My 'Internet Search' compelled me to visit "DP" sometime back. Curiously, I dropped in one day and I realized how could this happen that I did not come here before! I find many members with high ethical values and good business practices. I salute you fellow members ! Everyday I spend few minutes reading and posting. One thing that keeps me pinching all the time may also be your concern as well. I see some "DPians" inviting writers to work for almost nothing. surprisingly, Such offers get quite good responses also. I have high respect for writers ( I mean writers !) because it takes brain to put words in shapes. Weaving an article is no kidding ! It feels very bad when someone says that there are writers ready to work for pennies. yes they are ! It is market afterall and everyone is free to quote whatever one finds suitable. It is also true that not everyone who writes for cheap prices writes inferior quality articles. But at the end, it puts everyone in this rat-race to find work. I have no idea as what our esteemed webmasters and fellow writers have to say about this !
Each to their own I say. I've been happy to spend an hour writing in forums for a couple of dollars because I was having fun, but I also accept work at much higher prices. I have been known to decline work as well, sometimes even high paying work. I'm lucky enough to be in a position to choose the work I accept and what price I accept, other members here are not so lucky and even a few dollars helps them feed their families. It's sad, but that is the reality and at least they are following their dreams and trying to earn money instead of resorting to petty theft. They have my respect, and I suspect the respect of the members who pay them pennies. Better that they get pennies and put food on the table. As they improve and become better known I'm sure they will be able to command a higher price.
Yes,you are absolutely correct that it takes brain to put words in shape and make a quality work.But this is a market place where many writers are present and every one tries to get more work even if it is for pennies.We also have a certain rate but we certainly don't work for pennies as we know the quality of work very well.We provide high quality and completely unique work and so our minimum rate is $1.30 per 100 words. We never work below this rate and appreciate if some one pays more than our mentioned rate which hardly anyone gives.
I feel very strongly about this topic (as many of you know). The problem with writers that accept these low rates is a couple of things: 1- It sets a standard. It makes it difficult for professional writers to make a livable wage. Maybe if you live in India somewhere $2 for an article is livable, but try living on that in most nations of the world and see how far it gets you. 2- I have heard horror story after horror story of writers who disappeared after being paid 100% upfront for their work, leaving the buyer high and dry. This makes the buyer leery of writers who require a deposit or upfront payment ( it would certainly make me leery of it!) 3- Quality of work. Many services advertising these low rates outsource their projects to employees or contractors who are not native English speakers. Unless you attended American or British schools, your English is not going to sound natural. My mother in law has lived for over 30 years in the United States, and her English is faulty. This is after years of English classes and being totally emerged in the culture and owning a business. Yes, you can understand her- but you can tell its not her FIRST language. 4- Quality of work. Just because someone speaks English, does not mean they can write! If you offer someone a meager amount to write an article, what incentive do they have to care if you come back? This quite often results in sloppy work, poor grammar and strange sentence structure. I have seen some examples of work that I have been hired to "fix" and was mortified that someone would dare call themselves a professional writer when it is painfully obvious they can barely form a sentence. This is not to say that all writers who are willing to work for (less than) a penny are bad. Writers who are just starting out are quite likely to accept a lower rate of pay. Perhaps someone does this for extra money and is not dependent on the income they generate. Even if this is only a hobby - a decent wage should be the norm, and not the exception. Unfortunately, that takes us back to point number one.
We write for a penny a word 1) We are In the USA 2) My wife writes all content , and she enjoys it. I have 400 + feedbacks..... It can be done at 0.01 a word, and be good content, Look at Home depot and wal mart, do you not shop there because they are to cheap? MAYBE - you guys just need to sub the work out to us Have a look for yourself....
Excellent points you raise, and I agree wholeheartedly, on the other hand I also feel quite strongly that non-natives should be encouraged to perfect their English languages skills and writing is an excellent method. Many of the buyers here are quite happy with articles that obviously weren't written by a native, I suspect mostly because they can't tell the difference. That's not to say the non-natives have written anything spectacular, just that the buyer's language skills aren't perfect. I often hear English natives using incorrect grammar, substituting similar words, or trying to speak 'correctly' without really understanding the vocabulary they're using. I wince when they do.
My time, education and skills are worth more than that. My mother in law is in th US too - doesn't mean she can speak and write as a native speaker I"m glad for anyone who has success and is happy charging so little. But would you not like it more if you were paid market value? Would you not like to be able to not stress over how many articles you have to write a week in order to buy groceries? Perhaps I place a higher value on my talents than others (on here, as in the freelance world my rates are smack dab in the middle of the road), but I absolutely refuse to devalue my career to keep pace with amateurs. I pride myself on the quality of my work, and research each and every piece. Even a 300 word article typically takes an hour to research and write- sometimes more, depending on the topic. Is your time worth $3 an hour? Mine isn't... And I mean no offense to anyone who does accept those rates. It's your bank account. The sad truth of the matter is that it sets a standard that is not realized in small markets. If it were, it would be the going rate for major publications- both online and print. If the most I could get for my work was $3 an hour, I would have a 'normal' job. I left advertising to write full time and make more now, then I did then. Writing is a skill and a talent - just as painting, or furniture building, or any other craft. It should be respected as such. Take this as an example. I collect pottery. Love it! I am willing to pay a higher price for a well crafted, hand designed piece. I could go to walmart and pay $2 for a knock off and have one of maybe a million, or I can spend more on a piece with character, that was crafted by a skilled tradesperson who takes pride in their work. I've never bought any pottery at Walmart. Why? Because there's an old man, out near Seagrove, NC who crafts the most delightful pieces. Every time I go in his shop, I see something new. I custom ordered a cannister set for my kitchen from him. Could've bought a set at walmart for $20, instead I paid literally 10 times that, and have enjoyed it for the past ten years. The lid chipped on one of them. He made me a new lid- at no charge. He was upset a piece of his chipped- even if it was my fault. He could have charged me for a new lid, and I would have paid for one- but rather he took pride in his work and made me a new one. He also knows I return to his shop several times a year and always make a purchase. He knows I have written of his shop, and that I refer a lot of people to him, who consequently make purchases. I've never referred anyone to walmart for customer service and fine quality work. It serves its purpose. I've been there twice in the past two days! I buy lots of things there. But certainly nothing of value.
Interesting.......since wal mart is FULL of top brands like little tikes, playskool, sony . JVC, etc etc But whatever. Maybe the real question should be "Why is everyone over charging?"
You and me both!!! Sadly, grammar is not taught as it once was! I have a 9 year old and forbid 'slang' in our house. I told her she can use all the slang she wants when she demonstrates she can use correct grammar 100% of the time. But this would bring us to the subject of education in America (which is why I homeschool!) and that is not what this thread is about!
For some starting writers, $2 an article is all people will give them. I used to write articles for that cost that were about 500 words in length, eventually found it too tedious to continue and thus I take a penny for each word minimum, more if the subject is not familiar to me (to cover research costs- time = money ). If there were fewer writers like me in the past, employers would have to pay the going rate as they would have no choice; as long as people are happy to work for less than $0.01 a word, the lower high quality writers (and yes, I consider myself one) will be paid.
Shake your head all you want.....just the way it is, Just like when you visit HOME DEPOT, they can sell you that same lawn mower that your local hardware store used to sell, but they now sell it for way cheaper. What happened to Mom and Pop.... They now work for home depot Anyhow - no sense in arguing Have an excellent weekend
Wise words! It's also different markets (writing) that we are targeting. I still say you're worth more than $3 an hour! lol Enjoy your weekend also!
You all know what plr stands for right? Private Label rights. Well Wal-Mart does something similar. You may find name brands there, but it's the bottom of the line. Wal-Mart demands an extremely low price from their vendors and they get it. But they also get the lesser quality inventory. You can buy a silk blouse for $25 at Wal-Mart or for $250 at Macy's. It's not the same blouse or the same quality. You get what you pay for. If you're a writer, have faith in yourself. Don't sell out at a penny a word. It gets you nothing in the long run, and just burnt out in the short run. Dee
One thing that writers have to take into consideration is how difficult it actually is. I can usually write and type at a rate that gives me $12 an hour if I'm typing for 1 cent a word. Not bad for a high school student working in their spare time. It is also insane to ask for much more than that when most of the people here want SEO articles that search engines will like, not real people. A basic search engine article doesn't require much thought and isn't worth much more than 1 cent a word.
Gigs like this are great for high school students working in their spare time (assuming they are intelligent and can form a proper sentence! I have a 17 year old sister and wouldn't trust her to write much of anything! lol) But for an adult, $12 an hour with a mortgage and 2 kids, 8 cats and 1 dog who like to eat doesn't get very far! lol Even SEO articles need to be researched, written, proofed, edited and finalized. I would be willing to bet, that if you broke down the time it takes to do all of this for one article, that you will find it does not average to $12 an hour.
Simple really. Would the artisan potter try to sell at Walmart? I don't think so. So why sell your skills here if you put a higher value on them? You must cater for your target market. DP sellers are the equivalent of Walmart, catering for the mass production end of town.
That's an interesting perspective, but flawed I think. DP is one of the most popular sites online, and many of the buyers here wouldn't even know to look elsewhere. As a writer, I would be limiting my potential income and client base by avoiding the buyers on DP, many of whom will pay well if quality is important to them. As an aside, I have responded to some buyer requests with a higher rate than they were offering and have succeeded in getting my price. My advice to other writers is this, you can choose to accept or decline work, freelance writing, whether sourced from DP or elsewhere, makes you business person. You are not an employee, you are a contractor, so negotiate, get a better price.
The point about the artisan still stands though. If you are an artisan you don't work for the cheap clients or sell at Wal-mart. You meet people, build a portfolio, and market your skills and show off how good of a writer you are. In return to your response, an SEO article requires a 2 minute read over and 500 words can be thrown out in about 15 minutes of serious typing. I have timed myself. If you are looking for a way to make a good living off of SEO writing, you are out of luck. You can use it to make extra money or build a portfolio, and it is a perfect stepping off point for becoming good at bum marketing or building your own websites. If you can work nine hours a day then you would be at a level a bit above a part-time job, so it comes down to a choice of location and effort.