Need Help Finding a Writing Job

[love2write1990]

Hey guys.
Writing is my hobby and my love in life, which is why I've been trying to make it into a decent job. I used to work for livestrong.com via Demand Media Studios, but was laid off along with many other writers. Now I've just been searching the web, both for private clients and for other promising companies to write for. Unfortunately, I'm pretty much down sh** creek at the moment when it comes to finding reliable writing jobs that provide enough available work to make a decent income. For example, I was hired onto Need An Article as one of their new writers. This sounded awesome of course, as you can make some pretty good money ... or so I thought. I was even hired as an automatic top-level health and fitness writer with top pay! Despite being a top-level writer for health and a few other subjects, I have yet to see any available work to claim. They always assure me that they will have work but I never see any and have been signed up with them for quite some time now.
I've also worked/wrote for Yahoo! Contributor Network (Associated Content), Text Broker, Constant Content, and have applied for Wise Geek and Break Studios but was denied.
Does anyone have any advice? Does anyone know any places to apply to?

[Purse-onality]

Everything is dry at the moment....private clients or direct orders on TB are the way to go. If you have submitted accepted works on TB, there is no shame in contacting past clients and requesting DOs. I do it all the time, prefacing it with a "thank you so much for approving my.....article." Most of us are pretty much in the same boat as you right now, if it's any consolation.

[mexmama2]

it sounds like I am in the same boat you are in its not easy right now if you dont already have your own set of private clients unfortunately...

[badenglishmajor]

Have you thought about writing an eBook? I know a lot of writers are starting to do that as an alternative to DMS since the work there has pretty much dried up. I do post writing leads on my blog, although a lot of them are print magazines and newspapers. The pay is good, but not always immediate.

[al_mama]

Yea, I freaked out after I quit my job late this past summer... I settled into writing for DS at $15 a pop and then as soon as I quit... BAM! Dry.

I've moved to private clients like pp, and it's building slowly. You have to get a website and spend a bulk of each day marketing your services to keep a steady stream of work. I keep an Excel spreadsheet of running projects so I know how much work I need to drum up to meet my income goals for the week..