It's because you're new and don't have any Upwork jobs on your profile. You might want to do a search in Upwork under 'Talent' to see the average rates Tech Writers new to Upwork, similar to you, are charging to make your rate more competitive. What I can tell you as somebody that also works in that industry is that you are charging a rate that is the same or, in some cases, significantly higher than other Upwork Freelancers in the same field that have been active on the platform for years and have ratings, rave reviews, job success scores, badges. It's not that there aren't plenty of clients willing to pay that rate and even higher, but when they do a search and see other freelancers charging similar rates that have a proven track record on Upwork, they are going to click the freelancer profiles with the proven track record over the profiles that have no ratings/badges/job success score. When you are new, you almost always have to offer a 'discount' or 'competitive' rate initially to get attention, and then work your way up. Also, if your availability is listed as 'as needed - open to offers', this usually means a freelancer is pretty busy and will only accept 'special' projects on a case by case basis or projects where the client is offering big bucks. If a client is looking for a certain number of guaranteed hours per week, they'll likely avoid contacting you if they see this availability status if they need somebody to provide 15, 20, 30+ hours per week.
