Tag Archives: elance

When Clients Attack: An Elance Story

By on October 31st, 2012

By: Genevieve Coates I had just finished graduate school and needed a job. The problem with getting a Master’s in English with emphasis in Creative Writing is that there is no career development course in the curriculum. There may not be one in any other major either, but with this particular course of study, it seems to be completely necessary.  If you’re really interested in being a teacher, you’ve got it made. Otherwise, you’re SOL. But, I had to do what I know how to do best, so I set out to write. First, I started by writing and pitching …

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Posted in Freelance Writing Jobs |

Another Freelance Marketplace Bites the Dust — Elance Work View

By on April 9th, 2010

You know that here at All Freelance Writing we’re incredibly picky about what we will and won’t promote. For example, we won’t sell out to content mills that exploit writers, and we won’t send you to job leads at marketplaces we consider shady. Speaking of freelance marketplaces, there was actually only one we were willing to openly support — Elance. I’m sad to say that’s no longer the case. In fact, I strongly recommend against using the site due to a recent feature they launched — the only way these sites are going to start respecting the rights of independent …

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Posted in Freelance Writing Business |

My Love Affair with Elance

By on March 26th, 2010

I have taken a secret lover. Now, I don’t want my hubby to know because it would devastate him, so I’m only going to tell you guys. The name of my secret lover? Elance. I know, I know, it’s weird. Before I did the Elance experiment for AFW, I never really considered Elance a real place to work. Through the experiment, Elance and I had some hot flirting sessions—nothing too crazy just exchanging glances, hair play and coyness. But it was fun, not too stressful and… well… I liked most of it. Naturally, the experiment did have one hitch that …

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Posted in Freelance Writing Business, Freelance Writing Jobs, Marketing |

How to Find Freelance Writing Jobs (That Don’t Suck)

By on February 15th, 2010

Do you want to do my job? I’m pretty good at what I do. I cut through the clutter for you on a weekly basis, finding the best freelance writing jobs out there so that you can save yourself a little time (which, as we all know, is money) and apply for the gigs that work best for you. But you know, I’m only human. We only list gigs with an advertised rate of $50 or more per article. If you aren’t doing your own search, then you might be missing out on some great jobs that don’t list that …

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Posted in Freelance Writing Jobs |

Elance–Not as Bad as You Might Think

By on December 4th, 2009

In September I bought an “Individual” membership plan on Elance. The cost was $9.95 and with it I received 20 bright and shiny proposal credits. When you bid on jobs at Elance it costs you anywhere from 1-3 of these juicy credits (Elance actually calls them “connects” but I’m going to continue to call them credits because…well…that’s what I think they should be called). A free membership gives you 3 credits per month but I decided to go balls to the wall for this trial. With my 20 credits I bid on 16 different jobs. I scored 3 of them …

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Posted in Freelance Writing Business, Freelance Writing Jobs |

Elance Not Even Using Elance

By on November 25th, 2009

Edit – November 30, 2009 – The message below was received from Elance representative Alex Yoon offering some clarification about the misleading language in the ad mentioned here that was posted on Craigslist. As Yoon “officially” notes, Elance itself is not directly tied to the ad or recruitment effort, but it was instead posted by a contest entrant for a contest Elance is sponsoring. Thanks to Salma for pointing out that possibility first in the comments and to Alex for officially setting the record straight. I’m Alex Yoon, a member of the internal team here at Elance, and I came …

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Posted in Freelance Writing Business |

How to Lose a $7,000 Freelance Writing Gig Without Even Trying

By on November 13th, 2009

I thought I’d kick off my new series here on All Freelance Writing with an awesome story about something that happened to me this week. I started my week by losing a $7,000 finance course writing gig. Yay me! Why am I happy? Well, because I have to be or otherwise it would mean I did something wrong. Okay, kidding. I’m happy because, from the way this transpired, I think I was saved from a gig that would not have gone well. Or not…who knows. The Dish Okay, so this all started on Elance. Huh? Elance? You can get high …

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Posted in Freelance Writing Jobs |

Freelance Writing in Piss-Poor Shape? I Don’t Think So

By on July 8th, 2009

I came across an article called “The Reason Freelance Writing is in Such Piss-Poor Shape” on TumbleMoose.com. In it, he claims that freelance writing is in bad shape because of sites like Elance where the so-called global market leads to extremely low bidding (making it hard for other writers to earn a decent living). While these kinds of thoughts are common, they’re not exactly correct. Here’s why: If you judge freelance writing as a whole based on a single site or type of site, you’re choosing to look at the situation with blinders on. There is far more out there …

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