Writing is a Joke

I am also just venting.

I'm being bugged by "writing teams" to write for them for $2! Someone even mailed me to write a batch of 500 word articles for him for $1 each! WHAT THE! Do they think all of us writers are desperate? A $2 is bad enough, $1 is just pushing it too far

 

I agree. The problem is that some people actually think that $2 for 500 words is a high price believe it or not. I've had some like that too. I actually just let a client go a couple weeks ago who I had been working for as part of a writing team, because she wouldn't raise the bar a little. She was paying $1 per word, and when I first started, I thought that was good. Now that I know better, I raised my rates considerably and she insisted that 1 cent per word was an excellent rate. She did tell me to contact her when I needed work I have to say that since I raised my rates I've had more work than ever. I even had one buyer who said they appreciate that I don't write for a low fee, it makes them believe that we know what we are doing and that we have what it takes.

 

I actually started out my writing career at $2 per 500 words, for quite a bit company just because I didn't know any better. Now though, I get much higher - but if anyone offers you those kinds of rates, show them what they deserve - the door

 

This is definitely a problem, and one that will probably be around forever. When I started writing I must admit that I was working for low wages. But with that being said, within a month or so I moved onto more professional rates. In my opinion it is best to just ignore these people who want you to join their writing team for such low rates. All they are doing is hiring you for $2 and then selling the articles for as much as they can; the difference is pure profit.

 

They deserve the door? They should deserve what they pay for. I have had clients review my price list and scoff at it saying that $.02-.03/word was way to high and that they chose someone who will work for $.01 or less. I hear from them a week or so later when they find out what they just bought is crap.

I have even had members in DP and elsewhere suggest that I am outside the norm and a drain on good writers for being so greedy. A good real world comparison of my "greed" is a crafts shop selling hand made product at prices higher than what you can find at Wal-Mart. The real drain on an industry are truly greedy people who will sacrifice quality and integrity to drive sales by offering the lowest price. This translates to any business not just writers. I recommend reading up on the Vlassic $3 gallon pickles at Wal-Mart to demonstrate just what some people are willing to sacrifice for the discount competitive edge.

 

I remember when I first started out a long time ago, I was super happy just being able to write anywhere, anytime. Then I started seeing my stuff get published and be the first place for many different niches. However they were doing it, they were making more than my $1 per 500 word article.

While I don't think this is a great practice but I have often argued with clients to understand the quality they are getting will come back to them many times over.

Just stand your ground on your prices and eventually you'll become someone they wished they'd hired when you were reasonable.

Jim

 

That's why I've learned to love cheap press release writers. They'll charge $10-50 per release, their clients realize the release is garbage (usually just a generic article thrown into a template without any news value), and then they come to me and pay me even more ($79) just to edit it and make it usable. The editing is much faster than the writing, and I charge nearly as much for it (making it a higher rate per hour), so I definitely enjoy those gigs.

It took me a while to be able to ignore that group on any level, but really, they're not so bad. They make more work for the rest of us.

 

Why get mad? It's business.

Do you ever in your life ask for or want a better price on any product or service? Of course you do.

If someone wants something for a price that you can't justify, just move on. Really, there's no need to get all bent out of shape over it.

When a potential client tells me that my rates are way out of their budget or too high, I just say that I understand. I'm not targeting everyone in the world.

It's like when you walk into an unfamiliar restaurant and see the menu prices are 2-3x what you expected. It's a shock and you may walk out because of it. They wanted $50 a plate and you only think that $20 a plate is acceptable.

Are you a bad person now? Should they lower their prices to accommodate you? Should they stop what they are doing to educate you on fine cuisine? No in all cases. You're not their target audience.

 

I completely agree. We all know there's a market for $2 per 500 word writers out there, and whether you and I like it or not, it's a huge market.

If those buyers can't afford you, just move on. How do you think the market for fake goods survives and thrives? ( I am not sure if that's the right analogy here; it's the first thing that sprang to mind!)

 

If I go to a nice restaurant I am not above paying for $50 per plate for a gourmet meal. I'm just saying that I better get something a bit more than what I could get at Applebee's or Country Kitchen. I know why a fast food burger costs $1 but I don't understand how someone could expect a gourmet meal at a fast food price. Would you walk into a bar and expect a Heineken for the price of a Stag or Old Milwaukee?

 

With so many free articles out there, I'm surprised that they are even paying for 'em.

 

Most buyers who pay $2 or so don't expect "gourmet meals." They don't care what kind of meal you give them as long as it passes a basic sanitary test, if that.

 

Human life is cheap in some parts of this world. If people can't value something like that, valuing proper writing skills is far down the list.

 

I personally charge anywhere from $25.00 - $100.00 per single article (Usually under 1000 words). When a prospective client approaches me, I tell him/her up front that if they are looking for penny articles, I am not their guy. What I tell them is to go pay one of these $0.01 per word guys, get the content, and then come back to me and they can hire me to begin writing a REAL article for them.

The money is out there, people just have to stop working for peanuts!

 

The first, and only, article I ever wrote for someone else like that was $10 for about 1,000 words. Now I know that that is not good work, but I suppose it was a decent price for my first time. I know I'm a good writer but writing for others makes me nervous sometimes, supposing they might not like the article or something of the sort. I'm also not that great at working on something like that without a set of specific guidelines. Writing CAN be a fantastic market, so I do believe I just need to practice more and then maybe I can start some real working (hopefully).

 

Writing is actually starting to get really pathetic in the content writing section lately. The holiday rush seems to be pushing in a lot of people who want articles at bargain basement prices. For a while some guy was spamming every job thread with offers of 500 words for a dollar. That is just ridiculous. I'll admit that I do content writing for a cent a word, because it doesn't actually take writing skill to write those, but the buyer has to be realistic. I can write and review 3 500 word articles in an hour. So that is $15. Not bad for a high school student and they receive a decent article that has SEO value and won't make their reader's eyes bleed. But $3 an hour???? Ridiculous.

 

Wasn't that 1930 wages? I think the big picture is in order to gain more customers is to offer bonuses and discounts every so often. It makes them feel important and like they are getting something of great value.

Jim

 

What companies hire you to write? I see a lot of mention of companies here and I would like to find one that would hire me

 

What are the standard rated though for a 500word article, I would like to try my hands at this as well , but the really low prices offered on the forums are quite a turn off, plus there are some people who offer their writing services for a much cheaper rate than even the cheap rates offered !!

 

Those I see as being desperate for cash but often times don't follow through.

Jim