Selling articles online is what most online writers want to do.  And it is possible to make a good living from it.

But of all the emails I have received from would be writers wanting to do just that, the most common question I am asked is “where do you find the work?”

With that in mind, here are three methods for locating those article buyers.  There are plenty of them out there – you just have to know how to reach them.

1. Use search engines. This might sound too simple for words, but it is often the simple ideas that are the best!  I have found many sources of work in this way.  All you have to do is type in some keywords that are relevant to what you want to find.  Try ‘paid writing work’, ‘sell articles’ and various other possibilities.  ‘Article marketplace’ can also produce some good possibilities.  The trick is to keep trying different combinations of words to reveal some good sources of potential work and article sales.
2. Explore the freelance bidding sites. Once again, there are plenty of these around.  Some require a payment to join; others are free and still more give you a choice of both.  In this latter case you will usually get a more advanced membership if you pay for it.  Persevere with these sites – you won’t always grab your first writing job and find an article buyer to work with on the first attempt.
3. Keep reading writing sites and blogs for sources of new work and article buyers. There are lots of these sites around and many of them have regular job listings for online writers.  Add the ones you like to your bookmarks toolbar so they are always there to remind you.  Look regularly for article buyers that are after the kind of articles you can write well.

The trick to succeeding in online writing is not only to persevere – it is in knowing where to look to find work.  And the three methods above should help you to make sure your own online writing career is a resounding success.

Here's a great idea to help you with your writing - are you thinking in batches yet?

If you are new to online writing and you have got your first few articles under your belt, you might be wondering how to develop your writing career a bit further.

Here is a good tip for you.  Start thinking in batches.

Now what do I mean by batches?  Well, this can apply in two different situations.  Let’s take a look at them below.  You can get started with one of these or launch straight in and start using both.  It’s really up to you.  But whatever you do, you can make a lot of money when you start thinking about selling articles in batches.

1. You can look for article jobs from clients that request more than one article at a time.  These are good to do because they bring in more money.  They will usually focus on one topic, so you might be asked to produce, let’s say, ten articles on the subject of internet marketing.  The client might provide the individual topics or you might have to do that yourself.

But however you do it, you will find that writing several articles on the same topic is actually easier than writing several articles on a number of different topics.  This is because you only have to do research on one topic.  And if you already happen to be an expert on that topic, so much the better.  You will earn your fee even faster!

2. You can write more articles for yourself to sell on various websites.  There are websites online that enable you to sell your own work directly to buyers for a fee that you set.  Now obviously the more articles you can display on these sites, the better.  So writing them in batches enables you to upload more in a shorter period of time, because you can focus on writing all about one specific topic.  You can then progress to another topic when the first one has run dry.

Do you see how this works?  If you start thinking in batches in order to sell articles rather than individually, you will be surprised at just how many more articles you sell.  And how much more cash you bring in too.

Article source: http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Allison_Whitehead

How indeed?  Finding article buyers is a constant task for all freelance writers, whatever markets you aim for and whether they are online or off.

Article buyers are waiting all round the world to pay you for your writing - you just need to find them

But there are article buyers all over the place, and that is one thing that you always need to bear in mind.  They are EVERYWHERE – you just need to know how to find them.  And what’s more, you need to persevere in learning how to find them.

Every online writer has a different method for finding article buyers for the work they produce.  Some writers create articles themselves and then sell them on sites like Constant Content, offering their work directly to article buyers on there.  Others look for jobs first, and then write articles to fulfil the jobs they have won.

Both methods are equally good and worth doing, and every writer has their own favourite sites they can find work on.  For example, I know of people who get almost all their writing jobs from sites like Elance.  But I don’t focus on that particular site, not at the moment anyway.  I sell articles directly on Constant Content, and I get a lot of work by being part of a writing group as well.

But I have also found clients via Twitter, and via Craigslist in the past as well.  And having my own website and blog has helped a lot too.  It is as much about being visible as it is about being out there and actively looking for article buyers who have work available.

So remember to make yourself visible to article buyers, as well as making sure you get yourself out there and looking at the same time.

If you have been reading a lot about online writing lately, you will probably have come across the term ‘ghostwriting’.  But what is it?  How is it different from any other kind of writing?

Could you be an unseen ghostwriter?

In truth, if you have got your first writing job you might even have done some ghost writing already without even realising it!  You see, ghostwriting is basically writing something for someone else that they put their own name on and publish.  So for example, you might be asked to write an article on cheese making (sorry, that was the first thing that came into my head!) for a client.  So you write it and you turn it in, and they pay you.

But then they stick their own name on it and publish it or do whatever they like with it, because they have paid you for full ownership of it.  They won’t tell other people they had someone else write the piece on cheese making – they will say they wrote it themselves.  You have ‘ghostwritten’ the piece and you will remain a mystery in the background, as people don’t even know you exist.

I actually fell into ghost writing without even realising it.  I was poodling along doing my writing and developing my client base, and I read an article on ghostwriting.  And I suddenly realised that’s what I was doing!  Talk about being the last one to know…

Some people have an issue with giving ownership of their writing to other people.  That’s fair enough though – I can perfectly understand that.  I think I have been there and got the published magazine clips, so I was happy to write for other people.  Although with that said I still like to do the odd magazine piece with my name on it (or online piece, like this blog for example!) from time to time.

It’s really a case of horses for courses.  If you like the idea of keeping your own name on everything then go for it and write for markets that make this a possibility.  If you like to write for all kinds of different people and markets, then go for a mix of everything.  Remember that this is YOUR writing career so you get to choose who you want to write for and when you want to write.

Another 'five' entry

Writing is a funny occupation – and for funny read strange!  As an online freelance writer I write and sell articles to all kinds of buyers for all kinds of reasons.  I don’t ask why they want certain items of content – it is my job simply to find out what they want and to deliver it.

But I thought this would make a great post for my ongoing series, The Page of Fives.  As you may remember, this is basically a series of articles which focuses on five of something.  And since I have written articles on all kinds of things that I wouldn’t specify as being a specialist subject of mine, I thought it would be good to share some of them with you.

So here we are – 5 articles I never dreamed I would find myself writing about.  Not all of them are mindblowing; the point here really is to point out that although my specialities are eBay, internet marketing, writing and working from home, I can and have ventured out into unknown territory on many occasions!

And you can too – take this as proof that it can happen:

1. Conservatories – one of my first major jobs was for 86 articles in 3 weeks on the subject of conservatories.  Needless to say, if you need a conservatory added to your house and you want to know all about it, I’m your gal!
2. A weekly article focusing on currency markets – I am no big fan of currencies or their associated exchange rates, let alone Forex markets.  But every week I write a 2000 word article on this kind of thing – and what’s more I have actually come to really enjoy it!  Isn’t this writing life a strange one?
3. The ins and outs of airport parking – I’m an expert on this too now.  l I should be, at least where UK airports are concerned, because I have lost count of the number of articles I have written on this subject over the past six months or so.  It’s passed the half century mark for sure.
4. Dreams where you find yourself inexplicably without clothing – ahem.  Yes.  I will admit it.  This article was published in a magazine years ago, but it still sticks in the mind for obvious reasons.
5. Buried toads – this is a bizarre one to finish one.  Apparently toads have been found buried where they have been for years, and then dug up alive.  All very strange – and I couldn’t resist writing (and selling) an article about it.

So there you have it.  In case you are short of ideas, or you think you couldn’t possibly write and sell an article on a particular subject, let me prove you wrong.  After all, I managed to sell all of the above, either to magazines, to websites or to other clients for their own uses.

You can too.

I’ve had a nice couple of weeks thanks to Constant Content!  Now I’ll admit I haven’t had the time to write any new articles for the site for a while (although I have got at least five sitting on my desktop waiting to be tweaked and then submitted.  That’s just gone on my list of things to do!), so my sales there have understandably gone down a bit.

That is, until about two weeks ago.  I’ve got my account with CC set to email me if I make a sale, and I suddenly started getting offers for a few articles, as well as a few random sales.  That was nice – and I think I accepted all the offers and they all sold as well.

Some worthwhile advice regarding usage rights

Oh, and here’s a good tip while I think of it – if you use Constant Content to sell your articles on, it’s nice to accept any offer for an article where the buyer wants USAGE RIGHTS.  This basically means they can publish the article once and that’s it.  You still own the rights to it and the article stays on the Constant Content site, ready and waiting for someone else to buy it too.  I’ve got quite a few articles that have sold two, three or even four times now like that.

Sell your articles for $$ at Constant Content

It just means you can make an extra few dollars for no work, and you can still sell your article to other people.  Why turn down a sale like this?  It’s different if you are selling unique or full rights, because you won’t be able to sell that article again.  Don’t price yourself too low on articles like that.  I will probably post more articles on my blog on the subject of writing for Constant Content, because I’ve earned well into four figures on there now over the past couple of years.  It hasn’t been a full time venture either.

A nice increase in article sales

But anyway, back to those sales.  It struck me as bizarre that after some quiet months, which were due to me not having put any fresh material on there, I suddenly started selling all kinds of things.  And they weren’t all on one seasonal subject either, so that didn’t explain it.  It was just one of those nice times you sometimes get as a writer!

So needless to say I will now be digging out those few articles I have sitting around that need to be submitted, in the hope that I can make a few more sales.  My work for my various clients has taken over from writing articles for Constant Content a bit lately, but I’m hoping to squeeze in some time to add some more in the near future.

Maybe you want to give it a try too if you haven’t already?  Just visit Constant Content and you’ll be able to get started in just a few minutes.  Let me know what you think of it!  And good luck with those sales.

This is an important question because it can have a big influence on your future writing career.  One of the best ways to work for lots of different people is to join a ghostwriting team, because you will naturally receive plenty of work from all kinds of people.

But you should still make the effort to find other clients of your own, because this will help to protect your income and grow your writing skills still further.  You can search for higher paying writing jobs too; I found my highest paying one by far after a couple of hours spent surfing around Craigslist, for example.  You just never know where you will find your next job.

As a freelance writer, you could be working for anyone

The thing is that writing jobs are just like any other kind of work.  There will always be the danger that a particular job will cease to be, and if you have relied on that as being your main source of income it could leave you in a sticky spot.

In many ways being a freelancer protects you from the ups and downs of the job market, because you are likely to receive work from several different directions.  This means that if one falls through for any reason you still have plenty of streams of income coming in from other sources.

So take a look at where you get your freelance writing jobs from.  If you only rely on one or two sources then perhaps it’s time to up your income by adding a couple more.