Freelance Writing - A Rewarding Career - Part 2

As promised in the first part of this series, I am giving details of a few websites that offer good writing opportunities that make you happy not only because it satisfies your passion for writing but also makes your purse fatter. I wouldn't say that you can make a comfortable living out of this job but it can surely add to your supplementary income and help you pay a few bills.

Best Opportunities first

iwriter.com

In my experience as a freelance writer in the last five years, this is the website I would give my vote to for offering a simple yet good writing platform. It has been more than a year now since I registered on this site but could not work due to my tight schedules working as a content writer for a few clients. Recently I lost both the jobs I had and was looking seriously for work online when I remembered that I had registered on iwriter.com but had not done any writing.

iwriter is the novel idea of Brad Callen, a genuine Internet marketer who is a very reliable guy. I am on his list of subscribers and even purchased one of his products, the Niche Finder, a software for finding profitable keywords. He has set up a website and brought together those who want articles to be written for their online businesses and those who want to make money writing online.

Writers have to complete the articles within a specified duration and once it is submitted, the requester approves it if it is to their liking. You get paid as soon as your article is approved and can choose to get the money credited to your PayPal account either weekly, fortnightly or monthly. The minimum payout is $20 and above this amount you can specify the minimum amount that you want to withdraw.

There are three categories of writers on iwriter namely standard who are the least paid, premium who make up the second or the middle level and the elite consisting of top writers. You get started as a standard writer. Initially you need to write 30 articles so that you get 30 ratings on iwriter from the clients. Ratings are very important because they are the deciding factor for your promotion to the higher levels.

Once you get 30 4-star ratings, you become a premium writer and once you reach the 4.6 rating after 30 approved articles, you reach the top level. The topics are very different coming from different types of people and not very complicated. With a little research you can do a good job. This will be quite simple for hubbers because you already have some writing practice. The key to success on iwriter is to follow the special instructions from the clients and writing according to their specific requirements.

An impressive feature of iwriter is that you will likely get special requests from a requester if they like your work. They get to view the articles written by you, so if they are impressed with your writing they send you a special request that you get to know about through email. You get paid a little more than the usual amount when you complete a special request order.

When I tell you about the payment that you get paid to start with, you may not like it initially. But if you ignore this part (I know that the fee for an article is a very important factor) till you get your 30 ratings and go to the premium level, then there will be no looking back as your earnings increase. Once you reach the elite level then you have every reason to be happy about as you get a decent income for every article you write. Now you are waiting for me to give you the payment details, right? Here they are:

Standard writers

• 150 words article gets you $1.01
• 300 words $1.62
• 500 words $2.43

Premium writers

• 300 words $ 3.24
• 500 words $ 4.05
• 700 words $ 5.27
• 1000 words $ 7.70

Elite writers

• 500 words $ 8.10
• 700 words $ 10.13
• 1000 words $ 14.99

The above rates are constant for a standard writer but once you reach the premium and the elite levels, the requester chooses to pay you any amount s/he wishes to with a specified minimum amount as given above. I once saw the payment for a 1000-word elite article to be $17.82. Isn't that a decent amount for a writer?

A little bit of advice for new writers joining iwriter:

• Watch the tutorial video for writers before starting to write. Rules are slightly changed now-those explained in the video talk about reaching 20 ratings but now it is 30 ratings for going up to the higher levels.
• Choose your requester carefully by going over their reviews. Do not write for those with a low approval rate at least to begin with.
• Read the special instructions well before taking up the assignment
• Be sincere in your approach
• Do your research well and create a quality article
• Do not fear rejection- it has happened to me- for it can sometimes happen for reasons beyond our control despite an excellent article. It may not be the one that the requester had expected though it may be of good quality. Keep writing.
• If you are writing the article directly on iwriter, keep saving as draft every now and then so as to avoid losing your valuable content due to some reason.
• You may also write on a word or a text document but you'll have to format the article once you paste it on iwriter.

I find iwriter to be an ideal platform for both writers and requesters. I started writing only in the first week of May 2012 and have received about 3 fortnightly payments that are credited to my PayPal account directly on the dates specified by me. So there are no worries about being paid promptly.

If you enjoy writing and are looking to broaden your career as a writer, then this is an ideal place for you to make a beginning. You can easily get 30 ratings within a month as I did. I wrote one article a day. If you are able to write two articles, then you will reach a higher level sooner. There is no happiness that can compare with the joy of writing on a reliable website where you feel safe and protected.

This hub has become longer than I expected, so I would share information about the other writing platforms that I know of in my next hub. But of all the websites that offer online writing jobs, iwriter has so far been the best in my opinion provided you are patient enough to keep writing until you reach the top level. This is definitely possible within a month's time if you are a consistently good writer.

The ease of use of the website's interface is one of the best aspects that fascinates me. All you need to become a writer on iwriter is to sign up, watch the tutorial for writers and start writing. It is that simple! Go ahead and sign up and start writing today. I'll be very happy if at least a few people get to know about iwriter through this hub and become successful writers. If I can do it, you too can! Good luck friends. I hope you find this information helpful.

Unfortunately due to the abominable actions of some hooligans trying to hack into the website, iwriter has been closed for people from a few countries like India, Kenya (I am told it is open in Kenya now, not sure) and a few other countries. But the website is very much up and running in and open to other countries.

This has been truly disappointing as it has been the bread and butter for many a freelancer. It is a shame on those who try to play dirty games with others' legitimate property trying to ruin them. In the process writers who have been affected are the honest and dedicated writers. But if one door closes there are a thousand more opening. I just found another great website about which I will be making a hub shortly after trying it out. Thank you.