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Hiring a Freelance Writer

By: Dinah Effie

Exactly what do an independent Writer Do In your case?

An independent writer can be an independent contractor who usually telecommutes (works from your own home). You may hire a freelance writer for just a small project or upon an on-going basis to complete regular work, part- or full-time. Freelance writers can tackle any writing or editing project maybe you have, including: articles, reports, web content, proofreading, pr announcements, reviews, investor business plans, ghostwriting, e-books, brochures, letters, print ads, speeches, presentations, newsletters, scripts, contracts, questionnaires, training manuals, plus more. Freelance home writers may do research, planning, brain storming, organizing, and branding. Additionally, many modern freelance article writers are incredibly familiar with search engine ranking (SEO).

How to find a Freelance Writer?

It can be fairly easy to discover a freelance writer ever since the advance of the net. Some of the most popular internet sites for locating freelance writers are Elance, iFreelance, and GetAFreelancer. The way in which these three sites are set up is that people or companies with writing projects post their ambitions done. Freelance writers who will be people it can place bids around the projects. Once the desired time period increased, the consumer chooses a bidder.

Elance has become the established with the three sites. Elance offers dispute mediation, an optional escrow service to pay your freelancer, and allows the freelancers to verify their credentials (including previous employers or degrees earned). Elance does charge a project fee of 6-8%. Ifreelance and Getafreelancer basically just give a means for buyers and providers in order to connect (no extras like mediation and escrow). All three from the sites allow the freelancers to build profiles where they are able to describe their background skills and still provide writing samples. The professionalism on Getafreelancer is, for me, noticeably a lesser amount than another two sites.

Do not overlook Craigslist for posting your writing project. A company called Freelance Daily compiles a listing of all the freelance writing jobs posted online (Craigslist, Monster, etc.) every weekday and e-mails them to subscribers. The Freelance Daily fades to 1000s of writers. Additionally, also you can employ a writing firm to address any project. Many firms get jobs on these sites, however some will not.

Crafting The Project Proposal?

The greater detail you can look after your freelance applicants better. A great project description, as being a good job description, is thorough, accurate, and informative. The quantity of pages is the project? The quantity of words if your articles be? Does the project involve research? Have you got a sample you'll be able to provide? Have you got a website address you can include? What's the subject material involved? Will it be double-spaced or single-spaced? Will the writer retain rights towards the work product or do you want to? Will the writer's name be printed about the work product giving your ex credit?

To work with you in giving the proper details, you need to know that, on average, the full 8.5" x 11" notepad packed with single-spaced writing in 10 or 12 point font contains about 500 words. A comparable double-spaced page contains about 250. The common post or information article contains 300-500 words. Also, make sure you ask for a resum? and three writing samples with your project proposal.

Some other tips are to consider checking your writer's help CopyScape. CopyScape is usually a website designed to verify that a document is published someplace else already. Even if merely an area of the document is plagiarized, CopyScape can see that. Additionally, many providers on writing sites come from India or some other countries where English isn't the native language. When you only desire to use a native English speaker, please specify that as part of your proposal. Also, if you wish the writer to make in documents in a very non-traditional format, clarify this as part of your proposal. When you expect anything other than a .doc or .rtf document, allow applicants know. In the event the writer will need special software, clarify this as well. Lastly, should your project requires proofreading or editing, specify whether you wish the freelancer to use traditional proofreading symbols or simply "laymen's terms." If you want the proofreader to train on a certain reference manual much like the APA (American Psychological Association) or Chicago Manual of fashion, specify this.

Terminology to find out

Be informed about the proper terminology. Below are a few terms to aid you:

Blogger/Blogging - A blog, or website, is similar to an internet based diary or journal. Blogs could have personal or business-related content. Blogs are normally updated with new content frequently. Typically, blogs provide a location for readers to leave comments and feedback. People may subscribe to blogs, like newsletters. A blogger is someone that posts blog content. Blogging will be the act of posting content into a blog.

Copywriting: Not equivalent to "copyright," which identifies intellectual property. Copywriting means writing "copy." Copy is any text that promotes a business, service, person, or concept, i.e. ads. Many copywriters be employed by advertising agencies, newspapers, or magazines.

Ghostwriter: Someone that is hired to write down for someone else. The author allows the individual that hired them to claim his / her writing as their own.

Proofreading:

Light Proofreading--Correcting misspellings, grammar and punctuation mistakes, verifying references, and ensuring consistency

Medium Proofreading--Light proofreading plus checking for tone, structure, run-on sentences, voice, tense, disjointed ideas

Heavy Proofreading--Medium proofreading plus condensing wordiness, smoothing out transitions between paragraphs, readability, eliminating clich? s, as well as any other correction or comment which can be noticed by the proofreader

Re-Write: Some companies need having news items or similar content re-written. If it is what you need, specify that candidates will not need to create original content but alternatively just re-work or re-arrange existing content. The price for this ought to be lower than drafting original copy.

Site content: Any content on the website, to include text, pictures, videos, or logos, is considered site content.

White Papers: Articles that express an organization's standing or philosophy by using an issue. White papers come in some ways reports that will provide outcomes of a newly released project or conclusions produced by recent research.

How you can Go with a Writer Of all the Qualified Candidates?

More than likely any clear and concise project proposal you post will leave you inundated with applicants. Expect between 5 to 40 applicants per post. How do you determine who's the most beneficial match to complete the job?

What many buyers do is ask the freelance applicants to post an example article, give 10 ideas for sample web sites, proofread a sample page, etc. By creating a "sample test," you are able to weed out applicants in several ways. First of all, some applicants will likely be too busy to accomplish your sample. Dedicated applicants who really want the job is likely to make time. Second, applicants will turn in the test after your deadline, misread directions, and otherwise expose their weaknesses. You can even consider conducting phone interviews in the final stage from the process. Still unsure? Hire the top 2-3 candidates with a conditional grounds for a shorter project and determine next.

Tips on how to Charge and Pay for Your Freelance Writer?

You then have a lot of flexibility about how you have to pay your freelance writer: per word, per article, per page, per project, hourly, or on the pre-arranged flat fee. In terms of paying your freelancer, PayPal is just about the proper way, unless the author will be with your payroll getting paper checks. The use of Elance, you can utilize their escrow system.

Other Issues to think about

Should you be conducting a long-term project, consider setting milestones with the project, i.e. breaking it up into a compilation of small projects with intermittent work deadlines. You may also utilize a website like BaseHQ to keep on top of the project while using freelancer. This website offers a common workspace for just two parties working long-distance over a similar project.

Also, if the freelance writer is dealing with sensitive material for your company, consider getting them sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement. This document will bind the freelancer into keeping your trade secrets private.

Another tip should be to not be so specific with what you need done how the freelancer does not have any room to pitch ideas or give feedback. Freelance article writers have extensive knowledge of projects just like yours and may manage to give a valuable outside opinion. Benefit from what you will be spending money on.


Find out freelance writers and freelance web designer london for more info.

Article Source: http://www.writerspenarticledirectory.com



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