Science writer Julian Taub has been freelancing for close to three years now. He has written for prominent publications, believes he has a strong network and understands what it takes to land work. Yet writing for the Web on a contingent basis hasn’t been easy. As Taub points out, he “would be afraid to do it as [his] sole source of income. Just because it’s very precarious: You don’t know what’s going to come up, there’s not many guarantees, and it’s really tough to be one step ahead” on a beat.