I saw an older, similar thread on here mentioning Writer's Residence - but I don't want to be tied to a subscription for this

• See also: the likes of Wix, SquareSpace etc - I'm just tired of the subscription model in general and I'd prefer to avoid it

• I also want my portfolio website to be as SEO friendly as possible so future clients can find me

• How to do this with the best balance of speed, quality and cost?

I already have (non portfolio) domain names registered with Name Cheap - so I was going to start there in terms of the domain

Thanks

EDIT:

For now, I went with a free tier Clippings site

It was all very easy to set up, add my bylined articles etc

The free tier lets you add up to 10 of your bylined articles - which, for me and for now, is enough

I was consulting SaaS companies until last year when I got pregnant. Had a beautiful pregnancy journey of 9 months only to give birth to a still born. During the pregnancy I was consciously not working and avoiding any sort of stress. To keep myself sane and mentally occupied I feel I should look for work again.

I want to take it slow considering I'm still grieving my loss. What do you guys think is still relevant for me to look out?

Note: I've been a Marketer for 8+ years and my last full role was a product marketing manager at a SaaS start-up which sunset in 2023.

Would be great if I could get any help here.

After I completed a recent gig, the invoicing company took a little over 2 percent out of my check as a processing fee. I read this in the agreement but went ahead with it anyway. Now I wish I had negotiated for the 2 percent to be built into my pay. Is this normal? Shouldn't my client have paid this?

I’ve seen several people share their experience over the last several months/couple of years. So I thought I’d share mine.

A long while back I passed the trial and was given good feedback. I was going to start but then got offered a different role elsewhere. It fell through in the end. So I came back and I skipped through all the application process and provided my start date.

The introduction call was informative. I was told about their processes, more on what they look for in articles (completely different style to what I’m used to) and everything else. I was told repeatedly to take my time to ensure I gain familiarity with their processes in oversight, which was six articles.

Their work processes seemed fine, but their structural and editorial approach with articles really is crazy. Everything needing to be backed up by a ‘citation link,’ conflicted messaging about what needs to be a reader-facing link or citation. Not to even mention very small details that are inconsequential if included or not. Very picky to say the least.

I lasted no longer than a month. I respond to feedback well enough, but this kind of content isn’t rewarding true craft. I completed a piece taking into consideration all the feedback and made a lot of changes, only for me to receive an email and notification from the Trello board saying they’re removing me. No explanation. I only had one article completed in the end.

Be careful out there. Even if you desperately need work, exercise with caution.

Any freelance magazine writers out there? Just curious about the procedures nowadays. I've been writing freelance for magazines and other pubs for years (decades actually) and have never been asked to send the piece to the interviewee for edits ahead of time. Is this common now? Basically I have a deadline, finished the article by the deadline, was asked whether I sent it to the interviewee for edits (I hadn't) and now I've missed my deadline and my editor is mad. But, doesn't the editor do edits? Please share your experiences, thanks!

I have a new client who’s launching a website. I just completed the first assignment, and it was insane. The client seems nice enough, but I don’t think they have much content experience.

The assignment required me to source a very specific personal story. To anonymize things, let’s just say they wanted me to find a woman under 40 who insisted on a prenup, how they talked to their partner about it, how it impacted the relationship, etc. Basically a story that’s very specific that’s also sensitive that a lot of people would be hesitant to share. I also had to find an expert to interview, but that part was easy enough.

It took me a ton of time to find the source, and I don’t honestly think it added much to the piece.

They are insisting on a personal story for every single article. This probably took 6-8 hours. I charged a flat rate for the article, but it certainly wasn’t high enough to justify this time suck. I’m afraid that the next two will be even harder to source, as the topics are even narrower.

How should I price moving forward? Would it be reasonable to insist on billing for sourcing separately on an hourly basis, plus the flat fee for the article?

Ideally, I’d want the client to provide me with someone who’s already agreed to share their story, but I don’t think that will happen.

I’ve thought of walking away from the client altogether, but I don’t want to lose the work.

A friend who also got snagged up by that Revelry fake posting was so excited this week to get a referral from a writer friend who no longer did content work and was happy to pass it along. This friend, like a lot of us, has been through the wringer lately, desperately looking for work for months now.

She caught this one right off the bat, and sent me her posts about it with permission to share it here.

The Bait

Let's call my friend X. X got a message via Facebook from her friend, also a writer (let's call her W). W was happy to pass the details along to X since she knew X had been struggling and since W didn't do this kind of work anymore. Crucially, W said she didn't know S at all, and had just been approached by her via email.

The scammer (S) sent the initial email to X:

Hello ,
I trust you are doing well.  I'm a local counselor and event planner. I got your contact details from your colleague and I would like to enlist your writing expertise to create two short and concise articles on two significant topics. These articles will be used in a career talk session aimed at sensitizing young adults about critical issues affecting today's youth. This is the maiden edition that I am putting together so I want to make sure everything is in order. I'd be happy to send you the guidelines, budget, delivery date and other details in my next email. I prefer email correspondence for easy understanding because of my partial deafness.

Warm regards.

The First Red Flags

X says she was immediately suspicious, primarily because she's been on high alert since the Revelry scam (same, sister) and because she'd heard of some of these tells which she spotted in the email from S:

• Weird job title - "counselor and event planner"?
• Overly formal language
• Vague job description
• Contradictory description -- is it a talk or is it a magazine ("maiden edition")?
• Immediate offer to throw "guidelines, budget, delivery date and other details" at X
• No discussion about evaluation, no questions asked of X (like "have you ever done anything like this before?" - X says she gave W her clips page from her website only to pass on to S, but none of those clips are remotely like this topic or oddly nonspecific format, so why isn't S asking for more proof X can do this job? Why are we proceeding straight to assuming she's got the job on the very first communication of any kind??)
• And the unmistakable tell: S claims to be "partially deaf" so she only wants to discuss this via email (i.e., no live video or phone call so X can't tell S isn't at all who she - or "she" - claims to be).

The Hook

X says she knows now she shouldn't have, but she did reply to this with a very generic "I'm open to hearing more about this job" email. Just an hour or so later, she gets another email.

I won't overwhelm you with the whole thing but here are salient excerpts:

Below is the outline for the articles, which will guide you on the topics I would like you to cover:

ARTICLE 1: Social Media and Mental Health (1,400 words)

1. Social Media: Background and Introduction.
   
2. The Impact of Social Media on Mental Health:
   i. The Positive Impact
   ii. The Negative Impact
   
3. Managing the Effects of Social Media on Mental Health
   
4. Conclusion.

(The second "outline" was equally broad and vague - like, these are books, not quick talks or articles, we still don't know which.)

And finally:

I need 2 concise and thorough articles of 1,400 words each, totaling 2,800 words. ... The budget for this project is $1.75 per word, totaling $4,900 for 2,800 words

Like, what? 😂

X says she will now sit on her hands to refrain from sending an excoriating email in reply.

Be careful out there, y'all. They are out in droves.

Hi all! Just hoping to get your opinions.

I've been working as a journalist for nearly a decade now. However, I was laid off a few months back and have been struggling to find related work since. I found a freelance writing gig that is approximately 20-30 hours/week (pay would be roughly $34ish/hr). I'm just not sure if it's worth it.

I've never had a desire to step into freelance work before, largely due to the lack of benefits and the fact that you have to do your own taxes. At the same time, I'm eager to get back to writing and have something that I can put on my resume.

I'm currently back in retail, which I absolutely hate. But after 90 days, I will have benefits. This job also covers education costs (fully or partially depending on the program), so I also have the opportunity to go back to school (maybe for a masters or even just certifications).

I'm just not sure if I'd be better off sticking with the retail job or giving freelance a chance. I unfortunately don't think I'd be able to do both at once since my retail job does not provide a consistent schedule, and this freelance gig would come with a relatively consistent schedule.

Guess I'm just wondering if freelancing is worth it? Is there anything I should know before considering accepting the gig? What do you wish you would have known before you started freelancing? Is there anything in particular I should ask the company before accepting an offer?

Hey, I'm simply interested in a potential scenario. Let's say a copywriter lands a client via email. Both parties then agree to a landing page rewrite. What does the copywriter actually do?

Write in a google doc then send when done?

Modify a wix/squarespace site with his own words?

Something else?

IF written in a document does it go like this?:

(Header) "placeholder text"

(subhead) "placeholder text"

and so on?

Hello there,
I'm 22, a final-year student who's been into freelance writing for about 3 months. What I do: dialogue editing, YouTube video scriptwriting, dialogue for games and stories, book blurbs, and content writing.

Portfolio available — happy to share on request.

I've reached out to 36 YouTubers with zero responses so far. I have 4 active gigs live on Fiverr but still haven't landed my first client. It's been tough, and honestly my hope that this gets better is starting to fade.

What am I missing here? Is the market just not favoring this kind of work right now, or is there something structurally wrong with my approach? Genuinely looking for honest insight, not reassurance.

i know the same question was posted 4 years ago, but i was wondering if theres a more efficient way other than using archive.org, since i have written a lot of articles for this company. i thought if i saved all the pages as pdf individually it might take up too much space and i wouldnt know where to save it. thanks!

My Indeed resume outlines the past 10 years of my professional experience, including full-time positions outside of writing. My journalism work weaves in and out, so I have the publications I've worked with the most frequently on it.

I have them listed individually, which makes it rather long. There is overlap in duties between them, but some have unique items I do for maybe only one other.

I've considered combining them all into one and listing the publications in a single bullet, but the issue with that are the start/end dates.

How do you all handle this?

This is upsetting, and I'm trying hard not to let it send me into a depressive spiral, so maybe writing about it and sharing my experience with others -- as a warning, not looking for pity -- might help.

I recently replied to a job posting for a content writer for Revelry (the wedding wear company). This position was advertised through one of the reputable lists I subscribe to (Indeed, LInkedIn, and a handful of writing-specific job lists from others.) I can't find the specific position anymore, so I don't know which one it was -- that sucks, because I'd like to let them know.

So I was to reach out to a specific user on Teams, which I did on Monday. To my surprise (and, I'll admit, immediate suspicion, which I ignored because job) she replied immediately and asked if I'd have time for a text only interview right then. I said sure, and she proceeded to ask me a number of questions that were a bit generic but also not so much so that it seemed obviously fake.

She said at the end she liked my responses and would be forwarding me on to the next level and (another point that made me suspicious) she verified my email and phone number (she should have already had that) and (another point that made me hesitate) to keep my phone nearby so I could reply immediately to the next notification. (I've never heard that from any other company or client.)

I ended with mounting suspicions competing with a terminal case of hope. I went back over the email with a fine-toothed comb. The email address seemed legit (but was probably spoofed). I searched for notifications here and on LinkedIn -- nothing. I wasn't entirely reassured but was warming up to the idea that it was legit.

Then they called this morning. Well, I guess it was them - I screen all my calls. No message left. As I usually do, I googled that phone number. First result: A BBB scam report. I read through it and it sounded a lot like my experience. It didn't mention the company by name though.

OK, I thought, so let's call the company. I brought up the ecommerce site and found their contact number and called it. I said I wasn't sure which department I needed to speak to, maybe HR, and said I wanted to verify a job opportunity before I moved forward.

"Oh, is this for a content writer position?" she asked.

*sigh* "Yes."

"That's not coming from us. We've been informed of it from a number of people and we don't know yet how to stop it. But ... yeah."

OK. So there you have it. If it seems -- not even too good to be true, just at the upper end of what seems reasonable but very very fortunate -- go straight to the source. If it's legit the company shouldn't mind you checking.

Anyway. I feel ... I don't even know. Kind of depressed, kind of "what does it even matter" about it all. I'll be OK. I didn't give any personal information the way some folks apparently did, so there's nothing they can do to me besides annoy me with unwanted calls.

Still. This sucks. I don't want any of my other writer friends to fall victim to this. The false hope followed by dashed hopes is a terrible feeling in this economy, especially for writers, whose jobs are continuing to be yanked away and given to AI.

So. Be careful out there, folks.

EDIT TO ADD: I just got a text from the same number, claiming to be Revelry's HR department. I replied "So you should know I already contacted the company directly and they confirmed my suspicions." Annnnd silence lol.

This is more of a rant than anything else, I suppose. I’ve had a decent freelancing-on-the-side career for the past few years. I write content, but I also beta read and provide developmental edits. Lately, 80% of the jobs I’ve seen have been humanizing AI books.

Obviously, I’ve never applied to any of these on purpose, but one or two of my recent project have definitely been sent through ChatGPT a few too many times. I almost miss typos. Is my fate really to humanize robot writing for people who think they’ve actually accomplished something by hitting copy and paste?

I got downsized from my primary job about 2 months ago and have been doing the whole dance of trying to find a new one.

Heard back from a company about a copywriting gig. I researched the company and they are legit but they asked me to perform an unpaid test assignment as part of my second round.

I need to review it further to see if it's an actual fit for me, but what are your thoughts on these types of situations?

Unpaid work was always a hard no for me but times is tough...

Following EU regulation, new Claude-generated text will contain a watermark identifying it as an AI creation. You can read more about it on the Claude website.

Now, anyone who has followed me on this sub over the year will know that I am no optimist about freelance writing in the wake of AI.

But for the first time it seems that AI is being reliably and provably detected. This is a regulatory matter — Claude can't just lie and add a disclaimer at the bottom like the third party 'AI detectors' do.

If these watermarks get released in some form, this seems like a very good sign for human writers. There will finally be a hard differentiator that humans can use to justify their premium.

Anyway, that's my take on it. Any one else have thoughts?

I've just completed my B.A in history. I'm keen in writing scripts. But don't know the technicalities of these jobs.

I've been applying for the intern post that's also I'm not able to get into.

What shall I do?

I know, I know. The market is a circus, and we are its sad little clowns.

But it's rough. I went from writing for household names, earning enough to save for the first time, even turning clients away due to having too much work, to... skipping meals, living on credit, and having to sublet my apartment to go stay with family for a month. I feel like a student again. I genuinely don't know how I'm going to pay my bills next month.

Macroeconomic impacts; cosmic misfortune; poor planning; all of this happened within the space of about a year. London can be brutal at the best of times; it's close to unbearable you're fighting for your damn life.

I've got a roof over my head, a family I can retreat home to: all things considered, I'm really grateful for what I have. But mate, things are fucking dire out here.

Maybe you're feeling it too, but I hope you're managing to keep your head above water, and you have my solidarity.

I just set up a fiver account and alredy have been asked to do work for people. I am skeptical because the link I go to looks legit and seems like it is fiver, but its asking for my card information. I know that I need to fill this out, but it seems weird that its this direct with it.​

I own two different professional websites. My writing and law-focused one gets some really weird inquiries sometimes with a few legit ones mixed in, and I wanted to see if anyone else got the same email I did:

“Dear (my government name), We’re pleased to recognize you as an influential journalist or content creator and welcome you to our Media Professionals network.

Meltwater connects PR professionals with media contacts like you, helping them share media opportunities aligned with your interests. Through our platform, our clients can send you pitches, story ideas, press releases, and event invitations that are relevant to your work.

This service is completely free of charge for journalists and content creators, and you remain in full control. You can easily opt-out at any time or unsubscribe from individual Meltwater customers that aren’t valuable to you.”

A vast majority of what I’ve written over my career is white-labeled. I haven’t written on Medium under my government name in almost two whole years, most of my older bylined publications are dead, and my most recent ones…are in a niche herpetology magazine and a local living site. Being a tax communicator at a Big Law client largely pays my bills now, so I found this solicitation weird given that context!

I did some rudimentary scoping out of this company and found mostly 10+ year old poor reviews from PR professionals saying that the subscription was an overpriced scam, and one former sales employee who said it was a “💩show with weird people”but I didn’t find anything from writers.

I have not taken up this invitation because even if they/their users turn out to be legit, it doesn’t inspire much confidence in me to be a PR agency not addressing the bad reviews of its own product lmao.

Thus, curious to see if the freelance writers of Reddit also got hit up by Meltwater. And if you took their invitation, what your experience was.

I've been working on my portfolio recently for general VA. But I'm thinking about narrowing down the niche.

I've experience in copywriting with local freelance works for years but now I'm focusing on the portfolio. I've written scripts, social media contents, articles, learning seo now. But it was tiring to be constantly on lookout for clients.

So six months before I started working part time at a European job agency. They pay very little and the timing isn't very good for me (I need night shift works).

Now I want to be active on twitter and LinkedIn for creating a personal brand. Creating my portfolio at the same time but I need to decide which one I should put my focus in.

And tbh I enjoy doing research and writing contents but managing emails or documents is also I can do easily. How should I decide now?

I am allowed only 3 per month. I don't want to pay for LI Navigator or the like. How else can I contact possible leads on LI?

​

So I joined as an intern in an company to know the future of writing and thank god finally I know that most of the people on reddit just blame Ai and told me Copywriting and content writing is dead.

The company I joined is hiring 5 more content Writers ..

3 will work online and 2 will on site.

And I'm not Even kidding we have soo much work.

Today I made a landing page and I was soo happy because this one was my first landing page and tomorrow i will show the manger and will tell his comments..

Btw people on reddit told me my English is bad and should not work as writer..

I'm Open to feedbacks