Last Updated on June 13, 2022
As a freelance writer, it can get real hard to find work at times. If you are unable to get clients or consistent work, you can try pitching your ideas to various online websites and publications.
There are hundreds (if not thousands) of publications online willing to pay top-dollar for content that is relevant to them. But it is difficult to find a cumulative list of these websites/publications.
I did find several listicles on medium, but they featured 10-20 of these publications at most, and not all of them would be relevant to the niche you write about.
How to find websites/publications that pay freelance writers?
The best resource I have come across in this regard is a website called “Who Pays Writers”. It has a list of hundreds of publications/websites that you can browse through. Most of them accept freelance writers from anywhere in the world, and as long as you can write a high-quality article, you are good.
It has user-generated information about these websites/publications along with information like:
- How much they got paid (rate per word)
- What kind of article they wrote (informative, investigative, listicle, etc.)
- Did they have a pre-existing relationship with the editor, or was it their first time pitching
- Information related to copyright/licence, print/digital and whether they get a contract
- The link to their website (you have to manually find the section for writer’s program)
- How much time it took from the pitch to the payment
It’s sort of a review website for online publications (by freelance writers).
Right on the homepage, you see a list of publications (on the left), and some of the latest reports posted by users. You can also search for any publication if you have anything in mind.
I recommend going through the list of publications and reports to find something that you find interesting. Most of the publications require you to pitch your own idea; so it helps if it’s something you are genuinely interested in.
Clicking on any report will give you more information about it, along with a link to visit their website. Now all of these links might not point you to the exact “Writer’s Program” page, and instead point you to the homepage of the website.
It is upto you to find the respective page that hosts information about how to submit an article to them (most of the time). Read below on some tips how to find that:
How to find the relevant writer’s page on the publication?
Most of the websites that offer work to freelance writers have a link to that in the header or footer of their website.
Go to the website, and look through the links in the header, menu (if it has one) and footer. Look for terms like:
- Write for Us
- Submit an article
- Pitch an idea
If you don’t find such a link, look in their careers page. If you still don’t see anything, you can use the contact us page of that website to ask if they are accepting articles.
Most of the publications I checked out had the information in easy to spot places; so you won’t have much difficulty finding them.
Go through their terms and conditions for the writers, and pitch them an idea (or contact them) as they would have stated.
Some Tips for Pitching Website and Publications
- Make a list of the publications you are interested in writing about and pitch all of them.
- Read their guidelines very carefully. Lots of publications would ask you to include specific words in your pitch, so they can easily filter you out if you don’t include it.
- Create a default template for your pitch, but make sure you personalize them for each website.
- Try to look for reports that mention it was their first time publishing on the website. This means that the website is open for new authors.
Why this is a great opportunity for freelance writers
Most of the freelance writers work at slave wages (and even the better ones charge just 3-10 cents per word). By pitching to these publications, you get the opportunity to:
- Earn a much higher rate per word, with some of the publications paying 50 cents to 2 dollars per word.
- Increase your credibility and rate when you pitch other clients.
- Offer more work to the publications once published, turning them into a client. You can offer them a discount for a contract.
- Try out newer writing styles/niches that you might be interested in.
If you are a talented freelance writer haggling with clients on Fiverr/Upwork, then you should definitely try pitching some well-established publications in the niche. You will get to work with a professional editor who might even help improve your writing further.
Plus, there’s the higher pay.
It’s a very interesting concept, with the only problem being that the website is not “https” (a security certification for websites). It seems odd for a website not to have this security certification in today’s day and age.
Anyways, it won’t be a problem since we only need to read the reviews, and not post anything on the website.
Note: There’s a similar website that I posted about recently. It’s called “Who Pays Technical Writers” and has listings for technical writing. If you can write tutorials/articles on technical topics (usually programming or computer related) then you should check that out as well.
