#& google said miller was a common us last name

[void-sand-cat]

Does anyone have any fun/good/interesting names for the night guard in Fnaf 3? Not looking for their identity, but rather pseudonyms.

I would also love a pseudonym for the Fnaf 6 franchise owner if anyone has one.

[rhetoricalrogue]

31 Days of Wayhaven: Day 10

Prompt: Blood Rating: G Words: 1910 Characters: Winona Adams, Farah Hauville, Nicolo Morelli Summary: Farah accidentally connects two dots while dishing out on some gossip. Note: Blood, bloodlines...stretching the prompt a little? Who, me?  Tony first showed up in a few headcanon posts of mine as my detective Aubrey Miller’s best friend/ex-dance partner before she came back home from the City.  He’s apparently evolved from a throwaway mention minor character to a bridge between Aubrey and Unit Charlie.

For the @31daysofwayhaven event.

“You should have seen the look on his face!” Farah bent over in laughter before flopping onto Winona’s bed.  Unit Bravo was stationed at the Facility closest to Wayhaven while their new warehouse headquarters was being built and it so happened that Charlie was also in between missions.  When Farah had found out about how Winona had joined up with the Agency, she had made a beeline to introduce herself, practically bouncing off the walls in excitement and hoping that her Echolian hadn’t gotten too rusty after seven years.  Nate was incredibly good at the language, but no matter how fluent he was, it wasn’t like speaking her mother tongue with another native speaker.

Just hearing the same language spoken so fluently made the pangs of homesickness that hit unexpectedly now and again hurt just a little bit less.  They still felt like a knife being twisted in her side, but at least they didn’t take her breath away or knock her to her knees as often.

“You shouldn’t tease him so,” Winona chastised, reclining on her side and peeling an orange to share.  Winona liked spending time with the youngest member of Unit Bravo.  The exuberance and sheer joy that radiated out of her reminded her of her own younger sibling that hadn’t made it through the rift she’d fallen through before it had closed almost immediately after her.

Her hands trembled for a moment, the peel of the orange caught between her fingers.  Her brother would have loved having these available year-round.

“But he makes it so easy, Winona!”  Farah took a segment of the orange she offered, nibbling at it to acclimate herself to the taste.  The first burst of sweet yet slightly tart flavor always overwhelmed her senses, but she really did like them.  She sighed as she popped the rest of the segment into her mouth.  “I just wish Adam would talk to someone about how he feels.  I mean, Aubrey is head over heels for him, I just don’t get it.”

“People express their feelings differently,” Winona commented, peeling another segment.  “And sometimes fear makes expressing those feelings openly difficult.”  Her thoughts went towards Cameron and Penelope.  She and Nicky had lengthy conversations on how the two of them should just say how they feel about it instead of living in a constant state of mutual pining.  The unresolved sexual tension between them was so thick that Winona often felt it buzz along her skin.  It was a struggle to not feed off it - had it been two other people than the ones who trusted her the most, she wouldn’t feel guilty about topping off her energy or using her pheromones to give them that extra push they needed to resolve things - and whenever things flared up between them, she found herself raiding the Facility kitchens for anything sweet to distract her from the yearning hunger that made her fangs extend and mouth water.

It was a good thing that Unit Bravo was around.  She and Mason had an...agreement.  The no-strings, casual sex he offered was worlds better than the slightly formal, businesslike encounters that the Agency offered.  The participants were volunteers, and she made certain that they had a good time, but it always felt more like a visit to a clinic instead of a more natural sensual moment.  Cam and Penny had been sparring in the training area earlier and what Winona had walked in on made her think that seeking out Mason’s company for an evening was a good idea.

Farah rolled onto the mattress until she was on her stomach, her feet kicking in the air.  “I still don’t think Adam fully understands that this guy who came for a visit was just a really good friend of Aubrey’s.”  She’d been in the middle of sharing a recent incident where some man had dropped into Wayhaven unexpectedly on his way to another city and had decided to surprise his very good friend.  Apparently Detective Miller had been a ballerina before settling in Wayhaven and this man had been her longtime dance partner.  And apparently, Adam hadn’t taken it well seeing the current object of his unspoken affections interact so easily with a man from her past.

The best part of it was that this man had been a supernatural being himself, though from how Farah described him, he had clicked with Aubrey long before he realized there was something special about her mutated blood.  Farah had giggled about the fact that Aubrey had tried her hardest to make everything in Wayhaven appear normal so he wouldn’t catch on to the Agency, and then this half-fey guy turned around and threatened the four vampires bodily harm if his best friend got hurt because of them as soon as she was out of the room.

Farah was right.  Winona would have loved to have seen that unfold.

“He was a cutie though,” Farah said, digging her phone out of her pant pocket.  She swiped around until she found a good shot.  “See?”

Winona looked at the picture, smiling as she took in the relaxed, easy smile on the detective’s face - she’d only been briefly introduced to her once during her initial stay and Winona could tell that she had still been taking in the fact that beings such as herself existed and that she had a murderous vampire hunting for her.  It had been a lot to take in, and honestly, Winona was surprised that Aubrey had taken it as well as she had.

Then she focused on the man next to her.  Yes, he was attractive, but there was something oddly familiar about him that she couldn’t quite put her finger on.  Zooming in on his face, she had a strange feeling in the pit of her stomach.   “What did you say this guy’s name was?” she asked, zooming in further.  His eyes and the way his mouth quirked as he smiled made her dig out her own phone and pull up a picture.

“Tony.”

“Last name, Farah.”  She zoomed in on her phone and held it side by side with Farah’s.

“I don’t know, something Italian?”  Farah rested her chin on her hands.  “Something with an M?”

“Morelli?”

Farah snapped her fingers.  “That’s it!  Wow, that was a great guess!”  She started when Winona all but jumped out of bed and rushed towards the door.  

“Nicky!  Get in here now!”

***

“Are you certain this man’s name was Morelli?” Nicky asked, holding Farah’s phone as he paced around Winona’s bedroom.

“Yeah, he’s a famous dancer in the City.”

“It checks out,” Winona said, holding up her phone to show Nicky the quick Google search.  “Do you think that the two of you could be related?”

He frowned.  “Morelli is a common last name, it could be coincidence.”

Farah squinted.  “Are you sure?  I mean, the two of you look awfully similar.”

Nicky stared at the screen, his eyes boring holes into the picture.  “None of my mother’s family survived the plague of 1656.  I was only a child then, but my grandmother would have taken in anyone who had made it.”

“What about your sister?” Winona asked, sitting at the edge of her bed.  She resumed peeling off segments of orange, purely to give her hands something to do.

“She only had one child, and they died along with her and her husband in the earthquake of 1693.”  He pointed a finger at her.  “And before you ask, no, I didn’t have any children.”

“Nicky, you did sleep around a lot,” Winona pointed out.  “Like, a lot-a lot.”

“But I was careful!  I admit, I may have been a bit of a -”

“Horny dude who couldn’t keep it in his pants?”

Nicky glared at Farah, who just laughed at him.  “A romantic with a great love of women,” he pointed his finger at Winona in warning for her to not chime in.  “But I was extremely careful to leave without leaving a…”  he searched for a word.  “Little souvenir behind.”

“Well!” Farah hopped up from the bed and snatched her phone away faster than Nicky could react.  “I know one way to solve this!”

���Wait, what are you doing?”

She pulled up her contacts and pressed down on the one named AUBS that was bracketed with little ballet shoe emojis and sparkly pink hearts.  “Getting info from a source.”

“No, you don’t -”

“Too late! Hey Aubs!  How’s it going?”  Farah bounced a little on the balls of her feet while listening to whatever Aubrey was saying.  “Quick question: you know your dreamboat best friend?  Ha, okay, so thanks for telling me he’s single, that’s actually really useful info, but I was wanting to know a little bit more about him.  What’s his mom’s name?”  She twirled on the ball of her foot in a lazy, half-pirouette that she’d been working on with Aubrey.  “No, no reason at all, just really interested!”

Nicky scoffed.  “Like that’s not going to raise suspicion.”  

“Gianna?  Gianna Morelli?  That’s really pretty!”  Farah gave Nicky a glance and raised her eyebrows to see if the name rang any bells.  He shook his head when it didn’t.  “Okay, so maybe a little weirder question, do you happen to know who his grandma is?  I remember you talking about her and how she made the best chicken soup that one time the whole cast of a production got sick.” She gasped and pressed a hand to her chest.  “Aubs! Of course I listen to you, I’m offended you’d think otherwise!”

“Well?” Nicky asked, resuming his pacing.  Farah waved a hand at him to get him to quiet down.  

“Oh.  Okay.  Can you call me back as soon as you ask then? And ask where from Italy she was from!  Oh, cool, thanks!  Okay, byeee!”  Farah clicked off the phone.  “She said she didn’t know, she’d have to ask Tony.  She’s always known her as Nona Morelli.”

“Did she know where she was from?”

Farah fidgeted with a curl of her hair and was tempted to drag it out, but thought better of it when she saw that Nicky was incredibly tense.  “She wasn’t quite sure where, but she said Tony’s grandma always talks about Sicily and how she goes back to travel there every so often.  She’s really big on historical preservation and does a lot of work with the older cemeteries.”

All three of them jumped when Farah’s phone rang, ABBA’s Dancing Queen chiming out.  “That was fast!” she said by way of a greeting.  “Okay, fine, confession: I may have shown off a picture to some people here at the Facility and Tony may bear a remarkable resemblance to one of the other agents in another unit.  No, no, not a supernatural.  He’s human, just dead, like really dead. It’s a long story.  Anyhow, what sort of news do you have?”  Farah sat on the bed and kicked her feet in front of her.  “Uh huh.  Uh huh.  No, it’s probably not likely they’re related, but think how neat it would be!”

“Her name, Gallinetta.”

“Oh!  Isabela Morelli?  That’s a really pretty name too!”  Winona shouted out a warning as a loud thud made Farah turn around. Her eyes widened when she saw that Nicky had fallen to the floor, his hand clutching his chest. “Uh, Aubs?  I’m gonna have to call you back.  That dead guy I told you about?  I think he just fainted.”

[psychovigilantewrites]

Chapter 11 - Fireworks/Gunpowder

Pairing: Jason Todd/ Reader

Genre:Smut

Wordcount: 10,348

A/N: Hey guys! GOD I've been looking forward to write this chapter ever since I first published this fic a year ago, and I took my time with it, and tried to perfect it as best as I could according to my current capabilities. I hope you guys like it! Please leave your thoughts! I’d love to hear what you guys think of it!

TW: sexual content, mental breakdowns

Masterlist

“I’m sorry I’m late,” you breathed out before Jason could even open his mouth, “I would say that school held me back, but actually I lost track of time.”

You wanted to minimize your lying to him, since you had to hide a huge part of yourself from him already.

“That’s alright, sweetheart,” he grinned at you.

You sat down opposite him at the cafe. The table Jason had chosen was one in the back, away from the large glass walls up front with the view of the street.

Jason was wearing a tight black t-shirt that day and a black leather jacket over it. The leather immediately made you think of Red Hood, but you tried to shove that thought away. It was rude to think of another man while you were with someone you were casually dating, after all.

“Do you want me to get you anything?” he asked, gesturing to the counter.

“That’s alright, I’ll go get something myself,” you made to get up.

“Now what kind of gentleman would I be if I let you order your own drink?” he stopped you, flashing you a lopsided smile, “Tell me what you usually get, I’ll go and order it for you. Please?”

He looked at you with his pleading blue eyes, which made you give in almost instantly.

“Alright,” you conceded, “I’ll just have a black coffee, then. Thank you.”

“One black coffee comin’ right up,” he winked, heading to the counter.

You watched him as he walked over, noticing the subtle glances some women from the other tables were giving him. He stood out mainly because of his build, but you thought that his face was your favourite part of him.

You didn’t mean to be shallow, of course. He was kind, funny, and charming as well. And as you just found out, a gentleman.

He came back with your coffee, and you thanked him again.

“Firstly, Jason,” you began, “I’m sorry for replying you so late. Two days late, to be exact.”

“No, that’s alright,” he shrugged it off, “I’m sure you had a good reason.”

“I was going through some… stuff,” you cringed at your own excuse.

“Stuff?” he smirked.

“And things,” you added, “Personal things. Family things. You get me?”

“Sure,” he acknowledged, “Like I said, I’m sure you had your reasons. But, if you want to talk about it, you know I wouldn’t mind lending you an ear.”

“I feel like I’ve been dumping too much on you,” you shook your head, “Like that time at the park too, god. It was so embarrassing.”

“One, that was over a month ago,” he reminded you, “And two, it wasn’t. Don’t be afraid to express yourself with me.”

He looked at you with an intensity you couldn’t tear your eyes away from.

“All of yourself,” he added, “I won’t judge.”

You were taken aback at his sudden seriousness. But when he reached his hand out to gently rest on yours, for some reason, you expected his hands to feel like the smooth cold leather of the gloves Red Hood wore.

You willed your thoughts to stay on the man in front of you.

“Thank you,” you said, “But this time it’s not something I should be discussing with anyone. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologize,” he answered, “It’s up to you if you want to tell me or not. All I’m saying is that if you need to talk to anyone, I’m here.”

You smiled at him in thanks.

“ Also,” he added, “You were doing some MMA?”

He lifted your hand closer to inspected your bruised knuckles.

“No,” you gave a shaky laugh, “Since I was going through some things, I needed to find an outlet. So I went berserk on a punching bag.”

It was the closest and most honest thing you could say to him.

“I see,” he chuckled and gave you a knowing look, something you thought was odd. You hadn’t missed the way he was smirking the whole time you were there.

“I’m sorry,” you hesitated, “But am I missing something here?”

“What?” he frowned.

“I feel like you know something I don’t,” you tried to explain, “Like there’s an inside joke I’m not getting.”

“Why would you think that?” he leaned forward and smiled suspiciously.

“See, you’re doing it again!” you laughed.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, princess,” he grinned, “This is how I always look.”

“Huh,” you narrowed your eyes playfully at him.

“Did I mention how beautiful you look today?” he complimented.

“Way to change the subject,” you chuckled, “But thank you. I put in effort whenever I know I’m seeing you.”

You blushed the minute you realised what you just said.

“Uh- I meant-” you tried to backtrack.

“Too late to go back on your words now, sweetheart,” he chortled, “That’s okay, I kind of make an effort when I know I’ll be seeing you as well.”

“Oh, really?” you doubted. You thought he just naturally looked good all the time, which includes the first day you bumped into him in the library.

The library.

Jerome Miller.

Blood. Adrenaline rush. Excitement. Guilt.

You pushed it all away for now and tune back into your conversation.

“Oh, you have no idea,” his eyes suddenly darkened, his smile gone.

But within an instant, he gave you his smug grin again.

He loved to tease you.

“You know,” you started, “You never told me your last name. Is there something you’re hiding from me?”

“No, you just never asked,” he replied, “It’s Haywood.”

“Jason Haywood,” you tried, “Has a ring to it, don’t you think?”

“I never cared much for it,” he shrugged, “My first name is extremely common. My last? Nothing special. Nothing like Wayne.”

“Please, it’s all just legal anyway,” you waved your hand, “Not like I’m a Wayne by blood.”

“Still, Bruce Wayne is your father,” he pointed out.

“Don’t say that too loud,” you shushed him, “I’m not at the point where people would recognize me in the streets, but one Google search and I’d have people taking pictures of the both of us and sell it to the tabloid papers.”

“Ah, yes, I can see the headlines already,” he joked, “Billionaire Bruce Wayne’s daughter seen with a nobody. You wouldn’t believe number five!”

“A newspaper headline isn’t clickbait, Jason,” you giggled. You were impressed. Only a few months ago, he didn’t know what Instagram was.

“I’m real proud of you, you know,” he suddenly told you, making another 180 turn in subject. He looked at you with a curious glint in his eye.

“For what?” you asked, sipping on your coffee.

“For being you,” he gave you a cryptic answer.

You raised an eyebrow in question.

“You don’t try to hide yourself from me,” he elaborated, “You cry in front of me, laugh in front of me, joke with me, and you let your inhibitions go when you’re with me.”

Your eyes widen at the last one, knowing what he was implying.

“ As a Wayne,” he continued, “I’m sure you need to lie and smile to keep up appearances. But you’re yourself with me. Thank you.”

You blushed as your heart melted at his words. This was one of the reasons you liked him. He was a smooth talker, charming you with random bursts of surprisingly well thought insight.

“I don’t know what to say,” you tucked your hair behind your ear nervously.

“How about ‘Jason, I think you’re a sexy beast, and I’d totally tap that ass’,” he jestered.

“You see, I know you’re just joking, but I wouldn’t be if I were to say that to you,” you replied smugly.

Jason paused, narrowing his eyes at you.

“Someone learned how to flirt,” he smirked.

“I learned from the best,” you breathed.

You saw the way his eyes darted from yours, to your lips, and then back to your eyes again.

“My brother, actually,” you broke the moment on purpose.

He chuckled at your transition.

The hours went by as you talked and flirted with him, all the while still noticing how he was smirking the whole way, as if he knew something about you that you didn’t.

*** God, you turned Jason on so much.

It was obvious you were still messed up and shocked over your own actions, but when Jason saw your bruised knuckles, he almost popped a hard on right then and there in the crowded cafe.

He wanted so much to witness you beating the shit out of Jerome Miller. He could only imagine how your face and hands must have been covered in blood.

Jason never had a blood kink before this, but somehow the thought was so erotic to him, he would be lying if he didn’t go back and jerk off to that fantasy right after the visit to the hospital.

The only downside to all of this was that he was growing increasingly excited, which meant he was increasingly impatient. He found it extremely frustrating to have to keep lying to you. He just wanted you to figure everything out already so he could finally be direct.

So he could finally take you like he knew you wanted him to.

But since he was the king of the underground now, he had to focus on his work, and he was doing a fan-fucking-tastic job at it. He could guarantee with absolute confidence that Gotham’s underground had never been as organized before.

He wasn’t only controlling crime through fear, but he was providing small jobs to those who would have otherwise got involved with real bad shit that would hurt innocents.

Jason was Gotham’s fucking savior.

And he wore that red bat on his chest with pride.

Jason didn’t need you to be his Queen, but he wanted to.

Not because he craved you- but because it would be the last blow to Batman’s legacy.

At least, that’s what he was trying to convince himself.

*** The glaring red ink on your paper reminded you of the blood that you tried so hard to wash off.

You stared hard at the large, capital B written on your history test. It wasn’t your only B. You got a B minus for math, a B plus for biology and physics, and an A minus for chemistry, amongst other subjects.

You maintained a neutral face. You couldn’t let anyone around you read you.

“I guess I don’t need to ask what you got, huh Wayne?” Michelle Myers rolled her green eyes at you from her desk, flipping her auburn hair to the side.

“You’d be surprised, Michelle,” you smiled at her sweetly. You knew she always viewed you as competition when it came to academics, sports, and even social media follower count. You didn’t get why. You always thought she was prettier, more feminine than you. “I’m only human, you know.”

“So what you got?” Robert Laheigh cut in.

“A big fat B,” you sighed.

“Woah, a B? You?” Robert gasped dramatically.

“Way to rub it in, Rob,” you chuckled, “I guess I got distracted by some stuff.”

“Oh yes, it must be so hard to be you, daughter of the richest guy in Gotham,” Michelle snickered.

You looked at Michelle with a cold smile, and thought about wiping that smug look off her face by smashing her head onto the wooden desk.

“Hey, don’t be like that,” said the blond jock, “I’m sure whatever she’s going through is legit. You don’t know her life. And she did just get kidnapped.”

“Of course, Rob, how rude of me,” Michelle sneered at him, “I forgot how much you like to suck up to her.”

Rob was Michelle’s ex-boyfriend. He dumped her because he apparently started having feelings for another girl in class. Who the mysterious girl was, you didn’t know. But shortly after that, Michelle started to become more and more hostile towards you.

“It’s fine, Rob,” you assured him, “She’s right. I’ve really got no excuses.”

Besides the fact that you’ve been reliving the night you beat someone half to death for the past two weeks, slowly getting numb to the memory.

Besides the fact that Bruce had been acting suspiciously nice to you despite suspending your patrols for the next month until you got yourself together.

Besides the fact that Jason had been kind to you, beaming almost proudly ever since you saw each other at that cafe two weeks ago, but all you could think about when he happened to brush himself against you was how you craved Red Hood’s touch instead.

But Michelle was right, you neglected your studies and didn’t have any excuses.

Rob pursed his lips and walked over to your table, leaning down to you.

“Hang in there, okay?” he frowned in concern, “If you need to talk, about anything, I’m here for you.”

You flashed him a charming smile, “Of course, Rob. I appreciate it. Thank you.”

You saw his cheeks get red, and he straightened up, clearing his throat.

Right.

Now you know why Michelle Myers hated you so much.

***

Your gaze was unfocused, just looking outside the window of the car.

Michelle never got to you like that before. You usually ignored it and brushed her off. But suddenly you got so annoyed by her fucking face that you really wanted to mess it up.

“What’s wrong, my dear?” Alfred glanced at you from the rearview mirror of the sleek BMW, breaking your thoughts.

“Nothing, Alfred,” you smiled at him, “I got my papers back. I didn't do very well.”

“To maintain a balance is a difficult feat,” he said, “Your older brothers went through the same thing. Though, a teacher once complained that Master Todd’s grades were too perfect.”

You didn’t miss his subtle sad tone when he mentioned Todd. Oddly, it didn’t sound as sad as he usually did when he spoke of your predecessor.

But it didn’t change the fact that you really didn’t want to talk about Todd and how perfect his grades were.

You were silent the whole ride back.

“Master Bruce wishes to speak to you in the Cave,” Alfred informed you when you got out of the car. “I suggest you prepare yourself for his news.”

“What do you mean?” you frowned in question.

“It’s best if he explains,” Alfred gave you a tired smile. He looked like he hadn’t slept all night.

You shrugged and went inside, dumping your bag of books onto the sofa of the living room as you made your way to the grandfather’s clock to descend below. You were nervous. Maybe Bruce has decided to lift your suspension, or maybe Bruce has decided that he was better off without you as Robin.

Whatever it was, your heart beat in rhythm to your quick steps down the stairs.

You approached Bruce from behind, he was seated at his regular spot in front of the massive computer screens. This time though, instead of displaying an array of his cases, old articles,or his own notes, it was just blank.

You gulped. He was really going to ask you to quit wasn’t he?

“Hey, Bruce,” you let out a shaky breath, “Alfred said you wanted to talk?”

“Yes,” he nodded, his face more solemn than you’ve ever seen before, “Sit.”

Oh no, you thought, one word replies and commands.

You pulled up a wheeled chair and sat obediently in front of him.

“Firstly,” he began, “I’m sorry. For keeping you in the dark this whole time. I needed to process the information, and make sure. And it was… difficult for me to come to terms with the truth. I’ve only just told Alfred last night.”

“What are you talking about?” you questioned slowly, your previous worries disappearing.

“What do you know about multiverses and alternate realities?” Bruce asked you.

“Uhm, what?” you were taken aback by his seemingly random question, “Are you serious?”

Bruce simply looked at you.

“Uhm,” you tried, “I know just enough from sc-fi movies and comic books?”

“Well, it’s more science than fiction,” Bruce stated.

“Okay,” you nodded slowly, still not understanding his point, “And?”

“Certain events caused by certain… individuals,” he struggled with his words, “May cause certain effects onto our world and reality. In this case, bringing back the dead.”

“What, our next mission involves zombies or something?” you smirked.

“I’m being serious,” he deadpanned.

“Right. Sorry,” you quickly added.

“Do you know what the Lazarus Pit is?” he asked another odd question.

“Sure,” you nodded at the familiar name, “That’s how Ra’s Al Ghul is immortal. It makes you not age.”

“It also heals unhealable injuries,” Batman added.

You frowned again. “Where are you going with this, Bruce?”

“Red Hood is Jason Todd,” he blinked.

You blinked back.

“Excuse me, what?” you exclaimed. “Bruce, how did you jump from alternate realities and the lazarus pit to- oh my god.”

Finally, your mind clicked.

“That’s- no,” you shook your head, “That’s not possible. You’re fucking with me, aren’t you? This is some sort of weird test.”

He pursed his lips, and then turned to the computer. He pulled up some sort of biochemistry result on screen. One side was Red Hood’s blurred CCTV photo, and the other, a young dark haired boy smiling brightly at the camera. You recognized him from the one or two pictures on display in the Manor.

“I ran a DNA test from a blood sample I acquired from Red Hood one of the days where I confronted him,” Bruce explained, “I had my suspicions based on the things he had said, and the knowledge he had of us, but I couldn’t confirm it until I ran the test. Even after that, I had to make sure.”

“And?” you demanded.

“And that’s it,” he finished, “Red Hood is Jason Todd.”

Your mind was racing.

“I understand if you have trouble comprehending it,” Bruce offered.

“No, shit,” you scoffed. You were at disbelief. It made zero sense, yet all the sense in the world.

“But, if it’s Jason Todd,” you looked at him, “Then why is he bad?”

“He’s angry with me,” Bruce explained. He had pain in his eyes. “He’s angry with me for not killing Joker, and for… you.”

“Replacement,” it dawned onto you, “Child soldiers being thrown away and replaced by new ones. That’s what he meant.”

“Exactly,” Bruce nodded, “But I think the Pit had something to do with fueling his anger as well. It’s naive to think that the dead can be brought back without… alterations.”

“It makes so much sense now. Why he’s been targeting me. He hates me for replacing him, he-” you looked at Jason Todd’s picture.

Oh.

Oh. You really were stupid. You were a complete idiot.

You didn’t make the connection before, because it didn’t make sense to you. Jason Todd was dead, so your brain did not see any sort of similarities between him and your Jason.

But now that you were staring at the picture of the smiling boy, you could see it. They looked different, very different, but no one could mistake the two if they stared long enough.

Todd was very young in the picture, but even at that age you could see the developing deep set eyes and heavy brows. Their noses were the same, except your Jason’s nose had probably been broken more than a few times. Todd’s skin was clear of scars, and had a more radiant complexion as compared to your Jason’s. Jason’s jaw was more squarish and developed, but their smiles were still the same side smirk.

You thought that Jason had smelled of fireworks. But really, it was-

“Gunpowder,” you whispered out loud to yourself.

“What?” Bruce asked.

“Nothing, I just- it’s a lot to process,” you told him.

Why weren’t you telling him anything?

“I understand,” he acknowledged, “If you have any questions, I promise I will answer them all truthfully. No more secrets.”

You looked at the man who adopted you only three months after his son’s death, and saw how he was trying to make things up to you, his concern about you.

“What was he like?” you asked, “I know I’ve asked you this before. I’ve asked Dick, too. And Alfred. But I felt like everyone was just too sad about it to tell me much. So I’m going to ask you again now that he’s back.”

“He was efficient, and he learned very quickly-”

“Not as Robin, Bruce,” you interjected, “How was he like at home when he had nothing to do? Did he go out with friends? What was his favorite flavor? That kind of stuff.”

Bruce fell silent for a moment, the crease between his brows deepening.

“He liked to read,” Bruce said, “I don’t know if you’ve been into his room, but we kept it exactly how it was all those years ago. All those books on his shelf- he read them all. Some more than once. He was very organized and tidy. Cleaned his room so that Alfred didn’t have to.”

You noticed him smile ever so slightly as he recalled the memory.

“He had some friends, but I’m not sure about a girlfriend,” he continued, “He was secretive. He was more quiet than Dick, but happy all the same. Until he got a bit confident, then he became reckless.”

“He angered easily,” Bruce sighed, “He was rash. He acted first without thinking of the consequences later. I remember having lots of arguments with him. There were many weeks where he wouldn’t speak to me unless it was a serious question regarding patrol. But he was good. He’s always been good.”

“I’m sure he still is, Bruce,” you sympathized with him. The Jason you knew was kind to you, but Red Hood- he was a different story.

Was it all a lie? Was the Jason you knew just a persona to use and manipulate you?

Just tell him, your inner thoughts screamed at you.

“So what now?” you asked.

“He’s been very careful with his operation,” Bruce explained, “I need to confront him. I need to talk to him.”

Fucking tell him, your conscience insisted.

Tell him what? That you were dumb enough to not be suspicious of a mysterious man who charmed his way into your life at the same time a new villain came to town?

You were so fucking naive.

“We need to do some interrogating. Maybe he has a base for operations-”

At the same time Bruce started explaining the plan to you, your phone dinged, causing you to jump slightly.

You ignored it, and looked apologetically at him.

“Once we find out, we try to corner him to talk. I might need to get Dick-”

Your phone dinged again.

“- to help. I haven’t told him yet-”

And for one last time, your phone dinged.

Bruce raised an eyebrow at you.

“I’m sorry,” you said sheepishly, “Let me silent it. Hold on.”

You unlocked your phone to see three consecutive messages from Sexy Hunk From Library.

Your heart sank to your stomach.

You put your phone on silent and put it away.

“Who is it?” Bruce asked, “If it’s urgent, we can continue this later.”

“No!” you accidentally raised your voice, “Ahem, I mean, no. It’s just a boy.”

“A boy?” he repeated, “You’ve been talking to a boy?”

“Yeah,” you admitted, extremely careful with your body language and choice of words, “Just a boy I met at the library. Sorry- he’s not important.”

Bruce looked at you for a moment, and then- “I’m still not relieving you of your suspension. I will have Dick with me for now while I investigate. You have two weeks left until I allow you to be back in uniform. As of now, training.”

“Yeah,” you sighed and close your eyes, squeezing the bridge of your nose, “It might do me some good. My grades are horrible. I have to catch up.”

“Good,” he nodded curtly, “Use your time wisely. And do not confront Red Hood alone.”

“Why would I do that, Bruce?” you asked exasperatedly, “Now I know who he really is, it’d be stupid of me to do so. This shit he has against us is fucking personal.”

“As long as you realise that, then fine,” he answered.

You nodded before adding, “Are you going to tell Dick over the phone?”

“No, I’ll have him come here,” he replied, “It’s the proper way. Dick will- he won’t take it as well as you did.”

“Well, I never knew the guy, so,” you shrugged, the thought of the Jason you did know, acted like an anchor on your heart. “I’m going to take a nice long bath. It’s been an intense day.”

“Take as long as you need,” he nodded, turning away to reach for his phone to dial Dick, “I think we’ll investigate Otisburg first. His previous base of operations was there, perhaps we could find some of his men.”

“Let me know how Dick takes it,” you waved, walking back.

*** You climbed into the steaming water, scented with vanilla and sighed deeply.

You stared at your phone which you put on the drying mat on the floor next to the tub, your notifications still on the screen. You gulped, and reached for it, careful not to drop in the water and read what Jason had sent you.

Sexy Hunk From Library: Hey Sexy Hunk From Library: What’re you up to? Sexy Hunk From Library: I’m so bored

You couldn’t help how the corners of your lips twitched upwards, and then you frowned again, thinking of how to deal with your dilemma.

Why couldn’t you just tell Bruce like what was expected of you? Was there a part of you that didn’t want Red Hood caught, or was it because you had fallen for Jason?

Or was it because you liked that your Jason was Red Hood?

You let out a loud groan of frustration.

Of course you didn’t like that the two were the same people. Because Jason had manipulated you, lied to you, and probably would have sabotaged you.

Yet, you didn’t feel angry. You just felt immensely sad for yourself, but most of all for him.

He had hid his true self from you so well, but now that you know who he was, and what he was going through, you just wanted to help. He was a Robin after all, and even if you hadn’t met him prior to this, you felt obligated to connect with him.

You decided to reply.

You: Hey. I just got back from school. I’m just soaking in the tub now.

You blinked in surprise when you received a video call from him instead. You made sure that your chest was submerged in water and hesitantly picked up.

“Sorry, I couldn’t resist when I heard that you were naked,” you saw him grin cheekily on the screen. He was in bed, judging from the blue pillows he had propped up behind him.

“I bet that’s what you say to all the girls,” you tried hard to smile and seem normal.

But he had caught on and frowned. “What’s wrong? I’m sorry, I can hang up if you want your privacy.”

“No, it’s not you,” you lied, “I just got my exam results back. They weren’t as good as usual. Fucking Michelle Myers looked so smug about it.”

“Is she like the popular mean girl who’s secretly jealous of you?” he guessed.

“I guess she is,” you chuckled, but your smile faltered again soon after.

“If you want to talk about it, I’m here,” he offered.

You pursed your lips in hesitation, thinking carefully about your next words and actions.

“Actually,” you said, “Could I meet you tonight? I’m- I’m not alright. I just need to talk to someone.”

“Tonight?” he frowned, pausing for a moment.

Of course. Night time was Red Hood time. He was probably busy when he didn’t have to seduce and manipulate you.

“Sure,” he finally agreed, “Where?”

“Really?” you were taken aback. Why would he neglect his own responsibilities to see you?

“Of course,” he insisted, “I told you that I’d be here for you whenever you need. I mean it.”

Now you were confused. Why was he so committed to gaining your trust?

“O-okay,” you smiled, this time for real. “Do you think we can meet at Robinson Park? Around nine thirty?”

Bruce would usually leave for patrol at 9.

“I’ll see you there,” he responded.

***

You looked at yourself in the mirror. You had specifically chosen to wear a baby pink sweater over a white collared shirt, buttoned all the way up with a grey plaid skirt that fell to your knees. You needed to look innocent and non-threatening. You kept your makeup light and your hair simple.

You took one of the less conspicuous of Bruce’s cars which happened to be one of the newer Mini Cooper models. It was the least sporty, least big, least out of place. You could blend in well with everyone else when driving that car.

You told Alfred you were going out to meet a friend, in which he responded with an almost offensive shocked expression, and then proceeded to endlessly tell you to have fun, and to not worry about coming back too early.

The traffic was lighter than usual, and the sky clear- the full moon shining high. You parked at Robinson Park’s open parking space and took a deep breath before grabbing your small purse and getting out of the car.

You checked your phone.

Jason was already there because he had sent you a text message saying which bench he was sitting at. Recognizing his description, you started walking towards him, your heart thumping louder and louder with every step.

“Hey,” you called out when you saw him from behind, sitting on the bench. He was wearing his red hoodie and jeans.

You recognized that hoodie all too well now.

He turned around and smiled widely at you, expecting you to sit next to him.

“Uhm,” you nervously said, “Do you think we could go somewhere more private?”

“Somewhere more private, huh?” he winked, making you giggle. You calmed your nerves down a bit, but still remained careful and vigilant.

“Not like that!” you laughed, “It’s just- going out with a guy at night, if anyone were to recognize me, I’d be in trouble.”

“Oh, yeah, sure,” he stood up. Suddenly his height and broad shoulders, the only thing you could see under the loose clothes, started an alarm in your head, reminding you of how easily he could overpower you. “Do you have any place in mind?”

“I was thinking,” you hesitated, “That building right there? It’s just a small office building. We could take the fire escape staircase up to the roof?”

You pointed towards the building across the street. It was only around five or six stories high.

“Isn’t that, trespassing or something?” he smirked.

“It’s not like we’re doing anything bad,” you rolled your eyes, “I just wanted to talk to you without being seen, that’s all.”

The truth was that you knew GCPD had cruiser cars patrolling outside of the park since they found the three bodies Red Hood hanged, as well as a couple of officers patrolling inside the park every few hours. You didn’t want to risk spooking Jason, especially since you were going to properly talk to him.

“Okay, lead the way,” he gestured.

You tried to be mindful of your body language. Hoping to not seem stiff or nervous, you walked next to him closely, your arm brushing his occasionally as you walked across the street.

Once you reached the fire escape staircase, the both of you climbed up smoothly.

The roof was clean, at least. No sign of pigeon droppings, no litter or cigarette butts, and no random puddles of water from the rain.

Jason walked to the edge, put his hand on the ledge, and peered over.

“Now, that’s high! I don’t know about you, but heights make me slightly nervous,” he chuckled to himself before turning to you and giving you a big boyish grin. “So, what did you want to talk about?”

The way he looked, both his hands behind his head in a casual, relaxed pose- you really didn’t want to believe it.

“I’m kinda nervous to tell you,” you admitted.

He walked towards you and gave you a warm smile, “It’s okay. Take it slow. I’ve got all night.”

You took a deep breath, and began.

“I’m confused. I feel like I’m doing the wrong thing instead of the right thing, but for some reason, the wrong thing feels more right than the right thing. You get me?” you finished your ramblings with a question.

The sound of sirens coming from the streets below were an accurate representation of what was going on in your head.

“I’m sorry,” he said in confusion, “I’m not sure I do, princess.”

You took a deep breath, ignoring your thumping heart and your inner voices screaming at you in protest.

“I know, Jason,” you stated, “I know who you are.”

Jason looked even more confused. So confused, that you doubted yourself for just one small moment. But then, against all your hope and wishes you had since you figured it out, his face twisted into a sinister smirk, his eyes no longer the bright and warm and friendly blue, but cold, harsh, and unforgiving.

When you thought of your Jason being Red Hood, it was hard to imagine someone like him as a cold blooded killer, but after seeing his face in a new light, you asked yourself why you didn’t figure it out sooner.

“Finally,” he rolled his eyes, “Did he tell you?”

You nodded, not wanting your voice to betray you and the tears that had started pooling your eyes. You had wished so hard that you were wrong, that Bruce was wrong.

“You look disappointed,” he scoffed.

“Of course I am,” you sighed, looking away, “I thought you were… nice.”

“It’s called acting, sweetheart,” he sassed.

“Well, I’ll be sure to nominate you for an Oscar, then,” you snapped.

The fucker actually chuckled at that, earning a glare from you.

“Anyway,” he started, “Let’s cut to the chase. Where is he?”

You frowned at that. “In Otisburg with Dick, investigating you. I told you, Batman wouldn’t bother us here tonight.”

“You’re telling me,” he responded, “That you came here unarmed, and without backup?”

He looked at you incredulously before barking out a humourless laugh. “You’re either brave or stupid.”

“If you wanted to hurt me, you would have done so long ago,” you pointed out.

“Thanks for you trust in me,” he said sarcastically.

“Jason,” you pursed your lip.

“What?” he snarled, “What was the point in this?”

“To-” you stopped midway, taking a deep breath of preparation, “To try to convince you-”

“To come back?” he interjected, “To come home? Kiss and hug with Bruce and it’ll all be okay?”

“He misses you, Jason,” you spoke softly, “We can help you fix this. Whatever this is.”

“Fix this?” he growled, walking closer to you as a burst of sudden anger appeared in his eyes, “The only way to fix this is to turn back time. To kill Joker. To unadopt you.”

You felt a sharp stab in your chest. Jason, upon seeing the hurt flash across your face, started to mock you.

“Aww, did I hurt your feelings?” he came even closer, “Insecure little Robin, thinks she’s so good, always doing the right thing.”

He reached out and tilted your chin upwards towards him, and leaned in close. You willed yourself to not flinch at his touch.

“I fucking hated you,” he whispered, hot breath fanning your face, “I wanted to bash your head in against the wall. I wanted to see you suffer and make you cry. Hell, I still do sometimes. But then I realise…”

His lips grazed your ear.

“That you’re. Just. Like. Me.”

You slapped his hand away and stepped back.

“I’m nothing like you,” you countered.

“No?” he raised an eyebrow condescendingly, “So you did not beat Jerome Miller’s ass straight into a coma?”

Your eyes widen, your throat tightened. “Wh- How- how did you-”

“Oh, sweetheart, who did you think hired those buffoons in the first place?” he sneered.

“No,” you squeaked, your thoughts all rushing back to you, “I- I told you… It was my favorite place in the world…”

“And I loved every fucking second of taking it away from you,” he elaborated, “And when you called me, crying- to say it felt good would be an understatement.”

Stupid. You were stupid, and that’s all you were. Stupid and naive.

You couldn’t stop the tears from escaping your eyes.

“Oh no, baby girl, don’t cry,” he rushed to wipe away your tears. You almost mistook him for being genuine, until he added, “You’re gonna make me hard.”

You looked away, remaining silent, disappointed at yourself for showing your weakness.

“Batman may have taken the fall for what you did to Miller, but I wasn’t stupid. I knew you had a personal grudge that you acted on. Just like me.”

“I didn’t mean to,” you still tried to argue, “It just happened.”

“And I just happened to come back from the dead, right?” he snapped, “And I just happened to take over the criminal underground?”

“What I did was an accident,” you protested.

“Yet Jerome Miller is still a vegetable,” he pointed out, “You don’t know much about him, do you? You didn’t do your research. You wouldn’t make excuses for yourself if you had.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” you demanded.

“His family? Ring any bells?” he said, and then his eyebrows shot up when he realised you were clueless, “Holy fucking shit! Don’t- don’t tell me. You never even stopped to think of his family?”

You swallowed the bitter taste in your mouth as your heart sank at that realisation.

“You’re more heartless than I thought, baby girl,” he chuckled, “Anna Miller- his wife- was diagnosed with stage four cancer about three years ago. She’s been in and out of chemo ever since. He needed to find a way to pay the bills. Now, he was already a talented and experienced man- but because Gotham is a shit hole, he, like everyone else, couldn’t find an honest job. So he had to resort to illegal means to pay for his wife.”

“He was a chatty guy, Jerome,” he continued, “Basically told me his life story. Thanked me again and again for the generous pay. He was going to take his 6 year old daughter to see Elsa at Disneyland this summer. Being the saint that I am, I even put in a couple grand extra. But now, I may have paid him a lot, but his wife will still continue to accumulate her medical bills. Who’s gonna pay for them? And poor sweet Andrea would be stuck without a father and a mother who’s too sick to take care of her. Thanks to you, of course.”

It became clearer to you now- the effects of your assault. You took away a breadwinner from his struggling family- and it shook you. The fact that the Red Hood was the one who pointed this all out to you to make you realise what you did, it was humorlessly ironic.

“You’re lying,” you shook your head. Denial was the only thing keeping you from breaking down. “Why should I believe a single thing you say when you’ve been lying to me for months?”

“Believe me or not, it doesn’t matter,” he shrugged nonchalantly, “I just wanted you to open your eyes and see who you really are. Impulsive, explosive, and insecure. And you know what? I can work with that. You’re perfect for my line of work.”

“Your line of work?” you frowned.

“I’m not all bad, you know,” he smirked, “I do this- I do what Batman hasn’t been able to. I’ve controlled crime. I know you’ve questioned his methods. I did. And even if you haven’t, you will eventually.”

“No,” you insisted, not allowing your doubts to resurface again, “What you’re doing, it’s- it’s wrong.”

“Wrong?” he scoffed, “If what I’m doing is wrong, then that would make me the bad guy, right?”

You eyed him suspiciously, unsure of where he was going with that point. The wind was blowing in his hair, messing it up and making him look more boyish. If you squinted hard enough, you thought you could see a glimpse of the younger Jason Todd- the one Bruce had pictures of.

“Then isn’t it wrong for Robin, the light to Batman’s darkness,” he exaggerated, before glaring straight into your eyes, “to want to fuck the bad guy?”

He finished with a smug grin.

“W-what?” you half sputtered, half screeched.

“Oh, please,” he rolled his eyes, “You might as well have spelt it out for me in bold when I kidnapped you.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” you stood your ground.

Jason closed the distance, until both of your fronts were just an inch apart. Your stomach did a flip, your heart beating faster at the movement, almost jumping out of throat.

You gulped subconsciously.

“I’ve heard you moan,” he drawled, “I saw your pupils dilate, and the way you licked your lips when my crotch was right in front of you. You looked hungry.”

It was like you were frozen, yet heat started to pool at your centre as you remembered that the man in front of you was the famous cold-blooded criminal that you’ve been thinking about non-stop ever since your first encounter.

He gripped you by the hips and pulled you closer to grind his front against yours. You squeaked at the sudden movement, but gasped when you felt his cock half hard against you.

You were so close, you had to crane your neck up painfully to see him. He was so much taller than you, his head bowed down, your lips only inches from each other, panting hard before anything had even started.

His smell were clearer than ever, you knew that he smelled like leather because of his alter ego. You could also smell the lingering fabric softener that he must have used on his laundry, which gave you an almost comical picture of him in his Red Hood costume trying to figure out how the washing machine worked. And the gunpowder. You breathed him in, thinking the last one suited him the most, the combination of it and his musky cologne complimenting each other.

The pull you felt towards him- the lust, the want, the craving, hell the fucking sparks- you didn’t feel all of that when you kissed the first time, or the second.

You only felt it now, when you knew that he was Red Hood, that he was Jason Peter Todd- the Robin you never met.

The Robin who died.

The Robin who hated you.

He took his hand and cupped your cheek, surprisingly gentle with his touch. That is, until he closed the gap and kissed you hard, almost forceful with his nips and licks. It was hard for you to keep up with him because he kissed you like he was so deprived, like he needed to.

For some reason, you could really taste him now. He tasted like a mix of dark bitter chocolate and smoke and whiskey and coke.

You let out a soft involuntary moan when he pried his tongue into your mouth, and rubbed his hands up and down your waist, to your back, squeezing your ass and coming back to your hips. Without breaking the kiss, he started walking and guiding you towards the exit door to the stairwell, his grip on you preventing you from stumbling.

He pushed you against the wall bordering on violently, consequently knocking the breath out of you from shock more than anything, and took a step back.

He observed you, his hooded eyes raking your body. His lips were plump and glistening, his gaze piercingly intense.

You could only imagine what you looked like to him. Pupils blown, lips swollen, face flushed.

“Hmm,” he tilted his head as his stare wandered across your body, “Was this get up supposed to have changed my perspective of you? To see you as a sweet, innocent girl? You thought I wouldn’t hurt you if you looked like a good girl?”

You gulped, not knowing how to answer his accurate guess.

“Quite the opposite, princess,” he growled, “Your innocence was what attracted me in the first place. And now that I know what’s underneath all that fucking pink- that you beat a guy half to death. Well, that turns me on even more.”

He stalked towards you in a predatory way, making your breath hitch. He looked like he was going to devour you, and you would be lying if you said it didn’t scare you despite your panties getting moist.

“Plus,” he added, “I like corrupting good girls. Making them dirty. Not that you aren’t already.”

He reached around your head and grabbed a fistful of your hair, pulling your head sideways so he could attack your neck. His other hand roamed your body, squeezing your breasts, eliciting another moan from you.

Then, you felt his hand snake up the side of your thigh, bunching up your skirt along the way, creeping further and further towards your center.

“Jason,” you gasped.

“I know you want this,” he whispered into the crook of your neck, not stopping his hand. “Don’t you?”

He pressed onto your covered clit gently, making you whine at the relief, your hands now flat against the wall behind you. He then pulled down your panties swiftly, goosebumps appearing wherever he touched. Even though you were still wearing your skirt, you still felt bare and exposed, partly due to the unfamiliar feeling of wind brushing up and caressing your naked pussy.

You moaned yet again when he sucked onto the skin of your neck. You knew he was going to leave bruises and marks, but you were too dizzy in heat and lust to care.

He slipped a finger in between your folds and started to lightly stroke up and down, always avoiding touching the spot you really wanted him to touch.

“Fuck,” he chuckled, “You’re dripping, and I haven’t even done anything yet.”

He straightened and looked at you in the eye. “I knew you weren’t the sweet girl you pretend to be,” he stated, and without warning, started to rub your clit at an intense pace.

“Jason,” you whimpered, your hands flying from the wall to grip his shirt tight, loving the foreign feeling of someone else touching you.

”You like that, baby girl?” he panted hot breaths on your skin.

“Please don’t stop,” you breathed, heat and electricity pulsating from your center to your toes.

“Don’t tell me what to do,” he grumbled, stopping his movements altogether.

You let out a disappointed groan.

But before you could say anything, you felt a finger prod at your opening. Slowly, he inserted his finger, drawing a long sigh from you.

“Mmm,” he purred, “So tight and warm.”

You felt that amazing full feeling you felt when he did the same all those weeks ago while you were tied to the chair. Except now, he wasn’t just teasing anymore.

He started to curl his fingers upwards, pressing the spot he did previously, when he fingered you for the first time, but only more intensely just like the way he rubbed your clit and the way he sucked on your skin. It was like he was trying to attack you with a barrage of sensations.

“Fuck!” you cried, throwing your arms shamelessly around his neck for support, “I-is- is that my-”

“You mean you’ve never touched yourself here before? Not even after I touched it for you?” you felt him smile against your neck, increasing the pace, making you moan wantonly. “This is your g-spot, sweetheart.”

Right, your g-spot. You've heard of this biological mystery before- the girls were talking about it in the locker room. And you got even more curious after that particular session with Red Hood. But even when you did start touching yourself regularly, the easiest way was to only stimulate your clitoris, and you felt that was enough for you.

Mainly because Mother would scream even louder if you attempted to insert a finger, pretending it was Red Hood’s.

You whimpered into his neck, one of your thighs hitching higher and higher all the way to hook around his waist and give him more access. Immediately, he grabbed your leg from behind your knee and supported you.

“We gotta get you a bit more ready for me, baby girl,” he announced before slowly inserting a second finger, earning a shiver from you.

With two fingers inside, you felt the wonderful stretch for the first time. You mewled at all the new and pleasurable heat you felt.

“Fuck, how bad have you wanted this, sweetheart?” he whispered into your ear, “Because your slick is dripping down my hand right now.”

You turned away and pursed your lips.

“Answer me,” he nipped your earlobe, “Or I’ll stop.”

“No,” you whined, not caring about shame or dignity or principles anymore, “Please.”

“Then answer me like a good girl, princess,” he breathed, “Be a good girl for me. How bad have you wanted this?”

“Bad,” you choked, “So bad, Jason.”

“With Jason, or Red Hood?” he asked, not stopping his deft fingers.

“B-both,” you stuttered.

“For how long?”

“Since the- the night of the bank robbery-” you struggled to form your sentence, “-when you- t-touched me.”

“So you wanted Red Hood first before Jason?” he pulled back, looking at you wide-eyed and surprised.

You bit your lip and nodded.

He smiled wide, and then chuckled, simultaneously withdrawing his fingers from you.

You pouted at the loss, to which he replied, “Don’t look at me like that, baby.”

He pulled you in for another breathtaking, dizzying kiss. You let your leg fall back down to stabilize yourself. He untucked your collared shirt and snaked both his hands underneath. You shuddered when you felt his heat on your skin as he bunched up your top and sweater, pushing up your bra to reveal your breasts.

He played and squeezed them, pinching a nipple here and there, causing you to take in sharp breaths. He wrapped his other arm around you and descended downwards to give attention to your ass at the same time.

“I can’t decide which I like more,” he grumbled.

Suddenly, he pushed you back against the wall even harder, and hooked the same leg around his waist sharply. You felt him fumble around with his zipper, your anticipation now killing you.

Finally, he looked at you straight in the eye, his eyebrows knitted together, his lips slightly apart.

“I don’t care about you, so I’m not going to go slow, you hear me?” he warned.

You gulped, and nodded.

“I’m just going to take what I want,” he continued, “You wanted to make me the bad guy so much, so here I am. I’m going to be the fucking villain.

Your eyes fluttered shut when you felt him rub his tip up and down your pussy lips. You were slightly disappointed that you couldn’t see what he looked like from that angle.

“And once I start, I’m not going to stop either,” he growled, “You’re going to deal with the pain, like you always do. Like he taught you to.”

“Please don’t talk about him right now,” you groaned, forcing yourself to push away the guilt. What would Bruce think of this?

“Fine,” he smirked, prodding the head of his cock at your entrance, “You ready, sweetheart?”

“Ye- AH!” you screamed loudly for the first time that night, because he immediately thrust himself into you, tearing through you, stretching you further than just two fucking fingers.

It was painful. Very painful. You could feel the sting. But then you felt his thumb rubbing your clit intensely, mixing the pain with pleasure, and fuck.

Fuck.

You liked the combination.

“Shit,” he rasped as he fucked into you wildly, “Shit, you feel so good, baby girl.”

“Jay,” you trembled, feeling the way his cock filled you up, feeling the way your pussy pulled it in, the way your walls clung onto his shaft with every violent drag.

“Hold onto me,” he commanded, and you automatically obeyed, your arms going around his neck. He hooked your other leg around his waist and gripped your hips, so that you were now off the ground and against the wall.

“Jay, Jay, Jay,” you chanted as your mind went fuzzy, your eyes watery from the fiery way he fucked you, hitting your spot again and again with the head of his cock. You were breathless, you couldn’t tell if it was reality or a dream.

He was loud. You could hear his whines, and moans, and grunts.

Hell if that didn’t turn you on even more.

“Fuck, the way your tits bounce, fuck,” he husked, his lips brushing against yours.

Indeed, you could feel your breasts heave and move with the motion, and you could hear the vulgar sound of skin slapping against skin, the wet slick sounds you assumed was your pussy being drilled by his dick.

“So wet and good for me, princess,” he muttered, “So good, taking my cock so well.”

His tongue forced his way inside your mouth again, finding yours. He started sucking on your tongue as he pounded you against the wall, muffling your cries. You weren’t going to last very long. You could feel it.

The tightening of your stomach, the heat spreading from your core to your chest and your toes and the tips of your fingers, your consciousness gradually disappearing as you felt increasingly light-headed.

“I can feel you, baby,” he breathed, “You wanna cum, sweetheart?”

“Jason,” you let out a soft sigh, unable to say anything other than his name.

“Me too, baby girl, me too,” he said in stuttered breaths as his thrusts became even faster but sloppier. He started rubbing on your clit again.

The moment he did, you snapped. You felt the shattering, most intense feeling of pleasure overcome all your senses, whiting you out from reality for those few moments of your high.

“Fuck!” you heard him swear distantly as you came back down. He pulled out quickly from you, making you wince at the slight soreness, and then you felt hot pulsations on your lower stomach as he groaned and grunted his release.

He slumped against you, trapping you between the wall as you released his middle from your legs. The moment you tried to stand up, your legs gave up, causing you to wobble and fall. Jason caught you before you reached the floor, and then gently set you down.

You leaned your head back on the wall and closed your eyes. Your legs still spread wide, hoping the cool air could relieve you of the sudden soreness you felt between your legs.

“You’re bleeding,” you heard him choke.

You opened your eyes to see him look at you with an odd expression- like he was confused and trying to decide something important.

“I’m fine,” you said, “Would it be too much to ask you to pass me my handbag? I’ve got tissues inside.”

You watched as he zipped himself up and walked a couple of feet away from you to take your bag. But instead of tossing it to you like you expected him to, he went through it, found the tissue, and then walked over to you and kneeled down.

With wide eyes, your eyes followed him as he took out a sheet and wipe you gently between your legs, the inside of your thighs, and your stomach. He tossed the tissue to the side. You briefly caught the bright red on the white. He took out another sheet and then cleaned you once more.

Once he was done, he found your panties and held them out to you, not meeting your eye. You graciously took it and slipped it back on, not missing the way his cheeks were slightly red.

You tried standing up again.

You were a little wobbly, but you managed.

He was now a few feet away from you, watching you from the corner of his eye.

The silence was awkwardly deafening. You just stood there, blushing, holding your own arms.

Then-

“Fuck it.”

He walked to you, and before you knew it, he pulled you in his arms for a…

Hug?

He forced your head to rest on his hard chest, as his other hand wrapped around you tight. The warmth you felt was surprising, but comforting, especially after losing your virginity in such an unconventional way.

“Don’t get used to this,” grumbled into your hair, “I’m not your fucking boyfriend.”

You could only silently nod as you tried to hide your smile.

The moment was short lived, because you remembered again how you got there.

“Jason?” you whispered.

“What?” he answered harshly.

“I hated you, you know,” you admitted, “Not Red Hood, not Jason Haywood. But you. Jason Todd.”

He let you go, and looked at you with an angry confused look.

You guessed that was how he was going to look at you from then on. Angry confusion. Angry stares. Angry smile. If that was even possible.

“It was just a deep, dark part of me, of course. I also did wish I got to know you. The Robin that died,” you said bitterly, “Every time someone brought you up, they’d look so fucking sad. Not that I could tell anyone that, of course. Because that would make me a Grade A bitch. But you know what? I hated you. I always wondered if Bruce adopted me just to fill in the hole that you left. And every time I did something right, I’d would think everyone around me is saying ‘Oh look at her. She’s finally catching up to Jason.’ And fuck, when I did something wrong, then it’d be ‘Jason would never have fucked up like that’.”

You looked at him with all the bitter resentment you’ve been harboring for years.

“I hated you, and I hated every time someone brought you up,” you continued, “Like, God, get over it, you know? He’s dead.”

You were slightly taken aback at how he was still silent, listening, and waiting for you to finish.

“But you’re not dead,” you sighed, “You’re here, alive. And I don’t know why I’m not telling Bruce about this. I hate you, so fucking much for making me feel this way.”

He stared at you with knitted brows, and then started chuckling, making you frown.

“Oh man,” he laughed, “I’ve never seen anyone look at me with so much hatred before. I mean, sure some of my men do hate me, but it was always mixed with fear. But you? Baby girl, you make me so fucking proud.”

He changed back into his arrogant self.

“Join me,” he cockily said.

“W-what?” you sputtered.

“Come on. I know you. The deep, dark part of yourself,” he used your own words, “The one who hated her father’s dead son, the one who put a guy into a coma without stopping to think of his family, the one who let me fuck you the way I did.”

He grinned as you remained silently frowning.

“Just one night,” he tried, “Just to show you my world, and what I do. I know you’re curious.”

He was right, you have always been curious as to what was happening on his side. The crazies, the bad guys, the deplorable.

Lately more than ever, with the exponential decrease in certain criminal activities.

“You know,” he continued, “Whenever you feel like you’re tired of being his sidekick, I’d gladly take you up as a partner.”

You chewed on your lip, heavily considering his offer.

“I’ll think about it,” you finally said, and turned away from him, “I’m going back.”

You were tired.

And sore.

“You know where to reach me.”

***

Jason watched you as you climbed back down the fire escape, putting up his casual front until he knew you were gone. He grit his teeth when he saw you cross the street back to the park, your gait slightly different.

He walked over to the wall where he fucked you animalistically wild.

“FUCK!” he roared, and punched the wall, feeling the pain reverberate down to his shoulder.

Why did he do that? Why did he do it the way he did?

He felt his chest tighten, his breaths quick and sharp.

His eyes were stinging with tears.

Why did he hug you? He didn’t care. He was not supposed to care.

Why did he feel like a fucking monster?

Finally, after so long of trying to hold back, he broke down.

He punched the wall again, and again, until he crumpled down to his knees, his sobs almost choking him.

He ran his fingers through his hair and pulled, screaming loud at how much he fucking hated himself.

He hated you, so much.

No, he didn’t.

Yes, he did.

“SHUT UP!” he yelled, “Shut up, shut up, shut up.”

He was nothing more than a pathetic, slobbering mess. No wonder Bruce had replaced him with you.

No, it was Bruce’s fault. Bruce never loved him. Bruce doesn’t love you. He just uses people and then throw them away.

He couldn’t breathe.

“Please,” he whimpered, “I want to die.”

No, he didn’t.

He still had a job to do, he still had his goals to reach. He’s been working so hard and he got to this point already. He had control of the underground and control over you.

So why didn’t he feel like a winner?

[popentertainmentconcertreviews]

Hoodie Allen & Jake Miller – El Rey Theater – Los Angeles, CA – October 1, 2019

Welcome to Whatever USA, where it doesn’t matter where you came from, it only matters where you end up. Hoodie Allen, real name Steven Markowitz, is a 31-year-old singer, songwriter, and rapper touring this new album on his Whatever USA Tour, including a concert last Tuesday in Los Angeles. Growing up in Long Island, one of the common themes of the album is his hometown and how he has grown from who he was ten years ago.

Hoodie attended the University of Pennsylvania, always in pursuit of music and releasing mixtapes with Obey City in 2009. When he got a job at Google, it was short-lived once he finally had the opportunity to do live shows and release more EPs. It was not until 2014 when he debuted his first album but that did not prevent the singer from charting extremely high on the charts. 

Hoodie Allen is the epitome of built-from-the-ground-up as he currently self-releases all of his albums, newest being Whatever USA, released this past August 2019. As the rapper grows older, he continues to strive after a decade in the industry and release music that means more than just charting and replaying on the radio. Whatever USA was created with personal connection in mind and stays true to Hoodie’s sound and creativity. 

The album features guests such as Christian French, Spencer Sutherland, and Gianni and Kyle, the latter two which Hoodie was joined on stage for their songs together, “Giving Up on Us” and “60 Seconds”. During the show, Hoodie played songs from every album and even added a spin to hits like “Wannabe” by the Spice Girls and “Buy You a Drank” by T-Pain, in which he serenaded a fan in the crowd. 

Fans were not at just a show but an absolute party celebrating Whatever USA and its counterparts. The El Rey Theatre was first flooded with balloons and cryo jets, in addition to the bright lights, before Hoodie threw cakes into the crowd while singing “Cake Boy” and rode through the crowd on an inflatable raft during “Small Town”. Hip-hop and R&B suit the artist’s work unquestionably as he raps in almost every song but still maintains the peppiness of pop music. Not only are his songs catchy, but his show exemplifies the high-energy and liveliness that a fan could call the best night of their life. This comes from a genuine and caring artist like Hoodie Allen that desires deep connections with his fans.

As the encore commenced, Hoodie and his band members performed “No Interruption” to their loyal fans who rapped along and jumped for the confetti released at the last chorus.

The opening act was Jake Miller. Miller is a 26-year-old who has been active in the industry for almost a decade. 

The crowd was full, and the stage glowed with bright letters as Jake Miller took the stage in a Los Angeles Lakers jersey. As a fan of YouTube, Miller said everything a musician wants to learn is possible through tutorials, which he watches for his own mixing and composing. At every song, the audience was on their toes, dancing and moving their hands to his set. 

Jake, a native to Florida, stated that he currently lives in Sherman Oaks, California. He got his start in a national talent show for musicians in 2011 and proved that hard work really pays off in 2013 when he released his first album, Us Against Them, under E1 Music. Since then, the singer-songwriter has put out two more albums and numerous EPs as independent and, later, for Sony Music. 

Although Los Angeles is known for its strong number of pop stars, Jake exemplifies what it is like to be a down-to-earth guy with a gift to sing and rap. During a pause with the audience, he expressed that not only does he write his lyrics, he creates the beats to all his songs and, most recently, he was busy recording his new EP Summer ‘19 in his own bedroom. 

Miller sang and rapped an older, yet popular song “Me and You,” in which he said, “I need everyone front left to right and front to back jumping as high as you can,” and they followed. He even pulled out an electric guitar to cover the hit song “Mr. Brightside” by The Killers.

He performed songs from Summer ‘19 including “COULD HAVE BEEN YOU” and “15 MINUTES” as many fans sang along, having already memorized the lyrics. The pop and hip-hop singer told the audience he went through a break-up and wrote 250 songs about it, eventually landing on “LAST TEXT” as a single released in August after his release of the “Based on a True Story” EP. 

Make sure to get tickets to the Whatever USA tour to see Jake Miller open for Hoodie Allen because unlike Jake, these tickets won’t wait for you!

If you feel like you need a party in your life, attend a show on Hoodie Allen’s Whatever USA tour because it will not disappoint.

Mia Jessie

Copyright ©2019 PopEntertainment.com. All rights reserved. Posted: October 5, 2019.

Photos by Camille Jessie © 2019

[kingbuckley]

This is a long long long fic dump for bellarke fics. They are in no particular order, varying lengths, some aus some not--but there are summaries! so enjoy i guess.

There's A Nap For That

Based on that post: "If you both agree to take a nap instead of going out, it’s a date." Or: The one where Bellamy and Clarke keep taking naps together. You know, platonically. See also: Let Them Rest.

Flowers Fade, But The Internet Lasts Forever 

the one where Clarke finds out the hard way that having two separate Twitter accounts and a hopeless crush on Bellamy Blake don't exactly mix.

And They'll Hang Us In The Louvre

“Well I mean, I can always give you a hand. If you want.” By the time her brain has managed to catch up with what she just said, his eyes have already snapped over to her and she pretends to be engrossed in the salt slowly dissolving around the rim of her margarita. “Really,” he says flat. “What are friends for, am I right?” she says breezily, looking anywhere but at him. 

Chemical, Physical, Kryptonite

four times Bellamy and Clarke try to be friends with benefits, and one time they stop kidding themselves.

the fire is coming

Clarke's jaeger goes down on a Thursday.

one night to push and scream (and then relief)

Bellamy Blake and Clarke Griffin are FBI agents sent undercover as a married couple to infiltrate the Wallace family organized crime ring. Great plan, except for the part where they hate each other.

and dream how wonderful your life will be

Clarke has known Bellamy Blake for two months when she finds out two completely unexpected things about him: he's married, and he has an eight-year-old son. He's also getting a divorce and he needs a roommate, and she's got a spot. It's complicated.

long day

bellamy + clarke as co-dependent, twenty-something roommates (or, the one in which they’re dating already but don’t know it, and bellamy only realizes he has a heart when it breaks)

neither lost nor found

Bellamy Blake arrives on campus and Clarke's magic suddenly starts going haywire.

Spent a Dollar on This Ring

Clarke has never considered that raising a baby together would come into the equation when she started sleeping with Bellamy Blake, but here they are.

regardless of warnings the future doesn't scare me at all

After an argument with her mother about her unplanned pregnancy, Clarke Griffin ends up back in the small town where her father used to live, spilling her sob story to a sympathetic bartender. And then, somehow, she ends up moving in with the bartender and her brother.

Going Courtin’

Five times people thought Clarke and Bellamy were together, and the one time they said "Screw it" (and it blew up in their faces).

live my life without [coming up for air]

The first time he meets Clarke, it's three in the morning and all he's wearing are his boxer shorts and a bad case of bed head.Series

Or, You Could Always Google It

Someone really should have warned Clarke that the first step to becoming internet famous would involve acquiring a nemesis. (Or, Bellarke as rival YouTubers, basically.)

Maybe the World'll Look Like This Forever

Clarke and Bellamy have been friends since he transferred to Hogwarts for his seventh year. Now he's taking down dark wizards and she's patching him up when he comes home.

magic always does happen

In their third year, Clarke Griffin and Bellamy Blake are found jumping out of the third-floor Charms classroom window with nothing but a Levitation Charm and a whole lot of hope.They are young, and they believe magic can be made without wands.They spend the next six days side-by-side in hospital wing beds, still arguing over whether it’s “levi-O-sa” or “levi-o-SA”.

A Date With Botticelli’s Niece

There's no way Bellamy's going to let his sister go to sit for an artist who posted an ad for a nude model in a coffee shop. Not alone. That's how people get stabbed. It's just not safe.

Once Again

Five times Bellamy and Clarke disagreed with each other (and one time they didn't).

Nightly, Beside the Green, Green Grass

As a kid, Clarke always wanted one of those friends who climbed into her window whenever they wanted to. And when she meets Bellamy, she gets one.

The Nature of My Game

It's some douchey frat boy who gives Clarke the idea for a "Come in for a free flower if your name is..." sign, and she honestly has a lot of fun with it. She's just not expecting anyone to complain that she'll never put his up. That's some weird Rumpelstiltskin shit.

Occam's Razor

As far as Bellamy's concerned, bachelor auctions are creepy, even if they're for a good cause. But it's Octavia's cause, and she's his baby sister, so of course he agrees. He didn't think Clarke was going to be there. And he definitely didn't think she was going to bid on him.

looks on tempests, and is never shaken

four times Bellamy helps Clarke out, and one time Clarke helps him out.

Believe Me, There's a Better Frankenstein For You To Bride

Two weeks before her wedding, Clarke finds out her fiance is cheating on her. Weirdly, it wouldn't be that much of a problem, except that it's her job to give people relationship advice, and screwing up her own relationship this hard could reflect poorly on her. So she figures she can just marry someone else. That works, right?

The Great Outdoors

Bellamy's life doesn't get worse when Octavia realizes the magic phrase to get him to come on social outings is "Clarke's coming," but it definitely gets busier.Still, it's hard to resist. He's maybe a little pathetic.

I'm Way Out of My Depth Again

Bellamy is pretty sure he's going to stop having sex with Clarke at some point. But he's not going to be the first one to bring it up, because maybe if he doesn't, they can just keep going.

Forever and/or Down in Flames

Bellamy needs a place to live, Clarke needs a new roommate. No one thinks it's a good idea for them to move in together, but they're not letting that stop them.

We Came Out on Top

Bellamy, Clarke, and the trivia night rivalries only they care about.

wherever you're going, i'm not far behind

Bellamy and Clarke are both single, and fucking, and it's going to be fine.

It's Something So Surreal

On one level Bellamy doesn't actually have a problem with the fact that he gets a text message from a number he doesn't know with an attached picture of a hot girl in a fancy lingerie set. He just assumes it's some sort of weird sex app trying to lure him in. After all, no one has boobs that fantastic; it's got to be photoshop. On another level, it gets him riled up about the objectification of women and he's probably going to talk Miller's ear off about it later that night. But then he gets another text that just says, yes or no?

Love Doesn't Discriminate (It Takes & It Takes & It Takes)

Bellamy Blake and Clarke Griffin are soulmates. Too bad neither of them knows it.

I dreamed you a sin (and a lie)

Clarke's in the FBI, Bellamy's the grandson of a mobster, and they've got to work together.

Drops of Gold Like Sparks

Whenever their apartment is too quiet, Clarke and Madi settle into a local coffee shop to catch up on work and homework. Clarke steps outside to answer a call, and Madi asks the most erudite-looking person within shouting distance for help with her history homework.

Forty Yards

Bellamy and Clarke are caught in the crossfire of an Eligius/Wonkru battle, and in the fury of it all, Bellamy refuses to leave Clarke behind.

The Dark Side of the Morning

It isn’t the first time Bellamy has found a sword pressed to his throat, and God knows it probably won’t be the last. At this rate, his neck is going to be one massive scar before the year is up.

See Me In Hindsight

the one where they're project partners and maybe, perhaps, friends. (And maybe, perhaps, more.)

Explain The Infinite

Clarke’s pretty sure you’re supposed to like your soul mate. She really wasn’t expecting Bellamy Blake.

Just as You Are Mine

Clarke seals an alliance with the Broadleaf clan by marrying Bellamy Blake.

But Dear, Don’t Be Afraid Of Love, It’s Only Magic

Apparently all of his classes at Hogwarts are trying to tell Bellamy that he’s in love with Clarke. He needs magic to mind its own business, because he’s known how screwed he is for a while now.

Don't Take No Sorcery

Clarke and Bellamy wouldn't describe themselves and friends, per se, but they have an arrangement. And in a place like Hogwarts, it's only in a clever young witch or wizard's best interest to have an unexpected ally or two.

Maybe the World'll Look Like This Forever

Clarke and Bellamy have been friends since he transferred to Hogwarts for his seventh year. Now he's taking down dark wizards and she's patching him up when he comes home.

he said, she said

If there’s one thing that’s common knowledge amongst the Hogwarts student body, it’s that Bellamy Blake and Clarke Griffin hate each other.

can't control my feelings, can't control my thoughts

When Jasper accidentally gifts Clarke a love potion, everyone she interacts with starts acting...weird. Everyone, that is, except Bellamy.

where dwell the brave at heart

Usually their fights end in doors slamming. Or furious necking in the common room. But really, there's not much difference between the two.

Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic

The rivalry between Bellamy Blake and Clarke Griffin is a thing of legends, but it doesn't exactly stop him from making out with her either.

mapping the curve of your lips and the smell of your skin

She smothers a laugh into her hand just like he knew she would, and he works very hard on schooling his expression into one of annoyance and boredom. But she's there next to him and she's laughing, small sounds slipping out between her fingers, and it's so very hard for him to resist turning to her and laughing with her.

Let's Hope for Some Love

Bellamy's pack is a mess and Clarke is some sort of weird werewolf whisperer.

I wanna raise you to be like her

Bellamy was just trying to take care of his sister - but somewhere along the way he bought a building and started his own orphanage. Now he has a house full of kids, running around, getting into trouble, and wanting good homes. Obviously, Bellamy finds himself loving each one of them like his own life.

our hearts are oceans, our ribs are cages

He lifted himself onto his knees, and suddenly his torso was in between her thighs. Clarke took the opportunity to rest her forehead on his shoulder. The weight of keeping it up was giving her a headache. He tugged at the shoulders of her jacket and peeled it off her limp arms. Then they were at the hem of her shirt, ripped and torn and bloody. He swept it up and she flinched when his knuckles grazed her bare skin."Come on, now," he said softly. "We've gotta get you cleaned up."

Better to Give Than to Receive

Clarke means to give Bellamy a coupon book with chores she'll do for him for his birthday. It's cute, she figures. She actually gives him a coupon book for sexual favors. She goes with it.

One of Our Own

“What do you mean, you found a baby?” Octavia demanded.

Livewire

Clarke Griffin finds 'Atlas' written on her wrist and Bellamy Blake sees flowers bloom on his skin.

Please Don't Get Me Rescued

Bellamy wants to handle his leukemia on his own. Clarke just won't let him. (Happy Ending; No Major Character Death)

now the world is ours to take

in which Clarke and Bellamy realize, that maybe, just maybe, their delinquents are all grown up.

Slow It Down

a one-night stands results in a little surprise.

And I Love This Place, the Enormous Sky

The Skaikru needs an ally, and the Delphi Clan is willing. It might not be their tradition to seal such alliances with a marriage, but Clarke Griffin has always done what her people need. Bellamy can't help admiring that. So he goes with her.

in the silence between worlds (that's where I'll find you)

everyone knows Bellamy and Clarke are in love except for Bellamy and Clarke.

Inconceivable

"Well," Bellamy says dryly, "this whole diplomacy thing sure is going great."

[missmohnique]

If I had known then what I know now..

Have you ever wondered if you would know the person that was the one for you when you met them? I remember reading somewhere that you've probably already met the person you're going to end up with. I zero evidence to back any of this up except my experience. I guess it's true what they say...You always meet someone when you're not looking. Well his name is Shannon and visually he's my usual type tall and thick, outside of that he is like nothing I've ever experienced. He isn't small by any measure but he's not massive either. Shannon has deep mahogany skin, with almond shaped eyes that are a mesmerizing amber color like that of an expensive cognac, warm, comforting and intoxicating. He has beautiful white teeth that almost look like veneers, but are just imperfect enough to be natural. The combination of his white teeth and dark skin, coupled with the way his eyes light up and absurdly deep dimples makes watching him laugh a truly breathtaking experience. 

 The first time I actually met Shannon I was nineteen, he was sitting on my roommates' shoe chest at the foot of her bed. He had come with a homeboy of hers and by association mine "T". I had just walked in from work and class and my roommate called to me "Miller (for some reason she had taken to calling me by my last name) come here." "Do you have food?" I asked starving "No, but "T" is here" (she knows "T" is my one of my favorite people) I yell from my room "well if "T" is here why was I not greeted at the door?" I can hear them laughing from down the hall. I heard "You know I love you M&M (my initials: Mohnique Miller), please don't hurt me I'll do better" I stepped in the room and saw him. When he looked up I saw the spark of recognition in his eyes and I'm sure he saw the same in mine. "Oh Miller this is"... Shannon, I finished her statement. It clicked for him too. See Shannon didn't go to college straight out of highschool like I did, he worked for a year. He worked in a packaging warehouse loading boxes onto trucks to go out for delivery, my father was his boss. I remember my dad telling me one of his guys was leaving and coming to Southern for school. Looking back I think my dad was maybe nudging me in Shannon's direction. He made passing comments on how the women at the warehouse would react when he took his shirt off, apparently this was a common practice.

  Anyway, when he told my dad he was going to Southern, my dad must have told him that's the school his daughter attended because he sent me a friend request on Facebook. We didn't make any plans to link up or anything and honestly I had forgotten all about him until the day he was in my apartment. "Oh my god how are you, how do you like it so far"? "This is so crazy, I'm good. I can't believe I just randomly ran into you at your house no less." At this point both my roommate and "T" are looking at us like we're crazy so I explained "Shannon used to work for my dad". My roommate jumped up "Are you shittin me Miller, he worked for your dad and this is your first time meeting?" She knew my type and he was it "Did you know he went here"?  "Yea, I said, my dad told me over the summer and Shannon requested me on Facebook". We all sat and hung out for a couple of hours, then "T" and Shannon left. Shannon and I only met up one other time and that was it.  I left school the next year and didn't hear from him again. 

 Fast-forward more than ten years and a friend of mine decided to throw a little mid-summer kickback and invited a few people over some I knew, some I didn't. I had been there about an hour, just sitting down having regular conversation with my friend when he called this guy over and as if conjured from my fantasies this brown version of a Greek god stood directly in front of me. I was momentarily speechless, completely caught off guard. He extended his hand and without thinking I took it and stood. "Nice to see you again Mohnique, it's been a long time" he said, then turned to say something to my friend. I have no idea what he said because my complete focus was on my hand that was still engulfed in his and he was stroking the back of my hand with his thumb. My friend snapped me out of my revelry and asked how we knew each other, Shannon told him it was a long story that he would tell him someday and let go of my hand. Curious, I asked my friend the same question. "We were stationed on the same base in Afghanistan." I turned to Shannon "you were in the  Army?" "No ma'am, Marines RECON." My mind immediately produced images of him in and out of his dress blues that I promptly filed away in the back of my mind for later use. Shannon and I spent the rest of the party catching up. He had left school shortly after I did and enlisted in the Marines, he "retired" and has been a firefighter ever since and loved it. We exchanged numbers and called it a night. The next morning I woke up to a text from him "Good Morning, I wanted to hear your voice again but I figured I wouldnt get the favorable response I wanted at 4am lol. Have a great day. I cant wait to see you again and I'll be thinking about you until I do." I read it three times and felt myself cheesing like a teenager. "Girl get ahold of yourself you don't know anything about him." I text him back with a simple "You have a great day too, let me know what your schedule looks like this week." We got together that weekend and every weekend after (he has some rank so he is off on the weekends). Hanging out with him was more like chilling with an old friend. There was no pressure to be anything else and I appreciated it. Over the next few months we really got to know each other. One evening we were at his place, as we often are because he has a balcony with beautiful view of the city and I love a balcony. He was out there leaning on the railing, whisky in hand. I was in the kitchen getting a refill, he didn't hear me come out, so I took the opportunity to stand in the doorway and watch him. At the angle he was standing his profile was backlit by the city lights I took in his 6'2 230lb frame and even in stillness there was a sense of strength and power about him, it emanated from him like an aura and surrounds anyone in his immediate vicinity. He took a deep breath and I guess he registered my presence and tuned to catch me looking at him. He didn't say anything, just tilted his head to the side, and raised an eyebrow. I walked out and asked him if he was ok, he said he had a lot on his mind and couldn't make sense of any of it. "I've found that we often already know what the answer is to a problem or issue we're having, the key is finding someone whose opinion you trust and talk it through." I went back to lounging and sipping my wonderful wine, he has great taste in wine. He turned around and sat next to me and started "well this is whats going on.." "Whoa wait, me?" I asked. Yea he said with an "obviously" look on his face, he continued "Listen, when I'm with you, you always seem so at ease and you put me at ease, which isn't as simple as it sounds for a guy like me." "A guy like you, what do you mean?" Mo, I've seen things as a Marine and Firefighter that I would pay every dollar I'll ever make to unsee, but for whatever reason (looking me directly in my eyes) for the last few months things have been easier. I don't know why but spending time with you helps. You also give great advice and refuse to sugarcoat or water down your thoughts and opinions and that not a common trait these days." I sat there for a moment, then got up and looked at him. It was his turn to ask if I was ok. "Two years ago I was rushed to the hospital and put on a ventilator because I couldn't breathe on my own, three weeks in the ICU later I was diagnosed with an auto immune disease that there is no cure for and would have to manage for the rest of my life. It was a really, really rough time both physically and mentally, but I remember how much being around my friends that are basically family helped. How spending time with them, laughing and forgetting about everything for just a little while made such a difference. Once I got better I prayed that I could do for someone else, what was done for me." I explained with tears in my eyes. "Well you can cross being a lifeline off your bucket list" he smiled flashing those dimples deep enough to swim in. He stepped closer and wrapped me up in his arms. "Ugh, I'm such a crybaby" I said. He said that's ok with me, he wiped a tear off my cheek and laughed. I could feel the low rumble of that laughter in my chest. He was so warm, I could feel the heat down to my bones. We stood just like that for several minutes, then he let go and I immediately missed his closeness but not for long. Shannon took my hand and led me to the couch where he sat first then pulled me into his lap. He again wrapped his arms tightly around my shoulders and rubbed my back. This was it, I was home. I buried my face in his neck and inhaled , he smelled like Ralph Lauren Double Black on top of Cedar. I heard a low groan and I couldn't tell if it was from me or him. I felt safe, protected, and completely relaxed. He tightened his hold on me and placed light kisses on my neck just below my ear and this time I knew the sound I heard came from me. The whole world could have been burning outside the door and I wouldn't have cared. Neither of us said anything or made any attempt to move, suddenly his google home system started "Can U Handle it?" by Usher in the middle " Can you handle it, can I go there baby with you...."  I sat up and looked at him, he looked down at me like he was waiting for something "Well...can you?" he asked licking his lips.

[ronaldsmcrae86]

36 Underrated Ways to Find PAID Freelance Writing Jobs in 2021

Whether you’re a seasoned freelance writer or a new writer with no experience, freelance writing jobs that pay are still plentiful in 2021 — if:

You know where to look…

You know how to promote yourself…

And you know how to differentiate yourself from your fellow writers.

That’s where we come in.

If you’re a copywriter, blogger, or any type of freelance writer who wants to earn a full-time or part-time income doing what you love, this definitive, A-to-Z guide will help you do just that.

Let’s dive in.

Chapter One: 6 Steps to Help You Prepare (& Land More Freelance Writing Gigs)

The philosopher Seneca (allegedly) said, “luck is what happens when practice meets opportunity.”

The book of Galatians in the Bible tells us we reap what we sow.

Stephen King put it this way:

“Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work.”

The common theme? Success tends to find those who are prepared for it.

As a writer, here are six things you should do to prepare for freelancing glory:

1. Create a Writing Portfolio That Kicks Butt

“Do you have writing samples?” “Can I see some of your freelance writing work?” “What are some high-quality articles you’ve written?”

As a freelance writer, you’ll hear questions like these often.

And your answer?

Here’s a link to my writing portfolio.

At least, that should be your answer. But unfortunately, many freelancers skip the whole “prove you actually know how to write” thing.

As Scott Weiland once sang, “let the proof be in the pudding, sugar.”

Don’t simply tell prospective clients that you’re a talented freelance writer. And don’t assume they already know you’re the cat’s meow and the bee’s knees.

Show them.

Further Reading: How to Create a Writing Portfolio That’ll Wow Potential Clients walks you through everything you need to craft an online portfolio of your work, from portfolio sites like Contently to using your own blog. It also offers tips for building a list of writing samples if your portfolio is a bit sparse.

2. Supercharge Your Writing Skills

Unless you want to spend your freelance writing career slumming through online content mills with entry-level job ads that pay peanuts, you need to level up your content creation skills.

Because those high-paying freelance content jobs you lay awake dreaming about? Companies don’t hand them to just anyone.

They give them to the best writers — content creators who:

Realize the importance of SEO (search engine optimization) and can create SEO content with both readers and Google in mind;

Understand the importance of proofreading and submitting error-free work;

Write fast, meet deadlines for their writing projects, and are seemingly immune to writer’s block;

Craft amazing headlines, write with clarity, and support their points with examples;

Have top-notch communication skills;

Can connect with readers on an emotional level.

The good news?

With hard work, anyone can improve their writing skills. And for the few who are willing to roll up their sleeves and do it, the payoff can be huge.

This site is filled with helpful how-to articles on copywriting, content writing, writing contests, content marketing, article writing, and SEO writing. And if you need training, we have that too.

Further Reading: 18 Writing Tips That’ll Actually Make You a Better Writer shares our favorite must-have skills for writers. Read it, bookmark it, and come back to it again and again.

3. Ask for Testimonials

Have you already landed a writing job or two? Awesome.

Did you ask the client to give you a testimonial? A few words declaring their undying love and/or satisfaction with your work (that you can use to help you land more writing clients)?

No? Well, you’re not alone.

Most writers who do freelance work, either due to ignorance or fear, don’t ask for testimonials. Our own Jon Morrow says he’s only had a small handful of writers over the years ask him for a testimonial — even though he would’ve been perfectly happy to give one to them.

So how should you ask for one? Keep it simple.

Here’s how Karen MacKenzie asked for a testimonial after we published her first post on Smart Blogger:

“Would it be possible to get a testimonial for my website? I know you are really busy, but I’d really appreciate it.”

And because Karen did such a good job on her post, I was happy to give her the following testimonial:

Karen offers everything I look for in a freelance writer: Her work is excellent, she finishes on time (if not ahead of schedule), and her attention to detail is wonderful. I enjoyed working with her so much that, as soon as her first article was completed, I asked her if she’d like to write for us again. I happily recommend her.

Want a great testimonial like Karen’s?

Create testimonial-worthy content for your clients and then — this is key — ask them for a freakin’ testimonial.

Note: You can count me among the poor, unfortunate souls who missed out on Jon’s generosity. Before becoming Smart Blogger’s Editor-in-Chief, I was a freelancer. I wrote five posts for Smart Blogger as a freelance writer, which means I passed on five opportunities for Jon to say nice things about me. Don’t repeat my mistakes — ask for testimonials at every opportunity.

4. Learn How to Craft a Killer Author Bio

Picture it:

A wealthy business owner sitting in a Herman Miller chair on top of a rug made out of recycled Herman Miller chairs is reading an article you’ve written.

She’s impressed. She calls to her butler, Jeeves, and asks him to bring one of her suitcases filled with money.

Your article is so good, she wants to hire you.

But then she gets to your byline — the one you threw together at the last minute. The one that lists your hobbies and has no clear call to action.

“Throw the suitcase in the fire, Jeeves,” she says. “I shan’t be hiring a writer today.”

If you don’t want this totally realistic scenario to happen to you, you need to get really good at writing author bios.

Why?

Because someone who’s made it to your author bio is primed. They’ve read your work and want to learn about the attractive, intelligent individual who wrote it.

Maybe they want to check out your website content. Maybe they want to find you on social media so they can follow you.

Or maybe they want your contact info so they can hire you.

A byline should shout to the world your expertise. It should say to prospective clients, “if you thought this article was great, you should hire me and see what I can do for you.”

Taking the time to craft a great one is time well spent.

Further Reading: How to Write a Bio Like a Superhero (Easy 3-Part Process) will show you the step-by-step process for crafting bylines that’ll make rich people want to give you suitcases full of money.

5. Know How to Write a Pitch

Few people enjoy cold pitching to prospective clients.

But you know what?

The job seekers who are willing to do it have an edge. And the ones who are good at it — and I mean really freakin’ good at it — are never more than an email or two away from snagging a new writing job.

So how do you get really freakin’ good at cold pitches? For starters, don’t make these rookie mistakes:

Don’t write long emails. Editors and clients are busy. Respect their time.

Don’t send the exact same pitch to different people. Every editor and every client has unique needs, audiences, and styles.

Don’t ignore their guidelines. Want a sure-fire way to have your email deleted? Pitch to a website that has clearly stated submission guidelines, but ignore said guidelines.

But just as importantly, do these things:

Research. Do your homework.

Find the name of the person you’re pitching to. Address the person by name in your email.

Get to the point. Don’t beat around the bush. Tell them what you want and why.

Sell them on you. Popular websites receive pitches all the time. Why should they hire you? Explain it to them.

These pointers and more (as well as email templates) can be found in our post, How to Write a Pitch That’ll Wow Editors & Clients.

Read it, bookmark it, and reference it often.

6. Learn the Legal Side of Freelancing

One of the big, scary unknowns when you’re working online is how to handle the “legal side” of things.

Should you have contracts with your freelance clients? How do you send invoices? What about taxes?

The legalities can seem so scary and daunting that many freelance writers choose to stick their heads in the sand and ignore them — or, worse, give up on their freelancing dreams rather than have to deal with any of it.

That’s why we put together this resource:

The Definitive Guide to Freelance Contracts, Invoices, & Taxes

If you’re a freelance writer or any kind of self-employed contractor, it’s a resource you’ll want to bookmark.

Chapter Two: 16 Hacks for Finding Under-the-Radar Writing Opportunities

Anyone can find a job board and search for a freelance writing job.

But that’s both a good and bad thing — anyone can do it.

That awesome writing job you found online? The one you’d be perfect for? Fifty other “perfect” people found it too.

We’ll go over some great job board options in a moment (because they do have lots to offer new freelance writers), but first, we’ll take a trip down the road less traveled.

By knowing how to identify hidden opportunities many of your fellow freelancers don’t know about (or do know about, but are too lazy to pursue), you can find writing jobs from well-paying clients who fly under the radar.

For example, did you know you could…

1. Use Twitter to Reverse-Engineer Online Writing Jobs

Want an outside-the-box way to find writing job opportunities?

Try Twitter’s advanced search engine.

In the example below, I searched for tweets that included the phrase “writer wanted”:

I kept the search simple, but I could’ve also searched by language (native English, Spanish, etc.), hashtags, date range, and more. The more options you choose, the more refined your search results.

Click “Search” and you’ll see a list of tweets with various job postings for writers:

Scroll through the list and tweak your job search, as needed.

Some of the results will be scams, but most will be legitimate. Many will be for remote writing jobs, but some will be location-specific (usually New York, Los Angeles, Seattle, San Francisco, Miami, Washington D.C., Dallas, Saint Paul, Minneapolis, Portland, Oklahoma City, Greenville, Atlanta, and other major cities in the United States). Just skip over the ones that don’t apply to you.

If you look at “Top” tweets, as shown in the screenshot above, you’ll find brand-new freelance jobs mixed with older ones. Click “Latest” if you want to see recent tweets first.

Tip: When you find a tweet for a job that shows promise, click Twitter’s like/heart icon. That way you’ll be able to easily find your shortlisted tweets later.

The nice thing about Twitter’s advanced search feature is it’s only limited by your imagination.

Want to find guest blogging opportunities (since many websites these days pay for guest posts)? Enter “guest post” into the “this exact phrase” option and you’ll see every tweet written by someone looking to promote their latest guest blogging masterpiece.

That’ll give you a list of websites that accept guest posts, which you can later whittle down (after you’ve done a little more research) into a list of sites that pay guest writers.

Wash, rinse, and repeat.

2. Follow Leads on Social Media

When you use Twitter’s advanced search feature for finding freelance writing jobs online, you’ll discover certain Twitter handles pop up fairly frequently.

One example is @write_jobs:

When you find a good lead, follow them. That way you can cut through the noise of Twitter and go straight to your best sources.

Even better?

Add them to a private Twitter list so that tweets from all your leads can be found in one handy repository.

Here’s how you do it:

Here are a few more handles to get your Twitter list started:

@FreelanceWJ

@WhoPaysWriters

@jjobs_tweets

3. Check Out Agency Job Postings

Everyone likes to talk about job boards (which, again, we’ll discuss in a moment). But you know what resource most freelance writers ignore?

Agencies.

Per Jon:

One of the best potential clients is agencies because they usually have an ongoing need for writers. Instead of only getting paid once, you can develop a relationship with a few and get new freelance blogging gigs for months or even years into the future. How to Become a Freelance Writer, Starting from Scratch

So how can you get work from agencies? Well, you could contact them directly and ask if they have any freelance work (Jon calls this a “gutsy but effective approach”).

The other way is to keep checking their “career” page:

The Content Marketing Institute maintains a detailed database of agencies. Click here to check it out.

4. Find (and Woo) Clients on Their Turf

Most articles that tout social media as a good place to find leads will point you to Facebook Groups.

And it makes sense. After all, search Facebook for “writing jobs”, click the “Groups” tab, and you’ll see dozens and dozens of options that are open to the public:

If you’re looking for a safe space where like-minded individuals offer tips, advice, and writing inspiration; such groups are great.

But if you’re looking to find paying gigs, you’ll likely be left wanting.

Most members of these groups are looking to be hired, not looking to hire writers. And when someone wanting to hire a writer does come along, the person who raises their hand first is usually the one who gets the job.

That’s not to say Facebook Groups can’t lead to writing jobs that pay. The trick is you need to find groups where the buyers, not the sellers, hang out.

Think “masterminds”, “think tanks”, etc.

Of course, that’s easier said than done. Such groups are usually private. So, what’s a writer to do?

Skip the Facebook Groups. Go Straight to the Sources.

One of the amazing things about technology is the way it allows us to connect and interact with people with whom we’d otherwise never have the opportunity.

In 2014, I didn’t know Adam Connell of Blogging Wizard. But I joined his mailing list and, lo and behold, a “welcome” email with his address arrived in my inbox. I responded, he wrote me back, and a friendship was born.

After reading one of her posts and admiring her writing style, I connected with Henneke Duistermaat of Enchanting Marketing through a humble blog comment. The same was true with Syed Balkhi. I connected with Pamela Wilson via Twitter. For Jon Morrow, the man who would one day hire me at Smart Blogger, I got on his radar by becoming a student in one of his online courses.

Want to write for a mover and shaker in your industry? Want to befriend an influencer who can open doors for you (the kind of doors that lead to paying jobs)?

Make a connection. Be generous. Give without asking or expecting anything in return.

That means following them on Twitter, sharing their content, and interacting with them. It means subscribing to their email list.

And, yes, it may mean buying one of their products. Because here’s the thing:

When you’re their student, an influencer is invested in your future. Your success is their success. You’re a walking, talking testimonial. So many — not all, but many — will do everything they can to help you succeed.

And that includes pointing leads in your direction.

5. Pitch to Software Company Blogs

More from Jon:

You want to work with businesses that have money to spend on marketing. Chances are, those companies are subscribed to various apps for email marketing, analytics, and so on. Most software companies in the marketing space (like HubSpot, Sumo, PayPal, Ahrefs, etc.) also publish a great deal of content. So, who better to write for? You’re instantly getting in front of thousands of the right clients. Many of these blogs will also pay you to write for them, so in many cases, you can get your first client while also prospecting for clients.

e-Commerce companies with blogs tend to publish a lot of content. After all, every article they publish tends to pay for itself (and then some) thanks to the traffic it brings to the website — traffic that often leads to sales of their product.

As with agencies, you can either cold pitch the software companies (which sometimes works), or you can keep an eye out for open freelance positions:

6. Don’t Be Scared of Ghostwriting

A lot of writers don’t like the idea of ghostwriting.

I get it. You’re letting someone else put their name on and take credit for your hard work.

You mean I get to spend weeks pouring my heart and soul into a piece of content, infusing every syllable with my very essence to the point I no longer know where I begin and my words end, and no one will ever know I wrote it?

Yes, that’s ghostwriting in a nutshell (minus the theatrics). But here’s the thing:

Ghostwriting pays better than regular freelance writing. When you ghostwrite, it’s not unheard of to increase your fee by 15%-20% (or more).

The opportunities in ghostwriting are virtually endless. You could ghostwrite blog posts, articles, scripts used on YouTube channels, or even books sold on Amazon.

You can make great freelance writing business relationships by ghostwriting. People who pay for ghostwriters tend to have money (and connections). Oftentimes, these clients can refer you to others.

If your primary goal is to build up a strong list of writing samples, ghostwriting isn’t for you.

But if your goal is to make money writing and build potentially profitable business relationships, it’s something to consider.

And here’s the best part:

Because so many freelance writers loathe ghostwriting, there isn’t as much competition.

Editor’s Note: These next few freelance writing hacks come courtesy of Smart Blogger Certified Content Marketer Germano Silveira.

7. Find Clients Who are Already Hiring Successful Freelance Writers in Your Niche

Want to write for great clients in your niche who pay top dollar?

Well, you can either wait until they post job ads, then compete against everyone else who applies…

Or you can take initiative and proactively seek out these ideal clients.

One of the best places to find ideal clients is in the portfolios of successful freelance writers in your niche.

By studying other writers’ sample content, you can identify clients they’ve worked with in the past.

These clients are ideal targets because:

You already know they hire freelance writers;

You know they have years of experience working with freelancers, so they’ll be easier to work with;

And you know they pay decent wages, otherwise the successful freelance writer wouldn’t work with them.

Start by finding freelance writers in your niche. You can find them by Googling “[YOUR NICHE] + freelance writer” like so:

Scroll through the search results until you see a freelance writer’s website. These writing sites don’t always rank highly, so you may have to go through several pages of search results to find them.

Click on a writer’s website and check out their portfolio. There you’ll find links to articles the freelance writer wrote for various companies in your niche.

Click on a writing sample and visit the client’s website to make sure you’d be interested in writing for them. If everything looks good, add them to your list of potential targets.

Do this over and over again for every freelance writer you find in your search. When you’re done, you should have a big list of ideal clients to target.

Pick one client to target and visit their website.

Study their content to get an idea of what they publish. Pay close attention to their most popular content, as well as the article the freelance writer wrote for them. These will give you a good idea of what type of content to pitch.

Check their website for submission guidelines, which will give you a better sense of what they’re looking for from freelance writers and tell you who to send your pitch to.

Use all of this reconnaissance to brainstorm ideas for good articles to pitch them. Pick your best idea, develop it into a pitch, and send it in.

8. Apprentice With a Successful Writer in Your Niche

Another way to get work from established freelance writers is to build a mutually-beneficial partnership with them.

Many successful freelance writers need help with certain aspects of their business. They could use someone to do their research, proofreading, copy editing jobs, etc.

Of course, they could pay a professional writer or do these tasks themselves. But most would prefer to have someone do it for free.

That’s where you come in.

By offering free assistance to a successful freelancer in your niche, you can save them time and help them make more money in exchange for steady work and writing experience.

Often, successful freelance writers have to turn down work because the client can’t afford to pay their rate. Instead, they can pass this work off to you and split the earnings (again, more money in their pocket).

They can also help you by critiquing your work, giving you tips on how to succeed in the industry, and endorsing you to editors.

Once they trust you and you’ve proven yourself as a writer, they may also let you do some assignments for them.

Successful digital marketing entrepreneur Dan Lok got his start in the copywriting industry this way — by apprenticing with his copywriting mentor Alan Jacques:

“Why did this work out so well? It wasn’t worth Alan’s time for that price, but it was worth my time, because I wanted the experience. I needed clients to gain experience and get better. I got my clients with his endorsement and supervision.” — Dan Lok

So how do you start such an arrangement?

It’s not easy, and there’s no direct path. But your best bet is to buy one of their courses or products. As mentioned earlier, when you become their student, they become invested in your success.

You can also try:

Getting an introduction from someone who knows them;

Connecting with them on social and building a relationship;

Creating a piece of content (perhaps copy for a landing page?) they could use and giving it to them for free.

9. Reverse-Engineer Writing Samples From Job Ads

Ultimately, most clients don’t care about your experience or credentials. They just want a freelance writer who can complete their assignment and get results.

Your job is to convince them YOU are that freelance writer.

And the best way to convince them you can do the assignment is… to do the assignment.

Most job ads ask for relevant writing samples. When applying to these ads, most freelancers provide similar writing samples.

In other words, they provide articles they wrote for another client that sort of match what the ad is looking for, but not really. Unless they’ve written for an identical client before, their writing samples will be a bit off.

You can immediately differentiate yourself from other applicants and increase your odds of getting hired by creating a writing sample tailor-made for each client.

Start by finding job ads on job sites like Upwork.

Don’t just look for any old job. Get specific with your search criteria to find ideal jobs — jobs that are in your niche, about subjects that interest you, and offer to pay premium prices.

When you come across an ideal job description, study it from top to bottom. Make note of everything the client is looking for in a writer and the assignment.

Then brainstorm ideas for articles that perfectly match what the client wants. If necessary, research tactics and techniques for creating such content.

For example, in the screenshot above, the client is seeking someone who can “write about boring, dry, technical topics.” You could Google, “how to write about boring topics”, then apply what you find to your sample article.

Select your strongest idea and write it. Try to pick a short, simple idea that won’t take too much time to write. Otherwise, the client may hire someone else before you finish.

Finally, apply to the job and submit your tailor-made content as a writing sample. You can either publish the article on a free site like Medium or submit it with your application as a Microsoft Word or Google Doc.

The best part of this strategy?

Even if the client doesn’t hire you, you’ll still walk away with a strong writing sample to add to your portfolio. And if you repeat this process, you’ll quickly build a portfolio of writing samples that are super-relevant to your ideal clients.

10. Pitch Every Service You’ve Used in the Last Year

If you’re a beginner freelance writer, one of the best places to find writing gigs is with the companies/products you already use.

They make great potential clients because:

You’re already familiar with the product/service;

You’re in their target market, so writing for their audience is easier;

You already have a relationship with these large and small businesses.

In fact, you should include these points in your pitch.

Start by making a list of every product/service you’ve used in the last year. This can include gyms, hair salons, landscapers, etc.

Visit their websites and perform a content audit:

Are there problems with their web copy you could offer to improve?

Do they have a regularly-updated blog? Could you contribute to it in an impactful way? Could you help them target certain keywords with their content?

Basically, you’re trying to match the services you offer with the content they need.

While you may be able to convince these companies to start a blog, the best targets are companies that understand the importance of content marketing and invest in it accordingly.

Once you’ve identified your targets and how you can help them, send an email to someone on their marketing team offering your services.

Your pitch should mention you’ve used their product/service and love it, as well as the fact you’re a member of their target market and will be able to effectively influence their audience.

Offer to work for a price you think they can afford, based on your research. You may not get paid top-dollar initially, but the real goal is to establish a working relationship, get steady work, and contribute to your portfolio.

By sending out 30 such emails, Julie Wilson was able to generate over $1,000 in her first month employing this strategy.

11. Write Tutorials for Products You’ve Used

This tip is similar to the previous one in that you’ll be soliciting a business you’re familiar with.

However, this technique differs because it involves writing articles on spec — creating articles for free before you pitch them.

Make a list of products you’ve used that fall into your freelance writing niche. For example, if you want to become a SaaS writer, make a list of software you use or have used in the past.

Visit the websites of these companies to determine if they’re good prospects. Look for companies with well-established, regularly-updated blogs.

Check to see if they have submission guidelines, which will give you information on the type of content they’re looking for and let you know if they hire freelance writers and/or accept guest posts.

Then write a tutorial (that includes a thorough product description) on how to use their product to achieve a desired result. If possible, create a case study describing the results you achieved with the product and how you did so.

Contact someone in the company via email or LinkedIn. Tell them you’re about to publish the article on Medium (or some other blog) and were wondering if:

They want to publish it on their blog instead;

They’d be willing to share and/or link to the article once you’ve published it.

Even if they don’t buy the article, you’ll add another writing sample to your portfolio while establishing a relationship with a potential client who may keep you in mind for future work.

12. Find and Fix Weak/Old Content

By now, we’ve established the benefit of demonstrating your value to potential clients in advance.

Another way to demonstrate value is by improving their weak, flawed, or outdated content.

You’d be surprised by how many influential, well-established organizations have flawed web content.

Often, these organizations are so preoccupied with creating new content they overlook small errors or forget to update their content to meet new developments.

That’s where you come in.

By identifying weak spots and fixing them for free, you can establish a relationship with a potential client that gets your foot in the door.

Of course, you shouldn’t just visit hundreds of random websites hoping to find bad copy or content. Think of how time-consuming and unbearably boring that would be.

Instead, make a list of 10 to 20 blogs, companies, or influencers you’d most like to write for.

Visit their websites, analyze their content, and make note of areas you can improve.

Look for older content that could use an update. For example, a headline like “How to be a freelance writer in 2016” is a great candidate for modernization.

(On the other hand, something like “Google Authorship: The Complete Handbook for Getting Respect, Readers, and Rankings” wouldn’t work because its main topic, “Google authorship”, is no longer relevant.)

Dan Lok used a similar tactic to get work from guerrilla marketing guru Jay Conrad Levinson. Dan rewrote Jay’s entire sales pitch on spec and sent it to him. Not only did Jay use the updated sales copy and pay Dan for his spec work, but the new copy tripled Jay’s conversions!

Maybe you’re not a copywriting expert like Dan. But if you find a website with weak or unremarkable sales copy, you could try researching the subject and giving it a shot. At the very least, this makes for good practice.

Once you’ve identified and updated your content, send an email to your target explaining what you did.

Tell them you came across their website or blog article, noticed some flaws, and thought you could help them out by improving it.

While they may offer to pay you for your work like Jay did, I don’t recommend trying to sell it to them.

The true power of this tactic is you’re establishing a relationship by being helpful and demonstrating value upfront. And it works best when done for free.

Trying to sell them your work can come off as opportunistic, arrogant, and reduce the chances they’ll bite.

But if you help them for free and they like your work, they may decide to pay you (like Jay did) and/or keep you in mind for future assignments.

13. Dominate Quora

Quora is a social media platform where users can post questions and get answers from other users.

Whether or not you get clients from Quora, it’s an insanely useful marketing platform for writers that allows you to:

Connect with people in your niche in a helpful way and demonstrate your expertise;

Show potential clients you can write for their audience;

Generate long-term traffic from each answer you post (popular Quora questions and answers often get ranked in Google);

Establish yourself as an authority in your niche and build an audience, both of which make you more attractive to potential clients.

Networking on Quora can be an effective, albeit indirect, method for getting freelance writing jobs online.

The essence of a Quora marketing strategy is this:

Find questions that are relevant to your niche; provide helpful, in-depth answers that demonstrate your writing skill; and advertise your writing services in your profile.

Start by creating a stellar Quora profile.

Treat your Quora profile like your freelance business website. You should include your position as a freelance writer, a high-quality profile picture, a description of the benefits of your services, and links to your writing samples and website.

In the “Credentials & Highlights” section, list all of the credentials and experiences that reinforce your position as an authority in your niche.

In the “Knows About” section, be sure to include topics related to your writing niche as well as your role as a freelance writer (SEO, content marketing, blogging, and so on).

Next, find and follow trending topics related to your writing niche as well as the type of content you create (articles, content marketing, email copy, web copy, etc.).

When your profile is all set up and ready to go, start searching for questions relevant to your writing niche. “Relevant questions” include questions that are of interest to potential clients and/or their audience.

You can find relevant questions either by clicking on a Topic and scanning for them, or by typing relevant keywords into the search bar.

When you come across a relevant question, bookmark it in the “Answer Later” section for easy access.

Finally, write phenomenal answers to your saved questions.

Your answers should be helpful. They should answer all parts of the question in the best way possible. And you should include links to additional resources if and when necessary.

Your answers should tell stories. Stories are not only a great way to engage readers and increase views, they also help readers learn and retain information better.

Your answers should incorporate visuals. Visuals break up your text and make your answers more visually appealing and easier to read.

Be sure to link to your writing samples when possible. In fact, whenever you publish a new article, you should spend some time finding and answering Quora questions related to it as a way to drive traffic.

Regularly answer questions to build your Quora audience and views. You’ll increase your position as an authority in your niche, increase your value to clients by building an audience, and potentially get freelance work from employers who come across your answers.

14. Offer Referral Deals

If they like your work, most clients will happily refer you to others.

But some clients may be reticent to refer you to others because they want to keep you to themselves.

Other clients simply require a bit of motivation.

A simple way to provide this motivation is to sweeten the pot with a referral deal.

Tell clients that for every referral they send your way that turns into a job, you’ll create one free piece of content for them.

Even though you’ll waste some work hours on free work, you’ll more than make up for it with the steady stream of new clients you get.

Short. Sweet. And simple.

Just remember:

It’s important you honor your word.

If a client finds out they referred you to someone, you got the job, and you reneged on your end of the deal, your relationship with the client will end and your reputation as a writer will be tarnished.

15. Monitor Companies That are Hiring for Content Marketing Roles

When you see an ad for a content marketing role, a “job opportunity flag” should be raised in your head.

A new content marketing hire is a sign a company is either investing more in content marketing or changing its content marketing strategy.

It can also simply mean they’re filling a vacant position.

Either way, a new hire still signifies a change in strategy. And it’s likely they’ll need more content and more help creating that content.

Rather than waiting for the company to post an ad for freelance writers (like those other lazy freelancers), take the initiative and demonstrate value upfront.

Reach out to the company (or even their new hire) and offer your help executing their new strategy.

First, use LinkedIn to monitor job ads seeking content producers and marketers.

With LinkedIn, you can use filters to narrow your search by job role, job type, and industry.

You’ll want to filter out any companies that aren’t in your writing niche using the “Industry” filter. If you write for software companies, limit your search to software companies.

It’s also best to limit your search to top-level content marketing roles. Top-level hires are the best indication a company is investing in a new content marketing strategy and increasing content production.

To filter for top-level roles, use keywords like “Content Marketing Strategist”, “Content Marketing Manager”, “Content Marketing Specialist”, “Head of Content Marketing”, etc. You can also use LinkedIn’s “Experience” and “Title” filters to narrow your search to top-level positions.

The best part about using LinkedIn for this strategy is you can set a job alert and have new job ads emailed to you. No need to waste time running new job searches over and over again in order to find job openings. Just set it and forget it.

Next, read the job ads to get a sense of the opportunity potential.

If the job ad indicates the company will be producing lots of new content, you know they’ll be a good source of potential work. Often the ad will say something like, “we’re looking to ramp up our content marketing efforts.”

Keep an eye out for any information on the new direction of their content strategy. If the ad says they’re looking to use written content to build authority in their niche, then make note of it. You’ll use it later in your pitch.

Once you’ve identified a few good prospects, it’s time to start crafting your pitch.

A great pitch should include:

1. An introduction that aligns you with their goals.

You might say something like, “I understand you’re looking to build authority with your blog and I think I can help.” This shows you’ve read their ad and understand what they want to achieve.

2. An article written on spec that you’ll let them publish for free.

This demonstrates your value and writing abilities upfront. It’s also a great way to start a positive relationship by giving them something of value for free.

3. A list of 5 to 10 article ideas you think they’ll like.

This demonstrates your ability to regularly produce great content ideas and will be a valuable asset to their new strategy.

Finally, send them your pitch.

It’s best to send your idea to the newbie hire once they’ve filled the role — the new hire will be most receptive because they’re new to the company, eager to make a good impression, and stand to benefit most from bringing a talented freelancer on board.

While this tactic takes a bit of effort, the potential for steady, long-term work makes it worthwhile.

16. Use an Ad Fishing Strategy

Ad Fishing is a technique that involves using Facebook or LinkedIn ads to target warm leads.

For simplicity, we’ll describe how to employ this strategy on Facebook, but the process for LinkedIn is identical.

To perform this strategy, you’ll need:

A Facebook Page;

Your own website/blog with the Facebook Pixel installed;

A case study describing how you helped a client achieve a certain result with your content marketing.

First, you’ll need a case study that demonstrates the value of your freelance writing.

Your case study should describe a positive result you helped a client achieve and the process you used for doing so. The positive result could be as simple as helping them boost monthly web traffic with a blog post.

Make sure your case study has a killer, benefit-oriented headline. For example:

“How I Got 10k New Monthly Visitors for a Client With One Blog Post”

The case study should also include a CTA (call to action) at the end inviting readers to contact you if they want similar results.

Next, create a “Bait Article” — an article your target clients will want to read.

For example, if you want to work with health care companies, you could create an article titled “7 Ways Health Care Companies Can Generate More Web Traffic”.

Promote the article wherever your target clients hang out. Post it in relevant Facebook Groups. Link to it in answers to relevant Quora questions. Or, simply promote it to your targets using Facebook Ads.

Finally, create a Retargeting Ad sharing your case study with anyone who reads the “Bait Article”.

The essence of this strategy is to use the “Bait Article” to find and qualify warm leads — people in your target market who want the results you can help them achieve.

Then you hook those warm leads with a case study that clearly demonstrates how you can help them achieve the desired result.

Because the ad only targets a small number of qualified leads, ad spend will be low and ROI (return on investment) will be high.

Chapter Three: 14 Writing Job Boards That are Packed with Writing Opportunities

Next up, let’s look at some popular (and some under-the-radar) job boards used by freelance writers all over the world.

If you’re new to freelancing, job boards will likely be your easiest entry point. You’ll be able to find writing jobs of all shapes and sizes.

Once you have some writing samples under your belt and you begin getting good referrals from clients, more opportunities will become available to you.

Let’s start with possibly the biggest one:

1. LinkedIn Jobs

If you’re a professional, there’s a good chance you already have a LinkedIn profile (even if, like me, you tend to forget about it for months at a time).

Its job board, as you would expect from a site that specializes in professional networking, is huge.

How huge?

Well, at the time of this writing, there are over 35,000 job postings for “copywriter” alone:

Thankfully, LinkedIn offers lots of filters. Search by date, the job’s industry, the job type (full-time jobs, part-time writing jobs, etc.), experience level, and more.

If you’re already on LinkedIn, it’s a good place to start.

2. Upwork

Depending on who you talk to, Upwork (formerly Elance-oDesk) is either awful or amazing. And the funny thing is, the reasons for its awfulness and amazingness are one and the same: low rates.

Employers love Upwork because you can typically find qualified applicants who live in areas with lower cost of living. As a result, they can get great work at reduced costs.

Those who hate Upwork do so because they’re competing with the aforementioned applicants who can comfortably live on less money.

So what does this mean for freelance writers?

Unless you’re content with low-paying rates (because you need the practice, you want to build up your portfolio, you need all the work you can get, etc.), you’re better off with one of the other job boards mentioned.

3. ProBlogger

As its name would suggest, the ProBlogger Job Board is a popular one among bloggers in search of freelance writing work and blogger jobs.

With a $70 starting price for posting a job, you tend to find smaller companies on ProBlogger. There are exceptions, of course.

One neat feature offered by ProBlogger is a Candidate Database employers can search to find writers. It’s free for writers to join, and you can use it as an online resume and sales page. Here’s an example from Smart Blogger student Mark Tong:

4. BloggingPro

BloggingPro requires clients to publish job ads that pay a minimum of $15 an hour (or have at least 500 words).

Job categories are blogging, content writing jobs, copywriting, and journalism. And types of work include contract, freelance, full-time, part-time, internship, and temporary.

As job boards not named LinkedIn or Indeed go, it’s pretty detailed.

5. FlexJobs

FlexJobs specializes in all types of online jobs and remote work, including remote jobs for writers. It isn’t free, but you get a lot for your money.

For starters, you’re safe from scams — each job posting is vetted by an actual human. You also don’t have to hunt for work from home jobs that’ll allow you to write in your pajamas — all online writing job ads (from blog posts to white papers to press releases to academic writing) are for remote positions. It’s kind of their thing.

Plans start at $14.95 per month. There’s a 30-day money-back guarantee, which means you can try it out, see if there are any promising writing jobs, and cancel if you don’t like what you see.

6. Freelance Writers Den

Founded by Carol Tice, the Freelance Writers Den is a paid membership site with a long track record.

Unlike most job boards, you also get bonuses. There are over 300 hours of training material, pitch examples, templates, and monthly live events.

Membership is $25 per month with no contract. You can cancel anytime and not pay the next month’s dues. There’s also a 7-day money-back guarantee when you first join.

7. Who Pays Writers?

According to its website, Who Pays Writers? is “an anonymous, crowd-sourced list of which publications pay freelance writers — and how much.”

Translation: Once you’re ready to write for a high-profile publication that’ll look amazing on your portfolio, Who Pays Writers? will be a helpful resource you can use to discover which publications accept applications (and how much they tend to pay per word).

It’s definitely one you should bookmark.

8. FreelanceWriting.com

Curating the best writing jobs that Indeed, Craigslist, BloggingPro, and others have to offer (as well as their own, exclusive writing opportunities); freelancewriting.com is a one-step resource for freelancers.

Not all job listings are for remote writing jobs, but you can filter the ads to fit your needs. Categories include blogging and marketing jobs (WordPress, SEO, content manager, content strategist for startups, etc.), writing (freelance copywriter, staff writer, short stories, article writer, non-fiction writer, creative writer, grant writer, medical writer, healthcare report writer, real estate writer, personal finance writer, creative content writer, script writer for podcasts, etc.), proofreading (writer/editor, copy editor, content editor, proofreader, etc.), journalism, non-profit gigs, copywriting jobs, social media (marketing manager, social media manager, etc.), and technical writing (technical writer, proposal writer, cover letters, service writer, resume writer, etc.).

If you’d like to keep your list of remote job boards short, freelancewriting.com is a good one to keep on it.

9. Freelance Writing Jobs

Freelance Writing Jobs curates blogging jobs from Craigslist, Indeed, Journalism Jobs, MediaBistro, and others.

Every week day, Monday through Friday, they publish a short list of hand-picked job ads. So, if you prefer quality content over quantity, it’s worth a bookmark.

10. Be a Freelance Blogger

Owned and operated by a Smart Blogger student, Sophie Lizard’s job board keeps things pretty simple: if you want to publish a job ad on Be a Freelance Blogger, it has to pay at least $0.10 per word or $50 per post.

If you’re just starting out, it’s definitely worth looking into.

11. Behance Creative Jobs

Though it’s primarily known for its portfolio features, Adobe’s Behance has a job board for creatives of all shapes and sizes.

Job listings for everything from advertising to public relations to freelance writing can be found, making it a solid resource for all kinds of freelancers.

12. Constant Content

Constant Content is a freelance writing platform that facilitates connections between brands and writers. You register for an account, complete a quiz, provide a short writing sample, and — once you’ve been accepted — start applying for writing jobs.

The brands they work with include Uber, Zulily, The Home Depot, Walgreens, Hayneedle, CVS, and eBay; and they claim their top writers earn up to $90,000 per year.

13. Journalism Jobs

If you want to target magazines and newspapers, Journalism Jobs is a great resource. With close to 3 million page views each month, it’s the largest resource for news writers and journalism jobs on the web.

So, if publications are your focus, it should be on your short list.

14. Copify

Copify is a different kind of freelance writing job board. First, you apply for membership. Once you’re in, you can take writing jobs when and if it suits you.

Its aim is to provide you “hassle-free” freelance writing opportunities. So, there are no contracts or commitments, and no need to submit bids or proposals. If you value simplicity, Copify could be a good fit.

Free Class: Want to make real, tangible money online as a freelance writer? Check out Smart Blogger’s Six-Figure Freelance Writing Class. You’ll get instant access to the first video when you sign up.

Chapter Four: Common Freelance Writing Questions (& Answers)

Still have questions? Don’t worry. It’s perfectly normal.

We’ll wrap things up with a quick FAQ.

Here are the common questions we receive from freelance writers. (If you have a question not discussed here, be sure to leave a comment below!)

You should also check out our Freelance Writing Hub. From elevating your writing skills to getting paid to write, it’s a go-to resource for everything you need to know about freelancing.

Now on to the Q&A…

What is freelance content writing?

Freelance writers are self-employed contractors who are hired by clients to create content for them. The type of content ranges from production descriptions to email copy to full-fledged eBooks — and everything in between.

What do you do as a freelance writer?

Well, hopefully, you write. A lot.

But you also:

Proofread and edit

Market and network

Hone your craft

Send invoices, do taxes, and other administrative tasks

Find paying gigs

And speaking of looking for work:

How do freelance writers find work?

How freelance writers land gigs tend to vary based on their experience writing. When you have a good body of work, you’ll get many of your blog writer jobs through referrals and repeat customers. As a result, if you’re an experienced writer, you typically make more money.

So, when you first start writing, you’ll need to be proactive. The job boards we discussed earlier will likely be where you have the most success initially. And don’t forget about the outside-the-box, under-the-radar strategies we discussed. You can find success with those too.

How much do freelance writers make?

When you’re just starting out, you’ll likely be in the $0.10 to $0.15 per word range. But, as you grow, you can command $500, $1,000, and more per article.

Once you have a body of work and you can prove you get results for clients, your pay increases.

How do freelance writers get paid?

Every client will have their own methods for paying writers, but typically you’ll submit an invoice via a service like PayPal, Stripe, or TransferWise.

Make sure you understand the payment terms before you begin work. If you’re unsure, ask the client.

How much do you charge for a 500 word article? How much should I charge for a 1000 word article?

Using the $0.10 to $0.15 per word range we just discussed, as a new freelance writer you can expect to earn between $50 and $75 for a 500-word article.

For a 1,000-word article, a new freelancer could expect to earn between $100 and $150.

But again, as time goes on, your rate should be higher.

How much does a freelance writer make per hour?

It depends.

Most clients will pay freelance writers by word count or individual project. For such clients, your hourly rate will depend on how fast you work.

But there is some data available to give you a broad (probably too broad) idea:

According to PayScale, the hourly range for freelance writers is $11.50 to $63.02. On average, the hourly rate is $24.07.

ZipRecruiter’s numbers are even broader. It says the hourly range is between $5.29 and $76.68 for freelance writers, with $30 being the national average in the United States.

Takes these numbers with a grain of salt, though.

How do you start freelance writing? How do I become a freelance writer with no experience?

Freelance writing experience or no, if you’re willing to accept lower-than-ideal pay rates on job boards, blog content mills, or freelance marketplaces (think Fiverr and Textbroker), you can get started right away. Find freelance job postings, apply to them, and get to work.

But big picture, the answer depends on which group do you belong to:

I’m a skilled writer, but I don’t yet have a body of work. Or,

my writing leaves a lot to be desired.

If you’re in the former group, focus on building a good writing portfolio. If you have your own website, publish articles on there. Medium is a good option too (and it’s free).

If you’re the latter, you really should focus on improving your writing skills. You can probably find work as you are, sure, but a portfolio filled with crappy articles won’t help you find good clients.

Our writing articles here at Smart Blogger can help you. So can the excellent writing content at Enchanting Marketing, Copyblogger, and others. And if you need formal training, the free class I mentioned earlier is well worth your time.

Can you be a freelance writer without a Bachelor’s degree (or even High School Diploma)?

Absolutely. I have a Master’s in Computer Science that I paid way too much money to acquire. Know how many times I’ve been asked by a potential client if I had a degree? Zero. Know how many times the word “degree” popped up when Jon was interviewing me for Smart Blogger? Zilch.

If you can do the work, you can do the work. A degree in creative writing, or lack of one, won’t matter.

Are “guest posts” the same thing as freelance writing jobs?

Semantics aside, yes.

With a guest post, you’re writing content for a website you don’t own, you’re credited as the author, and you get an author byline (or, at least you do with good guest post opportunities). With a freelance writing job, you’re writing content for a website you don’t own, you’re credited as the author (unless it’s a ghostwriter assignment), and you get an author byline (unless, again, you’re ghostwriting).

The only difference is compensation.

All freelance writing jobs will pay you money. With guest blogging, some blogs and websites pay writers to write guest posts for them; with others, you don’t receive monetary compensation, but you get perks like having your work seen by new audiences and beefing up your writing portfolio.

Do guest bloggers get paid?

Some do. As mentioned above, some websites pay writers to write guest posts for them.

To find out if a guest blogging opportunity is a paying one, you need to check their website. Look for a page named “editorial guidelines”, “guest posting guidelines”, “write for us”, or something similar.

Then (and this is important) you need to thoroughly read said guidelines.

If it’s a paying freelance writing gig, or even if it’s just an unpaid freelance writing opportunity for a popular website, you want to get your relationship with the target website off to a good start. And nothing will get your relationship off to a bad start quite like failing to read their guidelines.

Many websites, especially large ones that receive lots of inquiries, will use their editorial guidelines to eliminate sub-par candidates.

For example, here are a few of the guidelines Smart Blogger used to have in our since-retired “Write for Us” page:

On average, writing a post for us takes 10-20 hours from start to finish. re: the chances we'll accept your post

During our rigorous editing process your post may go through five or six drafts before we feel it is ready to publish.

If you prefer to deliver one draft and have it published pretty much as-is, this is not the blog for you. If you prefer not to have your ideas tested or your writing scrutinized, then again, this is not the blog for you. re: the grueling blog writing process

We like longer posts in the 2,000 – 3,000 word range. Don’t think of a 1,500 word post padded out. Think of a 5,000 post trimmed down to its essence. re: guest posting length guidelines

And, trust me, there was a lot more where that came from. Each paragraph, each sentence, was carefully designed to filter potential candidates.

Most blogs and websites won’t have such detailed guidelines. But they will have some guidelines (and if one doesn’t, it isn’t one you want to do business with).

Read the guidelines, follow them, and you’ll do fine.

What are the highest paying freelance writing jobs? What niche should I pursue if I want to make lots of money as a writer?

The list of profitable writing niches can change for a variety of reasons (just look at what the coronavirus did to the “travel” industry in 2020), but here’s an evergreen tip for finding high-paying gigs:

Follow the money.

If you see lots of job ads for freelance writing jobs in a particular niche, chances are the niche is profitable.

True, smart, and sophisticated businesses will continue to hire freelance writers and produce content during a recession (it pays off for them long-term), but unsophisticated clients will stop — unless they’re still making money.

This is a simple but effective hack for finding profitable niches.

To learn more, check out 17 Freelance Writing Niches That Still Pay Big Bucks.

Is freelance writing legit?

I’ll resist the urge to make an M.C. Hammer joke. Instead, I’ll simply say:

Yes, freelance writing is legit.

(You could almost say it’s too legit.)

Ready to Become a Successful Freelance Writer?

There may be lots of online writing jobs out there, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy out there.

Landing paid writing jobs is difficult. Getting started with a freelance career is difficult. But, that doesn’t mean it isn’t doable. It’s very doable.

With the tips and resources in this post, you’re now armed with knowledge. You know what steps you need to take in order to be prepared, you know under-the-radar places to look for opportunities, and you have a sizable list of freelance writing job boards from which to choose.

All that’s left is for you to take action.

Are you ready to get started? Ready to take a huge step towards quitting your day job and following your dream? Ready to find that first (or hundredth) paying assignment?

Then let’s do this thing.

The post 36 Underrated Ways to Find PAID Freelance Writing Jobs in 2021 appeared first on Smart Blogger.

from SEO and SM Tips https://smartblogger.com/freelance-writing-jobs/

[williamlwolf89]

35 Ways to Find Freelance Writing Jobs (Even in a Pandemic)

Are you afraid it’s impossible to find freelance writing jobs due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic?

It’s certainly more difficult out there in certain niches, but here’s the reality:

Whether you’re a seasoned freelance writer or a new writer with no experience, online writing jobs that pay are still plentiful in 2020 — if:

You know where to look…

You know how to promote yourself…

And you know how to differentiate yourself from your fellow freelance writers.

That’s where we come in.

If you’re a freelance writer who wants to earn a full-time or part-time income doing what you love, this definitive, A-to-Z resource will help you do just that.

Let’s dive in.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: 5 Steps to Help You Prepare

Chapter 2: 16 Under-the-Radar Writing Opportunities

Chapter 3: 14 Job Boards for Writers

Chapter 4: Freelancing Q&A

Get Your House in Order: 5 Steps to Help You Prepare (& Land More Freelance Writing Gigs)

The philosopher Seneca (allegedly) said, “luck is what happens when practice meets opportunity.”

The book of Galatians in the Bible tells us we reap what we sow.

Stephen King put it this way:

“Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work.”

The common theme? Success tends to find those who are prepared for it.

As a writer, here are four things you should do to prepare for freelancing glory:

1. Create a Writing Portfolio That Kicks Butt

“Do you have writing samples?” “Can I see some of your writing work?” “What are some high-quality articles you’ve written?”

As a freelance writer, you’ll hear questions like these often.

And your answer?

Here’s a link to my writing portfolio.

At least, that should be your answer. But unfortunately, many freelancers skip the whole “prove you actually know how to write” thing.

As Scott Weiland once sang, “let the proof be in the pudding, sugar.”

Don’t simply tell prospective clients that you’re an amazing freelance content writer. And don’t assume they already know you’re the cat’s meow and the bee’s knees.

Show them.

Further Reading: How to Create a Writing Portfolio That’ll Wow Potential Clients walks you through everything you need to craft an online portfolio of your work, from portfolio sites like Contently to using your own blog. It also offers tips for building a list of writing samples if your portfolio is a bit sparse.

2. Supercharge Your Writing Skills

Unless you want to spend your freelance writing career slumming through online content mills with entry-level job ads that pay peanuts, you need to level up your content creation skills.

Because those high-paying freelance writer jobs you lay awake dreaming about? Companies don’t hand them to just anyone.

They give them to the best writers — content creators who:

Realize the importance of SEO (and can create SEO content with both readers and Google in mind);

Understand the importance of proofreading and submitting error-free work;

Write fast, meet deadlines for their writing projects, and are seemingly immune to writer’s block;

Craft amazing headlines, write with clarity, and support their points with examples;

Have top-notch communication skills;

Can connect with readers on an emotional level.

The good news?

With hard work, anyone can improve their writing skills. And for the few who are willing to roll up their sleeves and do it, the payoff can be huge.

This site is filled with helpful how-to articles on copywriting, content writing, writing contests, content marketing, article writing, and SEO. And if you need training, we have that too.

Further Reading: How to Become a Better Writer: 14 Tips to Up Your Writing Game in 2020 shares our favorite must-have skills for writers. Read it, bookmark it, and come back to it again and again.

3. Ask for Testimonials

Have you already landed a writing job or two? Awesome.

Did you ask the client to give you a testimonial? A few words declaring their undying love and/or satisfaction with your work (that you can use to help you land more writing clients)?

No? Well, you’re not alone.

Most writers who do freelance work, either due to ignorance or fear, don’t ask for testimonials. Our own Jon Morrow says he’s only had a small handful of writers over the years ask him for a testimonial — even though he would’ve been perfectly happy to give one to them.

So how should you ask for one? Keep it simple.

Here’s how Karen MacKenzie asked for a testimonial after we published her first post on Smart Blogger:

“Would it be possible to get a testimonial for my website? I know you are really busy, but I’d really appreciate it.”

And because Karen did such a good job on her post, I was happy to give her the following testimonial:

Karen offers everything I look for in a freelance writer: Her work is excellent, she finishes on time (if not ahead of schedule), and her attention to detail is wonderful. I enjoyed working with her so much that, as soon as her first article was completed, I asked her if she’d like to write for us again. I happily recommend her.

Want a great testimonial like Karen’s?

Create testimonial-worthy content for your clients and then — this is key — ask them for a freakin’ testimonial.

Note: You can count me among the poor, unfortunate souls who missed out on Jon’s generosity. Before becoming Smart Blogger’s Editor-in-Chief, I was a freelancer. I wrote five posts for Smart Blogger as a freelance writer, which means I passed on five opportunities for Jon to say nice things about me. Don’t repeat my mistakes — ask for testimonials at every opportunity.

4. Learn How to Craft a Killer Author Bio

Picture it:

A wealthy business owner sitting in a Herman Miller chair on top of a rug made out of recycled Herman Miller chairs is reading an article you’ve written.

She’s impressed. She calls to her butler, Jeeves, and asks him to bring one of her suitcases filled with money.

Your article is so good, she wants to hire you.

But then she gets to your byline — the one you threw together at the last minute. The one that lists your hobbies and has no clear call to action.

“Throw the suitcase in the fire, Jeeves,” she says. “I shan’t be hiring a writer today.”

If you don’t want this totally realistic scenario to happen to you, you need to get really good at writing author bios.

Why?

Because someone who’s made it to your author bio is primed. They’ve read your work and want to learn about the attractive, intelligent individual who wrote it.

Maybe they want to check out your website content. Maybe they want to find you on social media so they can follow you.

Or maybe they want your contact info so they can hire you.

A byline should shout to the world your expertise. It should say to prospective clients, “if you thought this article was great, you should hire me and see what I can do for you.”

Taking the time to craft a great one is time well spent.

Further Reading: How to Write a Bio Like a Superhero (Easy 3-Part Process) will show you the step-by-step process for crafting bylines that’ll make rich people want to give you suitcases full of money.

5. Know How to Write a Pitch

Few people enjoy cold pitching to prospective clients.

But you know what?

The writers who are willing to do it have an edge. And the ones who are good at it — and I mean really freakin’ good at it — are never more than an email or two away from snagging a new writing job.

So how do you get really freakin’ good at cold pitches? For starters, don’t make these rookie mistakes:

Don’t write long emails. Editors and clients are busy. Respect their time.

Don’t send the exact same pitch to different people. Every editor and every client has unique needs, audiences, and styles.

Don’t ignore their guidelines. Want a sure-fire way to have your email deleted? Pitch to a website that has clearly stated submission guidelines, but ignore said guidelines.

But just as importantly, do these things:

Research. Do your homework.

Find the name of the person you’re pitching to. Address the person by name in your email.

Get to the point. Don’t beat around the bush. Tell them what you want and why.

Sell them on you. Popular websites receive pitches all the time. Why should they hire you? Explain it to them.

These pointers and more (as well as email templates) can be found in our post, How to Write a Pitch That’ll Wow Editors & Clients.

Read it, bookmark it, and reference it often.

Pound the Pavement: 16 Hacks for Finding Under-the-Radar Writing Opportunities

Anyone can find a job board and search for online writing jobs.

But that’s both a good and bad thing — anyone can do it.

That awesome writing job you found online? The one you’d be perfect for? Fifty other “perfect” people found it too.

We’ll go over some great job board options in a moment (because they do have lots to offer new freelance writers), but first we’ll take a trip down the road less traveled.

By knowing how to identify hidden opportunities many of your fellow freelancers don’t know about (or do know about, but are too lazy to pursue), you can find writing jobs from well-paying clients who fly under-the-radar.

For example, did you know you could…

1. Use Twitter to Reverse-Engineer Online Writing Jobs

Want an outside-the-box way to find writing job opportunities?

Try Twitter’s advanced search engine.

In the example below, I searched for tweets that included the phrase “writer wanted”:

I kept the search simple, but I could’ve also searched by language (native English, Spanish, etc.), hashtags, date range, and more. The more options you choose, the more refined your search results.

Click “Search” and you’ll see a list of tweets with various job postings for writers:

Scroll through the list and tweak your job search, as needed.

Some of the results will be scams, but most will be legitimate. Many will be for remote writing jobs, but some will be location specific (usually New York, Los Angeles, Seattle, San Francisco, Miami, Washington D.C., Dallas, Saint Paul, Minneapolis, Portland, and other major cities in the United States). Just skip over the ones that don’t apply to you.

If you look at “Top” tweets, as shown in the screenshot above, you’ll find brand-new jobs mixed with older ones. Click “Latest” if you want to see recent tweets first.

Tip: When you find a tweet for a job that shows promise, click Twitter’s like/heart icon. That way you’ll be able to easily find your shortlisted tweets later.

The nice thing about Twitter’s advanced search feature is it’s only limited by your imagination.

Want to find guest blogging opportunities (since many websites these days pay for guest posts)? Enter “guest post” into the “this exact phrase” option and you’ll see every tweet written by someone looking to promote their latest guest blogging masterpiece.

That’ll give you a list of websites that accept guest posts, which you can later whittle down (after you’ve done a little more research) into a list of sites that pay guest writers.

Wash, rinse, and repeat.

2. Follow Leads on Social Media

When you use Twitter’s advanced search feature to find freelance writing jobs online, you’ll discover certain Twitter handles pop up fairly frequently.

One example is @write_jobs:

When you find a good lead, follow them. That way you can cut through the noise of Twitter and go straight to your best sources.

Even better?

Add them to a private Twitter list so that tweets from all your leads can be found in one handy repository.

Here’s how you do it:

Here are a few more handles to get your Twitter list started:

@FreelanceWJ

@WhoPaysWriters

@jjobs_tweets

3. Check Out Agency Job Postings

Everyone likes to talk about job boards (which, again, we’ll discuss in a moment). But you know what resource most freelance writers ignore?

Agencies.

Per Jon:

One of the best potential clients is agencies, because they usually have an ongoing need for writers. Instead of only getting paid once, you can develop a relationship with a few and get new freelance blogging gigs for months or even years into the future. How to Become a Freelance Writer, Starting from Scratch

So how can you get work from agencies? Well, you could contact them directly and ask if they have any freelance work (Jon calls this a “gutsy but effective approach”).

The other way is to keep checking their “career” page:

The Content Marketing Institute maintains a detailed database of agencies. Click here to check it out.

4. Find (and Woo) Clients on Their Turf

Most articles that tout social media as a good place to find leads will point you to Facebook Groups.

And it makes sense. After all, search Facebook for “writing jobs”, click the “Groups” tab, and you’ll see dozens and dozens of options that are open to the public:

If you’re looking for a safe space where like minded individuals offer tips, advice, and writing inspiration; such groups are great.

But if you’re looking to find paying gigs, you’ll likely be left wanting.

Most members of these groups are looking to be hired, not looking to hire writers. And when someone wanting to hire a writer does come along, the person who raises their hand first is usually the one who gets the job.

That’s not to say Facebook Groups can’t lead to online writing jobs that pay. The trick is you need to find groups where the buyers, not the sellers, hang out.

Think “masterminds”, “think tanks”, etc.

Of course, that’s easier said than done. Such groups are usually private. So, what’s a writer to do?

Skip the Facebook Groups. Go Straight to the Sources.

One of the amazing things about technology is the way it allows us to connect and interact with people with whom we’d otherwise never have the opportunity.

In 2014, I didn’t know Adam Connell of Blogging Wizard. But I joined his mailing list and, lo and behold, a “welcome” email with his address arrived in my inbox. I responded, he wrote me back, and a friendship was born.

After reading one of her posts and admiring her writing style, I connected with Henneke Duistermaat of Enchanting Marketing through a humble blog comment. The same was true with Syed Balkhi. I connected with Pamela Wilson via Twitter. For Jon Morrow, the man who would one day hire me at Smart Blogger, I got on his radar by becoming a student in one of his online courses.

Want to write for a mover and shaker in your industry? Want to befriend an influencer who can open doors for you (the kind of doors that lead to paying jobs)?

Make a connection. Be generous. Give without asking or expecting anything in return.

That means following them on Twitter, sharing their content, and interacting with them. It means subscribing to their email list.

And, yes, it may mean buying one of their products. Because here’s the thing:

When you’re their student, an influencer is invested in your future. Your success is their success. You’re a walking, talking testimonial. So many — not all, but many — will do everything they can to help you succeed.

And that includes pointing leads in your direction.

5. Pitch to Software Company Blogs

More from Jon:

You want to work with businesses who have money to spend on marketing. Chances are, those companies are subscribed to various apps for email marketing, analytics, and so on. Most software companies in the marketing space (like HubSpot, Sumo, PayPal, Ahrefs, etc.) also publish a great deal of content. So, who better to write for? You’re instantly getting in front of thousands of the right clients. Many of these blogs will also pay you to write for them, so in many cases you can get your first client while also prospecting for clients.

e-Commerce companies with blogs tend to publish a lot of content. After all, every article they publish tends to pay for itself (and then some) thanks to the traffic it brings to the website — traffic that often leads to sales of their product.

As with agencies, you can either cold pitch the software companies (which sometimes works), or you can keep an eye out for open freelance positions:

6. Don’t Be Scared of Ghostwriting

A lot of writers don’t like the idea of ghostwriting.

I get it. You’re letting someone else put their name on and take credit for your hard work.

You mean I get to spend weeks pouring my heart and soul into a piece of content, infusing every syllable with my very essence to the point I no longer know where I begin and my words end, and no one will ever know I wrote it?

Yes, that’s ghostwriting in a nutshell (minus the theatrics). But here’s the thing:

Ghostwriting pays better than regular freelance writing. When you ghostwrite, it’s not unheard of to increase your fee by 15%-20% (or more).

The opportunities in ghostwriting are virtually endless. You could ghostwrite blog posts, articles, scripts used on YouTube channels, or even books sold on Amazon.

You can make great freelance writing business relationships by ghostwriting. People who pay for ghostwriters tend to have money (and connections). Oftentimes, these clients can refer you to others.

If your primary goal is to build up a strong list of writing samples, ghostwriting isn’t for you.

But if your goal is to make money writing and build potentially-profitable business relationships, it’s something to consider.

And here’s the best part:

Because so many freelance writers loathe ghostwriting, there isn’t as much competition.

Editor’s Note: These next few freelance writing hacks come courtesy of Smart Blogger Certified Content Marketer Germano Silveira.

7. Find Clients Who are Already Hiring Successful Freelance Writers in Your Niche

Want to write for great clients in your niche who pay top dollar?

Well, you can either wait until they post job ads, then compete against everyone else who applies…

Or you can take initiative and proactively seek out these ideal clients.

One of the best places to find ideal clients is in the portfolios of successful freelance writers in your niche.

By studying other writers’ sample content, you can identify clients they’ve worked with in the past.

These clients are ideal targets because:

You already know they hire freelance writers;

You know they have years of experience working with freelancers, so they’ll be easier to work with;

And you know they pay decent wages, otherwise the successful freelance writer wouldn’t work with them.

Start by finding freelance writers in your niche. You can find them by Googling “[YOUR NICHE] + freelance writer” like so:

Scroll through the search results until you see a freelance writer’s website. These writing sites don’t always rank highly, so you may have to go through several pages of search results to find them.

Click on a writer’s website and check out their portfolio. There you’ll find links to articles the freelance writer wrote for various companies in your niche.

Click on a writing sample and visit the client’s website to make sure you’d be interested in writing for them. If everything looks good, add them to your list of potential targets.

Do this over and over again for every freelance writer you find in your search. When you’re done, you should have a big list of ideal clients to target.

Pick one client to target and visit their website.

Study their content to get an idea of what they publish. Pay close attention to their most popular content, as well as the article the freelance writer wrote for them. These will give you a good idea of what type of content to pitch.

Check their website for submission guidelines, which will give you a better sense of what they’re looking for from freelance writers and tell you who to send your pitch to.

Use all of this reconnaissance to brainstorm ideas for good articles to pitch them. Pick your best idea, develop it into a pitch, and send it in.

8. Apprentice With a Successful Writer in Your Niche

Another way to get work from established freelance writers is to build a mutually-beneficial partnership with them.

Many successful freelance writers need help with certain aspects of their business. They could use someone to do their research, proofreading, copy editing jobs, etc.

Of course, they could pay a professional writer or do these tasks themselves. But most would prefer to have someone do it for free.

That’s where you come in.

By offering free assistance to a successful freelancer in your niche, you can save them time and help them make more money in exchange for steady work and writing experience.

Often, successful freelance writers have to turn down work because the client can’t afford to pay their rate. Instead, they can pass this work off to you and split the earnings (again, more money in their pocket).

They can also help you by critiquing your work, giving you tips on how to succeed in the industry, and endorsing you to editors.

Once they trust you and you’ve proven yourself as a writer, they may also let you do some assignments for them.

Successful digital marketing entrepreneur Dan Lok got his start in the copywriting industry this way — by apprenticing with his copywriting mentor Alan Jacques:

“Why did this work out so well? It wasn’t worth Alan’s time for that price, but it was worth my time, because I wanted the experience. I needed clients to gain experience and get better. I got my clients with his endorsement and supervision.” — Dan Lok

So how do you start such an arrangement?

It’s not easy, and there’s no direct path. But your best bet is to buy one of their courses or products. As mentioned earlier, when you become their student, they become invested in your success.

You can also try:

Getting an introduction from someone who knows them;

Connecting with them on social and building a relationship;

Creating a piece of content (perhaps copy for a landing page?) they could use and giving it to them for free.

9. Reverse-Engineer Writing Samples From Job Ads

Ultimately, most clients don’t care about your experience or credentials. They just want a freelance writer who can complete their assignment and get results.

Your job is to convince them YOU are that freelance writer.

And the best way to convince them you can do the assignment is… to do the assignment.

Most job ads ask for relevant writing samples. When applying to these ads, most freelancers provide similar writing samples.

In other words, they provide articles they wrote for another client that sort of match what the job ad is looking for, but not really. Unless they’ve written for an identical client before, their writing samples will be a bit off.

You can immediately differentiate yourself from other applicants and increase your odds of getting hired by creating a writing sample tailor-made for each client.

Start by finding job ads on job sites like Upwork.

Don’t just look for any old job. Get specific with your search criteria to find ideal jobs — jobs that are in your niche, about subjects that interest you, and offer to pay premium prices.

When you come across an ideal job description, study it from top to bottom. Make note of everything the client is looking for in a writer and the assignment.

Then brainstorm ideas for articles that perfectly match what the client wants. If necessary, research tactics and techniques for creating such content.

For example, in the screenshot above, the client is seeking someone who can “write about boring, dry, technical topics.” You could Google, “how to write about boring topics”, then apply what you find to your sample article.

Select your strongest idea and write it. Try to pick a short, simple idea that won’t take too much time to write. Otherwise, the client may hire someone else before you finish.

Finally, apply to the job and submit your tailor-made content as a writing sample. You can either publish the article on a free site like Medium or submit it with your application as a Microsoft Word or Google Doc.

The best part of this strategy?

Even if the client doesn’t hire you, you’ll still walk away with a great writing sample to add to your portfolio. And if you repeat this process, you’ll quickly build a portfolio of writing samples that are super-relevant to your ideal clients.

10. Pitch Every Service You’ve Used in the Last Year

One of the best places to find freelance writing jobs for beginners is with the companies/products you already use.

They make great potential clients because:

You’re already familiar with the product/service;

You’re in their target market, so writing for their audience is easier;

You already have a relationship with these large and small businesses.

In fact, you should include these points in your pitch.

Start by making a list of every product/service you’ve used in the last year. This can include gyms, hair salons, landscapers, etc.

Visit their websites and perform a content audit:

Are there problems with their web copy you could offer to improve?

Do they have a regularly-updated blog? Could you contribute to it in an impactful way? Could you help them target certain keywords with their content?

Basically, you’re trying to match the services you offer with the content they need.

While you may be able to convince these companies to start a blog, the best targets are companies that understand the importance of content marketing and invest in it accordingly.

Once you’ve identified your targets and how you can help them, send an email to someone on their marketing team offering your services.

Your pitch should mention you’ve used their product/service and love it, as well as the fact you’re a member of their target market and will be able to effectively influence their audience.

Offer to work for a price you think they can afford, based on your research. You may not get paid top-dollar initially, but the real goal is to establish a working relationship, get steady work, and contribute to your portfolio.

By sending out 30 such emails, Julie Wilson was able to generate over $1,000 in her first month employing this strategy.

11. Write Tutorials for Products You’ve Used

This tip is similar to the previous one in that you’ll be soliciting a business you’re familiar with.

However, this technique differs because it involves writing articles on spec — creating articles for free before you pitch them.

Make a list of products you’ve used that fall into your freelance writing niche. For example, if you want to become a SaaS writer, make a list of software you use or have used in the past.

Visit the websites of these companies to determine if they’re good prospects. Look for companies with well-established, regularly-updated blogs.

Check to see if they have submission guidelines, which will give you information on the type of content they’re looking for and let you know if they hire freelance writers and/or accept guest posts.

Then write a tutorial on how to use their software to achieve a desired result. If possible, create a case study describing the results you achieved with the product and how you did so.

Contact someone in the company via email or LinkedIn. Tell them you’re about to publish the article on Medium (or some other blog) and were wondering if:

They want to publish it on their blog instead;

They’d be willing to share and/or link to the article once you’ve published it.

Even if they don’t buy the article, you’ll add another writing sample to your portfolio while establishing a relationship with a potential client who may keep you in mind for future work.

12. Find and Fix Weak/Old Content

By now, we’ve established the benefit of demonstrating your value to potential clients in advance.

Another way to demonstrate value is by improving their weak, flawed, or outdated content.

You’d be surprised by how many influential, well-established organizations have flawed web content.

Often, these organizations are so preoccupied with creating new content they overlook small errors or forget to update their content to meet new developments.

That’s where you come in.

By identifying weak spots and fixing them for free, you can establish a relationship with a potential client that gets your foot in the door.

Of course, you shouldn’t just visit hundreds of random websites hoping to find bad copy or content. Think of how time-consuming and unbearably boring that would be.

Instead, make a list of 10 to 20 blogs, companies, or influencers you’d most like to write for.

Visit their websites, analyze their content, and make note of areas you can improve.

Look for older content that could use an update. For example, a headline like “How to be a freelance writer in 2016” is a great candidate for modernization.

(On the other hand, something like “Google Authorship: The Complete Handbook for Getting Respect, Readers, and Rankings” wouldn’t work because its main topic, “Google authorship”, is no longer relevant.)

Dan Lok used a similar tactic to get work from guerrilla marketing guru Jay Conrad Levinson. Dan rewrote Jay’s entire sales pitch on spec and sent it to him. Not only did Jay use the updated sales copy and pay Dan for his spec work, but the new copy tripled Jay’s conversions!

Maybe you’re not a copywriting expert like Dan. But if you find a website with weak or unremarkable sales copy, you could try researching the subject and giving it a shot. At the very least, this makes for good practice.

Once you’ve identified and updated your content, send an email to your target explaining what you did.

Tell them you came across their website or blog article, noticed some flaws, and thought you could help them out by improving it.

While they may offer to pay you for your work like Jay did, I don’t recommend trying to sell it to them.

The true power of this tactic is you’re establishing a relationship by being helpful and demonstrating value upfront. And it works best when done for free.

Trying to sell them your work can come off as opportunistic, arrogant, and reduce the chances they’ll bite.

But if you help them for free and they like your work, they may decide to pay you (like Jay did) and/or keep you in mind for future assignments.

13. Dominate Quora

Quora is a social media platform where users can post questions and get answers from other users.

Whether or not you get clients from Quora, it’s an insanely useful marketing platform for writers that allows you to:

Connect with people in your niche in a helpful way and demonstrate your expertise;

Show potential clients you can write for their audience;

Generate long-term traffic from each answer you post (popular Quora questions and answers often get ranked in Google);

Establish yourself as an authority in your niche and build an audience, both of which make you more attractive to potential clients.

Networking on Quora can be an effective, albeit indirect, method for getting freelance writing jobs online.

The essence of a Quora marketing strategy is this:

Find questions that are relevant to your niche; provide helpful, in-depth answers that demonstrate your writing ability; and advertise your writing services in your profile.

Start by creating a stellar Quora profile.

Treat your Quora profile like your freelance business website. You should include your position as a freelance writer, a high-quality profile picture, a description of the benefits of your services, and links to your writing samples and website.

In the “Credentials & Highlights” section, list all of the credentials and experiences that reinforce your position as an authority in your niche.

In the “Knows About” section, be sure to include topics related to your writing niche as well as your role as a freelance writer (SEO, content marketing, blogging, and so on).

Next, find and follow topics related to your writing niche as well as the type of content you create (articles, content marketing, email copy, web copy, etc.).

When your profile is all set up and ready to go, start searching for questions relevant to your writing niche. “Relevant questions” include questions that are of interest to potential clients and/or their audience.

You can find relevant questions either by clicking on a Topic and scanning for them, or by typing relevant keywords into the search bar.

When you come across a relevant question, bookmark it in the “Answer Later” section for easy access.

Finally, write phenomenal answers to your saved questions.

Your answers should be helpful. They should answer all parts of the question in the best way possible. And you should include links to additional resources if and when necessary.

Your answers should tell stories. Stories are not only a great way to engage readers and increase views, they also help readers learn and retain information better.

Your answers should incorporate visuals. Visuals break up your text and make your answers more visually appealing and easier to read.

Be sure to link to your writing samples when possible. In fact, whenever you publish a new article, you should spend some time finding and answering Quora questions related to it as a way to drive traffic.

Regularly answer questions to build your Quora audience and views. You’ll increase your position as an authority in your niche, increase your value to clients by building an audience, and potentially get freelance work from employers who come across your answers.

14. Offer Referral Deals

If they like your work, most clients will happily refer you to others.

But some clients may be reticent to refer you to others because they want to keep you to themselves.

Other clients simply require a bit of motivation.

A simple way to provide this motivation is to sweeten the pot with a referral deal.

Tell clients that for every referral they send your way that turns into a job, you’ll create one free piece of content for them.

Even though you’ll waste some work hours on free work, you’ll more than make up for it with the steady stream of new clients you get.

Short. Sweet. And simple.

Just remember:

It’s important you honor your word.

If a client finds out they referred you to someone, you got the job, and you reneged on your end of the deal, your relationship with the client will end and your reputation as a writer will be tarnished.

15. Monitor Companies That are Hiring for Content Marketing Roles

When you see a job ad for a content marketing role, an “opportunity flag” should be raised in your head.

A new content marketing hire is a sign a company is either investing more in content marketing or changing their content marketing strategy.

It can also simply mean they’re filling a vacant position.

Either way, a new hire still signifies a change in strategy. And it’s likely they’ll need more content and more help creating that content.

Rather than waiting for the company to post a job ad for freelance writers (like those other lazy freelancers), take the initiative and demonstrate value upfront.

Reach out to the company (or even their new hire) and offer your help executing their new strategy.

First, use LinkedIn to monitor job ads seeking content producers and marketers.

With LinkedIn, you can use filters to narrow your search by job role, job type, and industry.

You��ll want to filter out any companies that aren’t in your writing niche using the “Industry” filter. If you write for software companies, limit your search to software companies.

It’s also best to limit your search to top-level content marketing roles. Top-level hires are the best indication a company is investing in a new content marketing strategy and increasing content production.

To filter for top-level roles, use keywords like “Content Marketing Strategist”, “Content Marketing Manager”, “Content Marketing Specialist”, “Head of Content Marketing”, etc. You can also use LinkedIn’s “Experience” and “Title” filters to narrow your search to top-level positions.

The best part about using LinkedIn for this strategy is you can set job alerts and have new job ads emailed to you. No need to waste time running new job searches over and over again in order to find job openings. Just set it and forget it.

Next, read the job ads to get a sense of the opportunity potential.

If the job ad indicates the company will be producing lots of new content, you know they’ll be a good source of potential work. Often the ad will say something like, “we’re looking to ramp up our content marketing efforts.”

Keep an eye out for any information on the new direction of their content strategy. If the job ad says they’re looking to use content to build authority in their niche, then make note of it. You’ll use it later in your pitch.

Once you’ve identified a few good prospects, it’s time to start crafting your pitch.

A great pitch should include:

1. An introduction that aligns you with their goals.

You might say something like, “I understand you’re looking to build authority with your blog and I think I can help.” This shows you’ve read their job ad and understand what they want to achieve.

2. An article written on spec that you’ll let them publish for free.

This demonstrates your value and writing abilities upfront. It’s also a great way to start a positive relationship by giving them something of value for free.

3. A list of 5 to 10 article ideas you think they’ll like.

This demonstrates your ability to regularly produce great content ideas and will be a valuable asset to their new strategy.

Finally, send them your pitch.

It’s best to send your idea to the newbie hire once they’ve filled the role — the new hire will be most receptive because they’re new to the company, eager to make a good impression, and stand to benefit most from bringing a talented freelancer on board.

While this tactic takes a bit of effort, the potential for steady, long-term work makes it worthwhile.

16. Use an Ad Fishing Strategy

Ad Fishing is a technique that involves using Facebook or LinkedIn ads to target warm leads.

For simplicity, we’ll describe how to employ this strategy on Facebook, but the process for LinkedIn is identical.

To perform this strategy, you’ll need:

A Facebook Page;

Your own website/blog with the Facebook Pixel installed;

A case study describing how you helped a client achieve a certain result with your content marketing.

First, you’ll need a case study that demonstrates the value of your freelance writing.

Your case study should describe a positive result you helped a client achieve and the process you used for doing so. The positive result could be as simple as helping them boost monthly web traffic with a blog post.

Make sure your case study has a killer, benefit-oriented headline. For example:

“How I Got 10k New Monthly Visitors for a Client With One Blog Post”

The case study should also include a CTA (call to action) at the end inviting readers to contact you if they want similar results.

Next, create a “Bait Article” — an article your target clients will want to read.

For example, if you want to work with health care companies, you could create an article titled “7 Ways Health Care Companies Can Generate More Web Traffic”.

Promote the article wherever your target clients hang out. Post it in relevant Facebook Groups. Link to it in answers to relevant Quora questions. Or, simply promote it to your targets using Facebook Ads.

Finally, create a Retargeting Ad sharing your case study with anyone who reads the “Bait Article”.

The essence of this strategy is to use the “Bait Article” to find and qualify warm leads — people in your target market who want the results you can help them achieve.

Then you hook those warm leads with a case study that clearly demonstrates how you can help them achieve the desired result.

Because the ad only targets a small number of qualified leads, ad spend will be low and ROI (return on investment) will be high.

14 Writing Job Boards: The Low-Hanging Fruit (Packed with Writing Opportunities)

Next up, let’s look at some popular (and some under-the-radar) job boards used by freelance writers all over the world.

If you’re new to freelancing, job boards will likely be your easiest entry point. You’ll be able to find writing jobs of all shapes and sizes.

Once you have some writing samples under your belt and you begin getting good referrals from clients, more opportunities will become available to you.

Let’s start with possibly the biggest one:

1. LinkedIn Jobs

If you’re a professional, there’s a good chance you already have a LinkedIn profile (even if, like me, you tend to forget about it for months at a time).

Its job board, as you would expect from a site that specializes in professional networking, is huge.

How huge?

Well, at the time of this writing, there are over 32,000 job postings for “writer” alone:

Thankfully, LinkedIn offers lots of filters. Search by date, the job’s industry, the job type (full-time jobs, part-time writing jobs, etc.), experience level, and more.

If you’re already on LinkedIn, it’s a good place to start.

2. Upwork

Depending on who you talk to, Upwork (formerly Elance-oDesk) is either awful or amazing. And the funny thing is, the reasons for its awfulness and amazingness are one and the same: low rates.

Employers love Upwork because you can typically find qualified applicants who live in areas with lower cost of living. As a result, they can get great work at reduced costs.

Those who hate Upwork do so because they’re competing with the aforementioned applicants who can comfortably live on less money.

So what does this mean for freelance writers?

Unless you’re content with low rates (because you need the practice, you want to build up your portfolio, you need all the work you can get, etc.), you’re better off with one of the other job boards mentioned.

3. ProBlogger

As its name would suggest, the ProBlogger Job Board is a popular one among bloggers in search of freelance writing work and blogger jobs.

With a $70 starting price for posting a job, you tend to find smaller companies on ProBlogger. There are exceptions, of course.

One neat feature offered by ProBlogger is a Candidate Database employers can search to find writers. It’s free for writers to join, and you can use it as an online resume and sales page. Here’s an example from Smart Blogger student Mark Tong:

4. BloggingPro

BloggingPro requires clients to publish job ads that pay a minimum of $15 an hour (or have at least 500 words).

Job categories are blogging, content writing jobs, copywriting, and journalism. And types of work include contract, freelance, full-time, part-time, internship, and temporary.

As job boards not named LinkedIn or Indeed go, it’s pretty detailed.

5. FlexJobs

FlexJobs specializes in all types of remote work. It isn’t free, but you get a lot for your money.

For starters, you’re safe from scams — each job posting is vetted by an actual human. You also don’t have to hunt for work from home jobs that’ll allow you to write in your pajamas — all writing job ads (from blog posts to white papers to press releases to academic writing) are for remote jobs. It’s kind of their thing.

Plans start at $14.95 per month. There’s a 30-day money-back guarantee, which means you can try it out, see if there are any promising writing jobs, and cancel if you don’t like what you see.

6. Freelance Writers Den

Founded by Carol Tice, the Freelance Writers Den is a paid membership site with a long track record.

Unlike most job boards, you also get bonuses. There are over 300 hours of training material, pitch examples, templates, and monthly live events.

Membership is $25 per month with no contract. You can cancel anytime and not pay the next month’s dues. There’s also a 7-day money-back guarantee when you first join.

7. Who Pays Writers?

According to its website, Who Pays Writers? is “an anonymous, crowd-sourced list of which publications pay freelance writers — and how much.”

Translation: Once you’re ready to write for a high-profile publication that’ll look amazing on your portfolio, Who Pays Writers? will be a helpful resource you can use to discover which publications accept applications (and how much they tend to pay per word).

It’s definitely one you should bookmark.

8. FreelanceWriting.com

Curating the best writing jobs that Indeed, Craigslist, BloggingPro, and others have to offer (as well as their own, exclusive writing opportunities); freelancewriting.com is a one-step resource for freelancers.

Not all job listings are for remote writing jobs, but you can filter the ads to fit your needs. Categories include blogging and marketing jobs (WordPress, SEO, content manager, etc.), writing (freelance copywriter, staff writer, short stories, article writer, creative writer, grant writer, medical writer, creative content writer, etc.), proofreading (writer/editor, copy editor, proofreader, etc.), journalism, copywriting jobs, social media (marketing manager, social media manager, etc.), and technical writing (technical writer, proposal writer, resume writer, etc.).

If you’d like to keep your list of job boards short, freelancewriting.com is a good one to keep on it.

9. Freelance Writing Jobs

Freelance Writing Jobs curates blogging jobs from Craigslist, Indeed, Journalism Jobs, MediaBistro, and others.

Every week day, Monday through Friday, they publish a short list of hand-picked job ads. So, if you prefer quality content over quantity, it’s worth a bookmark.

10. Be a Freelance Blogger

Owned and operated by a Smart Blogger student, Sophie Lizard’s job board keeps things pretty simple: if you want to publish a job ad on Be a Freelance Blogger, it has to pay at least $0.10 per word or $50 per post.

If you’re just starting out, it’s definitely worth looking into.

11. Behance Creative Jobs

Though it’s primarily known for its portfolio features, Adobe’s Behance has a job board for creatives of all shapes and sizes.

Job listings for everything from advertising to public relations to freelance writing can be found, making it a solid resource for all kinds of freelancers.

12. Constant Content

Constant Content is an online platform that facilitates connections between brands and freelance writers. You register for an account, complete a quiz, provide a short writing sample, and — once you’ve been accepted — start applying for writing jobs.

The brands they work with include Uber, Zulily, The Home Depot, Walgreens, Hayneedle, CVS, and eBay; and they claim their top writers earn up to $90,000 per year.

13. Journalism Jobs

If you want to target magazines and newspapers, Journalism Jobs is a great resource. With close to 3 million page views each month, it’s the largest resource for journalism jobs on the web.

So, if publications are your focus, it should be on your short list.

14. Copify

Copify is a different kind of job board for writers. First, you apply for membership. Once you’re in, you can take writing jobs when and if it suits you.

Its aim is to provide you “hassle-free” freelance writing opportunities. So, there are no contracts or commitments, and no need to submit bids or proposals. If you value simplicity, Copify could be a good fit.

Free Class: Want to make real, tangible money as a freelance writer? Check out Smart Blogger’s Six-Figure Freelance Writing Class. You’ll get instant access to the first video when you sign up.

FAQ: Common Freelance Writing Questions (& Answers)

Still have questions? Don’t worry. It’s perfectly normal.

We’ll wrap things up with a quick FAQ.

Here are the common questions we receive from freelance writers. (If you have a question not discussed here, be sure to leave a comment below!)

You should also check out our Freelance Writing Hub. From elevating your writing skills to getting paid to write, it’s a go-to resource for everything you need to know about freelancing.

Now on to the Q&A…

How do I find freelance writing jobs?

How freelance writers land gigs tend to vary based on their experience writing. When you have a good body of work, you’ll get many of your blog writer jobs through referrals and repeat customers. As a result, experienced writers typically make more money.

So, when you first start writing, you’ll need to be proactive. The job boards we discussed earlier will likely be where you have the most success initially. And don’t forget about the outside-the-box, under-the-radar strategies we discussed. You can find success with those too.

How much do freelance writers make?

When you’re just starting out, you’ll likely be in the $0.10 to $0.15 per word range. But, as you grow, you can command $500, $1,000, and more per article.

Once you have a body of work and you can prove you get results for clients, your pay increases.

How do freelance writers get paid?

Every client will have their own methods for paying writers, but typically you’ll submit an invoice via a service like PayPal, Stripe, or TransferWise.

Make sure you understand the payment terms before you begin work. If you’re unsure, ask the client.

How much do you charge for a 500 word article? How much should I charge for a 1000 word article?

Using the $0.10 to $0.15 per word range we just discussed, as a new freelance writer you can expect to earn between $50 and $75 for a 500-word article.

For a 1,000-word article, a new freelancer could expect to earn between $100 and $150.

But again, as time goes on, your rate should be higher.

How much does a freelance writer make per hour?

It depends.

Most clients will pay freelance writers by word count or individual project. For such clients, your hourly rate will depend on how fast you work.

But there is some data available to give you a broad (probably too broad) idea:

According to PayScale, the hourly range for freelance writers is $11.50 to $63.02. On average, the hourly rate is $24.07.

ZipRecruiter’s numbers are even broader. It says the hourly range is between $5.29 and $76.68 for freelance writers, with $30 being the national average in the United States.

Takes these numbers with a grain of salt, though.

How do I start freelance writing? How do I become a freelance writer with no experience?

Freelance writing experience or no, if you’re willing to accept lower-than-ideal pay rates on job boards, blog content mills, or freelance marketplaces (think Fiverr and Textbroker), you can get started right away. Find freelance job postings, apply to them, and get to work.

But big picture, the answer depends on which group do you belong to:

I’m a skilled writer, but I don’t yet have a body of work. Or,

my writing leaves a lot to be desired.

If you’re in the former group, focus on building a good writing portfolio. If you have your own website, publish articles on there. Medium is a good option too (and it’s free).

If you’re the latter, you really should focus on improving your writing skills. You can probably find work as you are, sure, but a portfolio filled with crappy articles won’t help you find good clients.

Our writing articles here at Smart Blogger can help you. So can the excellent writing content at Enchanting Marketing, Copyblogger, and others. And if you need formal training, the free class I mentioned earlier is well worth your time.

Can you be a freelance writer without a Bachelor’s degree (or even High School Diploma)?

Absolutely. I have a Master’s in Computer Science that I paid way too much money to acquire. Know how many times I’ve been asked by a potential client if I had a degree? Zero. Know how many times the word “degree” popped up when Jon was interviewing me for Smart Blogger? Zilch.

If you can do the work, you can do the work. A degree in creative writing, or lack of one, won’t matter.

Are “guest posts” the same thing as freelance writing jobs?

Semantics aside, yes.

With a guest post, you’re writing content for a website you don’t own, you’re credited as the author, and you get an author byline (or, at least you do with good guest post opportunities). With a freelance writing job, you’re writing content for a website you don’t own, you’re credited as the author (unless it’s a ghostwriter assignment), and you get an author byline (unless, again, you’re ghostwriting).

The only difference is compensation.

All freelance writing jobs will pay you money. With guest blogging, some blogs and websites pay writers to write guest posts for them; with others, you don’t receive monetary compensation, but you get perks like having your work seen by new audiences and beefing up your writing portfolio.

Do guest bloggers get paid?

Some do. As mentioned above, some websites pay writers to write guest posts for them.

To find out if a guest blogging opportunity is a paying one, you need to check their website. Look for a page named “editorial guidelines”, “guest posting guidelines”, “write for us”, or something similar.

Then (and this is important) you need to thoroughly read said guidelines.

If it’s a paying gig, or even if it’s just an unpaid opportunity for a popular website, you want to get your relationship with the target website off to a good start. And nothing will get your relationship off to a bad start quite like failing to read their guidelines.

Many websites, especially large ones that receive lots of inquiries, will use their editorial guidelines to eliminate sub-par candidates.

For example, here are a few of the guidelines Smart Blogger used to have in our since-retired “Write for Us” page:

On average, writing a post for us takes 10-20 hours from start to finish. re: the chances we'll accept your post

During our rigorous editing process your post may go through five or six drafts before we feel it is ready to publish.

If you prefer to deliver one draft and have it published pretty much as-is, this is not the blog for you. If you prefer not to have your ideas tested or your writing scrutinized, then again, this is not the blog for you. re: the grueling blog writing process

We like longer posts in the 2,000 – 3,000 word range. Don’t think of a 1,500 word post padded out. Think of a 5,000 post trimmed down to its essence. re: guest posting length guidelines

And, trust me, there was a lot more where that came from. Each paragraph, each sentence, was carefully designed to filter potential candidates.

Most blogs and websites won’t have such detailed guidelines. But they will have some guidelines (and if one doesn’t, it isn’t one you want to do business with).

Read the guidelines, follow them, and you’ll do fine.

Is freelance writing legit?

I’ll resist the urge to make a M.C. Hammer joke. Instead, I’ll simply say:

Yes, freelance writing is legit.

(You could almost say it’s too legit.)

Ready to Become a Successful Freelance Writer?

There may be lots of writing jobs out there, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy out there.

Landing your first writing job is difficult. But, it does get easier the more you do it. I promise.

Like a Nicolas Cage movie marathon, once you survive the first few, you can handle pretty much anything.

With the tips and resources in this post, you’re now armed with knowledge. You know what steps you need to take in order to be prepared, you know under-the-radar places to look for opportunities, and you have a sizable list of freelance writing job boards from which to choose.

All that’s left is for you to take action.

Are you ready to get started? Ready to take a huge step towards quitting your day job and following your dream? Ready to find that first (or hundredth) paying assignment?

Then let’s do this thing.

The post 35 Ways to Find Freelance Writing Jobs (Even in a Pandemic) appeared first on Smart Blogger.

from SEO and SM Tips https://smartblogger.com/freelance-writing-jobs/

[jonathanalumbaugh]

Weekly Digest

Dec 23, 2017, 4th issue.

A roundup of stuff I consumed this week. Published weekly. All reading is excerpted from the main article unless otherwise noted.

Read

When women are discussed on the main economics discussion forum, the conversation moves from the professional to the personal...

Even with generous subsidies, low-income people are still unlikely to buy health insurance...

Managers are biased negatively against minority workers, and this, in turn, makes the minority workers perform worse...

Living standards may be growing faster than GDP growth...

The World Bank’s $1-a-day poverty line inadequately deals with local context, and a better measure can be derived through more complicated math...

Decriminalizing sex work makes it safer and more common...

Poor kids who grow up in rich neighborhoods do a lot better than poor kids who grow up in poor ones...

Better trained doctors mean fewer opioid related deaths...

After a bad outcome, female surgeon’s referrals went down much more than male surgeons...

The average worker does not value an Uber-like ability to set their own schedule...

Foreign finance has led to more inequality...

Preschool programs targeted at the poor don’t work nearly as well as universal pre-school programs...

Shocks to the economy in certain sectors can have larger effects on the entire economy than previously thought...

— 13 economists on the research that shaped our world in 2017

Comments section: Pilote345 - NO WONDER: Recently, the pilots' pay was less than it was in the 1980's. They might be trying to improve, but for example, I just now found Allegiant Air found pays MD-80 1st Officers $34,440.00, not much more than the $15/hour crowd wants for starting burger flippers.

— Airlines battle growing pilot shortage that could reach crisis levels in a few years

— APOLLO 10 0N BOARD V0ICE TRANSCRIPTION

Under Schmidt’s leadership, Google notched its fair share of not-quite-not-evil missteps. After getting everyone hooked on Gmail and Search, the company started to erode some of its original privacy promises.

— Be Kind of Evil

“People want to cast it as a choice between policy or technology as a solution but those should exist hand-in-hand. We would have never gotten renewable energy prices where they are today without really ambitious public policy. It shows the importance of bold goals,” Brown says.

— California Poised To Hit 50% Renewable Target A Full Decade Ahead Of Schedule

“Keep your phone away from your body,” the state health department writes. “Although the science is still evolving, some laboratory experiments and human health studies have suggested the possibility” that typical long-term cell phone use could be linked to “brain cancer and tumors of the acoustic nerve,” “lower sperm counts,” and “effects on learning and memory.”

— California says the only safe way to talk on your cell phone is to text

Developer infatuation with Chrome is not good — because competition between browsers is good.

— Chrome is Not the Standard

The initial physical deployment of 5G networks alone could pack a major economic punch. A 2017 Accenture report forecasts the cellular communications industry will invest $275 billion in new networks, which will create up to 3 million jobs and add some $500 billion to the United States’ gross domestic product. Longer term, researchers expect the new 5G networks to help stimulate productivity growth to rates not seen since the 1950s.

— The Coming 5G Revolution

In early tests, the company claims the feature helped to reduce ghosting behavior on its service by 25 percent.

— Dating app Hinge rolls out a new feature to reduce ‘ghosting’

Liberated from the diamond and pointing calmly eastward, perhaps a designer’s pure intent is revealed—direction for an otherwise aimless walk in the woods.

— Decoding the Mysterious Markers on the Appalachian Trail

Trade the ginkgo biloba for a bag of spinach during your next stop at the store: Leafy greens may be your best resource for boosting memory... The study involved 960 people, all between 58 and 99 and without dementia. Everyone enrolled in the study was part of the Memory and Aging Project, which has been ongoing since 1979 at the Knight Alzheimer's Disease Research Center at Washington University.

— EATING SALAD EVERY DAY KEEPS BRAINS 11 YEARS YOUNGER AND PREVENTS DEMENTIA, STUDY SHOWS

— Edward Snowden on Twitter

Commander Persera swam out into intergalactic space last week, she says in a forum post, piloting a ship called the Jack of Flames. The reason for the trip is simply to go further from Sol than anyone else (a previous record was set by one Commander Deluvian, who travelled 65,652 lightyears from Sol along a similar route). But also, she says, to bring a canister of mugs from the infamous Hutton Orbital space station into the void and leave them there. Just because.

— Elite Dangerous pilots are scrambling to rescue an explorer stranded in the void between galaxies

[Eminem says] that he's not making his music for other artists who aren't fans to begin with.

— Eminem Responds to Vince Staples’ Criticism of Him

Reports so far claim the spec will offer support for low, mid, and high-band spectrum from below 1 GHz (like 600 and 700 MHz) all the way up to around 50 GHz while including the 3.5 GHz band. It’s been said that the first 5G networks for consumers will begin rolling out in 2019 and this will continue throughout 2020.

— First 5G Specification has been Declared Complete by the 3GPP

As Brian and his wife wandered off toward the No. 2 train afterward, it crossed my mind that he was the kind of guy who might have ended up a groomsman at my wedding if we had met in college. That was four years ago. We’ve seen each other four times since. We are “friends,” but not quite friends. We keep trying to get over the hump, but life gets in the way.

— Friends of a Certain Age

Comment section: Blaming Amazon for this is wrong. The people make a choice to work for them. This is an indictment on our society that forces these people to have to work. Amazon isn’t a charity that should have to take care of people. But it’s all of us who are to blame.

— A Glimpse Inside CamperForce, Amazon's Disposable Retiree Laborers

Effective filmmakers, no matter their genre or taste, put their fingers in the air, feel for a current, and then make art that either complements or pushes against it. They distill the world they live in, which is why there’s no such thing as an apolitical film.

— How Big Screen Sci-Fi and Horror Captured 2016’s Political Paranoia

The Legislative Analyst’s Office predicts California will eventually make more than $1 billion annually from taxing recreational marijuana.

— HOW RECREATIONAL MARIJUANA IN CALIFORNIA LEFT CHEMISTS IN THE DARK

What makes for an effective office environment? Random encounters with your coworkers. And food. Lots and lots of food.

— How to Build a Collaborative Office Space Like Pixar and Google

Fidelity suggests having your yearly income saved at 30, three times your income at 40, seven times your income at 55, and 10 times your income at 67.

— How Much Should You Have Saved at Every Age?

HCI (human-computer interaction) is the study of how people interact with computers and to what extent computers are or are not developed for successful interaction with human beings.

— Human-computer interaction, from University of Birmingham

The company says it is now focused on “on developing and investing in globally scalable blockchain technology solutions,” but, as reported by Bloomberg, it has exactly zero partnerships in the works with crypto firms

— Iced Tea Maker's Stock Price Triples After Adding 'Blockchain' to Name”

9 “Should you invite someone who assaulted you to your wedding.” No.

— It Came From The Search Terms: “I Can See The Sun In Late December”

The best way to cook a steak is medium rare. Plenty of people will disagree with this statement, for different reasons.

— Medium Rare: The Best Way to Cook a Steak

It sounds like it was made by an algorithm. It checks off so many boxes it could land in anyone’s “Because you watched” recommendations.

— Netflix’s first big movie “Bright” feels like a blockbuster built by an algorithm

State law that is rarely invoked requires tied elections to be settled by “lot.”

— Oyster shucking? A duel? No, Virginia will pull a name from a film canister to settle tied election

— Parents give teacher wine with son's face on label

— Reggie Watts: Fuck Shit Stack

— Reggie Watts: Humor in music

Self-efficacy is defined as a personal judgement of "how well one can execute courses of action required to deal with prospective situations".

— Self-efficacy (Wikipedia)

The problem Haven aims to address is known as an “evil maid” attack. Basically, many of the precautions you might take to protect your cybersecurity can go out the window if someone gains physical access to your device.

— Snowden's New App Turns Your Spare Android Phone into a Pocket-Sized Security System

After doing a lot of online research and making a terrible mess, I thought I could make a tutorial for humble people like me. If I can do it, you can do it too.

— The Ultimate Guide to DIY Screw Post Book Binding

The robot obediently appeared in the distance, floating next to Miller. Miller then walked into the same space as the robot and promptly disappeared. Well, mostly disappeared, I could still see his legs jutting out from the bottom of the robot. My first reaction was, “Of course that’s what happens.” But then I realized I was seeing a fictional thing created by Magic Leap technology completely obscure a real-world human being. My eyes were seeing two things existing in the same place and had decided that the creation, not the engineer, was the real thing and simply ignored Miller, at least that’s how Abovitz later explained it to me.

— We Need to Talk About Magic Leap's Freaking Goggles

What’s this mistake so many make? It’s using your current job title as your headline.

— What Your LinkedIn Headline Reveals About Your Self-Confidence At Work

With the Dec. 14 repeal, Comcast and others will be able to charge content companies exorbitant fees without, technically, blocking. This fundamentally changes how the internet works, argues Ryan Singel, a fellow at the Center for Internet and Society at Stanford Law School.

— What will happen now that net neutrality is gone? We asked the experts

The story [Cat Person] stuck with me because I, too, have felt like the story’s main character, Margot. I have belittled myself to make a man in a vulnerable situation feel more comfortable. I have allowed myself to spend time with boys who I did not like that much but who I felt I owed my time to because they really liked me. And I have also taken part in the practice of ghosting- ignoring somebody who is texting me, instead of outright rejecting them. With time, I have gotten much better at being straightforward when someone is interested in me and the feeling is not reciprocated, but I still do the dance many women do: We exert energy into finding the most polite, passive way to get ourselves out of uncomfortable situations with men.

— Why Women Are Ghosting You

[team-adults-blog]

4.03 The Four Horsemen

A Reaction: Apologizing for the map upfront. Not as funny or with as good of an analysis aspect as 4.02, but my reactions to kabby will always be prime. 

NYKOOOOOO I love him so much. Dang they 40+ on the way.

Lol Abby is either the only sensible one or overly dramatic because she’s the only one who covers her face before approaching.

All the animals are dyinggggg noooooooooo

Hold up. When did Octavia get a kick-ass sholder tat? This is definitely a major step in her assimilation into grounder culture. It’s more than just Indra accepting her now- maybe it’s only trikru at the moment and she gets the tattoo from them, but it’s still a big step from last season when she’s still getting hate from them. Sure she’s always going to get hate for being an outsider, but probs more from killing everybody now. Kudos. It’s rad.

Indra “I’m so proud” Roan one death to save thousands, it’s good politics. Indra has the warrior daughter she’s always wanted, but has it gone too far?

Dr. Squad all with crossed arms. What a posse. So happy for Sachin. His promotion shots on instagram made me even happier. 

These like 6 people are all that’s left of Luna’s people… So fish are not friends. Or food.

Yo check out this groovy map of the mid-Atlantic. Here’s the fun part where I waste way too much time trying to pinpoint where these places are using google maps. 

[Skip if you don’t have time right now or are just rude]

Polis=Baltimore/ Dc, looks a little above DC based on the Bay. It makes sense for Polis not be in DC because Trikru is. Tondc/ Ton DC was like “Washington DC” on a road sign and Lincoln got his name from the Lincoln memorial, which we get a glimpse of in S1.

Mount Weather= Looks to be around Luray area- which is really interesting to me because the cave/ tunnels would check out. A caving plug: Luray and Grand Caverns have really great features, but they’re dead. Railings and steps and lights have been put in everywhere to make it more accessible for folks, but more importantly to bring in a ton of money. To see Living caves in the valley, my brother is a cool dude who takes his students- and more importantly me- to see neat things without harming the cave like some punk ass bitch yanking stalactites off the ceiling.  

Arkadia= Looks to be around Culpeper… but if it was slightly more south (because the map Raven has is shit, but I’ll get to that) I could argue it’s between Charlottesville (!!!) and Culpeper, although more towards Culpeper. Like Orange/Madison counties. Literally no one cares about this but me because that is my homeland. Also TJ, Monroe (the president, not the dead character from this show that I should get back to…), and J Maddy-Mads. Zach-attack (this also works because he was a major general, not just for the rhyme) Is actually the closest to Arkadia- his house is in barboursville which puts him 25 min closer to Culpeper than TJ and Monroe. GW is up by Ton DC. Wilson is southwest of Arkadia. I don’t know/care enough about where Tyler and William Henry Harrison were from and I’m not going to look it up. This history/ geography lesson was brought to you by the Mother of Presidents, and viewers like you. Thank you.

Luna’s Rig= Somewhere off of DE/NJ coast. They might go back there, but otherwise I honestly don’t care where exactly the rig is. Like. Nyko just said that 40 people died on their way to Arkadia and Luna’s like this is all that’s left of my people. Soooooo… sorrynotsorry

Becca’s Island- I struggled figuring out what that said. I’m leaning towards it being a fictional island because the only thing I can think of it being is Sandy Hook. However, there seems to be land in the bay, soooo Sandy Hook would be part of the continental land mass instead of an island. If the picture wasn’t so wonky the only argument would be for Sandy Hook. I believe it’s only listed here because it will become plot relevant later this season when the tech team decided they need to access Becca/ A.L.I.E.’s drone or something to monitor radiation.

Note: The coastlines don’t match up perfectly. At first I was excited they’d taken rising sea levels with climate change into account, but that should make the bay larger and thus the gap between eastern Maryland/ Delaware and DC larger. So some of the Virginia coast looks good, but the east coast is on a passive margin (I took Geology guys can you tell), which means that it’s not colliding into another plate and thus being squished in on itself or mountain building (this is happening in the middle of the Atlantic) like on the U.S. west coast. But at the end of the day, I don’t think they really considered this when creating that map because 1) some areas are larger than they are now (like Long Island is now a peninsula instead of an island), indicating receding seas while 2) some coasts are cut off indicating rising sea levels. Basically. They would have been fine using a regular map from the internet. Not sure why they decided to render this shitty one or what purpose making their own serves. Maybe they don’t have rights to steal from the internet…?

You, the reader are now thinking, “who the fuck cares? That map was visible for under 30 seconds. all we were supposed to recognize is that it’s the VA/DC/MD area. Let’s move this train along I want to hear about things that actually matter.” And to this I say, you are not wrong. Let’s go. This 15 sec clip took me an hour to analyze and I’m not proud.

[Resume reading non-geography post here if you skipped. There were some jokes in there... not good ones]

Bellamy’s face at “choosing who lives or dies is your specialty” Ouch. Clarke can’t get a break. First Jasper, now Raven. Good thing he’s always on her side.

Someone’s taking the rover. My gut thought: is it fucking Jaha? Oh wait. Jasper’s problematic too and would pull that. Nope. Fucking Jaha. Your gut is always right. 

Naturally, radical Jaha who went off to find the city of light is not encouraging a trip to go find a doomsday bunker by a religious fanatic. Raven is the skeptic voice of ME. Like hey guys, remember when he did this last time? If it’s not real Clarkiepoo gonna make that list. I like

DOOMSDAY CULT MAN SAYS “there is a way out of the darkness. I can show it to you. You can be saved. Join me…” okokokokokok. Abby stays behind in Arkadia to show them the way out of the darkness. Then she is forced to take the chip and gets the rest of the camp to join her in the CoL. Coincidence? I THINK NOT.

DAD AND NATE ON GUARD DUTY TOGETHER. MY HEART. DAD MILLER IS GREAT. I like Miller Sr.

Raven x Abby

Alright. Time to defend mom. Raven’s position of wanting to save the pills- because it’s too late for them to work on Luna’s people- is understandable. Abby’s desire to save people is also understandable. I happen to love Raven x Abby scenes because they’re both so stubborn and both usually have equally strong, but different arguments. Dr. Abby probs should not have told her eldest daughter she’s killing this child. Howeverrrrr my mother, Abby, and even I, with my son VPJB, understand the power guilt has over your children. My son tried to attack a shadow for 45min today so I’m still choosing my battles. Back to the show- the emotion they bring as actors is fantastic. I’d like to pull their history out of the back of your head. Abby and Raven meet because they both have someone who went down in the dropship they desperately want to see. They bond. They trust each other and sass each other and Abby tells Raven to go down without her. Raven tells Clarke how great her mom is at a time when Clarke thinks floating Jake is still 100% her mom’s fault. Raven gets shot, Abby frickin saves her life and she only has one lame leg instead of being paralyzed from the waist down. Kudos Dr. Abby. BUT. Raven hurts, and chronic pain is rough on people, so you’ll lash out. Raven calls Abby out for being a crappy chancellor and doctor. Abby hits her. She’s instantly sorry she lost her temper and they’re distant but not terrible. Despite some heated moments, they’re fam. Abby adopts everyone she sees, and Raven, with only Finn in S1 becomes family. Then Finn dies. Then her mentor Sinclair (who I really really really really really liked and wish got more developing prior to THAT episode [sidenote: I hate when secondary/ tertiary characters get developed just so they the audience feels some emotional investment that turns into pain. Especially within the same episode. Except they’re only there for that one episode to drive another character’s development as in the dying child (Adrian) Luna brought.], so now Abby and her friends are all she has. There’s love there, which doesn’t make talking to each other ok, but I’m confident they’ll forgive each other.  It hurts more because of the love.

Murphy steals medicine to help a sick kid. Important because his father got floated for stealing him medicine when he was a sick child, and the medicine ended up not working. Abby knows better than to ask where he got it. She’s broken the law to save people before. Yay Jackson being sweet with this child. I frickin love Nyko too. He’s one cool dude.

Octavia x Indra x Gaia

Mom saves her daughter. Octavia is like oh nooo here let me help you up, my b. Another mother daughter conflict. But this time really related. Indra: My daughter was meant to lead armies. My daughter was meant to lead our people. Me and Gaia: looks like you got that after all. This scene was great. A parent who cannot understand their child. So common and yet this is the best portrayal of that I’ve seen, mainly because it wasn’t “But basketball’s your dream!” “No, Dad. basketball is your dream, not mine!” Octavia comes up with a plan to save the flame and Indra’s daughter. Loyal to Indra over Roan. I love that. Ilian’s sledgehammer was entirely too dramatic. Should have spent the money used on that effect for Raven’s map. I’ve got a bone to pick with Kirk Douglas or Michael Cliett- whomever was in charge of that. Not bitter. Omg Gaia is so sweet and lovely. I love her. I want her to stick around. Don’t let the radiation get her!

Bellamy + Clarke  x  Jaha

Leadership is lonely, it’s good she has you. You keep her centered. Obviously Jaha sees Clarke as the leader and Bellamy as her sidekick/ compass more than an equal? I feel like they co-lead well Together. Wink. You’ve got it backwards. Nice. But Jaha is giving Bell some questionable advice here- he’s saying stop blaming yourself for the massacre, you were doing what you though was best for your people, and as long as that’s true, you don’t need redemption. Sort of, Jaha. You may think you’re right, but someone is yelling at you that you’re wrong (i.e. Abby x Kane S1 culling, Kane x Boris S3 massacre), so you actually might need some redemption, maybe for your people to accept you, maybe for your soul. Kane goes off in search of redemption and atonement after he realizes the way of life on the Ark doesn’t have to be how life on Earth is. Bellamy, realizes slaughtering a village of non-militant grounders is wrong as he’s taking part in it. That’s why he convinces Pike to let Indra live. Yes, they both think they’re right, but when they realize, even in hindsight how wrong they were, they feel guilty. Jaha on the other hand is very set in this “That’s what I thought at the time and I won’t let the present change how I see my past actions.” He’s much more cold and cognitive than emotional, even with himself. Jaha’s all like, dude get over it, how many people do you have to save before you forgive yourself.

I’d say Jaha has been distant enough in that he’s been off by himself for most of the plot, or at least separated from the core group, to merit his comment on the state of Bellamy and Clarke’s relationship seriously. He has plenty of background with Clarke- his son was her best friend, their families were close pre-S1. Anyone can see Bellarke works well together, but Jaha’s outsider-insightfulness that everyone else may be too close to see (or too close to tell one of them) is that they center each other.

The List

First, can we talk about the Kabby couch parallel? Abby is snoozin at the start of S3 so peacefully and Kane glances over before going back to his sector mapping. ON THAT SAME COUCH is a peacefully sleeping Bellamy for Clarke to glance over at. He makes the list. I wonder if Riley did. Is Clarke reserving spots for grounders too or just sky people/ people in Arkadia? Bellamy gets spot 99. Good. Awe. He writes her name for her. Good job. Bellarke fans are screaming. Now we put it away... Y’all did a bang up job of that. Fold it once and put it in the OPEN CUBBY of the desk? No one will ever find it there. Snooping Jasper and Monty looking for their long lost weed never will. Oh wait. 

Funny how we’ve got another group of “100.” It’s always good to remember your roots.

End Thoughts Me: SHE’S A NIGHT BLOOD YOU DON’T HAVE TO RUN TESTS ABBY (and also you could have said “I’d like to run tests” slightly less creepily to a person who’s not the biggest fan of technology.) Abby and Clarke 20 seconds later- yeah there’s another variable here. yeah she a nightblood. Very happy Jackson got so many lines, even if they were tiny and sometimes in the background, he was in the conversation.

Noteworthy Absences and How I Feel About Them

Marcus Kane- I knew it was coming. I’m sure something big is happening with Octavia in the next episode. I thought the balance between Polis’ Octavia x Indra plot was well balanced with the Arkadia and Jaha x Bellarke plots. They were all satisfactorily interesting, a relief after Jaha’s 2B/3A plotlines. Adding a diplomatic Kane plot would be too much. He would have crowded Indra and her daughters’ scenes too. I’m good, but he was missed.

Harper McIntypre- She could have been standing guard with the Millers? Nate and Harper are besties. I like it. But then I want her to develop, so I’d rather her sit this one out and have meaningful airtime in another (or the next) episode.

Bryan- Also could have been on guard with the Millers. I actually would be really interested in seeing Bryan and Sergeant David Miller interact. Then again, He and Nate just had a fight last episode over fundamentally different beliefs, so they need air. In this case I do NOT want to have Miller Sr. interacting with them. He’s already had enough awkward interrupting couple-moments. I think he needed to be absent. There were already three plot lines and Briller drama would have pulled the show in too many directions, as with Kane. I’m cool with that.

Monty Green/ Jasper Jordan- This was a mother-daughter conflict episode with a splash of following Jaha’s whims. They didn’t fit. I’m cool with that. They’re going to find that letter Clarke should have hid in her pillowcase next week.

Echo- I’m bitter. She should have yelled at someone. What a badass.

Riley- Who is this dude. I just looked on IMDb and he’s in 6 episodes. Everyone seems to know him. I need to be part of that.

I felt we needed a refresher on full names…or lack there of...

I have no life and am very lonely. But it’s my own fault. so that’s just a nice explanation of why I have time to do this...

[digital-strategy]

https://ift.tt/2AXb6hG

It was around this time last year that things were starting to look a little dicey for the media industry’s once breathlessly-hyped digital unicorns. Both BuzzFeed and Vice made news for substantially missing their revenue targets. Mashable was sold at a dramatic price reduction. Vox Media was forced to terminate 5 percent of its workforce.

These companies, which once heralded the dawn of a new media age—replete with massive valuations, large fund-raising hauls, and millennial sex appeal—now appeared to exhibit some traits of the brands that they once attempted to disrupt. They were large, less nimble, and increasingly vulnerable to Facebook and Google. They seemed virtually encircled by competitors familiar and new. On one side was a new generation of smaller yet influential companies focused on monetizing their direct relationships with consumers, like Axios, TheSkimm, Crooked Media, and the Athletic, to name a few. On the other were a tandem of revitalized shit-kicking legacy players, such as The New York Times and The Washington Post, who were converting subscribers at unforeseen levels in the Trump era.

A year later, the challenges have hardly abated. Mic canned the majority of its staff last week as part of a last-resort sale to Bustle for about $5 million—$95 million less than its previous valuation. Vice, under turnaround C.E.O. Nancy Dubuc, is in the process of trimming its 3,000-person global headcount by 15 percent, according to The Wall Street Journal, which reported Vice’s losses at more than $50 million in 2018. At Refinery29, 10 percent of the workforce received pink slips this fall. BuzzFeed’s Jonah Peretti recently floated in the pages of The New York Times the quixotic notion of a multi-company merger between BuzzFeed, Vice, Vox Media, Group Nine Media, and Refinery29, as a means to rival the Facebook-Google ad duopoly.

Boutique players have not been spared either. Lena Dunham and Jenni Konner’s Lenny Letter shut down in October, and last week brought the end of Rookie magazine, the 21st-century answer to Sassy, created by precocious tastemaker Tavi Gevinson. "Digital media has become an increasingly difficult business, and Rookie in its current form is no longer financially sustainable,” Gevinson wrote in a farewell note to readers. Traditional magazine companies, meanwhile, are trying to adapt to the digital world. Hearst, whose holdings include Cosmopolitan and Esquire, has endured layoffs, restructuring, and a leadership shake-up. Condé Nast, which owns Vanity Fair, is looking for a new C.E.O. who can streamline and maximize its global clout.

The chilly environment has created an opening for bargain shoppers and turnaround artists. Bustle founder Bryan Goldberg has been a regular at the fire sales; Jon Miller, a former AOL and News Corp executive, is shopping for Web sites with funding from the private-equity titan TPG.

But everyone else seems to operate on a relentless pivot schedule. “It’s a moment of real pressure,” one digital media executive told me. “My sense is, it’s tougher times for everybody.” Summing up the latest portents, a veteran digital-media strategist warned, “I think this is the tip of the iceberg. I think it’s gonna get worse, not better.” Tony Haile, founding C.E.O. of the Web-analytics provider Chartbeat, echoed that sentiment. “No one’s looking forward to this Q1,” said Haile, whose latest project is a publisher-friendly subscription ad-blocking service called Scroll. “You’ve got that kind of thing going on where everyone’s for sale.”

Haile isn’t incorrect. Everything does seem for sale. As the threat of the so-called FAANGs—Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, Google—continues to grow, large legacy players, such as AT&T and Time Warner, or Disney and 21st Century Fox, are combining at a rabid pace. Certain heritage brands, like Time, Fortune, and The Atlantic, have landed in the warm bosoms of philanthropic billionaires. New York Media, the parent company of New York and a coterie of buzzy Web brands including The Cut, is pursuing a sale or strategic investment. A number of publications that ascended during the post-downturn digital gold rush have found safe harbors: HuffPost in Verizon (via AOL); Business Insider in Axel Springer; Quartz in the Japanese financial-intelligence firm Uzabase. But they, too, are under the gun to perform for their parent companies. Verizon’s media unit, for one, is in the midst of a rejiggering after falling short on advertising revenue. “The whole media sector is under pressure, unless you’re a FAANG company,” said Vox Media C.E.O. Jim Bankoff. “You can see that impact in all the big mergers that have been happening, but you also see it in companies that are scaling back or selling. Whether you’re a company that started in the past decade or a century ago, whether you’re funded by a billionaire or a V.C., you’re not immune to the changes in the industry, or the uncertainty that those changes bring.”

The stakes are arguably the highest, it appears, for the much ballyhooed cabal of independent, venture-funded, super-scale companies, such as Vice, BuzzFeed, and Vox. Reacting to Peretti’s confederacy-merger proposal, one prominent founder and C.E.O. wondered whether there was “a problem for the whole space,” or “a problem for a handful of companies that really over-raised and over-expected and are now trying to re-adjust.” Consumer spending is up, and billions of dollars are being sunk into content, this executive noted, and yet “you have this little pocket of the universe looking desperate. So the reality is: is there a problem in the digital-media space overall, or a strategy problem for a certain set of companies?” In a somber parting memo on the day of Mic’s mass layoffs, outgoing publisher Cory Haik lamented the current state of the media universe: “Our business models are unsettled, and the macro forces at play are all going through their own states of unrest. If anyone tells you they have it figured out, a special plan to save us all, or that it’s all due to a singular fault, know that is categorically false.”

BuzzFeed, Vice, and Vox share some common challenges. In an environment that values either enormity or monetizable premium appeal, they are somehow in the middle. They were also forged in an era of rapid-succession strategy pivots—first display advertising, then native, then video, and now broad diversification through things like subscriptions and events and other potentially promising remedies.

But in reality, these companies have their own unique headaches. Vice is staring down stalled growth, as well as viewership struggles at the flagship cable channel it launched in 2015. The company’s defenders would point to its large global footprint and diversity of revenue streams—that includes an HBO show and other licensing deals, a creative studio, an I.P. library, and a scripted-programming arm. Indeed, Dubuc appears to be moving Vice further away from the notion that it is a “digital” enterprise at all. As the Journal recently reported, the plan she has outlined to the company’s board of directors involves consolidating Vice’s many Web verticals and focusing instead on growing its creative agency, Virtue, as well as making a greater number of shows and movies for third parties. But Dubuc has her work cut out for her. Asked about the company’s astronomical $5.7 billion figure at Vanity Fair’s New Establishment Summit on October 9, she replied, quite carefully, “I’m not gonna speculate on what Vice is worth. Valuations are set at a moment in time.”

BuzzFeed, once a stubbornly pure native-advertising proposition, has likewise recognized the need to branch out. In addition to now running traditional banner ads, BuzzFeed is offering exclusive member content for $5 a month; getting paid to produce shows for Netflix and Facebook; opening a toy store in New York and selling cookware in a collaboration with Walmart; and playing the affiliate marketing game, in which a Web site takes a cut whenever, say, readers click a link to an Amazon product and hit “Add to Cart.” At the very least, it all appears to be a promising start to turning around the company’s revenues: sources told the Times that revenues are expected to surpass $300 million this year, up from a disappointing $260 million in 2017.

In multiple conversations I had for this piece, Vox Media seemed to be the horse that people were most willing to bet on, in part because it didn’t take as much money or drive its valuation as high as BuzzFeed or Vice. (Revenues for 2018 are projected to be up 15 to 18 percent—around $185 million—compared to 2017, according to someone with knowledge of the numbers.) Vox Media, too, has been diversifying, and is in the process of creating a consumer-revenue component where some of its Web sites—which include Vox, the Verge, and SB Nation—will charge for certain content, according to someone familiar with the plans. Vox Media has created a digital-advertising marketplace, Concert, with partners including New York Media, Rolling Stone, and Quartz; and it licenses an in-house content-management platform, Chorus, to other publishers. Vox also now has a TV unit whose productions include a popular Netflix show, as well as a conference business in Recode, which it bought in 2015 following an acquisition of the Curbed sites two years earlier.

More recently, people familiar with the matter told me, Bankoff took a look at Fortune (which has a robust events business) and New York Media (which has a suite of tony Web brands), but both opportunities were tricky due to their print components. (Neither opportunity was presented to the board.) In a meeting Bankoff had with CBS C.E.O. Les Moonves, before his #MeToo scandal became public and he was ousted in disgrace, Moonves floated the idea of buying Vox Media, according to sources with knowledge of the conversation, but the talks never progressed to a serious stage. Bankoff declined to comment on any of these discussions, but said the company might look at making acquisitions in 2019.

Vice, BuzzFeed, and Vox have achieved a level of scale and brand affinity that lesser players, the Mics and Mashables of the world, can only dream of. In that sense, the road ahead may very well be hardest for smaller, venture-funded companies that rely wholly, or close to wholly, on digital advertising. Someone who sits on the board of a large digital-media company broke it down like this: “They can’t compete in scale, they can’t compete in terms of quality and breadth of content, and they can’t compete because they only have one revenue stream.” This person added, “Companies who struggle, struggle disproportionately bad when things go bad.”

More Great Stories from Vanity Fair

— Inside the strange world of conservative college women

— The paradox of George H.W. Bush

— What it’s really like to be part of a “migrant caravan”

— The miseducation of Sheryl Sandberg

— See our list of the top unconventional heroes and newsmakers of 2018

Looking for more? Sign up for our daily Hive newsletter and never miss a story.

via The Hive

[steveg-module-1mediaswitchup]

Is There Hope for Periscope?

Selection and Media Habits

With great humility, I’ll open with yet another example of my social media ignorance.  I chose Periscope this week for the switch up and began my adventure on what I thought was their website.  As it terms out, periscope.com is not periscope in terms of my switch up.  Therefore, it my opening I once started with my utter confusion on the product identity. Confusion validated because I should have been on pereiscope.tv. After heading toward the app for more research, I found the error of my ways!  In terms of regular media consumption, my regular focus has been on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and regular news/cultural information sites, such as Google.

Periscope Community

Periscope led the way in streaming live video for the individual.  It allows the user the ability to see the world through someone else’s eyes. This could be someone in another state, region, or country. Moments in time and places are all able to be captured in events that are in progress.  These could be positive or negative, life changing or funny, or any combinations therein depending upon the user and their interests. The common stream is connecting people that may have never expected to relate to each other. Pictures are valuable, but as we have seen especially recently, videos are taking centered stage in the digital landscape.  Periscope was one of the first to bring video to life but is now in competition with platforms such as Facebook Live or Meerkat.

Periscope was acquired by and is Twitters live streaming app, which was an interesting fact I did not know. Omnicore shares that there are 10 million users, 1.9 of which are considered “daily active”, and 1% of Internet users between the ages of 16 and 64 who were surveyed use Periscope. 29 percent of Periscope URLs are posted by women.  41% of users are aged 16-24 and 3 in 4 of them are under 35. This is interestingly supplemental to the Facebook demographic which is heavier in the 35-49-year-old demographic.  Snapchat also competes in the space heavily with this demographic, albeit in a different context.  In addition, Instagram is also heavily penetrating this market as well.  The platform clearly over indexes in this group and the connection with young people is a driving force of its existence. It also specifically caters to those who want grass roots information in real time, as well as those looking to share with their community on a regular, first hand basis.

Media Format, Brand, and Uses

The media format is videos and live event feeds.  The individual and celebrity was a focus in Periscopes early life, but there appears to have been some shifting.  According to Tech Crunch, Periscope has a new revenue stream and a new way to attract the best live video content.  It is called “Super Hearts”. Super Hearts is in-app purchase virtual goods that “users buy for real money, send to creators as animated hearts that get them attention in the comment reel and that broadcasters can then redeem with Twitter for a monthly cash payout”.  Therefore, the livestreams become revenue streams.  Kind of seems like a GoFundMe for the broadcast world. Further, while anyone can buy and send Super Hearts, broadcasters need to be approved "super broadcasters" before they can reap the financial rewards.

This VIP Program, as described by Tech Crunch, is designed for broadcasters who've invested in the platform and continue to share live experiences.  Quite honestly, this new approach seems pretty pathetic.  It relies on the users to pay broadcasters to deliver content.  I can think of a lot better way to spend my money than buying Super Hearts.  With the influx of information and sharing, it would seem that the majority of the population would merely turn to other, more popular mediums to grab content.  Top broadcasters are in various facets of social media, at no cost.  To fund and develop a broadcaster on Periscope seems like it could be like finding a needle in a haystack.  With limited attention spans and people who desire information quickly/easily, it will be interesting to see the success or lack thereof in this initiative.    

Companies use it to push its products by providing something unique. Companies such as Red Bull, Dunkin Donuts, EA Sports, Audi, and Adidas have all used Periscope to promote events/create buzz.  They used the medium to have the end user talk and interact with the person/brand. The real time component was something that connected with the audience through the platform.  The live feeds on the website are interesting.  It reminds me of a community switchboard with an interesting cross feed of information that is readily available to review.

After being acquired by Twitter, a period of hype and excitement existed in 2015, Since that time, the excitement has gleaned. Many celebrities no longer use it and the internal culture at Periscope has eroded. As reported by Marlow, the last time Periscope was part of a major cultural moment in 2016, when Democrats used Periscope to promote their sit-in Congressional protest. Brands are less and less interested and have moved on to other mediums.  The brand itself seems to have shifted to the broadcaster now.  If advertising revenue was strong, it would be interesting to know if the Super Hearts campaign would have developed.

Additional Observations

In reviewing and researching Periscope, my belief is we may be “Asking Jeeves” what ever happened to it in a few years. From an acquisition standpoint, Twitter seems to have abandoned it. Numerous articles state how they don’t even mention it when reporting about the company.  As one of the first services to provide live streaming, they may fall victim to the bloody “Red Waters”. Instagram, Facebook, Amazon, and YouTube are all innovative, and continually deepening their video offerings.  They have the platforms, diversity, market penetration, name recognition, and relevance to do so.  Periscope seemingly does not.  

In addition, Periscope has gotten backlash for lack of user/child protection. "All over these platforms are people cultivating and grooming children," said Ryan Miller (2017), an active Periscope user who runs Parent Dome, a resource center about children safety on the internet. He streamed his decision to leave Periscope, "Periscope is lacking resources to respond to the volume of problematic viewers and broadcasts outside of their Terms of Service agreement," he said. "The restricted visibility of broadcasts or censorship of certain content."  Mashable shares the following example of community backlash:

My prediction is either an end or a complete revamping at some point in the future.  That said, I’m also the same guy who couldn’t even find their website, so what do I know?!?!?

[finchanddora]

Time Travel, Pizza, Franconia Ridge, and Mooseses on ATVs

(Reminder: before I go too far into the stupid stuff, Alexandra’s Instagram is @thetravelingartist9, so go follow her because she’s got pictures and hashtags)

Xandry was just staring at the door in the bathroom because she had CBD oil (which has basically 0 THC) and still managed to get high because she’s a sensitive snow angel leopard (insert Xandry’s plug for the amazing benefits of CBD oil to sleep through the noise here). She said she was thinking about hiking. I don’t know if I believe that nor whether I can even process it mentally, but I can’t question success. Also, checking back an old blog posting from 2 years ago, it turns out we’ve stayed in basically this same town last time we were in NH. I knew that Wal-Mart and Subway looked familiar.

Anyways, we’re in Berlin, NH, where the mountains are stupendous, the farmers markets are the most happening event for the 17 people living here, the bears are literally clawing at our door (well, not tonight, but it apparently does happen at this AirBnB), and the mooseses are adding much needed helping hands (hooves?) at the paper mill. It’s exactly like the state motto goes: “Live Free or Die… Hard… With a vengeance… on Mt. Washington… from a collision with a moose on an ATV.”

But how was Pittsfield, MA? Glad you asked! Although not a ton of hiking was done, hazy and non-hazy New England beer was most certainly had. Also some pretty dope pizza with BBQ sauce, figs, pineapples, the tears of an iguana, and the top-center block of an authentic Russian igloo. Aside from the actually really good pizza over at Berkshire Mountain Bakery Pizza Café (yes, I Googled that and gave you the full name), we traveled back in time to see Peter Frampton and Steve Miller Band perform on a Monday kind of night and James Taylor perform on a Wednesday, July 4th, kind of night over at either the Guci store at Lenox Mall or Tanglewood in Lenox, MA. I’m told that’s a common mistake. It was our immense honor to also meet the guy who claimed to invent quinoa. He was surprisingly white and not that old looking for a dude that must be a native Andean pushing 3,000 years of life. He may have meant it less literally.

We also ventured over to Jacob’s Pillow, which thankfully was not true to its name and instead featured a bunch of impressive dance performances, including one by the Israeli group Bat Sheva and another by a group from the Georgia that’s not in the US. So for the most part, Pittsfield and Lenox were pretty great. There may have been a drug house right next to our AirBnB, but every neighborhood needs one of those. And Lenox felt a bit higher class than what we’re used to, but that’s nothing a nice, audible fart in a public area can’t fix.

With a week in Pittsfield behind us, we loaded up the car and made our way northward once more. Two years after making the promise that we will return, we finally made it back to New Hampshire. Along the way, we made a quick detour at River Roost Brewing and then a quick trip to a nearby co-op store, where they make sushi out of quinoa (invented by that guy we met at Tanglewood) and chocolate chip cookies out of almonds (probably also invented by the guy we met at Tanglewood). The state line separating VT and NH was right along the nearby river, so the cashier was ragging on whichever state she wasn’t living in at the time. We also tried to squeeze in a hike that day but ran out of time to complete the last 0.3 miles L. I guess quick detour + quick trip + 5 hours of driving = no summit.

We more than made up for it the next day. That’s when Nadav could finally shut up about wanting to hike Franconia Ridge because we finally hiked Franconia Ridge. It lived up to expectations. Highly recommended. The views, friendly dogs named Bosco with friendly parents working in the autonomous cars industry, park rangers using scare tactics to try to convince you to buy a map, and organic chemistry professors hiking 14 miles that day and carrying a handle of whiskey and still needing to drive back to Pennsylvania all made the endless hills of rocks you have to climb and descend entirely worth it. For the record, the ranger’s scare tactics did not work. Phones came through solid and determined to not bust they faces on said rocks as he promised they would. Also, too many humans along the ridge to actually get lost. In fact, just the right amount and mix of humans for two French girls to definitely see us peeing off the trail at one point. ‘Murica!

The rest of the week has been filled with work, visits to Wal-Mart, cooking canned beans and untamed rice, afternoon hikes, winning the lottery, quitting our jobs, traveling, realizing we were already doing that while working, begging for our jobs back because we realized we don’t actually play the lottery and instead just scribbled the numbers in crayons on our fridge one day because they look good together and we needed the practice, settling for night shifts at the local bowling alley, and thinking about the fact that if Steve Jobs really named his company Pineapple, their first computer would’ve probably been called Cayenne. That’s right, a pineapple cultivar reference. That’s right, I had to Google that (which did lead me to learn the word “cultivar”). And you thought I wouldn’t follow through with that reference last post.

[ronaldsmcrae86]

36 Underrated Ways to Find PAID Freelance Writing Jobs in 2021

Whether you’re a seasoned freelance writer or a new writer with no experience, freelance writing jobs that pay are still plentiful in 2021 — if:

You know where to look…

You know how to promote yourself…

And you know how to differentiate yourself from your fellow freelancers.

That’s where we come in.

If you’re a copywriter, blogger, or any type of freelance writer who wants to earn a full-time or part-time income doing what you love, this definitive, A-to-Z guide will help you do just that.

Let’s dive in.

Chapter One: 6 Steps to Help You Prepare (& Land More Freelance Writing Gigs)

The philosopher Seneca (allegedly) said, “luck is what happens when practice meets opportunity.”

The book of Galatians in the Bible tells us we reap what we sow.

Stephen King put it this way:

“Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work.”

The common theme? Success tends to find those who are prepared for it.

As a writer, here are six things you should do to prepare for freelancing glory:

1. Create a Writing Portfolio That Kicks Butt

“Do you have writing samples?” “Can I see some of your freelance writing work?” “What are some high-quality articles you’ve written?”

As a freelance writer, you’ll hear questions like these often.

And your answer?

Here’s a link to my writing portfolio.

At least, that should be your answer. But unfortunately, many freelancers skip the whole “prove you actually know how to write” thing.

As Scott Weiland once sang, “let the proof be in the pudding, sugar.”

Don’t simply tell prospective clients that you’re an amazing freelance content writer. And don’t assume they already know you’re the cat’s meow and the bee’s knees.

Show them.

Further Reading: How to Create a Writing Portfolio That’ll Wow Potential Clients walks you through everything you need to craft an online portfolio of your work, from portfolio sites like Contently to using your own blog. It also offers tips for building a list of writing samples if your portfolio is a bit sparse.

2. Supercharge Your Writing Skills

Unless you want to spend your freelance writing career slumming through online content mills with entry-level job ads that pay peanuts, you need to level up your content creation skills.

Because those high-paying freelance writer jobs you lay awake dreaming about? Companies don’t hand them to just anyone.

They give them to the best writers — content creators who:

Realize the importance of SEO (search engine optimization) and can create SEO content with both readers and Google in mind;

Understand the importance of proofreading and submitting error-free work;

Write fast, meet deadlines for their writing projects, and are seemingly immune to writer’s block;

Craft amazing headlines, write with clarity, and support their points with examples;

Have top-notch communication skills;

Can connect with readers on an emotional level.

The good news?

With hard work, anyone can improve their writing skills. And for the few who are willing to roll up their sleeves and do it, the payoff can be huge.

This site is filled with helpful how-to articles on copywriting, content writing, writing contests, content marketing, article writing, and SEO. And if you need training, we have that too.

Further Reading: 18 Writing Tips That’ll Actually Make You a Better Writer shares our favorite must-have skills for writers. Read it, bookmark it, and come back to it again and again.

3. Ask for Testimonials

Have you already landed a writing job or two? Awesome.

Did you ask the client to give you a testimonial? A few words declaring their undying love and/or satisfaction with your work (that you can use to help you land more writing clients)?

No? Well, you’re not alone.

Most writers who do freelance work, either due to ignorance or fear, don’t ask for testimonials. Our own Jon Morrow says he’s only had a small handful of writers over the years ask him for a testimonial — even though he would’ve been perfectly happy to give one to them.

So how should you ask for one? Keep it simple.

Here’s how Karen MacKenzie asked for a testimonial after we published her first post on Smart Blogger:

“Would it be possible to get a testimonial for my website? I know you are really busy, but I’d really appreciate it.”

And because Karen did such a good job on her post, I was happy to give her the following testimonial:

Karen offers everything I look for in a freelance writer: Her work is excellent, she finishes on time (if not ahead of schedule), and her attention to detail is wonderful. I enjoyed working with her so much that, as soon as her first article was completed, I asked her if she’d like to write for us again. I happily recommend her.

Want a great testimonial like Karen’s?

Create testimonial-worthy content for your clients and then — this is key — ask them for a freakin’ testimonial.

Note: You can count me among the poor, unfortunate souls who missed out on Jon’s generosity. Before becoming Smart Blogger’s Editor-in-Chief, I was a freelancer. I wrote five posts for Smart Blogger as a freelance writer, which means I passed on five opportunities for Jon to say nice things about me. Don’t repeat my mistakes — ask for testimonials at every opportunity.

4. Learn How to Craft a Killer Author Bio

Picture it:

A wealthy business owner sitting in a Herman Miller chair on top of a rug made out of recycled Herman Miller chairs is reading an article you’ve written.

She’s impressed. She calls to her butler, Jeeves, and asks him to bring one of her suitcases filled with money.

Your article is so good, she wants to hire you.

But then she gets to your byline — the one you threw together at the last minute. The one that lists your hobbies and has no clear call to action.

“Throw the suitcase in the fire, Jeeves,” she says. “I shan’t be hiring a writer today.”

If you don’t want this totally realistic scenario to happen to you, you need to get really good at writing author bios.

Why?

Because someone who’s made it to your author bio is primed. They’ve read your work and want to learn about the attractive, intelligent individual who wrote it.

Maybe they want to check out your website content. Maybe they want to find you on social media so they can follow you.

Or maybe they want your contact info so they can hire you.

A byline should shout to the world your expertise. It should say to prospective clients, “if you thought this article was great, you should hire me and see what I can do for you.”

Taking the time to craft a great one is time well spent.

Further Reading: How to Write a Bio Like a Superhero (Easy 3-Part Process) will show you the step-by-step process for crafting bylines that’ll make rich people want to give you suitcases full of money.

5. Know How to Write a Pitch

Few people enjoy cold pitching to prospective clients.

But you know what?

The writers who are willing to do it have an edge. And the ones who are good at it — and I mean really freakin’ good at it — are never more than an email or two away from snagging a new writing job.

So how do you get really freakin’ good at cold pitches? For starters, don’t make these rookie mistakes:

Don’t write long emails. Editors and clients are busy. Respect their time.

Don’t send the exact same pitch to different people. Every editor and every client has unique needs, audiences, and styles.

Don’t ignore their guidelines. Want a sure-fire way to have your email deleted? Pitch to a website that has clearly stated submission guidelines, but ignore said guidelines.

But just as importantly, do these things:

Research. Do your homework.

Find the name of the person you’re pitching to. Address the person by name in your email.

Get to the point. Don’t beat around the bush. Tell them what you want and why.

Sell them on you. Popular websites receive pitches all the time. Why should they hire you? Explain it to them.

These pointers and more (as well as email templates) can be found in our post, How to Write a Pitch That’ll Wow Editors & Clients.

Read it, bookmark it, and reference it often.

6. Learn the Legal Side of Freelancing

One of the big, scary unknowns when you’re working online is how to handle the “legal side” of things.

Should you have a contract with your client? How do you send invoices? What about taxes?

The legalities can seem so scary and daunting that many freelance writers choose to stick their heads in the sand and ignore them — or, worse, give up on their freelancing dreams rather than have to deal with any of it.

That’s why we put together this resource:

The Definitive Guide to Freelance Contracts, Invoices, & Taxes

If you’re a freelance writer or any kind of self-employed contractor, it’s a resource you’ll want to bookmark.

Chapter Two: 16 Hacks for Finding Under-the-Radar Writing Opportunities

Anyone can find a job board and search for a freelance writing job.

But that’s both a good and bad thing — anyone can do it.

That awesome writing job you found online? The one you’d be perfect for? Fifty other “perfect” people found it too.

We’ll go over some great job board options in a moment (because they do have lots to offer new freelance writers), but first we’ll take a trip down the road less traveled.

By knowing how to identify hidden opportunities many of your fellow freelancers don’t know about (or do know about, but are too lazy to pursue), you can find writing jobs from well-paying clients who fly under-the-radar.

For example, did you know you could…

1. Use Twitter to Reverse-Engineer Online Writing Jobs

Want an outside-the-box way to find writing job opportunities?

Try Twitter’s advanced search engine.

In the example below, I searched for tweets that included the phrase “writer wanted”:

I kept the search simple, but I could’ve also searched by language (native English, Spanish, etc.), hashtags, date range, and more. The more options you choose, the more refined your search results.

Click “Search” and you’ll see a list of tweets with various job postings for writers:

Scroll through the list and tweak your job search, as needed.

Some of the results will be scams, but most will be legitimate. Many will be for remote writing jobs, but some will be location specific (usually New York, Los Angeles, Seattle, San Francisco, Miami, Washington D.C., Dallas, Saint Paul, Minneapolis, Portland, Oklahoma City, Greenville, Atlanta, and other major cities in the United States). Just skip over the ones that don’t apply to you.

If you look at “Top” tweets, as shown in the screenshot above, you’ll find brand-new jobs mixed with older ones. Click “Latest” if you want to see recent tweets first.

Tip: When you find a tweet for a job that shows promise, click Twitter’s like/heart icon. That way you’ll be able to easily find your shortlisted tweets later.

The nice thing about Twitter’s advanced search feature is it’s only limited by your imagination.

Want to find guest blogging opportunities (since many websites these days pay for guest posts)? Enter “guest post” into the “this exact phrase” option and you’ll see every tweet written by someone looking to promote their latest guest blogging masterpiece.

That’ll give you a list of websites that accept guest posts, which you can later whittle down (after you’ve done a little more research) into a list of sites that pay guest writers.

Wash, rinse, and repeat.

2. Follow Leads on Social Media

When you use Twitter’s advanced search feature for finding freelance writing jobs online, you’ll discover certain Twitter handles pop up fairly frequently.

One example is @write_jobs:

When you find a good lead, follow them. That way you can cut through the noise of Twitter and go straight to your best sources.

Even better?

Add them to a private Twitter list so that tweets from all your leads can be found in one handy repository.

Here’s how you do it:

Here are a few more handles to get your Twitter list started:

@FreelanceWJ

@WhoPaysWriters

@jjobs_tweets

3. Check Out Agency Job Postings

Everyone likes to talk about job boards (which, again, we’ll discuss in a moment). But you know what resource most freelance writers ignore?

Agencies.

Per Jon:

One of the best potential clients is agencies, because they usually have an ongoing need for writers. Instead of only getting paid once, you can develop a relationship with a few and get new freelance blogging gigs for months or even years into the future. How to Become a Freelance Writer, Starting from Scratch

So how can you get work from agencies? Well, you could contact them directly and ask if they have any freelance work (Jon calls this a “gutsy but effective approach”).

The other way is to keep checking their “career” page:

The Content Marketing Institute maintains a detailed database of agencies. Click here to check it out.

4. Find (and Woo) Clients on Their Turf

Most articles that tout social media as a good place to find leads will point you to Facebook Groups.

And it makes sense. After all, search Facebook for “writing jobs”, click the “Groups” tab, and you’ll see dozens and dozens of options that are open to the public:

If you’re looking for a safe space where like minded individuals offer tips, advice, and writing inspiration; such groups are great.

But if you’re looking to find paying gigs, you’ll likely be left wanting.

Most members of these groups are looking to be hired, not looking to hire writers. And when someone wanting to hire a writer does come along, the person who raises their hand first is usually the one who gets the job.

That’s not to say Facebook Groups can’t lead to writing jobs that pay. The trick is you need to find groups where the buyers, not the sellers, hang out.

Think “masterminds”, “think tanks”, etc.

Of course, that’s easier said than done. Such groups are usually private. So, what’s a writer to do?

Skip the Facebook Groups. Go Straight to the Sources.

One of the amazing things about technology is the way it allows us to connect and interact with people with whom we’d otherwise never have the opportunity.

In 2014, I didn’t know Adam Connell of Blogging Wizard. But I joined his mailing list and, lo and behold, a “welcome” email with his address arrived in my inbox. I responded, he wrote me back, and a friendship was born.

After reading one of her posts and admiring her writing style, I connected with Henneke Duistermaat of Enchanting Marketing through a humble blog comment. The same was true with Syed Balkhi. I connected with Pamela Wilson via Twitter. For Jon Morrow, the man who would one day hire me at Smart Blogger, I got on his radar by becoming a student in one of his online courses.

Want to write for a mover and shaker in your industry? Want to befriend an influencer who can open doors for you (the kind of doors that lead to paying jobs)?

Make a connection. Be generous. Give without asking or expecting anything in return.

That means following them on Twitter, sharing their content, and interacting with them. It means subscribing to their email list.

And, yes, it may mean buying one of their products. Because here’s the thing:

When you’re their student, an influencer is invested in your future. Your success is their success. You’re a walking, talking testimonial. So many — not all, but many — will do everything they can to help you succeed.

And that includes pointing leads in your direction.

5. Pitch to Software Company Blogs

More from Jon:

You want to work with businesses who have money to spend on marketing. Chances are, those companies are subscribed to various apps for email marketing, analytics, and so on. Most software companies in the marketing space (like HubSpot, Sumo, PayPal, Ahrefs, etc.) also publish a great deal of content. So, who better to write for? You’re instantly getting in front of thousands of the right clients. Many of these blogs will also pay you to write for them, so in many cases you can get your first client while also prospecting for clients.

e-Commerce companies with blogs tend to publish a lot of content. After all, every article they publish tends to pay for itself (and then some) thanks to the traffic it brings to the website — traffic that often leads to sales of their product.

As with agencies, you can either cold pitch the software companies (which sometimes works), or you can keep an eye out for open freelance positions:

6. Don’t Be Scared of Ghostwriting

A lot of writers don’t like the idea of ghostwriting.

I get it. You’re letting someone else put their name on and take credit for your hard work.

You mean I get to spend weeks pouring my heart and soul into a piece of content, infusing every syllable with my very essence to the point I no longer know where I begin and my words end, and no one will ever know I wrote it?

Yes, that’s ghostwriting in a nutshell (minus the theatrics). But here’s the thing:

Ghostwriting pays better than regular freelance writing. When you ghostwrite, it’s not unheard of to increase your fee by 15%-20% (or more).

The opportunities in ghostwriting are virtually endless. You could ghostwrite blog posts, articles, scripts used on YouTube channels, or even books sold on Amazon.

You can make great freelance writing business relationships by ghostwriting. People who pay for ghostwriters tend to have money (and connections). Oftentimes, these clients can refer you to others.

If your primary goal is to build up a strong list of writing samples, ghostwriting isn’t for you.

But if your goal is to make money writing and build potentially-profitable business relationships, it’s something to consider.

And here’s the best part:

Because so many freelance writers loathe ghostwriting, there isn’t as much competition.

Editor’s Note: These next few freelance writing hacks come courtesy of Smart Blogger Certified Content Marketer Germano Silveira.

7. Find Clients Who are Already Hiring Successful Freelance Writers in Your Niche

Want to write for great clients in your niche who pay top dollar?

Well, you can either wait until they post job ads, then compete against everyone else who applies…

Or you can take initiative and proactively seek out these ideal clients.

One of the best places to find ideal clients is in the portfolios of successful freelance writers in your niche.

By studying other writers’ sample content, you can identify clients they’ve worked with in the past.

These clients are ideal targets because:

You already know they hire freelance writers;

You know they have years of experience working with freelancers, so they’ll be easier to work with;

And you know they pay decent wages, otherwise the successful freelance writer wouldn’t work with them.

Start by finding freelance writers in your niche. You can find them by Googling “[YOUR NICHE] + freelance writer” like so:

Scroll through the search results until you see a freelance writer’s website. These writing sites don’t always rank highly, so you may have to go through several pages of search results to find them.

Click on a writer’s website and check out their portfolio. There you’ll find links to articles the freelance writer wrote for various companies in your niche.

Click on a writing sample and visit the client’s website to make sure you’d be interested in writing for them. If everything looks good, add them to your list of potential targets.

Do this over and over again for every freelance writer you find in your search. When you’re done, you should have a big list of ideal clients to target.

Pick one client to target and visit their website.

Study their content to get an idea of what they publish. Pay close attention to their most popular content, as well as the article the freelance writer wrote for them. These will give you a good idea of what type of content to pitch.

Check their website for submission guidelines, which will give you a better sense of what they’re looking for from freelance writers and tell you who to send your pitch to.

Use all of this reconnaissance to brainstorm ideas for good articles to pitch them. Pick your best idea, develop it into a pitch, and send it in.

8. Apprentice With a Successful Writer in Your Niche

Another way to get work from established freelance writers is to build a mutually-beneficial partnership with them.

Many successful freelance writers need help with certain aspects of their business. They could use someone to do their research, proofreading, copy editing jobs, etc.

Of course, they could pay a professional writer or do these tasks themselves. But most would prefer to have someone do it for free.

That’s where you come in.

By offering free assistance to a successful freelancer in your niche, you can save them time and help them make more money in exchange for steady work and writing experience.

Often, successful freelance writers have to turn down work because the client can’t afford to pay their rate. Instead, they can pass this work off to you and split the earnings (again, more money in their pocket).

They can also help you by critiquing your work, giving you tips on how to succeed in the industry, and endorsing you to editors.

Once they trust you and you’ve proven yourself as a writer, they may also let you do some assignments for them.

Successful digital marketing entrepreneur Dan Lok got his start in the copywriting industry this way — by apprenticing with his copywriting mentor Alan Jacques:

“Why did this work out so well? It wasn’t worth Alan’s time for that price, but it was worth my time, because I wanted the experience. I needed clients to gain experience and get better. I got my clients with his endorsement and supervision.” — Dan Lok

So how do you start such an arrangement?

It’s not easy, and there’s no direct path. But your best bet is to buy one of their courses or products. As mentioned earlier, when you become their student, they become invested in your success.

You can also try:

Getting an introduction from someone who knows them;

Connecting with them on social and building a relationship;

Creating a piece of content (perhaps copy for a landing page?) they could use and giving it to them for free.

9. Reverse-Engineer Writing Samples From Job Ads

Ultimately, most clients don’t care about your experience or credentials. They just want a freelance writer who can complete their assignment and get results.

Your job is to convince them YOU are that freelance writer.

And the best way to convince them you can do the assignment is… to do the assignment.

Most job ads ask for relevant writing samples. When applying to these ads, most freelancers provide similar writing samples.

In other words, they provide articles they wrote for another client that sort of match what the ad is looking for, but not really. Unless they’ve written for an identical client before, their writing samples will be a bit off.

You can immediately differentiate yourself from other applicants and increase your odds of getting hired by creating a writing sample tailor-made for each client.

Start by finding job ads on job sites like Upwork.

Don’t just look for any old job. Get specific with your search criteria to find ideal jobs — jobs that are in your niche, about subjects that interest you, and offer to pay premium prices.

When you come across an ideal job description, study it from top to bottom. Make note of everything the client is looking for in a writer and the assignment.

Then brainstorm ideas for articles that perfectly match what the client wants. If necessary, research tactics and techniques for creating such content.

For example, in the screenshot above, the client is seeking someone who can “write about boring, dry, technical topics.” You could Google, “how to write about boring topics”, then apply what you find to your sample article.

Select your strongest idea and write it. Try to pick a short, simple idea that won’t take too much time to write. Otherwise, the client may hire someone else before you finish.

Finally, apply to the job and submit your tailor-made content as a writing sample. You can either publish the article on a free site like Medium or submit it with your application as a Microsoft Word or Google Doc.

The best part of this strategy?

Even if the client doesn’t hire you, you’ll still walk away with a strong writing sample to add to your portfolio. And if you repeat this process, you’ll quickly build a portfolio of writing samples that are super-relevant to your ideal clients.

10. Pitch Every Service You’ve Used in the Last Year

One of the best places to find freelance writing jobs for beginners is with the companies/products you already use.

They make great potential clients because:

You’re already familiar with the product/service;

You’re in their target market, so writing for their audience is easier;

You already have a relationship with these large and small businesses.

In fact, you should include these points in your pitch.

Start by making a list of every product/service you’ve used in the last year. This can include gyms, hair salons, landscapers, etc.

Visit their websites and perform a content audit:

Are there problems with their web copy you could offer to improve?

Do they have a regularly-updated blog? Could you contribute to it in an impactful way? Could you help them target certain keywords with their content?

Basically, you’re trying to match the services you offer with the content they need.

While you may be able to convince these companies to start a blog, the best targets are companies that understand the importance of content marketing and invest in it accordingly.

Once you’ve identified your targets and how you can help them, send an email to someone on their marketing team offering your services.

Your pitch should mention you’ve used their product/service and love it, as well as the fact you’re a member of their target market and will be able to effectively influence their audience.

Offer to work for a price you think they can afford, based on your research. You may not get paid top-dollar initially, but the real goal is to establish a working relationship, get steady work, and contribute to your portfolio.

By sending out 30 such emails, Julie Wilson was able to generate over $1,000 in her first month employing this strategy.

11. Write Tutorials for Products You’ve Used

This tip is similar to the previous one in that you’ll be soliciting a business you’re familiar with.

However, this technique differs because it involves writing articles on spec — creating articles for free before you pitch them.

Make a list of products you’ve used that fall into your freelance writing niche. For example, if you want to become a SaaS writer, make a list of software you use or have used in the past.

Visit the websites of these companies to determine if they’re good prospects. Look for companies with well-established, regularly-updated blogs.

Check to see if they have submission guidelines, which will give you information on the type of content they’re looking for and let you know if they hire freelance writers and/or accept guest posts.

Then write a tutorial (that includes a thorough product description) on how to use their product to achieve a desired result. If possible, create a case study describing the results you achieved with the product and how you did so.

Contact someone in the company via email or LinkedIn. Tell them you’re about to publish the article on Medium (or some other blog) and were wondering if:

They want to publish it on their blog instead;

They’d be willing to share and/or link to the article once you’ve published it.

Even if they don’t buy the article, you’ll add another writing sample to your portfolio while establishing a relationship with a potential client who may keep you in mind for future work.

12. Find and Fix Weak/Old Content

By now, we’ve established the benefit of demonstrating your value to potential clients in advance.

Another way to demonstrate value is by improving their weak, flawed, or outdated content.

You’d be surprised by how many influential, well-established organizations have flawed web content.

Often, these organizations are so preoccupied with creating new content they overlook small errors or forget to update their content to meet new developments.

That’s where you come in.

By identifying weak spots and fixing them for free, you can establish a relationship with a potential client that gets your foot in the door.

Of course, you shouldn’t just visit hundreds of random websites hoping to find bad copy or content. Think of how time-consuming and unbearably boring that would be.

Instead, make a list of 10 to 20 blogs, companies, or influencers you’d most like to write for.

Visit their websites, analyze their content, and make note of areas you can improve.

Look for older content that could use an update. For example, a headline like “How to be a freelance writer in 2016” is a great candidate for modernization.

(On the other hand, something like “Google Authorship: The Complete Handbook for Getting Respect, Readers, and Rankings” wouldn’t work because its main topic, “Google authorship”, is no longer relevant.)

Dan Lok used a similar tactic to get work from guerrilla marketing guru Jay Conrad Levinson. Dan rewrote Jay’s entire sales pitch on spec and sent it to him. Not only did Jay use the updated sales copy and pay Dan for his spec work, but the new copy tripled Jay’s conversions!

Maybe you’re not a copywriting expert like Dan. But if you find a website with weak or unremarkable sales copy, you could try researching the subject and giving it a shot. At the very least, this makes for good practice.

Once you’ve identified and updated your content, send an email to your target explaining what you did.

Tell them you came across their website or blog article, noticed some flaws, and thought you could help them out by improving it.

While they may offer to pay you for your work like Jay did, I don’t recommend trying to sell it to them.

The true power of this tactic is you’re establishing a relationship by being helpful and demonstrating value upfront. And it works best when done for free.

Trying to sell them your work can come off as opportunistic, arrogant, and reduce the chances they’ll bite.

But if you help them for free and they like your work, they may decide to pay you (like Jay did) and/or keep you in mind for future assignments.

13. Dominate Quora

Quora is a social media platform where users can post questions and get answers from other users.

Whether or not you get clients from Quora, it’s an insanely useful marketing platform for writers that allows you to:

Connect with people in your niche in a helpful way and demonstrate your expertise;

Show potential clients you can write for their audience;

Generate long-term traffic from each answer you post (popular Quora questions and answers often get ranked in Google);

Establish yourself as an authority in your niche and build an audience, both of which make you more attractive to potential clients.

Networking on Quora can be an effective, albeit indirect, method for getting freelance writing jobs online.

The essence of a Quora marketing strategy is this:

Find questions that are relevant to your niche; provide helpful, in-depth answers that demonstrate your writing ability; and advertise your writing services in your profile.

Start by creating a stellar Quora profile.

Treat your Quora profile like your freelance business website. You should include your position as a freelance writer, a high-quality profile picture, a description of the benefits of your services, and links to your writing samples and website.

In the “Credentials & Highlights” section, list all of the credentials and experiences that reinforce your position as an authority in your niche.

In the “Knows About” section, be sure to include topics related to your writing niche as well as your role as a freelance writer (SEO, content marketing, blogging, and so on).

Next, find and follow trending topics related to your writing niche as well as the type of content you create (articles, content marketing, email copy, web copy, etc.).

When your profile is all set up and ready to go, start searching for questions relevant to your writing niche. “Relevant questions” include questions that are of interest to potential clients and/or their audience.

You can find relevant questions either by clicking on a Topic and scanning for them, or by typing relevant keywords into the search bar.

When you come across a relevant question, bookmark it in the “Answer Later” section for easy access.

Finally, write phenomenal answers to your saved questions.

Your answers should be helpful. They should answer all parts of the question in the best way possible. And you should include links to additional resources if and when necessary.

Your answers should tell stories. Stories are not only a great way to engage readers and increase views, they also help readers learn and retain information better.

Your answers should incorporate visuals. Visuals break up your text and make your answers more visually appealing and easier to read.

Be sure to link to your writing samples when possible. In fact, whenever you publish a new article, you should spend some time finding and answering Quora questions related to it as a way to drive traffic.

Regularly answer questions to build your Quora audience and views. You’ll increase your position as an authority in your niche, increase your value to clients by building an audience, and potentially get freelance work from employers who come across your answers.

14. Offer Referral Deals

If they like your work, most clients will happily refer you to others.

But some clients may be reticent to refer you to others because they want to keep you to themselves.

Other clients simply require a bit of motivation.

A simple way to provide this motivation is to sweeten the pot with a referral deal.

Tell clients that for every referral they send your way that turns into a job, you’ll create one free piece of content for them.

Even though you’ll waste some work hours on free work, you’ll more than make up for it with the steady stream of new clients you get.

Short. Sweet. And simple.

Just remember:

It’s important you honor your word.

If a client finds out they referred you to someone, you got the job, and you reneged on your end of the deal, your relationship with the client will end and your reputation as a writer will be tarnished.

15. Monitor Companies That are Hiring for Content Marketing Roles

When you see an ad for a content marketing role, an “opportunity flag” should be raised in your head.

A new content marketing hire is a sign a company is either investing more in content marketing or changing their content marketing strategy.

It can also simply mean they’re filling a vacant position.

Either way, a new hire still signifies a change in strategy. And it’s likely they’ll need more content and more help creating that content.

Rather than waiting for the company to post an ad for freelance writers (like those other lazy freelancers), take the initiative and demonstrate value upfront.

Reach out to the company (or even their new hire) and offer your help executing their new strategy.

First, use LinkedIn to monitor job ads seeking content producers and marketers.

With LinkedIn, you can use filters to narrow your search by job role, job type, and industry.

You’ll want to filter out any companies that aren’t in your writing niche using the “Industry” filter. If you write for software companies, limit your search to software companies.

It’s also best to limit your search to top-level content marketing roles. Top-level hires are the best indication a company is investing in a new content marketing strategy and increasing content production.

To filter for top-level roles, use keywords like “Content Marketing Strategist”, “Content Marketing Manager”, “Content Marketing Specialist”, “Head of Content Marketing”, etc. You can also use LinkedIn’s “Experience” and “Title” filters to narrow your search to top-level positions.

The best part about using LinkedIn for this strategy is you can set job alerts and have new job ads emailed to you. No need to waste time running new job searches over and over again in order to find job openings. Just set it and forget it.

Next, read the job ads to get a sense of the opportunity potential.

If the job ad indicates the company will be producing lots of new content, you know they’ll be a good source of potential work. Often the ad will say something like, “we’re looking to ramp up our content marketing efforts.”

Keep an eye out for any information on the new direction of their content strategy. If the ad says they’re looking to use content to build authority in their niche, then make note of it. You’ll use it later in your pitch.

Once you’ve identified a few good prospects, it’s time to start crafting your pitch.

A great pitch should include:

1. An introduction that aligns you with their goals.

You might say something like, “I understand you’re looking to build authority with your blog and I think I can help.” This shows you’ve read their ad and understand what they want to achieve.

2. An article written on spec that you’ll let them publish for free.

This demonstrates your value and writing abilities upfront. It’s also a great way to start a positive relationship by giving them something of value for free.

3. A list of 5 to 10 article ideas you think they’ll like.

This demonstrates your ability to regularly produce great content ideas and will be a valuable asset to their new strategy.

Finally, send them your pitch.

It’s best to send your idea to the newbie hire once they’ve filled the role — the new hire will be most receptive because they’re new to the company, eager to make a good impression, and stand to benefit most from bringing a talented freelancer on board.

While this tactic takes a bit of effort, the potential for steady, long-term work makes it worthwhile.

16. Use an Ad Fishing Strategy

Ad Fishing is a technique that involves using Facebook or LinkedIn ads to target warm leads.

For simplicity, we’ll describe how to employ this strategy on Facebook, but the process for LinkedIn is identical.

To perform this strategy, you’ll need:

A Facebook Page;

Your own website/blog with the Facebook Pixel installed;

A case study describing how you helped a client achieve a certain result with your content marketing.

First, you’ll need a case study that demonstrates the value of your freelance writing.

Your case study should describe a positive result you helped a client achieve and the process you used for doing so. The positive result could be as simple as helping them boost monthly web traffic with a blog post.

Make sure your case study has a killer, benefit-oriented headline. For example:

“How I Got 10k New Monthly Visitors for a Client With One Blog Post”

The case study should also include a CTA (call to action) at the end inviting readers to contact you if they want similar results.

Next, create a “Bait Article” — an article your target clients will want to read.

For example, if you want to work with health care companies, you could create an article titled “7 Ways Health Care Companies Can Generate More Web Traffic”.

Promote the article wherever your target clients hang out. Post it in relevant Facebook Groups. Link to it in answers to relevant Quora questions. Or, simply promote it to your targets using Facebook Ads.

Finally, create a Retargeting Ad sharing your case study with anyone who reads the “Bait Article”.

The essence of this strategy is to use the “Bait Article” to find and qualify warm leads — people in your target market who want the results you can help them achieve.

Then you hook those warm leads with a case study that clearly demonstrates how you can help them achieve the desired result.

Because the ad only targets a small number of qualified leads, ad spend will be low and ROI (return on investment) will be high.

Chapter Three: 14 Writing Job Boards That are Packed with Writing Opportunities

Next up, let’s look at some popular (and some under-the-radar) job boards used by freelance writers all over the world.

If you’re new to freelancing, job boards will likely be your easiest entry point. You’ll be able to find writing jobs of all shapes and sizes.

Once you have some writing samples under your belt and you begin getting good referrals from clients, more opportunities will become available to you.

Let’s start with possibly the biggest one:

1. LinkedIn Jobs

If you’re a professional, there’s a good chance you already have a LinkedIn profile (even if, like me, you tend to forget about it for months at a time).

Its job board, as you would expect from a site that specializes in professional networking, is huge.

How huge?

Well, at the time of this writing, there are over 35,000 job postings for “copywriter” alone:

Thankfully, LinkedIn offers lots of filters. Search by date, the job’s industry, the job type (full-time jobs, part-time writing jobs, etc.), experience level, and more.

If you’re already on LinkedIn, it’s a good place to start.

2. Upwork

Depending on who you talk to, Upwork (formerly Elance-oDesk) is either awful or amazing. And the funny thing is, the reasons for its awfulness and amazingness are one and the same: low rates.

Employers love Upwork because you can typically find qualified applicants who live in areas with lower cost of living. As a result, they can get great work at reduced costs.

Those who hate Upwork do so because they’re competing with the aforementioned applicants who can comfortably live on less money.

So what does this mean for freelance writers?

Unless you’re content with low-paying rates (because you need the practice, you want to build up your portfolio, you need all the work you can get, etc.), you’re better off with one of the other job boards mentioned.

3. ProBlogger

As its name would suggest, the ProBlogger Job Board is a popular one among bloggers in search of freelance writing work and blogger jobs.

With a $70 starting price for posting a job, you tend to find smaller companies on ProBlogger. There are exceptions, of course.

One neat feature offered by ProBlogger is a Candidate Database employers can search to find writers. It’s free for writers to join, and you can use it as an online resume and sales page. Here’s an example from Smart Blogger student Mark Tong:

4. BloggingPro

BloggingPro requires clients to publish job ads that pay a minimum of $15 an hour (or have at least 500 words).

Job categories are blogging, content writing jobs, copywriting, and journalism. And types of work include contract, freelance, full-time, part-time, internship, and temporary.

As job boards not named LinkedIn or Indeed go, it’s pretty detailed.

5. FlexJobs

FlexJobs specializes in all types of online jobs and remote work, including remote jobs for writers. It isn’t free, but you get a lot for your money.

For starters, you’re safe from scams — each job posting is vetted by an actual human. You also don’t have to hunt for work from home jobs that’ll allow you to write in your pajamas — all online writing job ads (from blog posts to white papers to press releases to academic writing) are for remote positions. It’s kind of their thing.

Plans start at $14.95 per month. There’s a 30-day money-back guarantee, which means you can try it out, see if there are any promising writing jobs, and cancel if you don’t like what you see.

6. Freelance Writers Den

Founded by Carol Tice, the Freelance Writers Den is a paid membership site with a long track record.

Unlike most job boards, you also get bonuses. There are over 300 hours of training material, pitch examples, templates, and monthly live events.

Membership is $25 per month with no contract. You can cancel anytime and not pay the next month’s dues. There’s also a 7-day money-back guarantee when you first join.

7. Who Pays Writers?

According to its website, Who Pays Writers? is “an anonymous, crowd-sourced list of which publications pay freelance writers — and how much.”

Translation: Once you’re ready to write for a high-profile publication that’ll look amazing on your portfolio, Who Pays Writers? will be a helpful resource you can use to discover which publications accept applications (and how much they tend to pay per word).

It’s definitely one you should bookmark.

8. FreelanceWriting.com

Curating the best writing jobs that Indeed, Craigslist, BloggingPro, and others have to offer (as well as their own, exclusive writing opportunities); freelancewriting.com is a one-step resource for freelancers.

Not all job listings are for remote writing jobs, but you can filter the ads to fit your needs. Categories include blogging and marketing jobs (WordPress, SEO, content manager, content strategist for startups, etc.), writing (freelance copywriter, staff writer, short stories, article writer, non-fiction writer, creative writer, grant writer, medical writer, healthcare report writer, real estate writer, personal finance writer, creative content writer, script writer for podcasts, etc.), proofreading (writer/editor, copy editor, content editor, proofreader, etc.), journalism, non-profit gigs, copywriting jobs, social media (marketing manager, social media manager, etc.), and technical writing (technical writer, proposal writer, cover letters, service writer, resume writer, etc.).

If you’d like to keep your list of job boards short, freelancewriting.com is a good one to keep on it.

9. Freelance Writing Jobs

Freelance Writing Jobs curates blogging jobs from Craigslist, Indeed, Journalism Jobs, MediaBistro, and others.

Every week day, Monday through Friday, they publish a short list of hand-picked job ads. So, if you prefer quality content over quantity, it’s worth a bookmark.

10. Be a Freelance Blogger

Owned and operated by a Smart Blogger student, Sophie Lizard’s job board keeps things pretty simple: if you want to publish a job ad on Be a Freelance Blogger, it has to pay at least $0.10 per word or $50 per post.

If you’re just starting out, it’s definitely worth looking into.

11. Behance Creative Jobs

Though it’s primarily known for its portfolio features, Adobe’s Behance has a job board for creatives of all shapes and sizes.

Job listings for everything from advertising to public relations to freelance writing can be found, making it a solid resource for all kinds of freelancers.

12. Constant Content

Constant Content is an online platform that facilitates connections between brands and freelance writers. You register for an account, complete a quiz, provide a short writing sample, and — once you’ve been accepted — start applying for writing jobs.

The brands they work with include Uber, Zulily, The Home Depot, Walgreens, Hayneedle, CVS, and eBay; and they claim their top writers earn up to $90,000 per year.

13. Journalism Jobs

If you want to target magazines and newspapers, Journalism Jobs is a great resource. With close to 3 million page views each month, it’s the largest resource for news writers and journalism jobs on the web.

So, if publications are your focus, it should be on your short list.

14. Copify

Copify is a different kind of job board for writers. First, you apply for membership. Once you’re in, you can take writing jobs when and if it suits you.

Its aim is to provide you “hassle-free” freelance writing opportunities. So, there are no contracts or commitments, and no need to submit bids or proposals. If you value simplicity, Copify could be a good fit.

Free Class: Want to make real, tangible money online as a freelance writer? Check out Smart Blogger’s Six-Figure Freelance Writing Class. You’ll get instant access to the first video when you sign up.

Chapter Four: Common Freelance Writing Questions (& Answers)

Still have questions? Don’t worry. It’s perfectly normal.

We’ll wrap things up with a quick FAQ.

Here are the common questions we receive from freelance writers. (If you have a question not discussed here, be sure to leave a comment below!)

You should also check out our Freelance Writing Hub. From elevating your writing skills to getting paid to write, it’s a go-to resource for everything you need to know about freelancing.

Now on to the Q&A…

What is freelance content writing?

Freelance writers are self-employed contractors who are hired by clients to create content for them. The type of content ranges from production descriptions to email copy to full-fledged eBooks — and everything in between.

What do you do as a freelance writer?

Well, hopefully, you write. A lot.

But you also:

Proofread and edit

Market and network

Hone your craft

Send invoices, do taxes, and other administrative tasks

Find paying gigs

And speaking of looking for work:

How do freelance writers find work?

How freelance writers land gigs tend to vary based on their experience writing. When you have a good body of work, you’ll get many of your blog writer jobs through referrals and repeat customers. As a result, if you’re an experienced writer, you typically make more money.

So, when you first start writing, you’ll need to be proactive. The job boards we discussed earlier will likely be where you have the most success initially. And don’t forget about the outside-the-box, under-the-radar strategies we discussed. You can find success with those too.

How much do freelance writers make?

When you’re just starting out, you’ll likely be in the $0.10 to $0.15 per word range. But, as you grow, you can command $500, $1,000, and more per article.

Once you have a body of work and you can prove you get results for clients, your pay increases.

How do freelance writers get paid?

Every client will have their own methods for paying writers, but typically you’ll submit an invoice via a service like PayPal, Stripe, or TransferWise.

Make sure you understand the payment terms before you begin work. If you’re unsure, ask the client.

How much do you charge for a 500 word article? How much should I charge for a 1000 word article?

Using the $0.10 to $0.15 per word range we just discussed, as a new freelance writer you can expect to earn between $50 and $75 for a 500-word article.

For a 1,000-word article, a new freelancer could expect to earn between $100 and $150.

But again, as time goes on, your rate should be higher.

How much does a freelance writer make per hour?

It depends.

Most clients will pay freelance writers by word count or individual project. For such clients, your hourly rate will depend on how fast you work.

But there is some data available to give you a broad (probably too broad) idea:

According to PayScale, the hourly range for freelance writers is $11.50 to $63.02. On average, the hourly rate is $24.07.

ZipRecruiter’s numbers are even broader. It says the hourly range is between $5.29 and $76.68 for freelance writers, with $30 being the national average in the United States.

Takes these numbers with a grain of salt, though.

How do you start freelance writing? How do I become a freelance writer with no experience?

Freelance writing experience or no, if you’re willing to accept lower-than-ideal pay rates on job boards, blog content mills, or freelance marketplaces (think Fiverr and Textbroker), you can get started right away. Find freelance job postings, apply to them, and get to work.

But big picture, the answer depends on which group do you belong to:

I’m a skilled writer, but I don’t yet have a body of work. Or,

my writing leaves a lot to be desired.

If you’re in the former group, focus on building a good writing portfolio. If you have your own website, publish articles on there. Medium is a good option too (and it’s free).

If you’re the latter, you really should focus on improving your writing skills. You can probably find work as you are, sure, but a portfolio filled with crappy articles won’t help you find good clients.

Our writing articles here at Smart Blogger can help you. So can the excellent writing content at Enchanting Marketing, Copyblogger, and others. And if you need formal training, the free class I mentioned earlier is well worth your time.

Can you be a freelance writer without a Bachelor’s degree (or even High School Diploma)?

Absolutely. I have a Master’s in Computer Science that I paid way too much money to acquire. Know how many times I’ve been asked by a potential client if I had a degree? Zero. Know how many times the word “degree” popped up when Jon was interviewing me for Smart Blogger? Zilch.

If you can do the work, you can do the work. A degree in creative writing, or lack of one, won’t matter.

Are “guest posts” the same thing as freelance writing jobs?

Semantics aside, yes.

With a guest post, you’re writing content for a website you don’t own, you’re credited as the author, and you get an author byline (or, at least you do with good guest post opportunities). With a freelance writing job, you’re writing content for a website you don’t own, you’re credited as the author (unless it’s a ghostwriter assignment), and you get an author byline (unless, again, you’re ghostwriting).

The only difference is compensation.

All freelance writing jobs will pay you money. With guest blogging, some blogs and websites pay writers to write guest posts for them; with others, you don’t receive monetary compensation, but you get perks like having your work seen by new audiences and beefing up your writing portfolio.

Do guest bloggers get paid?

Some do. As mentioned above, some websites pay writers to write guest posts for them.

To find out if a guest blogging opportunity is a paying one, you need to check their website. Look for a page named “editorial guidelines”, “guest posting guidelines”, “write for us”, or something similar.

Then (and this is important) you need to thoroughly read said guidelines.

If it’s a paying freelance writing gig, or even if it’s just an unpaid writing opportunity for a popular website, you want to get your relationship with the target website off to a good start. And nothing will get your relationship off to a bad start quite like failing to read their guidelines.

Many websites, especially large ones that receive lots of inquiries, will use their editorial guidelines to eliminate sub-par candidates.

For example, here are a few of the guidelines Smart Blogger used to have in our since-retired “Write for Us” page:

On average, writing a post for us takes 10-20 hours from start to finish. re: the chances we'll accept your post

During our rigorous editing process your post may go through five or six drafts before we feel it is ready to publish.

If you prefer to deliver one draft and have it published pretty much as-is, this is not the blog for you. If you prefer not to have your ideas tested or your writing scrutinized, then again, this is not the blog for you. re: the grueling blog writing process

We like longer posts in the 2,000 – 3,000 word range. Don’t think of a 1,500 word post padded out. Think of a 5,000 post trimmed down to its essence. re: guest posting length guidelines

And, trust me, there was a lot more where that came from. Each paragraph, each sentence, was carefully designed to filter potential candidates.

Most blogs and websites won’t have such detailed guidelines. But they will have some guidelines (and if one doesn’t, it isn’t one you want to do business with).

Read the guidelines, follow them, and you’ll do fine.

What are the highest paying freelance writing jobs? What niche should I pursue if I want to make lots of money as a writer?

The list of profitable writing niches can change for a variety of reasons (just look at what the coronavirus did to the “travel” industry in 2020), but here’s an evergreen tip for finding high-paying gigs:

Follow the money.

If you see lots of job ads for freelance writing jobs in a particular niche, chances are the niche is profitable.

True, smart and sophisticated businesses will continue to hire freelance writers and produce content during a recession (it pays off for them long-term), but unsophisticated clients will stop — unless they’re still making money.

This is a simple but effective hack for finding profitable niches.

To learn more, check out 17 Freelance Writing Niches That Still Pay Big Bucks.

Is freelance writing legit?

I’ll resist the urge to make a M.C. Hammer joke. Instead, I’ll simply say:

Yes, freelance writing is legit.

(You could almost say it’s too legit.)

Ready to Become a Successful Freelance Writer?

There may be lots of online writing jobs out there, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy out there.

Landing paid writing jobs is difficult. Getting started with a freelance career is difficult. But, that doesn’t mean it isn’t doable. It’s very doable.

With the tips and resources in this post, you’re now armed with knowledge. You know what steps you need to take in order to be prepared, you know under-the-radar places to look for opportunities, and you have a sizable list of freelance writing job boards from which to choose.

All that’s left is for you to take action.

Are you ready to get started? Ready to take a huge step towards quitting your day job and following your dream? Ready to find that first (or hundredth) paying assignment?

Then let’s do this thing.

The post 36 Underrated Ways to Find PAID Freelance Writing Jobs in 2021 appeared first on Smart Blogger.

from SEO and SM Tips https://smartblogger.com/freelance-writing-jobs/

[jarrettfuller]

05.19.17 Friday Links

A collection of links, articles, and other ephemera I stumbled upon this week but never posted anywhere. For more links, I keep a running list of everything I read on reading.am.

Noah Gittell, writing for The Guardian, on Netflix's new "skip intro" feature: "Watching an older film without its opening titles is like erasing history itself, or at least radically distorting it to fit present viewing habits. We wouldn’t erase the stage directions from an Arthur Miller play or tighten up the Mona Lisa by a few inches. In this age, all media is designed to pander to our dwindling attention spans, and movies, which by definition require more patience from its audience, are already fighting an uphill battle in this larger war. At least we can each do our part. Resist the temptation, watch the intro, and save a little piece of history."

Dena Yago wrote a post-mortem of sorts for K-HOLE, the art collective/trend-forecasters most known for coining the term "normcore", in e-flux. I really enjoyed reading this but I honestly couldn't tell if it was satire or serious.

Alexis Madrigal, one of my favorite tech writers, is back to writing at The Atlantic, after a brief stint at Fusion. His first piece is how the internet of 2007 is different from the 2017. It's so good to have him back writing and I can't wait to read more.

Speaking of The Atlantic, here's a smart piece from Christopher Orr on how Pixar has lost its way. I usually avoid stories like this but I do think Orr is on to something here — Pixar's latest string of movies have nowhere near the magic and universal acclaim as their older films do. Although I did enjoy Inside Out, they seemed to hit a high during the WALL-E and Up era.

I'm getting very excited for Lorde's sophomore album so I devoured this profile of the young artist in Rolling Stone. (Worth reading alongside this profile I linked to last month.)

David Byrne — yes, that David Byrne — thinks a lot of new technology is ultimately about eliminating the human. In a blog post on his site, he writes: "I have a theory that much recent tech development and innovation over the last decade or so has had an unspoken overarching agenda—it has been about facilitating the need for LESS human interaction. It’s not a bug—it’s a feature. We might think Amazon was about selling us books we couldn’t find locally—and it was and what a brilliant idea—but maybe it was also just as much about eliminating human interaction. I see a pattern emerging in the innovative technology that has gotten the most attention, gets the bucks and often, no surprise, ends up getting developed and implemented. What much of this technology seems to have in common is that it removes the need to deal with humans directly. The tech doesn’t claim or acknowledge this as its primary goal, but it seems to often be the consequence. I’m sort of thinking maybe it is the primary goal."

And speaking of David Byrne, Selana Gomez has a new single out that heavily uses a sample from the Talking Heads song "Psycho Killer". I've never listened to a Gomez song and couldn't even tell you a name of one of any of her other songs, but I'm really into this one.

I previously linked to a great review of Wendy Lesser's new Louis Kahn biography but here's another worth reading: Paul Goldberger (who recently published his own architect biography) reviews the book and examines the form of the starcitect biography.

A great piece from Natasha Singer in The New York Times on how Google is taking over the classroom by distributing Chromebooks and utilizing Google Docs and Gmail to help in education. It's interesting and controversial but most fascinating to me was the realization of how much technology has changed the classroom setting — we didn't have laptops or email in elementary school and I remember when my teachers got computers.

Nathan Heller examines the gig economy in the this week's New Yorker. This paragraph hit a little too close to home: "Perez-Fox fished some business cards from his pocket. “I’m a graphic designer and brand strategist, and I also run a podcast, and a podcast meet-up. You should come to our meet-up,” he said, handing her a card. The card said, “new york city podcast meetup.” “That’s the group,” he said. “My show is on the back side.” The back of the card said, “the busy creator podcast.” “It’s about workflow and creative productivity and culture and habits for creative pros.”"

Deb Chachra on the invisible systems that help democracy: "Before asking the question of how technology can affect democracy, I’m going to ask: What is democracy for? In a developed, post-industrial country at the start of the twenty-first century, one of the main functions of a democratic political system is to help us collectively manage living in a complex, global society. Our daily lives take place in a network of technological, socio-technical, and social systems that we barely notice, except when things go wrong."