|
The
world is going digital
The
Internet is a part of our daily lives, and the ability
to transmit virtual megabytes of information and data
(that's writing work) simultaneously throughout the world
at very little expense has a tremendous implication on
your future as a writer. Like a Star Trek transporter
come to life, time and distance are no longer an important
factor in a world that is intertwined and united in a
virtual reality. This revolution (or is it an evolution?)
in commerce provides you with tremendous opportunities
for low-cost communication with those who need your writing
services, with little or no significance of geographic
separation. Some of my best writing contracts these days
are, in fact, with people and firms that are far away,
completely across the country. On any given day, I may
complete an educational writing assignment for my largest
client in New York, New York, followed by another for
a marketing client in Alameda, California.
The
work I do for Fred Damsen is a typical example. I love to
work with wood. That is, when I'm not writing. Fred, who is
the owner and operator of The Japan Woodworker in Alameda,
California, and The Japan Woodworker Fine Catalog of Tools,
hired me to write and develop his marketing and public relations
materials and writing projects for the media. As his freelance
writer, located almost 2,500 miles away, the work that I do
for Fred is delivered to him online via e-mail and e-mail
attachment. "I use a writer online because it would be
hard to find someone locally who is a marketing specialist,
and a good writer who knows woodworking equipment," says
Fred. "Online I was able to find a marketing and writing
specialist to help me develop my marketing and public relations
material for my specialty woodworking tools. The fact that
he is half way across the country makes no difference, because
he delivers his work to me online. He prepares press releases
for me to send to woodworking editors throughout the country,
and writes marketing material for me. When we have to include
photography in our releases, we simply send file attachments
back and forth. So, online we are able to accomplish as much
or more than we could otherwise."
Kristen
Keets, a freelance writer from Michigan, also works for a
client in California. "That's almost 3,000 miles away,"
she says. "We've never met, but he's become one of my
steadiest customers." Kristen initiated a relationship
with her client off his Web site via e-mail, and has facilitated
their work relationship entirely by e-mail and over the Web.
Kristen's rates for online contract work are $65 to $150 per
hour, depending upon the nature of the work she's completing.
Still, her rate is significantly lower than what her client
could obtain locally in California.
If
you plan to write professionally in the future, expect to
work online from the convenience of your own keyboard. Life
online is grand, isn't it?
Internet
Applications
So
why would a writing client be willing to hire your work online?
Because there's a serious shortage of good quality writers
these days, that's why. And, believe it or not, the demand
for independent, freelance, or contract writing services will
not reduce, but may even rise significantly as the result
of a bad economy. It's a freelance phenomenon (because freelancers
are phenomenal!). Even in a soft market the demands for writing
work online remain high. A recent McKinsey Quarterly report
entitled The War for Talent confirmed that even in a tight
market, American businesses precariously need freelance talent.
Many firms, which have already been forced to reduce payrolls
and employee ranks, are already contracting freelancers to
complete online project work. Salary.com reports that the
annual earnings for these online freelancers range from $42,000
to $77,000. Get online and start sending cyber queries for
writing work, because there's going to be a lot of it on the
Net in the coming months and years. If you don't have a computer,
get one.
A
New Work Order
It's
a new work world out there with a completely new organizational
structure. Regular jobs are increasingly becoming project
work and the outsourcing and contracting of freelance writers
and workers online is becoming a main stay business practice.
Certainly so in the writing game, and that's opportunity virtually
pouring out of your monitor. Today's careers are becoming
paid-by-the-job, online professions. Online vocations that
are being driven by the ever-increasing need for hiring freelance
people and there's an infinite line of buyers from around
the world waiting to contract your services. Ninety percent
of all companies seeking to obtain contract work in 2002 will
do so online. Low cost and speed are their primary reasons.
As a writer, you will want to become familiar with these new
organizational models and acquire the necessary tools that
are needed to maintain your competitive and creative edge
in this virtual
New
World Work Order.
If
you've not yet done so, working online can be an exciting,
thrilling, and high-paying experience. You can visit and write
for people and institutions from all over the world, and deliver
your hard work at the click of a mouse. Using the high-speed
connectivity of the Internet, you can find writing work while
significantly reducing the time you spend looking for it.
You can spend more time doing what you like most--that is,
writing, without leaving your home or even making a phone
call.
Robert
Anthony has been a freelance writer for 20 years. He is the
Web Work columnist for Writers' Journal magazine, author of
OCDT: Online Composition and Design Technology (OCD Technologies,
2000), and Job Surfing - Freelancing: Using the Internet to
Find a Job and Get Hired, Random House, March 2002. He can
be reached online at editor@profilesonline.com.
|
