Teaching and Writing for Art or Money

Every morning, I sit down with my coffee and look for writing jobs, ignoring the fact that Caden is throwing his breakfast off his high chair tray for the dog to eat. This can get messy on those days he is eating yogurt.

Anyway.

With my husband out of work now and moping on the recliner working hard to search for jobs, my writing jobs have become even more important. Sometimes there is a discussion on some of the boards I frequent. It goes something like this:

Young college graduate: "My writing is an ART! I will not sell out!"
Normal people: "I will write about pretty much anything, if I can get paid for it."

For those of you who are normal people, I thought I would share some of my job sources with you. I know that a lot of teachers are also writers, and I also know that teachers always need extra money. To pay for extras such as electricity and water.

When thinking about teachers online, oftentimes the first thought is of online education, where teachers use distance learning to instruct students. Online education also presents the opportunity for teachers to take online courses towards teaching certifications. Online Teaching Degree is one such example of these types of continuing education programs. But if teachers wish to make money through online education themselves they may find it a not-quite-so hospitable environment. Unfortunately, even with growth in online teaching, it may still be difficult to find jobs in this environment. Instead, teachers may have to turn to regular writing positions for online employment.

There are two main types of writing jobs: Writing for the web, or writing for print. You can get upfront pay for both. For the web, you can also make residual income. This is when you publish something and get money for it from ads. A lot of people make residual income on their blogs or on eHow. Writing for print publications is self-explanatory.

So far, I have only focused on making money upfront by writing web content. Every morning, the first place I visit is Freelance Writing Jobs. They list writing jobs every day. Some are print but most are web content. I found two major jobs on this site:

1. Writing subscription database content for EBSCO publishing. I make $125.00 for about three pages doing this. They hire a lot of teachers. You can also check out their job listings. They pay by direct deposit or check.

2. Writing online-published consumer articles for Consumer Search. They are owned by the New York times, so I always get a little thrill when my checks come. Like I actually write for the New York Times. I get between $400.00-$750.00 per article. The lower end is for articles that are updates (not written from scratch). They will also pay by direct deposit if you wish.

I also write for a company called Demand Studios. The way it works is that you choose a title out of the ones they provide, and you write the article within their template. The articles pay $15.00 each, and you get paid every week into your PayPal account. I can write two per hour, which is $30.00/hr...a nice hourly wage.

Finally, I write for Quality Gal. Her articles only pay $12.00 for 500 words, but I also blog for one of her clients at a pay of $35.00 per post. Those range from 250-500 words. The other great thing about QG is that I get paid any time I submit an invoice, so if I am between big jobs, she is a great "filler". She pays into a PayPal account as well.

When I write for Demand Studios or Quality Gal, I can pretty much write as much as I can manage. For EBSCO and COnsumer Search, I have to wait until my editors give me more assignments. I usually get 5 per month from EBSCO, and one or two a month from Consumer Search.

Another good source for jobs and information is the writing forum at WAHM.com.

I hope that someone reading this can take advantages of these opportunities! It took me months to find this information on my own. But that could be because every time I get on the Internet, I tend to get easily distracted because I am the 1,000th person to click on this ad! And I may have won a free car or something! Only, I never did.