New Leads - A Step Forward

2008-10-08T17:58:00.000-07:00

I have been puzzling over how exactly to find the amount of freelance work necessary to generate the sort of income I need. After several months of trying yet failing to achieve anything but a limited success, I knew I needed some help. Using some contacts of mine I got in touch with Mary Johnson of MJohnson Communications. She is an experienced freelance technical writer and editor living in the Portland, OR area who has worked with many local businesses and presses including Timber Press who publish horticultural books, and Intel. She agreed to meet with me at the local coffee joint for an informational interview, we spent a fruitful hour in conversation. The result? Besides a great conversation, Mary provided me with a list of leads where she finds much of her work, and where she believes I will be able to find some projects. Among these leads are:

The Northwest Independent Editor’s Guild (Portland-based professional organization. $30/yr. membership; $15 after July 1)
Editorial Freelance Association (National; $180/yr. membership; membership includes job list)
Freelance Writing Gigs (http://www.freelancewritinggigs.com/ which is free)
Writer’s Weekly (www.writersweekly.com which posts new jobs once a week)
Freelance Daily (www.freelancedaily.net which you can try free for a week)

Other places she suggested I look include the bidding site www.guru.com, and www.simplyhired.com. Of course, she also suggested the only place I knew to look in the first place, www.craigslist.com.

With all these new options, I wasn't sure where to start, so I just started attacking the free sites first, making the assumption that if I don't find what I need from the free sites I can shell out some cash for the ones that charge fees. However, if I start finding jobs on the free websites I won't have to spend any of my hard earned cash on registration fees.

So, thanks to Mary Johnson, I now have an extensive list of leads, and am that much closer to breaking through into the freelance market.

If you have questions or comments, send me an email at howells.nathan@gmail.com subject line "NWFA blog - New Leads". I'd be happy to answer, and more than happy to point fellow freelancers in the right direction.

-Nathan Howells, Freelance Writer and Founder/Editor of NWFA

Introducing NWFA

2008-09-21T18:13:00.001-07:00

Hello, and welcome to the blog for Northwestern Freelance Associates. We are a group of freelance writers from the Pacific Northwest who specialize in web-based content. Founded in August 2008, we are relatively new, but our business model is tried and true, and each of our writers has significant experience both in the art of words and in his/her genre and topic area.

We accept all kinds of writing projects, from E-books to SEO Content. We work with our clients closely to develop content that is high quality, interesting, and accurate. We keep our writing concise and focused, but we encourage our writers to be creative and to view their topics from many perspectives. In short, we write excellent content for websites and print based publications on any topic our clients care to send our way: from Imported Cars to Fashion Design to Healthcare, we write it all, and enjoy doing so.

Our founder, Nathan Howells, has a degree in Creative Writing from the University of Denver, and will be pursuing a Masters of Fine Arts in the same discipline beginning mid 2009. He has significant writing experience in SEO, web-based content, short fiction, poetry, travel writing, and medical writing. He lives in Portland, Oregon, and spends his free time reading, exploring the city, and travelling around Oregon and Washington enjoying their emerald beauty.

Each successive post will be written by Nathan on a variety of topics, as a representation of what our collective of writers can produce. If you would like to see a particular topic on our blog, send an email to howells.nathan@gmail.com with the subject line: NWFA Blog. He will do his best to accomodate your wishes.

Our own website is still in production, so for now, you may also email Nathan if you are interested in procuring the services of NWFA. We offer very competative rates and a swift turnaround. For other samples of Nathan's work, go to http://hubpages.com/profile/Verisimilitude .

Posts about our other writers soon to come...