Hello all -

I'm a PoliSci grad student looking to get into freelance writing. It seems like there are some great opportunities out there, but I don't know where to begin. First of all, what can a freelancer expect to make starting out? I currently work a student job that pays minimum wage and offers limited work opportunities, so I really only need around $100 a week to replace that. Also, where should I look to get started? I've read several articles suggesting passive income sources, and while the concept is appealing, I'm not sure how much income potential it really offers. Would I be better off posting articles to sites like Constant Content?

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide!

Madcowboy - if your name suggests that you know your way around a horse then I would recommend starting a writing career with horse publications. Like everything else in the horse industry they do not pay well and sometimes they do not pay at all (see Whispers and Warnings) but they are relatively easy markets to break into. A beginner freelancer can expect between $20 to $100 article starting out depending on word count and depending on how well the publication pays so you might make more per article. Most magazines pay on publication so that means up to 30 days after the magazine is on the shelf. So it could be months between having an article accepted and when its published and you get paid. Its hard to say how many acceptances you might get in a year. Maybe one, maybe none, maybe lots. The sad reality is that you probably will not make $100/week as a writer unless you get a part time job at a local newspaper. Some writers have started out posting to sites like Constant Content - I'm not familiar with them. You want to do a Google search for any site you're interested in writing for and see if any writers have posted problems getting paid. You want to choose a site that pays you by the article not by click. I would really focus on horse magazines if I were you for getting started. I also recommend going to the library and checking out a book called The Renegade Writer.

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Horseback riding is life, the rest is just details.