Looking for a writing job?
If you're a writer, the hardest part of the job is finding work. Let us help you find permanent positions, contracts, freelancing work, or anything else you need to make it as a professional writer.
Web Writing Job Sites
There are two broad classes of web-writing sites: sites that buy articles or act as marketplaces for articles you've written on spec, and sites where you can find new clients.
Sites That Buy Articles
These sites buy individual articles or are clearinghouses where buyers can find articles. You can frequently get bylines from these sites, though they're not prestigious.
Demand Studios
Very very good, but very very hard to get in. They have a list of tens of thousands of article topics and want articles written in one of several special formats. All articles are approved by a copyeditor. Long articles (300-500 words) pay $15 and short articles (50-200 words) pay $5 to $7.50; experienced writers can write an average of one long article or two short articles an hour. To get in you'll need to provide a resume and an excellent writing sample.
Constant Content
You write whatever articles you like and put them in the marketplace for whatever price you like, and webmasters buy them. Or you can answer the calls for articles and write to someone else's specifications, which may be a more secure route to sales. Either way, CC has a specific style, it does good quality checks on all their articles, and it kicks out writers who submit unacceptable articles too often, so read CC's forum and get an idea of what it's looking for first.
Associated Content
Pays a very low price for exclusive content (numbers are hard to come by, but it seems to be half a cent to one cent per word) or a very, very low sum for nonexclusive content (based on page views). Good for reusing old content that's posted elsewhere. Also, because AC pages rank high in Google results, a small collection of samples on AC can be a useful portfolio.
Helium Marketplace
Only a handful of jobs, but they're relatively high quality. Be warned that you have to be a premier member to get the best jobs, meaning you have to write free articles for Helium for a good long time first.
Conjecture
Pay is $10 for each article with a minimum average of 400 words. They require a resume, two writing samples, and a list of subjects you can write. They prefer technology, business, and financial topics.
Articlesale.com
You post, they sell. The quality is low, as are many of the prices. Might be useful as practice for Constant Content.
Chatlife
The pay's low, but they do pay.
Sites Where You Can Find Clients and Jobs
Freelance Writing: Morning Coffee
A daily roundup of freelancing gigs. The jobs are mostly better-paying and more respectable than SEO writing, but you'll have to filter out the SEO work.
Freelance Writing Jobs
Freelance writing gigs aggregated from across the web. An excellent place to start. Very, very heavy on the SEO writing, but there are better-paying gigs in there as well.
oDesk
A site for telecommuters of all types, from writing to web design to accounting and programming. Look in all sections of the Writing & Translation section, not just the obvious ones. [Note: oDesk requires workers to use software that lets clients see workers' progress during work hours. If you think this is intrusive, you're not alone.]
Flexjobs: Telecommuting Online Content Jobs
"Online content involves the written and graphic content that appears on website domains and other forms of online advertising, entertainment and corporate sites. Skills needed for working in online content can include writing, editing, marketing, graphic design, SEO, SEM, and social media."
Craigslist - The Craigslist "writing/editing jobs" and "writing gigs" sections occasionally get requests for article writers. Check as many cities as you have time for.
Elance has frequent calls for article writers under Writing & Translation > Web Content, but I hesitate to send you there. Elance is an auction site (so it takes longer to be hired), and bidding on projects can cost money. It's a venue best left to established writers.
ScriptLance
An online marketplace for IT and web professionals. As on Elance, you bid on projects.
DigitalPoint Forums
Hanging out at the Copywriting Forum can occasionally get you new clients, since that's where the better writers and clients go.