Freelancer and oDesk are two organizations that accept job postings from people who need a few right-brained folks to produce content for them – freelance writers, programmers, Web designers, graphic designers and the lot. These workers – hard-working, talented, many between jobs – are then placed into a job search engine to bid against on another for projects posted by employers.
One job, with a budget of $30 to $250, is a "simple project to write articles and post on article directories. Articles must be 100% original and proofread. I need 61 articles to becompleted in 2 months [grammar! spell out numbers less than 10] each at least 500 words . . . I will pay 3.5 per article and 214 in total.”
500 words is about two 8 1/2 x 11 pages. Criminal. Outrageous. The entities that would list what I read on http://www.sitejabber.com/reviews/www.odesk.com. Check out sitejabber.com/reviews/www.freelancer.com for reviews that could make a terrorist cry – terrorist in the sense that the employers who post jobs have no idea how the creative mind works. Or how to pay a decent wage for work backed by as much at 30 years experience as a writing professional. Final straw: postings from freelancers who claim their work was stolen; oDesk or Freelancer did not pay them after taking 10 percent [or 8 1/2 percent] from the agreed upon fee.
Research research research BEFORE you sign up for any of these services [I use the word ‘service’ lightly]. Try the traditional method of article placement, short story writing, magazine or newspaper columns. Write well. Query. Research editors. Market yourself. There are writers who are making a very nice living publishing articles in travel, women’s, men’s sports or hobby magazines – magazines who pay more than half-a-cent per word.
Legitimate businesses will NEVER steal your ideas or make you pay for submitting or publishing your work.