How I Leveraged My Unpaid Online Writing to Land a Paid Gig
By: Amber Radcliffe
Tags: Life Lessons, Business, Jobs, Self, Writing

About two months ago I saw a paid writing gig on one of those websites people like me frequent. The ones where some random small business offers to pay you the “generous” sum of $20 for 2000 words. Yet if one is willing to be patient, or forced to because of the sudden unemployment caused by a Pandemic, there are good gigs to be found. This was why after a few days of checking the site religiously with different keywords, I stumbled upon a lifestyle blog in need of content. And they wanted to pay for it.

I gathered 4 pieces, well-liked by audiences thus providing both social proof of my abilities to connect to readers and to formulate a sentence, and sent them in with a quick cover letter. I knew I couldn’t be the only one out there seeking the same job so I won’t lie, I didn’t expect to hear back.

To my surprise, they wrote back 3 days later.

In the email, they said they were impressed and wanted me to get started with 3 posts a week for a set cost. I was ecstatic. I was also lucky. There are millions of writers right now scouring the internet for those well-paying opportunities, the luxury of a guaranteed paycheck. There are some things to keep in mind if you are trying to transfer from personal blog work to paid work.

Write the kinds of articles you want to be paid for

No matter what job you apply for they are going to ask for samples. This means you need to have some on hand. It proves you’re serious about the topic and can research or write in the tone they need for the position. A food blog doesn’t want to see your breakup account, but they will be interested in a personal post in regards to a cake you made for your Grandma’s last birthday.

Produce work that shows you know how to write

Many businesses are unwilling to pay writers a healthy wage. And it shows. Poorly paid writers often produce poor work because they aren’t writers so much as content creators. They may not know the first thing about how to form a sentence or a compelling story. So serious employers who do want good writers have to sort through the noise to find the diamonds who just get it. That’s why your quality will always trump quantity when you are attempting to get a company to hire you. Those that are willing to pay well, want to make sure the writer the hire can write. Show them you can with any online writing you do for free on your blog.

Don’t sell yourself short

One way that companies will try to save money is to claim you “don’t have enough experience” for higher pay. However, prove them wrong. Show them the analytics on stories. I chose my most popular stories for this reason and so should you. At the end of the day, you are expected to write the same content as a professional so you should be paid for that service, not the discounted price. If they argue you can tentatively agree but let them know you are fielding other offers that will pay you your asking rate, so if they really want your skills, they need to show it. Financially.

Writing isn’t easy, but it’s in demand. Content is needed. If online writers could agree to not work for pennies for companies who demand specific posts, then we might see a turning of the tide. A world in which creatives of all calibers were paid well for their labor, and not perceived value based on popularity.

Until then, keep writing on your own blog for free, but keep the end goal in mind. If you want to get paid for your words, you have to write words that people want to pay to read.