One of the hardest parts of becoming a freelance writer can be finding writing work at fair rates. The internet is full of freelance job scams, websites requesting free content, and $0.01 per word writing gigs that just won’t pay the bills.
Whether you’re trying to land your first client or your writing biz is going through a slow spell, we’ve got your back. Here are 28 legit ways to find freelance writing work in 2024 (according to real freelance writers who’ve used them).
28 ways to find freelance writing work online
In no particular order, here are 28 of the best ways to find legit, good-paying freelance writing work.
1. The All Things Freelance Writing Jobs Email and Job Board (Updated Every Friday)
You don’t have to look far! Right here on All Things Freelance Writing, you can find at least 20-30 job opportunities posted every Friday on our job board.
We do some of the hunting for you by looking around for jobs we’d want to apply for, and then share them. If you want a reminder, you can sign up for our weekly writing jobs email.
2. Amber Petty’s Weekly Newsletter
Amber Petty is a professional actress turned writer who’s been published in Healthline, Parade, MTV, Bustle, and more. In her free weekly newsletter, she provides job listings, workshop announcements, freelance tips, and even an occasional comical disco video! You can expect to find writing jobs from household names like Bustle, Mic, Buzzfeed, and many more.
Sign up for Amber’s email list.
You can also hear more from Amber on how to overcome perfectionism and pitch successfully on episode 4 of the All Things Freelance Writing podcast.
3. The Writer’s Job Weekly Newsletter
The Writer’s Job is a free newsletter with 4,500 subscribers and counting that provides dozens of solid job leads every week. It’s divided into two main sections—one for calls for pitches and another for ongoing remote writing roles, both full-time and contract. There’s a good balance of entry-level gigs for beginners and more advanced writing work that pays up to $1 per word. It gets lots of rave reviews from freelancers who subscribe.
Sign up for the Writer’s Job Newsletter here.
4. Sonia Weiser’s Opportunities of the Week Newsletter
If you’re tired of spending hours on social media searching for freelance writing opportunities, let Sonia Weisser do the work for you! Her twice-weekly newsletter contains dozens of calls for pitches from Twitter across a wide variety of niches such as finance, science, and pop culture. Whether you’re a new freelance writer or more experienced, you can find writing jobs that match your skill set and pay expectations. Rates range from $0.05 per word all the way up to $1 per word.
Becoming a subscriber costs $5 per month. But if you’re experiencing financial hardship and don’t have any money to spare, you can also get it for free or at a discounted rate.
5. Kat Boogaard Weekly Newsletter
Kat Boogaard is a productivity and self-improvement writer who sends out a motivational weekly newsletter. She provides value-packed resources and tips to help you find clients, negotiate pay, create a good work-life balance, and more.
Each edition of her newsletter also includes a roundup of the best online writing jobs posted that week, plus a few freelance gigs in related industries like web design and digital marketing. Best of all, the newsletter is completely free, and signing up couldn’t be easier. Just enter your name and email into Kat’s form and you’ll be good to go!
6. Best Writing Weekly Newsletter
Started in 2020, Best Writing is an all-in-one platform that helps freelancers find writing work by sending out a free weekly newsletter. So far, it has 20,500 subscribers and features a blend of freelance writing work and full-time content writing and copywriting jobs. You can sign up to receive it every Wednesday here. There’s also a free job board where you can find even more writing opportunities.
7. The Freelance Beat Weekly Newsletter by Tatiana Walk-Morris
When it comes to landing writing gigs, finding relevant job postings is only half the battle. If you can’t write winning pitches and job applications, you’re likely going to have some trouble.
That’s why Tatiana Walk-Morris includes pitching tips in her weekly newsletter, The Freelance Beat. As a subscriber, you’ll receive a curated list of freelance journalism jobs and calls for pitches from big publications like Harper’s Bazaar.
Plus, once per month, you’ll also get examples of pitches that worked for Tatiana. You can sign up for The Freelance Beat on Tatiana’s Patreon page for just $1 per month.
8. Kaitlyn Arford’s Freelance Opportunities Job List
Kaitlyn is a freelance writer who shares a list of freelancing opportunities every Friday. It includes jobs for journalists, copywriters, content writers, editors, strategists, PRs, social media managers, and more. Subscribe here!
9. Freelance Flow Daily Newsletter by Brianna Graham
Brianna Graham, MPH, is a skilled freelance writer and strategist who specializes in health and wellness. She’s also the founder of Freelance Flow — a subscription newsletter that provides:
- Timely, same-day freelance and full-time opportunities
- Advice for small business owners
- Resources that helped Brianna get her business off the ground
- VIP access for new products and services
When you subscribe for $10 per month, you’ll receive an email in your inbox 4 days per week; Monday through Thursday!
One subscriber said:
“In a dry season in January, I looked forward to your roundups every day. This is so special and helpful to creatives who need it!”—Juliet P.
Subscribe to Freelance Flow here.
10. Superpath.co Slack Community
Superpath’s Slack community has over 10,000 members who all work in content marketing. It’s a great place to ask questions, discuss industry news and trends, and foster connections with other writers. Join here.
In addition to an active Slack community, Superpath has a job board where you can find writing opportunities and a free weekly newsletter that will update you on open positions, upcoming events, and more. There’s even a content marketplace you can apply to join that will connect you with clients. Superpath’s bringing all the things.
11. Female Freelance Writers Facebook Group
Female Freelance Writers is a supportive, women-only Facebook group with 10,000 members. It’s a great place to network, get business advice, and find online writing jobs that pay a minimum of $0.05 per word.
Clients are required to list the pay rate on their job ads, which helps prevent you from wasting time applying to gigs that aren’t a good fit. Although the leads on Female Freelance Writers are high-quality, there aren’t very many of them—only a few opportunities get posted each week.
While you’re waiting for new jobs to pop up, you can advertise your services in the weekly Promo Wednesday thread and participate in discussions about everything from cold emailing to contracts. Becoming an active, trusted group member will help you connect with other freelancers and form professional relationships, which could also lead to subcontracting opportunities.
“I’ve picked up some last-minute work from the Female Freelance Writers Facebook group and have formed REALLY good relationships with other women in the freelance world,” says Tara Clapper, freelance writer, “Some have sent me subcontracting work and, if I was in need, I’d do the same.”
12. The Write Life Community Facebook Group
The Write Life Community is a free creative writing group on Facebook with over 30,000 members. The community doesn’t have a job board, but authors will often post asking how to find a good book editor, ghostwriter, or marketer.
That said, it’s important to note that self-promotion isn’t allowed outside of the weekly Monday Motivation thread, which means you can’t hard sell your services. Instead, focus on networking and building relationships with authors in the community so they think of you first when they need help with their book.
13. The Freelance Content Marketing Writer Facebook Group
Another free resource for finding freelance writing jobs is The Freelance Content Marketing Writer, a Facebook group started by Jennifer Goforth Gregory. It currently has 7,000 members, many of whom are six-figure freelancers. Networking with and learning from these experienced writers can help you advance your freelance writing career and command higher rates.
In addition to business advice and professional camaraderie, the group provides high-quality job leads. Every job ad is reviewed by Jennifer in advance to ensure it’s a legitimate opportunity that pays a minimum of $40 or $50 per hour.
“The Freelance Content Marketing Writer FB group heavily moderates the pay ranges posted and Jennifer Goforth Gregory fosters a warm but professional community,” said Clapper.
Additionally, Cat DiStasio (the group’s other moderator), aggregates lucrative writing gigs from around the web once per week in a thread. Group members are also invited to add jobs they’ve seen, so it can be a great source of referrals.
14. Binders Facebook groups
In 2014, Anna Fitzpatrick started a secret Facebook group called The Binders Full of Women Writers for her female writer friends. The Binders quickly grew to 22,000 members by the end of the first month, and many spin-offs of the group formed for writers in different niches like nonprofit communications and travel writing.
Today, these groups aren’t as secretive and many pop up when you search “binders” on Facebook. They’re also more inclusive of writers of all backgrounds, although cis-men still aren’t allowed in most groups. Below is a list of a few Binders groups that are currently accepting membership requests—they’re great places to ask questions, make new professional connections, and find out about open freelance writing roles.
- Binders Helping Newbie Writers
- Binders Full of Byline and Content Marketing Writers
- Binders In Sickness & in Health
15. LinkedIn Marketing
LinkedIn is one of the biggest free professional networking sites. Nearly 60 million companies are on the platform, which means it’s brimming with high-quality leads. However, there’s also lots of competition from other qualified freelancers so some strategy is required.
We recommend optimizing your profile so you show up in the right searches, get clients to visit your profile, and convince them you’re the writer for them. Choosing a niche can also help you stand out/position yourself as an expert.
Further, don’t set it and forget it. It’s important to become active and engaged on LinkedIn. Sharing relevant content, making connections, and joining conversations can all help. To learn more about the engagement part, check out our top five LI engagement tips for freelance writers.
“My go-to is LinkedIn. It’s 100% worth the time and effort to optimize a LinkedIn profile, engage, and be active on this platform. I have a profile on just about every popular freelancing website. Yet, I’ve only seen incredible ROI here. Best of all, it’s free… I don’t have to worry about running out of credits or having to pay for them and risk not getting a return,” said Sharon Wu, freelance content writer.
16. LinkedIn Jobs
LinkedIn Jobs is a free job board on LinkedIn’s website. Over 3 million jobs are posted on the board every month, so it can be a good place to look. You can easily browse open positions and apply search filters like experience level, company, job type, and date posted to see the most recent opportunities.
Many jobs allow you to apply using your LinkedIn profile, which is a big time-saver. You can also view your application statuses and manage your saved jobs all in one place. LinkedIn Jobs even enables you to create customized job alerts. If you set these up, you’ll get notified via email or LinkedIn when roles that meet your preferences crop up so you can apply right away.
17. Upwork
Upwork is one of the largest online freelance marketplaces with over 771,000 active clients. More than 10,000 freelance jobs are posted on the platform daily, making it one of the biggest sources of leads for writers.
Joining and creating a profile is free, but you have to pay for virtual tokens called “connects” in order to apply for gigs. Upwork will also charge you a project fee of up to 20% of your earnings.
Further, it can be difficult to get your foot in the door on Upwork because there’s a lot of competition. You might have to take a few low-paying gigs at first to earn positive reviews and build social proof. However, once you build a positive reputation, it’s possible to make a solid income. Some of the writers we interviewed for our Upwork review earn as much as $125 per hour on the platform.
18. The Clearvoice Talent Network
The Clearvoice Talent Network is a service that connects freelance writers with top brands that need content such as Intuit, Wayfair, and Cabela’s. It’s great because it only sends you assignments that match your experience level and desired compensation, helping to ensure you get paid what you’re worth.
To get started—sign up on the website and fill out your profile with details like your professional bio, relevant skills, and links to your writing samples and social media pages. Then, you can either wait to receive job offers or pitch brands directly to drum up more business.
Once you land a gig, Clearvoice’s project management tools like in-app messaging will help you communicate with your client and get the job done. As soon as your work is approved, you’ll get paid promptly via PayPal, so you won’t have to waste time chasing down late payments. While Clearvoice charges 25% of the total project cost as a fee, it’s charged on the client side.
“Clearvoice is so supportive of their writers, and their commission is taken from the client side so the writer takes home 100% of the agreed-on pay,” said Noelle Huling, Copywriter at ComplyAdvantage.
She adds, “There are lots of opportunities to ramp up to higher-paying jobs —within 6 months I’d already landed $0.48 cost per word gigs, though I started out with ones closer to $0.10 cost per word.”
19. nDash
nDash is similar to Clearvoice and allows you to pitch content ideas to well-known brands like Monster and Epsilon. You can also apply to available gigs and receive direct assignments from clients who like your profile.
To apply, you’ll need to complete your writer profile, provide writing samples and recommendations from clients, be active on LinkedIn, and more.
However, these hoops are worth jumping through for the high pay rates available on the site. nDash says assignments pay an average of $150 to $450 and some writers earn six figures a year on the platform. It’s also completely free for freelancers, so you won’t be charged any fees on your earnings, which is a big plus.
20. Warm Fuzzy (Not Cold) Pitching Via Email
If you’ve sent dozens upon dozens of cold emails and received zero replies, you’re not alone! Traditional cold emailing strategies have very low response rates, between 1% and 5%. But email outreach doesn’t have to be cold, impersonal, and grueling.
Cold pitch coach and freelance writer, Maya Capasso, developed a highly effective warm pitching method that helped her become a writer for Sittercity. It involves doing in-depth research on the clients you want to work with and sending each one a super-targeted message that speaks to their pain points. Check out our podcast with Maya to learn more about how to execute this strategy (she reads a real example of a pitch that worked for her).
21. Pitch Publications That Pay for Stories
If you prefer journalism over content marketing, you can pitch publications that pay for stories instead of emailing businesses. Keep in mind that the structure and content of a journalism pitch are a bit different than a warm email.
Each pitch should contain an article idea that’s geared toward the publication you’re contacting. You’ll need to do some research to figure out what kinds of stories the website you’re targeting usually publish so you can tailor your pitch.
You’ll also have to do some digging to find publications in your industry that are willing to pay for articles. Unfortunately, many websites expect writers to provide free work in exchange for “exposure.”
However, Amber Petty (yep, she made the list again) put together a free guide to point you in the right direction. It lists over 250 publications that pay up to $600 per article. It also includes useful details like the topics each website covers to help you come up with relevant story ideas.
22. Twitter
Twitter is a treasure trove of calls for pitches from editors, but it can be difficult to find them amongst all the noise on the platform. That’s where Twitter’s advanced search function comes in. It allows you to find relevant tweets and narrow down your search results by:
- Specifying which keywords, hashtags, and phrases you want to see
- Excluding certain words or languages you don’t speak
- Limiting the dates of tweets to find the most recent calls for pitches
- Only showing tweets from accounts you follow or specific editors
Once you’ve set your parameters, Twitter allows you to add them to your saved searches so you can reuse them later—a helpful shortcut.
For more advice on how to use Twitter to find writing jobs, you can listen to our podcast episode with author Brianne Hogan. Brianne has bylines in over 60 publications including the BBC, Buzzfeed, Elle, Scary Mommy, and the Washington Post, and shares how she uses Twitter to find pitch opportunities.
23. ProBlogger
ProBlogger’s job board has lots of entry-level blog writing and editing jobs—over 150 new gigs were posted there this month alone. To stay up-to-date on the latest listings, you can create custom job alerts and get notified about opportunities that match your chosen keywords and parameters.
Most job listings on Problogger pay between $0.05 and $0.15 per word, so it may not be the best place for experienced writers to find writing work that pays top dollar. However, if you’re just starting out and trying to get your foot in the door, Problogger is a great resource.
24. Contently
Contently provides content marketing services to leading businesses like American Express, Marriott, and Dell. As a result, it needs writers to create case studies, blog posts, reported stories, white papers, and more for its clients.
You can apply for available writing projects by creating a free profile on the site. It’s important to flesh out your profile with as many writing samples and details about your skills as possible to increase your chances of being selected. Plus, if you take the time to perfect your Contently page, you can use it as a marketing tool and send it to potential clients.
Some writers have reported waiting months for Contently to send them their first job offer. If you don’t hear back, keep updating your profile with new writing samples and consider sending an introductory email to support@contently.com.
Shooting the customer service team a message expressing your interest in working with clients in your industry may help you get added to a project. Unfortunately, some writers never get any bites on Contently despite doing everything right, so don’t get discouraged if you don’t land any clients on the platform.
If you’re lucky enough to be selected, you’ll enjoy high pay and zero fees. Contently doesn’t charge writers for using the platform, which is a major benefit.
25. All Freelance Writing Job Board
To assist writers in finding clients, All Freelance Writing has a master list of publications that pay for guest posts and a free job board, which usually has a handful of new writing jobs every day.
Each job opportunity is assigned one of four pay levels (very low, low, semi-pro, or pro). These can help beginners understand fair market rates so they don’t undercharge. You can also filter available jobs by pay level and set up email alerts so you’ll get notified when new gigs in your desired rate range are posted.
26. Mediabistro Job Board
Mediabistro is one of the leading career hubs for media professionals with more than 150,000 followers on Twitter. Its job board features hundreds of creative jobs from top media companies like Bloomberg and CNN, which you can sort by experience level, date posted, job type, and more. You can easily set up alerts based on your job search criteria that are sent right to your email.
27. Contena
Contena is a membership site geared toward new freelance writers with subscription plans starting at $40 per month. It has a comprehensive training program designed to help you land your first clients and build your freelance writing business from scratch.
You’ll also get access to a writing job board and a large database of companies that regularly hire freelance writers. Plus, if you purchase a platinum membership, you’ll be paired with a success coach who will give you feedback on your portfolio and marketing strategy.
Although Contena is one of the more expensive ways to find freelance writing jobs, it gets lots of positive reviews from members, so it may be worth the investment. If you’re interested in trying it out, apply to join and you’ll be notified when membership spots open up.
28. Thumbtack
Thumbtack isn’t just a place for plumbers and contractors to find jobs. Believe it or not, it can also be a good source of leads for freelance writers. Here’s how it works. First, you’ll sign up for a free Thumbtack Pro account and fill out your profile with your qualifications. Then, you’ll provide details about the types of jobs you want, such as the ideal size, duration, and budget.
When your preferences match up with a customer’s job details, Thumbtack will put your profile in their search results. If the customer contacts you, you’ll have to pay a small fee for the lead. In your settings, you can specify the maximum price you’re willing to pay per lead and set a total weekly to control your spending.
Thumbtack also has open job opportunities you can apply to. You’ll only pay a fee for those leads if the customer responds to you. As you receive reviews and complete jobs, you can climb the ladder and become a bronze, silver, or gold-level member. Achieving higher statuses will help you build social proof and convert more leads into paying clients.
Where else can you find freelance writing work?
There you have it! 28 legit ways to find freelance writing work (which have all been recommended by real freelance writers). While there are tons of writers out there competing for work, there are also tons of opportunities. A key is continuously throwing your name into as many hats as possible. Eventually, you’ll start to get some bites.
Now, tell us. What are your favorite ways to find freelance writing jobs? Are there any great resources we missed? Let us know in the comments!
Want to learn more about freelance writing? Check out:
- What is freelance writing?
- How to find a profitable freelance writing niche
- 7 LinkedIn profile tips for freelance writers
Excellent resource! I’ll be referring to it often. Thanks so much!
Glad you thought so, Jen — thanks!