Part Two of a Writer's Life

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So, where was I? Oh yes, I left you with the exciting news, that on my first application to a writing agency, I was graded level 5, with the highest score possible being level 6. What did I do next? Well, I went into panic mode! Despite being a confident person, I was shocked that somebody considered my writing to be good enough, that they would actually pay me for it. However, I completed my registration and took a look at the jobs board.

Jobs Boards

I will digress slightly here, and talk about the job boards at writing agencies. Some of you may be familiar with Fiverr, where basically you advertise your own skills and wait to be contacted. Others may know of Freelancer.com, where you study the advertised jobs and have to bid for them. Writing agencies are much more user-friendly. Here is a screenshot from one of my favourite agencies, and these are some of their jobs as currently advertised right now.

The prices are in euros, as the company is based in Sweden. So as you can see, this is a list of available tasks. As a premium writer, I have access to the top 3 tasks, but others would not see those in the list. As you can see, it lists the title of the article, whether it is to be written in UK or American English, the rate per 100 words, and the overall payment you will receive. (There are no fees deducted - what you see, is what you get paid). If any of these sound interesting, you can click for further details, so let's do that now.

Now, we can see that 2500 words are required, in American English. This is quite a short brief as to what they want, some are much more detailed, and include keywords. The price is confirmed as 175 euros ($193), and the turnaround time is 36 hours. I can now either choose to take this task, or return to the list and look at another one instead. So, that's how the job boards work, and in a further post, I will be talking about the agencies I recommend (and the ones I don't) and show you some further examples.

Early Days

Having been accepted by my first agency, it actually took me a few days before I attempted my first job. It turned out to be surprisingly easy, and with an agency, all work is checked before being passed to the client. Therefore, a proofreader and an editor check for duplicate content, spelling and grammar mistakes, whether the content meets the brief etc. At this point, it will either be accepted and sent to the client, or returned with corrections required or it could be rejected outright.

In the next thrilling episode, I will be discussing how I tried other writing gigs (and made some mistakes along the way), how I gained private clients and how I accidentally became a proofreader, as well as a writer!

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Recent Comments

17

I checked out that gig a few years ago. I only scored a 3 and the more I got into the idea the more I realized it probably was not my forte, given all the other consideration in my life at the time... like a full time job in the dirt world for example. "Don't quit your day job." I said to myself.

But I am impressed. I want to keep you as a friend and mentor.
By the way, what is your rate for writing content for me? lol

Later on I got on a poetry forum and started to figure out how much I really didn't know. I learned a lot, about MY English, from a Scandinavian elder (age 75) who's first language was not English.
He also taught me a lot about how to not over punctuate.

I had a girlfriend (Match,com) who told me one time, "You are the only guy I know who can write a complete sentence." In fact though, I have to work harder to not write too many compound sentences.

So Kudos to you Diane, I'll see you around.

Thanks, Diane for the insights. Have not been a writer so this is all new to me.

I didn't read part one so I will do that now. can't wait for the next episode.

Diane
I have been waiting for the next episode of “A Writers Life” your story, in the same way I feel I am waiting for the next episode of the BBC’s Gold Digger.... ............😉 my patience waiting for “Gold Digger” lasted as long as it took me to download the next episode online... ha ha.

Your story comes without short cuts so I have patiently waited...
Your 2nd instalment did not disappoint.

Thankyou and waiting for Number 3 in the series.. 👏👍

Cordelia

This is great information. Thanks!

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