Freelance Writers Save Time; Earn More

(PR LEAP) March 28, 2005 – Freelance writers know how tough scratching out a living on the web is when a 5 cent/word gig (buys all rights) gets 300 good queries in 12 hours. So what can writers do to compete for those jobs that do pay fairly? Stephanie Olsen, founder and publisher of Just Markets.Com, lives (and writes) by the credo "query anything remotely appropriate and get that query in first".

"It’s worked for me," she says, pointing to a pile of current copyediting jobs for an online European financial service and five newly assigned articles for national US publications, from fashion e-zines to lifestyle pubs to inflight magazines. "I search for potential writing markets every day and fire off a query as soon as I come across anything promising."

She’s parlayed her research expertise and editorial connections into an e-based information site, JustMarketsCom. And paying subscribers, who no longer have to spend that average two hours a day, every day, scouring the internet for markets, are happy. Like Elaine Schneider, author of 'Taking Hearing Impairment to School', who recently wrote: "I wanted to tell you that yesterday I interviewed and landed another job - this is my 4th - that I read about in my JustMarkets email. When I complete this fourth contract, I will have earned over $10,000 from the four jobs."

Of course, if a writer doesn’t utilize the information on an immediate basis, the edge is lost. "JustMarkets is very much a cooperative effort," stresses Olsen. "I provide the leads, but the rest of it — the immediate response, the professionalism in approach, the targeted hook, the clean copy all comes from the writer. As a freelancer myself, I really know these people and what they’re looking for — and I fully agree with the Forrester Research study findings that niche job sites are more effective. So I search for and provide one thing and one thing only: telecommute, paying jobs for freelance writers."

Freelancers are saving time, getting work and getting paid. Sheryll Alexander, a Southern California writer, happily wrote in: "I see that you landed an assignment for Soigné Sophisticate. Yes, I did too and the thanks go out to you and your wonderful JustMarkets.com. Like you recommend, I sent out my query ASAP right after I received your daily email. It really does help being at the front of the line!" Melissa Doak, of WriteOn Writing Services agrees: "Boy, your newsletter this morning was a gold mine for me. Kudos! I’m crossing my fingers. Great work!"

Writing is a dream for a lot of people made more accessible by the internet and it’s turning out that the demand for content is there – you just need to be the first to find it.

http://www.justmarkets.com
Stephanie Olsen, Publisher
Email: stephanie@justmarkets.com

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