Services like oDesk and eLance, which promise to find you clients within minutes of signing up, operate by pitting thousands of working writers and editors against each other. Clients, faced with hundreds of desperate and indistinguishable freelancers, end up differentiating between them solely based on price. This triggers a race to the bottom. The vast majority of freelancers who are competing in these marketplaces work for less than they’re worth.
Kestrel is a lead-generation service for professional writers and editors. Three times a week, you’ll receive a list of high-quality leads right to your inbox. Leads will be screened heavily for quality and relevance and presented in a simple and concise manner. There will be no bulky marketplace with generic freelancer profiles. Instead, you’ll be able to pitch clients according to their needs. You’ll also be able to maintain your privacy (important if you’ve already got a day job).
We’re going to start by offering the service for free to qualified editors and writers. Once we’ve established that the service has real value for those who use it, we’ll be introducing a fixed monthly fee. If Kestrel sounds like something you’re interested, stay in touch below.
If you'd like to apply for our free closed beta, fill out an application. If you're interested in just staying in touch, you can subscribe here. Kestrel is a spinoff project by Literistic.