I tried elance. They have a convoluted point system where you can bid on ~10 projects a month. I put in the lowest bid for a bunch of simple <500$ projects, but had no responses. They are lots of indian and russian contracting firms on there spamming every job.
Would you be interested in working with me on a couple of Twitter related projects? Currently outsourcing on ODesk, but can definitely consider using you. Let me know!
Elance is a bit harder - since they charge for premium placements to appear in search. Have you tried Odesk, Rentacoder (and a few more sites). Or even Fiverr seriously. The key is not to give up - getting the first job is the hardest, after which you end up usually getting a client, and establishing a profile/trackrecord. I know, we have been on both sides of this (as a contractor/hiring people on our own projects).
You are better off going through craigslist. I've been able to find tons of projects on craigslist in the last couple of years. Many companies are looking for a reliable freelancer/contractor and if you can prove that you are, will go to you for future projects.
