Felicia Said:

creative writing based jobs?

We Answered:

Likewise, I want to pursue a career in creative writing. A good strategy may be to do a course about creative writing, editing, or screen writing, and begin a career on this. You will get experience, contacts and boundless ideas. When you are ready you can begin writing. I am personally really interested in the area of editing, but you could head anywhere such as journalism, screen writing (a good idea for you) or research. There are good courses, at LaTrobe University in Australia (I have no idea where you live) which incorporates all of this. But a strenuous as this will be it will provide a bunch of fall backs and experience.

I hope, for the both of us, that this stategy works! Goodluck!

Bill Said:

Where can I find freelance writing jobs online?

We Answered:

There is a good google search engine which list online job vacancies like transcription and data entry. See my profile for the website (click on my picture to view profile)

Jon Said:

What kind of work at home/online jobs are there for creative writing/filmmaking?

We Answered:

IM in the same position but im pretty sure you need to just get an agent and have good work...

Alma Said:

What can you do with a BA in Creative Writing?

We Answered:

While the last poster makes some good pts, I think you should follow your passion while making sure you have an "out". What do I mean? Well, have a plan B should plan A not work out the way you wanted. If you have talent, you should recognize early on that this is not going to be enough for you to succeed as a writer. As the other poster mentioned, you'll need luck. You'll also need persistence and a willingness to fail over and over again. A career in the arts is riddled with failure (and often poverty( before any kind of success.

Try publishing in journals and magazines, apply to an MFA program (this will give you 2-3 yrs to figure out if this is something you REALLY want to do and if you REALLY have what it takes to get to where you want to go). Most top ranked MFA programs (top 50 or so) are fully funded too.

Now, if you go the MFA route, you might wonder what this advanced degree will get you. Not a whole lot except for a credential that theoretically gives you the right to teach at a university, and you'll need publications (in top journals) and AT LEAST 2-3 books under your belt from reputable publishers to be competitive for the few faculty creative writing positions that are open at any given time.

Okay, so you don't have 2-3 books. Maybe you have one by the time you get out of an MFA (not unheard of and many CW PHDs already have a book out). What next? The Creative Writing PHD (which is basically a literature PHD with a creative dissertation instead of a critical one). Your chances of getting a job just went up a little . . . but again, it all comes down to your publications (which translates into talent, a lot of hard work, a lot of rejections, and a lot of time). You will be in your early 30s to late 30s by the time you are looking for a job (which actually isn't bad in academia as many new professors are around this age anyway).

I just assumed you wanted to stay in academia and that you are a literary writer. Other options include technical writing (many companies require this from software companies and dot.coms to hospitals and insurance brokers), copy writing, freelance journalism (it is possible to make a living this way but it's not easy and it'll be very tough at the beginning).

As for screenwriting? Move to Los Angeles, Austin, Vancouver or another hot bed for filmmaking. You'll need to start winning screenplay competitions, enter festivals, and network like crazy. A degree alone isn't going to do anything. There are a lot of people with writing degrees just like there are a lot of people with law degrees that don't end up practicing law. It's up to you to make the connections and make yourself stand out.

Maurice Said:

Looking for paid writing jobs online?

We Answered:

I hate to say it, but perhaps you need to start practicing saying, "Do you want fries with that?"

The paying market for creative writing online is almost zip.

The paying market for nonfiction is poor. Articles that I earned $125 for 20 years ago would probably bring $5 online today. In fact, a business group to which I belong expects to pay about $5 for a researched 500-word article, fully optimized for search engines. Globalization puts you in competition with people all over the world for whom $5 is real money.

You can try the usual freelance websites:
http://www.thefreelancenation.com
http://www.domystuff.com
http://www.net-temps.com
http://www.elance.com
http://www.guru.com
http://jobs.wow-womenonwriting.com/a/jbb…
http://www.indeed.com
http://www.writingcareer.com
http://sunoasisjobs.jobamatic.com/a/jbb/…

A quicker route is probably to go through your college placement center, and push your profs for leads. While I was in college, I did a lot of press releases for PhD candidates who were spinning off books from their dissertations.

Try putting ads on Craigs list, posting notices on grocery store bulletin boards, and such.

Religious publishing houses might have some freelance work, but my experience is that most want people on site for editing work. Religious publishers don't seem to have much faith in employees they can't see!

The real work of writing is marketing. If you aren't willing to do that, you will make more money under the golden arches than writing.

Good luck,

Linda
http://www.you-can-teach-writing.com