Quality issues with copy editing services

[Will.Spencer]

I just sent this e-mail to the manager of one of the copy editing services I am currently using.

What do you think? Am I being too harsh here? I am paying one group of writers to create content and another group of writers to edit the content. This article was sent to me by the manager of one of the editing groups as a finished product.


_____:

You might want to spend some time reviewing your tech editors.


Can you spot the two errors in this one line of text?

ISO-International Standards organization facilitates the creation of voluntary standards. It is internationally accepted body for standardization process.


Or how about this line:

Physical characteristics of a card includes

Number agreement is wrong? Shouldn’t a tech editor understand number agreement? And there is the colon at the end of the line?


Here’s another one from the same article:

The ISO 7816-3 standard is designed to deal with electronic signals and transmission Protocols.

Why the random capitalization?


How did this sentence get past an editor?

The ISO 7816-5 standard deals with registration procedure for Application Identifiers (AID) and Numbering System.


Here’s a period where there should be a colon:

It defines the standards for Application Identifiers which has two parts.


Another number agreement issue:

Structured Card Query Language (SCQL) is given for the inter-industry interoperability of command for Structured Card Query Language (SCQL).


Does this sentence somehow not deserve punctuation?

It specifies the standard method to maintain and query the database, it also provides format definitions


_____, the person who approved this sentence cannot possibly be a native English speaker:

The ISO 7816-11 standard is meant for personal identification of user.


_____, would you please check these articles over and tell me what you think of the quality level you (and I) are receiving?


Will

[iowadawg]

If you are paying for an article, then you are the final proof reader and acceptor (can't believe I final get to use that word in a sentence!) of that article.
If the writer(s) can not do the job right, and you must always have to do the proofing, then yes, bitch at them.
Or find someone else?

[Jenstar]

Something I have noticed particularly in the last 12-18 months or so, is that the proliferation of all the $5 for 250 word article "copywriters" has really driven down the quality of work, even with some major copywriting companies that I guess are starting to try and take advantage of some cheap copywriters.

Unfortunately, it makes fewer people want to pay the big bucks for the people who actually know what they are doing when it comes to copywriting :(

[Will.Spencer]

I sort of expect writers not to be able to write in English. I contract them largely for their technical skills, not for their writing skills. The editors, on the other hand, I really do expect them to have excellent English writing skills.

I changed abruptly from writing almost all of my own content to working with a large number of tech writers and copy editors, and I am not sure what is reasonable to expect from either group. I'm still learning this part of the business quite rapidly.

[adpd]

If you are paying your money, you expect a certain level of quality.

If you are unhappy with the quality of the service, you should voice your concerns.

I believe it is how these concerns are addressed that set the outstanding (or usable!) companies apart from the truly awful ones.

If you don't mind, keep us informed of how their customer service responds.

[jhmattern]

Professional tech writers should be just as proficient in their writing as they are in their field. Otherwise, they'd be focusing on practicing in the industry and not getting paid to write. If it's lousy quality, complain, don't pay for it, and find new writers / editors who can do the job. Of course if you only want to pay $5 or less per article, I can't have any sympathy, and you get what you pay for.

Jenn

[IceCold]

What do you think? Am I being too harsh here? I am paying one group of writers to create content and another group of writers to edit the content. This article was sent to me by the manager of one of the editing groups as a finished product.



You are not being harsh considering that you've allowed these mistakes to continually come to your palms. If you've been harsh, then these writers are probably not writing for you anymore. There are non-native English speakers who are fluent and proficient in writing English articles. It's just a matter of finding gold amongst really thick dirt.:-)

Trial and error, so they say. if you're not satisfied with your present group, then go try another. There are probably thousands in this forum who are willing and able to do your projects. Again, it's just like finding gold in the midst of a huge amount of dirt. Do the sifting, and may you have a lot of patience:-)

I am a writer, and I hope you can try my service in the near future:-)

Ice

[old_expat]

The ISO 7816-3 standard is designed to deal with electronic signals and transmission Protocols.

The ISO 7816-5 standard deals with registration procedure for Application Identifiers (AID) and Numbering System.

ISO-International Standards organization facilitates the creation of voluntary standards. It is internationally accepted body for standardization process.

Physical characteristics of a card includes

Structured Card Query Language (SCQL) is given for the inter-industry interoperability of command for Structured Card Query Language (SCQL).

These four sentences/phrases passed MSWord's spelling and grammar check. I suspect that the "editing" you are getting is a software check and nothing more.

[old_expat]

Something I have noticed particularly in the last 12-18 months or so, is that the proliferation of all the $5 for 250 word article "copywriters" has really driven down the quality of work, even with some major copywriting companies that I guess are starting to try and take advantage of some cheap copywriters.

Unfortunately, it makes fewer people want to pay the big bucks for the people who actually know what they are doing when it comes to copywriting :(

Hi Jen .. That cuts two ways. I'm willing to pay more for good copywriting, but now I have to decide if the $10-20 price is from a writer doing $10-20 work, or is a writer trying to sell $5 articles to a higher priced market.

I have had mixed experiences (so far) here in DP. I got one sample that was so poorly written I wouldn't even consider putting it on one of my sites.

Good content is a heckuva lot more than "keyword rich".

[StuartL]

We find in our text and copywriting business that the final proofreading is perhaps the hardest to justify in dollar terms.

Too many Webmasters these days will accept just about anything so I can imagine that many businesses skip that final proofreading just to save time and expense.

We have certainly been tempted to skip that final step but then that's what separates the good, the bad and the ugly. While we look nothing like professional writers if you were to meet us in person we at least like to make our work look good.

And maybe you can tell that I'm not the proofreader in this outfit :)

[KeywordsandCopy]

The way I see it is that you are paying for the services. If you do not think that either side is doing their job explain it to them (like you did.) From there, you can always switch services...

[madferit]

Hire me and you won't be disappointed. :) I'm an experienced editor and writer, so you get the best of both worlds.

I agree with some of the above statements. If you are paying $5 per article, then don't expect it to be very good.

[KeywordsandCopy]

I think that you can get a good article for $5 you just need to know who you are working with. I run keywordsandcopy.com and we provide articles for this cheap for several clients. No they are not feature length or anything like that, but they are original and accurate.

Just keep looking and you will find someone!

[madferit]

I highly doubt it. What one considers "quality", many others might consider to be crap.

[Eric007]

$5 is low indeed. I doubt that anybody living in North America would agree to such a meagre remuneration. If you are willing to pay the price, let me know. I may be able to help you.

[StuartL]

It's so sad that people still suggest you can get something decent for $5.00.

Why is it, that in today's modern world, people still don't understand that if you want to pay peanuts all you're going to get are monkeys to do the work - and not very well trained monkeys at that.

The plain truth is that if you want to make money then you have to spend it and if you want a good writer to work for you then you have to pay him/her what they are worth.

For $5.00 you wouldn't even get a polite smile out any writer who was worth employing. :mad: