How to Find Work From Home Writing Jobs

If you are looking for ways to find quality well-paid home writing jobs, there are plenty of options for you on the market. And finding a good remote writing job isn't as difficult as it may seem. (In fact, The Urban Writers is hiring right now!)

Your ability to land a position will mainly depend on your skill level but also the ability to present yourself the right way. Regardless of your skills and level of expertise, you should create an appealing presentation of writing skills if you want to get noticed by employers. To find a good home writing job, you’ll start by creating a personal portfolio and mastering the right skills to approach the best employers. This article will break down the three most important steps to finding a quality, well-paid, home writing job.

Step 1: Showcase Your Writing Skills to Find Freelance Writing Jobs

Regardless of the skills that you possess, you will have to showcase them in the right way in order to get noticed by a client or a company. Your online representation serves to show your future clients that you have the right personality and the right skill set for their projects. To be successful in finding remote writing jobs, you will have to complete a couple of simple tasks:

Create a Portfolio

Your writer’s portfolio is an online collection of writing samples. It is a way for you to show clients your quality of writing, field of interest (niche), writing style, and voice. Creating a portfolio might sound like a daunting task, but rest assured that you can do it with a little bit of time and effort (even if you are a newbie writer!). There are multiple ways for you to create a good portfolio:

Start your own website or blog on which you’ll publish your work.
Post links of your published work to your blog or website.
Post your published work to some of the websites that specialize in creating portfolios.
Share your work on your social media, like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.

If you are a beginner and you haven't yet published any of your writing, you can still use your own blog posts as portfolio samples or you can pitch articles to other blogs and online magazines that publish guest posts. There are many blogs and websites that pay for guest blog posts and they can be a source of (additional) online income. However, as a new writer, it may be difficult to find paid work on other’s blogs and websites. This is because guest posting mainly has the purpose of exchanging and broadening the owner’s audience. Unless you’re an expert in your field and can add value to a website, other blogs and website owners are less likely to pay beginners that aren't going to contribute to the expansion of their audience.

Set up Online Representation

Aside from your portfolio, you will need some form of online representation that showcases your personality, skills, qualifications, and previous work experience. You can set up your own online representation using a couple of different platforms:

Your blog. Starting your own blog will be useful to showcase your skills, but it is also a place where you can post your resume, photo of yourself, biography, and other relevant pieces of information.
A personal website. You can create a personal website that will serve as a business platform for clients and other businesses to contact you. It is recommended to avoid using free website domains and platforms because they tend to come across as unprofessional and amateurish. Another advantage of purchasing your own blog or website is that you will have a business email. Purchasing your own domain and website will cost little, but it will give you a professional presentation, which is always a great idea for your business.
Social Media Profiles. Your LinkedIn and Facebook are great places to showcase your work, and they also give the possibility for clients to reach out instantly. Don’t forget to optimize your profiles and add titles like “Freelance (niche) writer, Ghostwriter, etc. so that your profiles pop up in the client’s search results. Keep in mind that anyone looking to hire a freelance writer won’t search for specific names. Instead, they’ll type in “freelance writer parenting/IT/fashion, etc., and your profile will show up in the search results only if you’ve added the right titles.

Publish Your Work

Getting your work published is every writer’s ambition. There are numerous ways for you to publish your work, but many of them depend on your niche expertise, as well as your background and skills. Showcasing published work shows the prospective client or employer that you have some degree of niche authority and a recognizable level of quality. Here are a couple of things you can do to publish your work and improve your portfolio:

Pitch article ideas to website and blog owners within your niche.
Contact other newer, small blogs and find out if they are interested in publishing free guest posts.
Post to websites that allow you to create personal blogs and publish posts related to their topic.

To improve your skills, broaden your vocabulary, nurture creativity, and make sure to frequently read, study, and note interesting stories and information relevant to your niche of interest. This will give you plenty of fresh article ideas.

Step 2: Find the Right Clients/Employers for Online Writing Jobs

After you’ve set up your portfolio and online presentation, it's time to start applying for remote writing jobs. You will start your journey by researching and contacting possible clients and employers. If you are looking to work as an independent freelancer, you will have to rely on your advertising to attract clients. On the other hand, if you are looking for long-term employment, there are a couple of ways to find home writing employers.

Search Freelance Writing Jobs Online

When it comes to the choices of clients and companies to work with, there is an abundance of those who have online writing jobs available. However, your ideal client or employer profile depends on a couple of factors:

The type of literature (non-fiction – articles, blog posts, research writing, ebooks, etc. or fiction – short stories, novels, etc.) you’re writing
The genres
Your work capacity
Your price per word, per 100 words, or project

Once you figured out how to market yourself as a writer, start searching for the companies that are looking for your level of skills and services:

If you want to work as a copywriter or a content writer, you can advertise to clients who need blog posts or SEO articles.
If you’re looking for ebook writing, you can look for companies that hire ebook ghostwriters.
If you’re interested in fiction, reach out to those who are hiring fiction writers.
If you’re skilled in IT, engineering, technology, or medical writing, look for those who are hiring technical writers.

Once you know the type of employer you are looking for, you can start browsing their websites online and find out which companies are looking to hire. Here at The Urban Writers, we are hiring both fiction and non-fiction ebook ghostwriters, as well as article writers. Considering that the market can be overcrowded, you shouldn't rely on applying for only a couple of positions to land a job. Preferably, you need to compile a list of between 20 and 50 companies you’re interested in.

Research Clients and Companies

Once you've narrowed down your list of desired employers, you can move on to find out more about their history as this will help you understand their work processes better and help decide whether or not you should apply. If the company is currently hiring, they will publish a job post either on social media and/or on their website, providing instructions for an application. When filling out an application, it's important to give out accurate and truthful information about yourself and your skills. Many ghostwriting companies will require you to write a small sample on a given topic to review your skills. Account to spend some time writing these samples and give them the attention they need.

List the Remote Writing Jobs to Apply For

Before moving on with your applications, make sure to create a list containing the names and emails of websites, clients, and companies your plan on contacting. This will make it easier to track your applications and respond fast if you receive an email.

Step 3: Land the Writing Project/Position

Once you've created the list of prospective clients and employers, you can proceed to contact them and apply for jobs. Here are a couple of ways to advertise your writing services if you are a beginner or if you are looking for more work:

Post an Ad

You can advertise your service using classified websites like Kiji and Craigslist. When writing an ad, make sure to specify your writing expertise in terms of literature types, niche expertise, niche experience, and other relevant details. Whether or not you want to advertise your price is up to you to decide. A general recommendation is to provide a rough estimate of your price per word or 100 words, but note that there are other factors that may impact the price, such as the depth of research a project may require.

Contact Clients/Companies

You will have to contact many clients and prospective employers before hearing back. It's not uncommon for freelance writers to send out up to 50 emails before they hear back from one or a couple of prospects. When writing emails, make sure to show a dose of personality and showcase your unique style and voice while being professional. Your email should be relatively short, concise, and contain all of the relevant details. Company owners don't have a lot of time to go through emails and you have to want to make sure that you're giving them only the most relevant information. This will increase the chances that they will read through your entire email.

When sending out emails, don't forget to attach your portfolio and/or link your portfolio or website because not all companies work the same. Some of them prefer visiting websites, while others like to download resumes and portfolios from a Word or PDF attachment.

State Your Terms

Knowing your terms and rates ensures that you and your clients/employer will be on the same page regarding pay, requirements, and deadlines. Make sure to state your price and availability for contacting but also your capacity when it comes to producing content daily, weekly, and monthly. When negotiating a job, find out all the necessary information about the requirements and payment methods so that there’s no confusion.

Conclusion

It is a general opinion that the majority of serious clients and companies prefer professional-looking personal representation when reviewing applications. However, this is not a rule. If you are a beginner and you can't afford to invest in your website or blog, you can rely on the quality of your writing to spark the client’s interest. Here at The Urban Writers, we don’t discriminate. Rest assured that we’ll review every application and judge your writing solely based on quality.

Finding home writing jobs isn't necessarily hard but it will require some effort and patience. The main points to focus on are creating a portfolio that is an accurate presentation of your skills and finding the right employer or client to match your abilities. This way, you’ll work with those who need the exact type of service you provide and are willing to pay fairly.