Freelance Writing Jargons - Terms and Definitions

Writers also have a lot of jargons in their business world. Here are few commonly used jargons in freelance writing.

Portfolio: Portfolio is a visual resume that can be created online for easy accessibility to editors and clients.

Byline: Byline is added after completing an article and this is nothing but a two or three lines description about the author.

Sidebar: Sidebar is a short introduction for a longer article and main aim of this is to highlight some of the important information.

Clip: Clip is nothing but a sample of your work and this can be a link to an article, hard copy, or online article.

Content: Content is a piece of article specially designed for a website and this is normally written smaller paragraphs with appropriate keywords for SEO purposes.

Copywriting: Copywriting is written with information for selling a product or service. For example, sales letter and information found on the back of the book cover are copywriting materials. The length differs according to the projects.

Guideline: This is normally provided by client, publication, or website and this is a set of outlines that should be followed while submitting article, which includes, payments, deadlines and all other items associated with writing.

MS: Manuscript

Deadline: It is the date or time your article is due.

Ghostwriter: As a freelance writer, you will write an article and submit it to some other person who will own the article, but you will get the payment for the article. Most importantly, you will be asked to sign a contract or agreement for the ownership.

Common Mistakes made by Freelance Writers

Experience counts in every work and this even applies to freelancing. Although you have excellent writing skills, you may find it very difficult in making big in freelance writing. Some of the mistakes made by the novice in freelance writing may hinder their path of growth. Here are few common mistakes made by freelance writing.

Not Charging Appropriately: Most of the beginners accept any low pay work in the beginning. Though they have excellent writing skills, they fear of negotiating charges. Initially, you may get only low paying jobs, but this should not be continued. You have the right to earn money, if you have excellent writing skills.

Failing to Choose a Niche or Becoming an Expert: Establishing yourself as an expert in your niche is very important. Most importantly, you should choose a niche in which you feel comfortable and enjoy writing. You should remember that expertise in a field brings more job.

Weak or No Resume: As a freelancers, you should have a strong resume that should speak about you and represent you when you apply for a job. The resume is a representative so it should be very much pleasing and showcase all your expertise and experience in the field.

Missing Deadlines: Just like any other traditional job, it is very important for you to keep up the deadlines and finish the job in time. It is even better, if you finish the job earlier and you will be appreciated by clients. You should understand that missing deadlines is directly proportional to losing clients.

Get Taken by Scams: Beginners easily become prey of all the scams, unfortunately there are large number of scams. Therefore, you should first learn to identify scams and should carefully evaluate all the job opportunities.

thecontentauthority - Review

thecontentauthority.com is another great place for writers to earn good amount without any hassle. You can apply through their website, you will be asked to write an article of about 150 words as test assignment and if you meet their standards, you will be selected.

Selection Process

The selection process is straight forward and you will get the response within 24 - 72 hours. The selected candidates are assigned as tier 1 writers and put under probation period for first five articles. The completed first five articles are then reviewed and graded by the editors. This rating determines whether the new writer remains in tier 1 level or advanced to tier 2 or terminated.

Pay Scale

The pay scale is low when compared to others, but a writer can make 10 dollars very easily in just an hour because most of the articles require only little research. The pay scale varies with the tiers. The payment structure are as follows:

Tier 1 Flat Rates

200 Words	$ 1.40
300 Words	$ 2.10
400 Words	$ 2.80
500 Words	$ 3.50
600 Words	$ 4.20
700 Words	$ 4.90
800 Words	$ 5.60
UAW Pack*	$ 7.00

Tier 2 Flat Rates

200 Words	$ 2.00
300 Words	$ 3.00
400 Words	$ 4.00
500 Words	$ 5.00
600 Words	$ 6.00
700 Words	$ 7.00
800 Words	$ 8.00
900 Words	$ 9.00
UAW Pack*	$ 10.00

Tier 3 Flat Rates:

200 Words	$ 3.00
300 Words	$ 4.50
400 Words	$ 6.00
500 Words	$ 7.50
600 Words	$ 9.00
700 Words	$ 10.50
800 Words	$ 12.00
900 Words	$ 13.50
1000 Words	$ 15.00
UAW Pack*	$ 15.00

The payment is done every Saturday when the amount reaches 25 dollars. Remember, the payment is done only for approved articles and payment is done through paypal.

I find this as a great opportunity for freelance writers and also they offer some exciting features to boost writers to write more.

How to balance freelance writing work and personal life?

How to balance work and life was the biggest question for me before few months. Now, i know how to balance and here are my personal experience, which i love to share.

Initially, i took up too much of work loads, which always landed me in tensions. Now, i have gradually understood my daily limit of works.

We women always feel fully satisfied, only if we personally do all the household works, especially cleaning works. It is OK to let your husband or kids to help you in the household works. My husband usually helps a lot, and even we can engage kids in doing work.Kids love to do something different, and they also try to learn from their daily activities.

This is for the mom with toddlers, as my son is just 1.2 years, he always wishes my presence around him. Also, i can't concentrate much when he is awake, especially after he became the new walker. Then, my husband asked me to do all freelance writing works when he sleeps. This method actually works well for me.

Schedule all the daily works and try to the maximum to keep the schedule. Try to eliminate some time wasters. And most important things is try to avoid writing works during weekends, make sure that your weekends are only for your family.

Enjoy Writing.

Why Plagiarism Checking is Required

Recently, one of my client rejected my article, saying that it contains duplicate contents. I never understood what is the real problem. Because i checked with free plagiarism checking websites online, even then my content was rejected.

I have now registered with copyscape, its a paid plagiarism checking service. For 10$, you can check 200 individual article and this is valid for one year. When i checked my returned article in this copyscape, i found 294 matching words. Then i reworked on the article and again submitted, which got accepted.

I am sharing this experience so that all writers could understand the need to check their content for plagiarism. There are many free plagiarism checking services available. But i seriously recommend copyscape for its accurate result.

Free Plagiarism services:

PlagiarismDetect

Article Checker

For more information on plagiarism, please check this site about avoiding plagiarism. Happy Writing.