Doin' it Abroad

by Stephanie Olsen

Hey, a gal's gotta make a living, eh?

Freelancing is a tough gig no matter where you live; but the hurdles are a little higher when you're outside the USA. No, I'm not talking Toronto, people - I'm talking about a place where they don't even speak English (stop that! they do too speak English in Canada...I think). Britain? Good guess, but for a real challenge let's talk behind the former Communist Curtain. How'd ya like to try freelancing in Poland?

Theoretically, of course, you can write from anywhere on the globe these days; but a lot of freelance bread-and-butter work comes from community businesses or by making contacts through local networking opportunities. It's still a feat to find paying, telecommute-only copywriting or copyediting jobs when you can't meet in person: and the difficulties run both ways; potential employers have no idea who you are (or even if you are!) and us poor writers take the very real chance of not getting paid for our work.

So what to do in between magazine articles?

Writers have something most people don't: the ability to make any piece of writing flow. In countries where English is spoken as a definite second language, this talent becomes marketable. Because it's the language of business throughout the world, information providers in every country produce web content, newsletters, and reports in English. That material needs to be proofread for glaring grammatical, spelling and punctuation errors, and also highly edited by a native English speaker as to word order and meaning so that the use of the language becomes natural.

Let me give you an example of what I mean:

Here's the original text I received:

According to the Student News agency, Polish students mostly only declare their willing to work abroad (two-thirds of students), as only 15% of them are actually considering doing so. 20% of students interested in work abroad declare that they would like to spend there more than a year, and just 18% think of emigration for good. Main reasons for work abroad for students are low salaries in Poland, poor situation on the Polish labour market, and better work conditions abroad.

Here's the final version:

According to the Student News agency, most Polish students (about two-thirds) say they're willing to work abroad , but only 15% of them are actually considering doing so. Twenty percent of those interested declare that they would like to spend more than a year, and just 18% are thinking of emigrating for good. The main reasons cited by students for working abroad are low salaries in Poland, a poor situation on the Polish labour market, and better work conditions abroad.

Easy for you and me, huh? But the highly educated professional economists and market analysts are just that - economists and market analysts, not writers; and they are producing complex reports in a language that may be second or third to their mother tongue.

A quick look at http://www.researchandmarkets.com will give you an idea of the biggest publishers of business content in various countries: simply contact the publishing company directly and offer your services.

If any of you Stateside writers are thinking how unfair this all is - you know, how us expats have single-handedly cornered the entire global market - take hope! Do you have a background in a foreign language? Are you a teacher of English as a Second Language? You don't have to be a professional proof reader or copyeditor: if you can manipulate the language, if you're good at writing what the original writer meant to say , then you're qualified.

My client's in Krakow - on the other side of the country from me. So why can't youse guys in New York or y'all in Georgia try working with people on the other side of the world? Write up an email letter of application with your clips and credits and be prepared to provide a sample copyedit text. (Hint: keep your "before" and "after" weight loss photos SORRY! your "before" and "after" copy to use as a clip for future application emails; it may save you from having to do more spec work).

Let me know what happens and, as they say over here: "good luck"!

(I told ya I can't speak Polish) ;-)

Professional freelance writer, Stephanie Olsen, is publisher of http://www.justmarkets.com - for paying telecommute markets every writer needs, "Hot Off The Press", every morning, six days a week, visit http://www.justmarkets.com