Finding Freelance Writing Jobs in Forums: Good Idea?
Many new freelance writers feel that the best way to land new clients is through forums such as Digital Point. The question is: is this a good idea, or are you more or less wasting your time? The answer to this question depends on who you are, the stage of your career, and what type of gigs you are chasing.
Through my experience, the majority of jobs in forums are not worth chasing. Most of the buyers are only offering a few bucks per article, if that. To go along with this, you should not expect to find many clients outside of webmasters scouting for talent in forums. In other words, magazine editors usually don’t post online to find freelance writers.
Are there any good jobs available through these boards? Yes, there are. But as noted above, they are usually few and far between. If you have some time, any it only takes a few minutes, you may want to scour the most popular boards once per day to see if there are any jobs worth applying for. You never know what you are going to find.
Also, don’t forget that a lot of “scam artists†hang out in these forums. They are in the business of doing whatever they can to scam others, and in turn make more money on their own. In many cases this means taking unsuspecting freelance writers for a ride. They will request a batch of articles, tell you that you will be paid upon completion, and then disappear once you give them the finished product. If you are going to accept work you find in forums be sure to ask for at least 50 percent payment upfront. And if you really want to cover yourself you should request payment in full.
While you can find freelance writing jobs in forums you should not get so caught up in this method that you don’t look elsewhere. Remember, you need to have a solid marketing plan that gives you the chance to find new work in a variety of areas. You may want to add forums to your marketing plan; just make sure they don’t dominate your time.
