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Online jobsites can be great sources of client work for freelance writers.  Supplement your  income or start your writing side-hustle while you’ve still got your day job. These jobsites are a a great way to cut your teeth working with clients.
Because as much as we love writing, a big part of a freelance writing business is working with clients; they’re the ones who pay us after all. And working on a lot of different writing projects will quickly teach you how to read a project brief, create good work methods, and screen customers who are overly finicky or don’t know what they want.
Because you only have a limited amount of time each day, I recommend limiting yourself to just a few sites. It takes time to build momentum on a jobsite and become known as a reputable writer, so don’t spread yourself too thin. I’ve listed 13+ jobsites here, imagine if you spent 5-45 minutes on each of these sites everyday — it doesn’t leave much time for writing.
Treat every job, no matter how small as a professional project. I’ve found a lot of my regular writing clients from these jobsites and I’m sure you can too.
Where to find freelance writing clients
- Upwork
- Freelancer
- Guru
- Airtasker (Australia only)
- ProBlogger
- Ozlance (Australia only)
- People Per Hour
- Working Nomads
- WeGrowth
- FreelanceWriting (USA only)
- Fiverr
- BloggingPro
- Flexjobs
Upwork
Upwork is a great place for freelance writers to find clients as the site hosts more than 14 million users in 180 countries with more than USD$1 Billion in annual freelancer revenue.
Clients post jobs writing jobs in a range of categories:-
- creative writing
- technical writing
- copywriting
- editing and proofreading
- article and blog writing
- web content
- grant writing
- academic writing and research
- other writing
Freelancers send a proposal to the client which includes a private quote in USD. The freelancer can attach portfolio items and other supporting material as well as refer the client to your writer website. Clients then engage the freelancer of their choice, and all payments are made though the Upwork system (retaining fees from 5%-22%). The fees are tiered depending on how long a freelancer has been working with the client. Bids/quotes remain private between Freelancer and Client..
I use Upwork extensively and have found some great longterm clients. There’s always writing jobs  (and even though a lot of them are quite low paying)  you can usually find something decent.
Upwork was previously known as eLance and oDesk.
- Free account: yes but limited functionality
- Private bidding: only the client can see your price
- Fees: 5%-22%
- Bring your own clients for free: invitation only for top-rate freelancers
Freelancer
Freelancer claims to be the world’s largest online freelancing and crowdsourcing platform, with 24 million users from around the globe. According to Business Insider, Brazil, UK, Pakistan, Indonesia, Philippines, Bangladesh and Canada round out the top 10 countries, while the USA, UK, Canada and Australia are the biggest sources of employers.
On average Freelancer gains more than 12,000 new users and 8,000 new tasks daily. And each minute 94 bids from freelancers and 360 messages are sent through the system.
Freelancer has loads of jobs but a reputation for being very low paying. I created a profile and won a few jobs but didn’t accept the contracts because the expected payment was way too low.
- Free account: yes but limited functionality
- Private bidding: no
- Fees: 11%
- Bring your own clients for free: yes
Guru
Guru has a lot of nice features but there aren’t a lot of writing jobs up for grabs. Currently 3,000,000 members but most of the jobs are in design and development.
- Free account: yes but limited functionality
- Private bidding: yes
- Fees: 4.95% – 8.95% (depending on your membership)
Airtasker (Australia only)
Airtasker is an Australian jobsite with 1.6 million users and about $15.4 million worth of work available each month. Airtasker writing jobs tend to be very low paying and very often dodgy. A lot of people post jobs asking freelancers to write their uni assignments, or write up bogus Facebook ratings and Google reviews.Â
I used it for a while but closed my account.
- Free account: yes
- Private bidding: no
- Fees: 4-20% (depending on your membership)
ProBlogger
ProBlogger is a website for professional bloggers wanting to learn how to monetise their blog. It also contains a job board with paid blogging and other writing opportunities from around the world.Â
You don’t need to join, follow the links in each job to apply directly with the client.
- Free account: not account needed
- Private bidding: yes
- Fees: nil (negotiate directly with the client)
OzLance
OzLance is a website for Australian freelancers including writers. Create a profile and portfolio and bid for jobs. All bids are listed publicaly.
Seems like a good site but there are only a few writing jobs.
- Free account: yes
- Private bidding: no
- Fees: nil
People Per Hour
People Per Hour allows you to apply for writing jobs as well as advertise specific fixed-fee services. Maybe you could do a package for blog posts, copywriting, resume writing etc. Joining is free and you have three months to win at least 2 jobs to keep your membership active.
I closed my account because it kept over-riding location and listed me in Melbourne (which was a pain). You might have better results with it.
- Free account: yes with limited functionality
- Private bidding: unclear
- Fees: unsure of the fees
Working Nomads
https://www.workingnomads.co/jobs
Working Nomads curates remote job offers in many professional career areas including writing. You can signup to their mailing list to be notified when writing jobs become available.Â
- Free account: not required
- Private bidding: yes, apply direct to client
- Fees: nil
WeGrowth
WeGrowth is a platform for freelance writers, designers and marketers to advertise their services. List your services for a fixed fee under a range of Content Writing categories.
There’s not a lot of activity on this site but it may change in the future as more users join.
- Free account:Â yes
- Private bidding:Â n/a
- Fees:Â 12%
FreelanceWriting (USA only)
https://www.freelancewriting.com
This site is for freelance writers from the USA, and integrates your Upwork portfolio. Being an Australian writer I don’t have full access to the site. Try it for yourself.
- Free account:Â unsure
- Private bidding:Â unsure
- Fees:Â unsure
Fiverr
The original Fiverr website was famous for being able to get just about anything done for $5. Now you can list any of your writing services for sale at a fixed fee on Fiverr. You can charge up to $995 for each listing.
Check it out, there is a huge audience of users from all over the world and Fiverr has just introduced a Pro service, where you can be verified as a professional in your writing niche.
- Free account:Â yes
- Private bidding:Â n/a
- Fees:Â 20%
BloggingPro
https://www.bloggingpro.com/jobs
The BloggingPro Job Board is updated daily with paid blogging and content writing jobs for freelance writers. The job board is up-to-date.
- Free account:Â n/a
- Private bidding:Â apply directlyÂ
- Fees:Â n/a
FlexJobs
FlexJobs has a big list of writing opportunities, whether contract, freelance, part-time or full-time. The jobs here seem to be higher end stuff for technical and academic writers mainly based in the USA.
- Free account:Â from $14.95 per month
- Private bidding:Â apply directlyÂ
- Fees:Â n/a
© 2018 Melinda J. Irvine
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One response to “Finding Clients: 13+ Jobsites for Freelance Writers”
[…] time is valuable. This little post will quickly help you sift through the mountain of writing jobs on Upwork and concentrate on those worthy of your […]