The majority of my work comes from clients in the States, but I have written for people and companies in Australia, New Zealand and the U.K. I've gotten the jobs abroad through a mix of things. In one instance, I wrote for a site that has offices in both North America and Australia. When my North American editor heard I was moving to Australia, she connected me with the site editor here and I got work from there. Another current gig came from networking at a travel meetup.
The remaining jobs abroad have come from a single source, however: Twitter.
I write for two sites in New Zealand. One gig came strictly from a relationship built with an American travel blogger on Twitter. Another came from a tweet I answered about someone needing writers. Guest posts I did for a site based in England emerged from meeting up with the site owner while he was in Sydney. It is sometimes hard to network when you do most of your work online, but every little bit counts.
Twitter can work for finding jobs abroad because the connection is quick and to the point, as you have only 140 words to use. You don't have to craft some sort of hook necessarily - you only have room to tell the person what you're after. It's easy to make the initial contact that way, then follow up with a longer email in which you pimp out yourself and your work.
Make sure you follow people in different countries who may need writers at some point. Search "writers" or "writing" - try them with a hashtag, too - in the little box at the left to see if anyone's made calls for writers. If you're in the same country as the person, ask to meet for coffee to discuss opportunities.
You can also do something I've talked about before: cold email. If you see a site in the new country you have moved to or are moving to, contact the editor to see if he or she needs writers, even if the site has not advertised it. Even if they cannot bring you on right now, you've formed the initial contact and they can get in touch if something comes up.
If you are already abroad, go to Meet-ups geared toward the writing or blogging industry or the industries about which you write. Collect business cards and send follow-up emails asking about work opportunities.
By Lauren Fritsky
The remaining jobs abroad have come from a single source, however: Twitter.
I write for two sites in New Zealand. One gig came strictly from a relationship built with an American travel blogger on Twitter. Another came from a tweet I answered about someone needing writers. Guest posts I did for a site based in England emerged from meeting up with the site owner while he was in Sydney. It is sometimes hard to network when you do most of your work online, but every little bit counts.
Twitter can work for finding jobs abroad because the connection is quick and to the point, as you have only 140 words to use. You don't have to craft some sort of hook necessarily - you only have room to tell the person what you're after. It's easy to make the initial contact that way, then follow up with a longer email in which you pimp out yourself and your work.
Make sure you follow people in different countries who may need writers at some point. Search "writers" or "writing" - try them with a hashtag, too - in the little box at the left to see if anyone's made calls for writers. If you're in the same country as the person, ask to meet for coffee to discuss opportunities.
You can also do something I've talked about before: cold email. If you see a site in the new country you have moved to or are moving to, contact the editor to see if he or she needs writers, even if the site has not advertised it. Even if they cannot bring you on right now, you've formed the initial contact and they can get in touch if something comes up.
If you are already abroad, go to Meet-ups geared toward the writing or blogging industry or the industries about which you write. Collect business cards and send follow-up emails asking about work opportunities.
By Lauren Fritsky
1 comments:
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