that Craigslist is headquatered in the Bay area.

Finally, any loony liberal reading this better not get cocky. San Francisco still sits smack bang on top of the San Andreas faultline. Take that!

Coming up next: Today's Freelance jobs post

Need Articles ? Part I - Paying Publishers

I'm not selling articles. Ack! I didn't say that. Uh...I mean I am selling articles, but not here, in this post. This is a post for freelance writers who want to sell articles. So, if you need articles, hit me up. ( C'mon - I have a right to spam on my own blog. You wanna plug your service as a freelance writer or publisher? Be my guest. I won't delete any plugs by and for writers. Honest. )

This is the last line of an email I just recieved from a publisher who asked me to write an article:
"....Please go back and write more."
Aaargh! He just flushed an article I spent 3 days researching and writing down the loo. Anyone here ever give their nitpicking publisher a solid kick in the shins?


"The website is aimed at giving all authors, not just those interested in joining the agency, information about the publishing process, the role of agents, publishing trends, useful websites and tips on writing, presentation, finding a publisher, publicity and practical issues such as tax exemption forms and Public Lending Right registration." - Andrew Lownie literary agency

Anyway, if you still want to write and sell articles, read on...A lot of posts have focused on freelance writing, writing for cash and related subjects. A recent post also encouraged writers to write and get published, whether for cash or bylines. I'm going to pile on some more and list resources to get your articles published regularly.

Online and print publishers who pay cash for articles :

---

Category:- General

• Sormag Blog - We need articles.


• Womens Independant Press - I remember including this link in a previous post. If I've bumped into them twice, means they're important. They pay 25$ per published article.


• Technical Writers Magazine - magazine for and by technical writers and tech. industry professionals. $.05 and $.15 (USD) per word.


• Absolute Write - Articles and interviews related to the craft and/or marketing of writing only. $5 per article.


• Parabola Magazine - Journal devoted to the exploration of the quest for meaning. (Reason I include it is because they pay for book reviews...). $75 per book review.


• Imperfect Parent - The main focus of The Imperfect Parent is to provide a world view from a parent's perspective. $10 to $50 for beginners.


• Planet Magazine - Covering the arts, culture and politics in Wales and beyond. £50.00 per 1000 words. £30.00 per poem.


• Cafe Mundo - A meeting place for travelers and writers from across the hemisphere. $50 for 10 ages or $5 for 850 words.


• Go Nomad - The GoNomad network is a community of independent and alternative travelers and businesses dedicated to sustainable and responsible tourism. $25 per feature.


• WholeEarth Mag - Information about restoring your local ecosystem, citizen advocacy, and socially responsible investing. Payment negotiable.


• Fiction Factor - Fiction Factor is always seeking material that offers aspiring writers tips and advice on honing their skills, and helping new authors to break into the publishing field. $5 US per article.


• Broken Pencil - Broken Pencil accepts zines, ezine urls, books, videos/films, music recordings, and mail-art for review. $30 to $300.


• The Dabbling Mum - Online publication with christian undertone. $20 to $40 per article.


Category : Industry Specific :-


• Carolina Country - Of special interest are subjects relating to the generation, distribution and use of electrical energy. Poetry generally is not published. Scratch this one off the list.


• Escape Homes - EscapeHomes is paying up to $20 per submission for real estate and travel articles.


• Epitome ( ezine for artists ) - $5 USD for articles under 500 words. $10 USD for longer articles.


• Vetz Magazine - This is a magazine for the veterinary industry. If you know anything about that, go ahead. They pay $200-400 per article.


• Back To College - Duh. They have a trademark for Back To College. Anyway, $60-$85 per article.


• SSWUG.org - That's SQL Server Worldwide Users Group. So, if you know a lot about databases and even more about Sql Server, go ahead. $20 per article.


• ALPA.org - Editorial material of aviation industry information, (e.g., economics, avionics equipment, aircraft systems, aviation safety, regulations) that affects the life of a professional airline pilot from a profession and a career standpoint. $100 to $500 per article.


• AuditMyPC - Online mag for PC security. Specify your own rates. Or a linkback.


• Community Care ( UK ) - www.communitycare.co.uk is a specialist website dedicated to all areas of the social care profession. £100 per 1000 words.


• ALA.org - Features articles on professional concerns and developments, along with news of the Association, library-related legislation, and libraries around the country and the world. $100 to $250 per article.


• BlindSkills - Personality profiles of interest to newly blind and other visually impaired people, examples of career, education and leisure experiences, and descriptions of technological solutions, coping strategies and helpful resources. $15 to $35 per article.


• Grit Magazine - "DO NOT try to write for Grit if you know nothing about rural life. We intend to be an authoritative and sometimes playful voice for rural lifestyle farmers and require our writers to be informed about their subject matter." Capiche? 35 cents per published word.


• Pirates Info - Informative site about pirates - Fact and legend. $.05 USD per word.



---

OK. My head is spinning and I don't know whether to start applying to all these links or continue and finish this post. But then, I think about the huge number of sites that I need to list on this post and in the next one( non-paying publishers who offer bylines, etc. ), I'm feeling kinda woozy and I need a break. I'll update it later when I recover from this bout of pending-work-itis.

Update: There's a big list of paying and non-paying publishers here.