Summary

The website content provides an analysis of freelance writing jobs in the US based on data from guru.com, highlighting in-demand skills, common themes in job postings, and budget trends as of September 1, 2020.

Abstract

The article presents a detailed examination of the current landscape for freelance writing jobs within the United States, utilizing data from guru.com as of early September 2020. It emphasizes the importance of aligning one's freelance writing skills with market demand and explores common themes such as the prevalence of marketing, sales, and web content creation. The analysis includes a word cloud visualization that identifies frequently requested skills, with content writing and blogging at the forefront, while creative writing niches like poetry and songwriting are less sought after. The piece also addresses the budgetary aspects of freelance writing jobs, noting that many postings lack a defined budget, with a significant portion offering less than $250. Interactive Tableau workbooks are provided for readers to further explore the data on requested skills and higher-paying categories. The author encourages freelancers to use this data to strategically plan their future work and potentially expand into more lucrative areas.

Opinions

The author suggests that freelancers should assess their skills to ensure they match current market demands and consider branching into new areas of writing.
There is an expressed excitement about the diversity of industries that freelance writing can expose individuals to, as exemplified by the author's personal experience with energy management and online retailing.
The author finds the details around the largest words in the word cloud, such as "icy," to be particularly interesting and indicative of the need for thorough investigation beyond initial impressions.
The article conveys a sense of disappointment that creative writing skills like poetry and songwriting are not in high demand according to the job postings analyzed.
The author implies that the prevalence of jobs with no set budget or rates under $250 may not be financially viable for all freelancers and emphasizes the importance of seeking out better-paying opportunities.
The author is optimistic about the potential for freelancers to use the provided data and interactive tools to identify which writing categories offer the best financial prospects.

Do your freelance writing skills meet demand?

Analysis and tools for identifying the writing skills most in demand today.

There are many of us that pick up extra work as freelances for many reasons. For some people, this is their full-time job. Rock on! For others like myself, we look to bring in some extra cash or expand our skills into new areas. I’ve often heard freelancers say how exciting they are to work in an industry different than their full-time jobs. I’ve personally learned about energy management and online retailing that I would have not known had I not done some side gigs. If you have been struggling to pick up jobs or want to branch into a new area, you need to do a self-assessment. Does the current freelancing market match up with your interests and skills? Are you focusing on the wrong type of work or are there opportunities to pick up new categories of work?

I have performed an analysis of all of the US-based writing-related jobs posted on guru.com as of Sept 1, 2020. I have also published some interactive Tableau workbooks that you can access for more information. Let’s take a look.

Common themes

If you take a look at the word cloud above, you will see the higher frequency words found in the job descriptions for writing-related job posts. What stands out the most?

marketing, sales, and web are the most common, followed by blogging and articles
fixed rate is more frequent than an hourly rate

If you look closely around the biggest words, you can see many of the details of the job descriptions. I find this area of the word cloud to be the most interesting. What is “icy”? A new tool? No, further investigation finds that it is part of the job description URL.

Skills Requested for US jobs

Requested Skills — published to Tableau Public by author

I have published this chart in Tableau Public for you to take a look further. Content writers and bloggers are at the top of the list. Sadly, poetry and songwriting are at the bottom of the list for US job postings.

freelance prospects not looking good — screenshot by the author

Budgets

You love to write but you need to get paid! Here is a breakdown of the writing job budgets.

A great many of the jobs do not have set budgets. A vast majority have either no rate or are under $250. ‘Under $250’ is quite a large span.

So what pays the ‘best’?

I have created an interactive report to look at which categories have the highest budgets. You don’t need to limit these skills to writing, you can also look at other skill areas as well! You just click the boxes on the skills list.

Here is the link to the Best Pay view.

screenshot of interactive workbook available by author

Conclusion

I hope that you have gained some new insights into the freelance jobs available for writers in guru.com. You can use this data to plan future work and growth into new areas.

In the responses, please let me know if this information has been of benefit. If enough people find value in knowing this information, I can create a process to automate an updating Tableau report for use.