With the economy slowing to a crawl do you think that layoffs will put more knowledgeable people in the writing pool or increase the number of hacks looking for work? What about fees? Will there be a reduction in fees due to increased pressure from people trying to augment their unemployment benefits? I'm not a writer but I do work in a discretionary market and I have seen pressure to reduce my fees along with an overall slowdown.
I'm not reducing my fees. Business has actually increased quite a bit in the economic recession so far for me, and I've had far more inquiries for gigs that I had to turn down due to time constraints. Those who specialize and who know how to market based on real value (not price) will likely do just fine. Yes, there may be new qualified people getting into the "game," but they're also new (in most cases) to the freelancing world, meaning it's highly unlikely they'll soon be heavily into your own network. Also keep in mind that those specialists generally can pick up a lot of work from referrals - this is a time where buyers tend to value advice and referrals from trusted friends and colleagues even more because they'll have more writers to consider. On a related note, this is actually a good time for some writers to increase rates. As companies lay off full-time employees, the demand for freelancers can increase significantly. If the demand for your time increases (as in you're personally getting a lot of great offers, and having to turn them down), raising rates is a win-win for everyone. You earn more and get to be even more selective about projects you want to take on, and even at a higher rate, hiring a freelancer can still be much more cost-efficient for a company than retaining full-time folks. Generalist, penny-per-word types of writers will possibly face a very different scenario.
The slowdown and layoffs actually presents an attractive opportunity for experienced freelancers. Since fewer businesses can afford to keep writers on staff, more businesses will be looking to hire freelance writers, who, overall, cost less than staffed-writers, even if the per hour rate is higher. But, as a personal finance writer, I'm wondering what's going to happen after the economic crisis is over. Will people still be concerned about doing the right thing with their money? Will there be a decreased demand for financial education? As far as fees, I haven't seen any more pressure than usual to lower my rates. I'm not even sure I'd call it pressure since most people I encounter simply move on if they want to pay a lower rate.
I've been at it non stop since the middle of September and I've had to turn down jobs--even ones I would have liked to have taken. But I have worked for it and been marketing myself like a madman on crack so that I have good choices. It works and I've gotten in the door and laid groundwork for the future in addition to getting some nice projects right away. But always think in terms of marketing yourself for the next gig. You will find that the rest of this month will likely be slower although this is the first day I've had time to breathe. I'm not sure about the latter part of this week but have had calls from people who refer me that they want to meet up. So I'm going to do those calls and make time to keep my name front and center.
It is quite easy to understand . The companies and enterprises want to save money, so they come to the internet market solution . The demand for internet market/promotion will grow . I don't want to the fees to be down .
If we're talking quality, I doubt that it ever affects the quality of articles. The only way that it would is if you hire newbie writers who write for .01 per word after being laid off their job. Then, they might scramble to throw out a few articles in order to get a good hourly wage.
I think it depends on the client. If people want cheap content in a hurry, then they will get poor quality content. If they continue to understand that good copy sells much better than bad copy, then they will be willing to pay fair prices regardless of the economy.
I think the quantity of articles clients are going to want will go up, quality will be compromised unfortunately because of a desperate need for money. People will do anything for money, it's sad.
A true-blood writer does not write primarily for the money; he does it for the love of it in the first place. Next important reason to write would be to let out the truth, inform, educate and participate. Monetary considerations, although not the least relevant, comes consequentially. Even as more and more pseudo-writers crop up as results of large-scale layoffs and search for better pastures in the aftermath of the economic dislocations, legitimate writers don't need to even feel any sense of undue competition, not only because they are the ones who could do things best, but primarily because the readers and the patrons will always go for quality and relevance of the articles, which much assuredly will only come from proven effective writers like we are. So all the more do we have to improve our writing skills and produce better and more consistent articles that we have already been proven to deliver.
I came without my crystal ball today, but my guess is that overall quality will decline a little, as many people with no or little writing experience enter the article-writing sphere (in particular). The current economic climate doesn't alter my own hourly rate, though: I'd be more inclined to increase it, if anything.