European Freelance Writing Jobs

Due to popular demand, I am delighted to bring back the European Freelance Writing Jobs.  I have spent the past hour or two looking for some great jobs to post here and I am thrilled to have found a good number of jobs which will hopefully continue as the week goes on.  I will be looking for new websites that list European freelance writing jobs too so if you know of any please mention them in the comments section.

It can be very difficult to find European freelance writing jobs and one of the main websites that lists them is EUFreelancer.  Don’t be fooled though, they may list the jobs in Euros but this is just an extension of the website GetAFreelancer and even though the jobs may be listed in Euro you won’t get any high paying jobs here.  I am telling you this because many new freelancers who use these websites think that these are the rates that they should be charging and this is wrong.  You need to charge what your writing skills are worth.  If you are charging $5 for a 500 word article then you are clearly stating that this is what you value your work at.  Give yourself and your writing talents some credit and bid accordingly especially if you are going to use bidding websites.  Better still do some research and look for the high paying jobs.  They are out there is you really want to find them.

Here are today’s jobs:

Freelance newspaper writers (amsterdam)

French-English interpreter needed (London)

Writer/Editor/Reviewer wanted! (London)

Travel Website Writer (Rome)

Italian language writers wanted (Italy)

English to Polish translator (Poland)

FREELANCE WRITER (BARCELONA)

FREELANCE RESERCHERS

Freelance Copywriter

Well that’s it for the jobs for today.  Good luck to everyone who submits an application and please do let me have your feedback on these. There is just one other website that I want to mention today.  I found this website while I was searching for the European freelance writing jobs.  It is a UK based website for freelancers.  I just had a quick look around and it seems to be a bidding website.  There were a number of jobs and to be fair the rates weren’t that bad either.   The bids are all in pounds sterling so if you are in the Euro zone this will mean more money on conversion especially when you take into account the conversion rate with the dollar at the moment which is terrible.  You have to earn $143 to get €100 and just £85 to get €100.  I am planning to take a closer look at this UK website during the week to see exactly what it is like and I will post a review of it here.  The website is Freelancer.co.uk if you want to take a look yourself.

Until next time,

Keep Writing

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As a freelancer writer you work to your own schedule and I was fortunate enough to be able to take most of the summer off this year. My reason for this was of course to spend the time with my children and I have to admit that it was great. Many freelance writers quit their day jobs in order to be stay at home parents and this is great but sometimes what happens is that our freelance work can take over and we forget why we wanted to stay at home in the first place. This summer has been a real eye opener for me and it made realise that I had lost sight of my initial goals.

For the past week I have been re-evaluating my blog and website and their reason for existance. When I created the Ghostwriting Uncovered website back in 2007 it was to help others. I wanted this website to be a source of information for people wishing to take up freelance writing as a career. The Hidden Writer is an extension of this website and looking through the last year of posts I realised that I had lost sight of what was originally planned for this blog too.  I seem to have been following the crowd which is something that I am rather disappointed in.

In order to rectify this I am going back to my initial goals and ambitions for this website and blog. It is not about making money, it is about helping others.  There are a number of changes coming in the next week and I have detailed them below.

One of the things that a lot of readers seem to be asking about is the European Freelance Writing jobs which I used to post daily. Thanks to everyone for your questions and yes this feature will be returning from next week. The reason I stopped was that I didn’t think people were interested but going by the emails I receive this actually was a very popular feature.

The next thing that I plan on introducing is grammar Tip Wednesdays. Again this will start from next week so watch out for this. Every freelance writer needs to brush up on their grammar skills every now and then and it really is an important aspect of freelance writing. You might be able to write great content but if there are spelling and grammar mistakes that really won’t help your career.

On Fridays I will be having Freelance Writing Questions and Answers. I receive a lot of emails asking questions about freelance writing and ghostwriting and rather than just replying to one person I thought it might be fun to add this feature to the blog so that all my readers can benefit. If anyone has a question that they would like answered all they have to do is email me: admin at ghostwritinguncovered dot com. If you would prefer to have your question answered in private I am also an expert in the writing category over on Allexperts.com.

I will also be featuring some great articles for those new to freelance writing and of course guest writers are always welcome.

It’s going to be an exciting few weeks for me as I get the new blog format up and running and I hope that everyone will continue to show their support by sticking with me.

If there is anything that you would like to see featured all you have to do is add a comment to this post and I will take it from there.

Until next time,

Keep writing

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If you are new to freelancing, finding and maintaining a client list is probably your top priority but I wanted to let you in on another little secret today and that is additional streams of income for freelance writers.

Let’s say you have been freelancing for a couple of months, maybe even a year. Things are going great and you’ve built up a steady stream of income from your clients. You have two maybe three high paying clients that you work with each month and things couldn’t be better. Now here’s where this post takes a twist. I want you to imagine a different scenario for a moment. I want you to ask yourself this question.

What would I do if my top three clients stopped needing work?

Can you picture it? Can you see what this scenario would do to your income? Would you still be able to pay your mortgage? Would you still be able to live the life you are enjoying? What would really happen to you if these clients disappeared?

You see, while it’s a great thing to have a client list you need to realise that as a freelance writer your clients shouldn’t be your only source of income. You should have some additional streams of income too. My latest e-book which is due out at the end of July is titled “Additional Streams of Income for Freelance Writers” and in it I share with you four alternative sources of income that I have every month. These additional streams of income provide me with a minimum of $400 each month and could do the same for you.

In an earlier post this week I mentioned how important marketing is for freelance writers but if your income relies solely on your clients work then where will you get the time to market.

Relying only on clients means that you will need to keep your client list full in order to maintain your income. If on the other hand however, you have an additional income stream that will allow you to take some of your time and devote it to marketing. Remember the end goal for every freelance writer should be to have work come to them. You should be working towards having clients queuing up for your writing services and never having to look for work.

All this is only possible through marketing and getting your name out there. Having additional streams of income will create that marketing opportunity for you. If you have an additional $400 per month couldn’t you afford to take an hour away from your client work each day to spend on marketing instead?

Building additional streams of income is important and especially so in today’s economy. You never know when your client work will dry up and the last thing you want to have to do is return to a 9 to 5 job.

The additional streams of income that I talk about in my new e-book can be achieved by devoting an hour each day to the four different methods that I describe. Believe me it really is worth it and something that you should be thinking about. Maybe you already are, maybe you already have additional streams of income and if you do that’s great. Do they work for you? Are you making a lot of money with them? How important do you think additional streams of income are? Share your thoughts here and be sure to keep reading daily because the end of July is drawing near and I promise my Hidden Writer readers will get the first chance to get their hands on my new e-book and at a discounted rate too.

Until next time,

Keep writing
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It’s July and for many work at home freelance writers this means school holidays and work schedule disruptions.  Many freelance writers have a set work schedule that revolves around their children’s school times.  I myself do and my work day is from 9.30am to 12.30pm.  These three hours allow me to focus solely on client work and get as much as I need to get done completed. This schedule works perfect for me and allows me to stay at home with my children instead of having to slog away in a 9 to 5 job and employing child care for my children.  But what happens when my children are on school holidays?

When July hits it means school holidays and a full 8 weeks or more of having the kids at home all day everyday.  If this is happening to you then this article on re-organising your freelance work schedule for the school holidays should help.

Re-organising Your Freelance Work Schedule For The School Holidays

The school holidays last for just over 8 weeks for many people and for stay at home freelance writers this can mean a big disruption to their daily work schedule.  For these eight weeks you need to set a new work schedule that will allow you to continue to get your work done whilst still being the best parent you can be.  There are a number of ways that you can make a new schedule work for you but some of the most common things that freelance writers do is as follows:

Work While Your Children Sleep:

This is a great idea but it does mean choosing between two different things. Working while your children sleep will mean either getting up a couple of hours earlier or giving up your evenings.  Getting up earlier sounds easy, the house will be so much quieter, your mind will be fresh, and you will be able to concentrate a lot better.  Sounds promising doesn’t it?  Now the reality.  You get to bed at 11pm and then come 4am there is a deafening noise as your alarm clock sounds telling you that it is time to get up and start working.  You have convinced yourself that you will be able to get up three hours early but the reality is that when that alarm goes off the temptation to hit the off button is just too much and you end up getting up when your children jump on you looking for their breakfast.  So the idea of getting up early goes out the window.  What I suggest doing here is maybe trying to allocate 2 or 3 days a week to getting up early and see how it goes from there.  If like me you sometimes wake up early then rather than forcing yourself to go back to sleep because it’s only 5am I suggest that you get up and put your mind to use.  You’ll be surprised at just how much work you can get done first thing in the morning.

The other alternative for working when your children sleep is to work in the evenings.  I do this quite frequently but do sometimes find that by the time 8pm arrives and I have my children settled for the night I am exhausted and the idea of working for a couple of hours really doesn’t appeal to me.  I also found that when I do this I miss spending quality time with my husband and of course he does tend to complain if working in the evening becomes a regular occurance because this is the only quality time we get to spend together.  My solution here is to limit my evening time work to one hour if possible.

Divide Your Work Time Into Smaller Time Slots

This is something that really seems to work.  If you know that it will take you 3 hours to complete your daily work a good tip is to try and break this time down into smaller half hour slots throughout the day.  There are times in particular when you can get things done even if you have small children.  I usually get all my emails checked and replied to while my children are eating their breakfast.  If they are coloring or drawing I can usually get the research compiled for my next article.  There really are plenty of things that you can complete with kids around your feet and if you have a laptop it makes things so much easier because you can work wherever your children are.

If you combine working when your children are asleep and dividing your working into smaller time slots you should have no problem sticking to your work schedule during the school holidays.

My daily schedule has changed from three hours straight work to one hour early in the morning, one hour in the evening, and two half hour slots during the day.  What about you?  How has your freelance work schedule changed because of the school holidays?  Do you have some additional tips that you can share?

Until next time,

Keep writing.
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I’m not sure whether I have mentioned it before or not but I am in the process of creating a new e-book which will be titled Additional Streams Of Income For Writers. I had hoped to be actually marketing the e-book at this stage but things just haven’t worked out that way. I don’t know if this ever happens to you, but why is it that when you plan some personal work client work always seems to come flooding in?

I am over half way with the e-book and have secured some really great interviews with some of the top freelancers and I was so excited to be getting this e-book out there. My initial plan was to have it released at the start of May but guess what? My clients decided otherwise. For the past month and a half I have been inundated with projects and whilst I’m not complaining it just means that my e-book has had to take a back seat.

I am now setting a new launch date of the start of July because I am away for most of the month of June (I’m getting married). I will keep everyone updated on my progress and if anyone has some tips on juggling clients work and your own personal stuff I would love to hear them.

Maybe you have a personal experience that relates to this, if so how did you overcome it? Do you think client work should come before your own marketing? Let me know.

Until next time,

Keep writing.

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Choosing a freelance writing job to bid on with Elance isn’t as simple as just logging on and placing a bid and there are a number of things that you should take into consideration before you do this. There are some tricks and tips that can help you make the most of your bids (connects as they are called on Elance) and not waste them.

Connects are explained in the previous post http://ghostwritinguncovered.com/Blog/elance-fees-and-connects-explained/

When you log into your Elance account and go to the Writing and Translation category to find jobs there are a few things that you should do. I always choose the show all category so that I can see a list of all the jobs that are available. Here’s a screen shot of what you should see:

Next I will start at the top of the list. If we take a look at the first project listed which is for a Creative Writer That Loves Food, we can see that there are no bids at this time. We can also see that the buyer has selected not sure for their budget (this can be a sign that the buyer is just putting up the project to get an idea of what it might cost them). If you mouse over the buyers name Ferntec you will see that they have posted 18 jobs and awarded 50% of them so that is a good sign. Next thing that I would do is to click on the + beside details to take a close look at this project. This acutually shows very little so I would click into the actual project itself to see what the buyer is looking for.

The job description is very poor:

Job Description:

Need a very creative writer that loves food, cooking, recipes etc..

Want ot to be very personal and fun…will only give slight suggestions – hopefully you can direct the newsletter yourself – self reliant, dependable

I have a few ideas for the newsletter – must promote products etc..

Please attach some writing that you have done – can be your choice

There is no indication as to how many words this buyer requires or exactly what they want. For me unless I was interested in writing newsletter I would leave off bidding on this project. The reason being I don’t want to waste my connects having to ask questions about exactly what the buyer wants.

Moving on, the next job listed is a featured project. You will see that this freelance writing jobs has been highlighted. This means that you will use double your connects to bid on it. It’s a translation job so I would skip this anyway. The next job I would look at is for 20 Articles. There are no bids on it as yet so let’s take a look. The first thing we can see is that the budget is less than $500. This is also the first project this person has posted and when we look at the details we see that this buyer has a very detailed description which is good, and it is also very clear, you are given the required layout for the articles and told that they are to be 500 words each. If I were to bid on this project I would bid a minimum of $10 per article so $200 for the articles and then include the Elance fees which are Payment Processing costs (2.75%) and Elance Service fee (from 4% to 6%). You will see these fees when you put in the amount of your bid as below:

There are a number of things to look out for when placing bids: If a buyer states “this project is easy for someone who knows what they are doing” this literally means I expect this to be completed for next to nothing so I would avoid bidding on this. Be sure to always check how many projects the buyer has posted and how many they have awarded. Elance insist that buyers award 20% of their projects which is one in 5. I mention this because if you bid on a project and it’s not awarded you don’t get your connect back.

Check out the buyers feedback too and always insist on using Escrow for payment. Don’t forget to include your Elance fees in your bids too as these are important. If you have any questions or comments on bidding on freelance writing jobs using Elance please leave them below in the comments section and I will answer them as quickly as possible.

Until next time,

Keep writing
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Elance is making changes again and this time for the better. The introduction of statistics is set to replacing the current ratings system and will aim to award those better performing freelancers. So what are these statistics all about?

These statistics are a new way to display freelancers activities and they will show how freelancers are doing compared to other providers.  These statistics will work on a points bases that will be calculated on your work and activity on Elance.  You accumulate points by:

Service Delivery
Service Delivery points will increase when you receive high ratings for your work and you use the Elance Work System (e.g. workrooms and status reports, payment, and feedback). Points are deducted for policy violations and cancellations due to poor performance.

Client Relationships:
Client Relationship points increase when you receive positive client recommendations, retain clients and grow earnings per client on Elance.

Marketing:
Marketing points increase when you submit proposals that win work and build a strong profile. Points are deducted for submitting proposals below the budget range.

From today stats can be viewed privately in your account so that you can become familiar with how they work.  This is beta phase and during the summer these statistics will become public and your points accumulated will determine your search result placement and they will be visable on the project proposals you submit and in your profile.

Is This Good News For Freelancers?

I think this system will work very and I especially like the fact that low bidders will be penalised which is great.  Points for service delivery will be calculated based on the past 6 months and will include earnings, feedback, status reports, cancellations, and violations.  Cancellations and violations will deduct points.  Points for Client Relationships will be calculated based on client recommendations, earnings per client, number of clients, and repeat clients.  Marketing points are based on bookings, job accept rate, tested skills, verified credentials, and proposals below budget (which will results in points being deducted).  Full information is available on the What are Points? page over on Elance.

I think this system will work really well and help to get rid of the low bidders who are ruining the Elance experience.  Now that you have to comply with all the rules of Elance it should make things so much better and I for one am in approval with this new system.  What do you think?

Until next time,

Keep writing.
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This week my series of articles focus on Elance.  Elance is a website where you can bid on freelance writing jobs.  It is a paid membership website and this week I want to give you the ins and outs of using Elance, why it’s a good idea to have an Elance account, and how to place bids on Elance.  There is a lot of information to cover so be sure to check in daily to read more.

First off let me say I joined Elance back in 2004 and have been a member ever since.  Is it something I regret, definitely not.  Elance was my starting point as a freelancer and I have gained a lot of knowledge and great clients through Elance.

Do I recommend people join Elance?

Yes.

If you don’t have an Elance account then maybe you should get one.  If you are just starting out you might think that you can’t afford to pay a monthly membership but I do believe that $9.95 per month is justifiable.

Like most people you have probably heard that bidding websites should be avoided because they pay peanuts and some of this is correct.  Elance however have been around long before these peanut paying jobs started infiltrating the markets and my guess is that they will be around for a lot longer too.  With Elance the minimum bid you can place on any job is $50 and the majority of people who place jobs on Elance do so in the knowledge that they will have to pay for this work.

I am reviewing the website Get A freelancer this week and today day 3 I can really see why Elance have such an advantage.  I am convinced that people post jobs on GAF because they know they will get them completed for nothing and I really do mean nothing.  I have seen jobs posted there looking for writers to complete 500 word articles for $1.  That really is a joke and it explains why bidding websites have such a bad name.  Elance is not GAF I am happy to say.  There are a few of these ridiculously low paying jobs getting added but unlike GAF on Elance no one bids on these jobs.  Most of the members on Elance are like me and have been there since the beginning.  We are not willing to compromise ourselves or our reputations by bidding on these jobs and the people posting these jobs know that.

The minimum amount you can expect to get on Elance for a 500 word article is $10 and that really is a big difference.

Elance holds strong when it comes to its members too.  No adult content jobs are allowed and if posted these jobs are removed.

I think what it boils down to, is the fact that websites like Get A Freelancer and other free bidding websites are only out to make a quick buck.  They’ve seen how well sites like Elance and Guru do and they want a slice of the action.  The difference is however, they don’t care how they make their money.  I am getting a bit critical here and I apologise for this, but it really has opened my eyes reviewing Get A Freelancer this week because I have witnessed firsthand the trash that is being posted here and it makes me have more respect for Elance.

I began on Elance back in 2004 and this is what started my freelance career.  Even back then it was expected that you would get $10 for a 500 word article, maybe $5 for a 300 word article.  These are minimum amounts but that was what you were expected to bid and this is what buyers expected to pay.  It seems though over the years things have started to slide.  There are a number of very cheap paying jobs creeping onto Elance and there are some members that are bidding lower than what I have stated above but still Elance remains quite strong.  I think the real reason Elance hasn’t been flooded with crap job postings and $1 articles is because buyers know they won’t get bids, they know their offers won’t be excepted, and they know that if they want to post a job on Elance then they have to be willing to pay for it.  That’s the way it should be in my opinion.

Elance for me has been my key to success and for the first 2 years of my freelancing career it was my main income earner.  When I started freelancing I was also working part time.  Through Elance I was able to earn the same amount freelancing as I was working part time and this is what convinced me to quit my day job.  I built up my list of clients through Elance too and I still work with some of them today too.  You see with Elance I have found that most of the jobs you get become repeat work.  I worked with some of my clients for 6 months, other a year or more.  The best thing is, these people also recommend you to others and this is how you build your business.

I very seldom have to look for work now which is great but I still keep my Elance membership open.

Over the past couple of months I have started using my Elance account again and have managed to get a number of new clients.  Like I mentioned you can get $10 per 500 word article on Elance so why would you bid lower than that.

I definitely think it’s time that freelancers took a stand where the likes of these $1 article jobs are concerned and just say NO.

I have rambled a bit on this post..

My question was, do you have an Elance account.  If you answered no, then I suggest you come back and read this blog everyday this week to see why you should have an Elance account.

Until next time,

Keep writing.
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This week is set to be an exciting week here on the Hidden Writer. For starters I will be adding a series of articles on the bidding website Elance. This is a series of 4 articles which will include.

Why You Should Have An Elance Account
Connects and Subscription Fees Explained
How To Choose A Writing Job To Bid On
How To Word Your Bid For Better Success

Also this week I am working on a review for Get A freelancer which as you know is a free freelance writing jobs website where again you have to bid. My research for this post started yesterday and each day I will be checking out the jobs, placing bids, and reporting my results after 7 days. So keep an eye out for the post next week.

I am also busily preparing for the launch of my new e-book which focuses on multiple streams of income for writers. Currently I am interviewing a number of top freelance writers to get their views and opinions on some of the topics I will be covering in the e-book. If you are interested in taking part in this email interview just head over to my main website Ghostwriting Uncovered and send me a note via the contact page.

I plan on going back to basics over the next couple of weeks and getting a little more personal. I will be sharing with you why I choose Ghostwriting Uncovered as the name for my website. How I started my freelance writing career, and answering any questions you might have.

Until next time,

Keep writing.

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A couple of weeks ago I came across a job listing on Get A freelancer where someone had posted looking for someone to write their Twitter posts. I have to admit I didn’t really take any notice of it and just passed by it. I was looking for something specific. A couple of nights ago however when I mentioned my new blog for business owners on Twitter someone asked me “Would I write Twitter posts?” This threw me and it made me think again about the job I saw on Get A freelancer.

Writing someone elses Twitter posts just doesn’t seem ethical to me regardless of whether or not I was getting paid. I have my morals and beliefs and writing someone elses Twitter posts to me would be like writing someone’s essay or term paper. I’m just not going to do it.

I love Twitter and especially the fact that I am networking with other people, enjoying conversations, and making some great new friends, don’t you? How would you feel if you found out that the person you were connecting with was actually someone who was being paid to Tweet and not in fact the person you thought it was? The laughter, the jokes, the business ideas, what if they were all fake? I know that my opinion of the person I thought I was connecting with would be shattered. I certainly wouldn’t want to buy any of their products, let alone chat with them again. You see, for me Twitter is personal, it’s about being yourself and connecting with others. It’s about gettting your name out there, promoting your business too, but most of all meeting and connecting with people. I really hate the thought of people out there trying to control Twitter, trying to take away the personal aspect, and just simply mistreating this great concept. Would you be willing to have someone write your tweets? Would you be wiling to let someone else speak for you? I know I wouldn’t.

How can you tweet for someone? How can you take on their personality? How can you have conversations with people? It’s just wrong in my eyes, and yes they are just my eyes, you may not agree with me at all. You may see this as another paid opportunity, and that is your choice.

I know there are people out there who will agree with me on this one, so let me ask you this final question: “Would you be willing to let someone else be you?”

Until next time,

Keep writing.

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