What Do Freelance Writers Write? - Part 1

If you are thinking of starting your freelance career online as a writer, you are in for a huge treat! There are literally hundreds of different kinds of content writing opportunities for you to try your hand at. From the easiest to the most complicated, I have put together a list of all the different kinds of writing jobs that you can find online.

(N.B. I primarily work on Upwork, and these types of jobs are the different ones that I have faced or experienced so far. There can, of course, be hundreds more that I am not yet aware of. Besides, it is better for me to explain the categories that I am experienced in personally.)

I am just going to list all the jobs and explain them in this particular post. Later, in separate posts, I will expand on the ideas for your convenience.

1. Transcription

Transcription literally means to "a written or printed version of something"; in our field, it means to "convert audio into text". Yes, there are automatic software, programs and apps to do that now, but they are not as accurate as the work of a human being. Clients can send you MP3 and MP4 files, videos, audio files, memos and even YouTube links to transcribe; they can be from 50 seconds to 3 hours long, or more. It completely depends on the clients what they want the transcribed files to look like, in what format they want it, etc. 

2. Editing

Clients usually requires the help of an editor when they have hired an unskilled writer for the content, or written the content themselves. An editor corrects the mistakes in the text, makes it better and sometimes, cross checks the different facts and numbers.

2. Bulk Articles 

Clients, usually someone with a brand new website or business, request articles in bulk. Depending on their budget and the size of their website/business, this can be anything from 25 articles to 150 articles. Usually, these articles are short and informative, and doesn't require a lot of research or a high writing skill. 

3. Regular Articles/Blog Articles 

A client with an existing website or blog usually hires a content writer for regular articles. These articles from a particular client are usually from the same niche, based on the kind of business they are in. Depending on the size of their business, their social engagement and of course, their budget, a client can ask for one article per week, or 10 articles per week - it completely depends on them. This is easy work, not very time consuming and usually, long term.

4. Website Content 

This could mean expanding content for an already existing website, or writing everything needed for a new website. Content writing jobs for websites doesn't come directly from a client, but from a web developer who is making the website. They usually have a budget set aside for the writing part and look for a writer for it. Landing this kind of job means you might have enough work for two months or more.

5. Product Review/Description/Comparison 

This is one of the hottest, and the most widely available jobs in online marketplaces, thanks to affiliate marketing and eCommerce sites. Clients create their own websites to sell products from Amazon, EBay, Aliexpress, Etsy and Shopify, and the thousand other eCommerce sites around the world, and they need content for their own websites. The work is literally never ending, so I am going to elaborate it in another blog post. 

6. eBooks 

Now, eBooks are a relatively new entry to the field of ghostwriting. By eBooks, we usually mean the kind of books people read on their Kindles, eBook readers, tablets, phones or computers. For a ghostwriter, an eBooks isn't just the electronic version of books that are physically available in stores, but books that are solely written, published and bought online. 

Amazon was the first company to start these eBooks, and most of the time, the eBooks that we ghostwriters write are available on Amazon. These are both non-fiction and fiction types - available at probably 1/5th the price of a regular, physical book. Non-fiction books are usually written on topics like mental health, organizational skills, cooking and health, relationships, etc. 

More later, in another post!