A Concern For All "DPian" Webmasters and Writers !

@thefatboy

If you're OK with a business model of employing other writers, go for it. Most professional writers never will. That's because we're not offering skilled labor (as plumbers per your example), where others can be trained to do exactly the same thing. As a writer, you build a very personal reputation based on your work, which is something a sub-contractor can't replicate in a creative environment. I know better than to risk compromising my reputation in my particular market by doing something like that. If you only write SEO articles, it might be viable. If you're a specialist and any kind of authority in your niche, it's not an option unless you plan to shoot yourself in the foot. I'm (slowly) finishing up a book proposal that I plan to pitch to a few contacts I have to work on getting a book in my niche published. I'd kill all chances of that happening up front if I weren't doing my own work. It all depends on the kind of reputation you build and the market you target.

I also look at it this way. I'm able to charge $.20-1.00 per word depending on the project because of the work I put into networking and marketing myself and building my reputation in my market. I wouldn't let another writer take advantage of those things to later leave and compete, and I wouldn't encourage people writing for no credit (what happens when you subcontract). I instead spend my time trying to help writers build a name for themselves as opposed to building a portfolio they can't lay claim to publicly.

 

You definitely can't duplicate yourself, but you could hire someone who has a style you like and mold them.

Similar to how an architect might start a firm, he would first be a "firm of one" producing quality work. As his demand increases, he hires an apprentice, a gifted student who gains not only a salary, but the teachings of his employer, plus a pedigreed reputation. In time, the student gets to be a valued contributor, producing work that is partly his, but definitely shows the master's influence.

The owner maintains creative and editorial control, because why let a student put out something with your name on it if it doesn't meet your standards?

OK. Maybe I need to take this conversation to another part of the forum.

 

A style of writing isn't the same as a style in architecture (the limits and bounds are much different). They could never create the same thing. In that case, the architect also doesn't generally give up full credit whereas outsourced writers are almost always ghostwriters (meaning they lose all rights, can't use pieces in their portfolio because they can't claim authorship, and get no credit to help build their own portfolios and careers). It's also dishonest to do that to clients when they hire you for your solo reputation, whereas when they hire a "firm" they know others are involved.

 

I agree with Jenn as well

Trying to clone someone to write like you I think is impossible...

To many Human variables ..emotion, thoughts , way they were brought up, these things all have an impact on style .....

 

And a late welcome to Jen in the conversation! lol

to the person who asked/ stated (somewhere) about me marketing my services here - I don't. Sure, every now and then I pick up a job and I've gotten a few good clients from here. But what I pick up here is truly just by chance- either someone sees my sig and clicks and contacts me, or they posted something that was reasonable for me and I had the time to do a 'spare' project, or we struck up a 'friendship' somewhere along the way and they asked me to do some work for them.

I never have, and never will post a topic asking for work. I have other avenues and sources where my income is derived from. As several people (including myself) have said - its different markets...

 

Interesting.

Then again, what if you weren't writing for the prime rib crowd?

There's money in hotdogs. I bet more in 100,000 hotdogs a week than in 2,000 prime ribs

But adding a little bit of prime rib flavor to a hotdog... now youve differentiated yourself from the crowd and refused to be commoditized.

Mmmm.... Prime Rib hot dogs!

 

But they're not paying more for the "bit of prime rib." It depends on who you target. If you target webmasters with low budgets, they won't increase their budgets just because you say you're adding a bit of extra quality. You'd target webmasters with budgets in the mid-range; a totally different market, meaning the lower rate writers aren't in competition with you.

I still write occasionally for Web clients, and other than a short blog post or a press release which I have separate rate structures for, I don't accept less than $200. So it's not like all webmasters / online publications are in the same market. They range as widely as those in print (for those who like to act like we all must write for magazines if we're charging more - not necessarily regarding a specific comment here).

I'd rather spend time writing just one article even at $100 while having extra time to make more money from my own sites, work on my book or e-books, etc. than spending much more time writing 20 $5 articles just because there's money in it, as you put it. If it were a situation where I had to invest huge research time into the higher rate work, it might be different and even out. Because I specialize and write in areas of my expertise, not only can I charge more, but I can write an article without having to spend a lot of time researching just to put out something of decent quality. The quality difference in pricing is very often determined by the specialist vs generalist gap. People pay for expertise.

It's all about the quality of life you want. If you're ok with risking burnout having to have a constant flow of work at a few articles per hour, then that's fine. Stick with the model, outsource, or do whatever works for you. But you can't change how a market views the work by claiming extra quality to differentiate yourself, especially when nearly all writers in the low price boat claim the same thing.

Know what you want. Know what you need. Know your market. Know your competition. Those are the keys to differentiating yourself instead of competing with a group of writers where the majority end up failing or having to change their business models later anyway.

 

I will say this... As a content buyer, I noticed that the quality of the available writers on DP improved.

 

Is your observation based on the quality of writing in this thread, or do you think this applies to the forum generally?

 

I am basing my observation on samples I have seen.

0.03 - 0.05 cents per word today buys better quality content, than it did 1 year ago.

 

What did you think of my samples I sent?

 

The samples were very good - considering the price.

 

Oh cool - Thanks for the kind words

 

For specific applications, I would definately buy from you. I see a place for your content.

 

As a writer I would never want someone to evaluate my writing and say:

The samples were very good - considering the price. Bolding is mine.

Dee

 

Every buyer thinks like that. Even you think like that.

"Considering the price and quality, x is worth it"

"Considering the price and quality, x is not worth it"


That's how everyone buys... The same response applies to writers who charge $75 for 500 words. I know writers who charge $50 - $75 for 500 words. I havn't used them yet, but I might need them soon.

At the end of the day, my response is still something like:
"Considering the price and quality, x is worth it" .
or
"Considering the price and quality, x is not worth it" .

If I have a way of making $7000.00 a month from 10 $75 posts, why shouldn't it be worth it ?
If I have a way of making $70.00 a month from 10 $1 posts, why shouldn't it be worth it ?

 

I think what Dee's referring to is the "very good" part, which is very different from "worth it." If he charged much more, would you say it sucks? Writing is either very good or it's not, irrespective of price. Saying it's well worth the price is still a complement within the market, but a bit different. "Very good" is an overall quality judgment, while "worth it" is conditional (the condition being the price).

 

No. I disagree. If I sell a piece for $50 I don't want someone saying "It's great, considering I only paid $50." Or "well ya know it was only 50 bucks so it was worth it."

I don't downgrade my writing skills to fit the price I'm paid.

Dee

 

Odd that I had to contact DP before you would respond to my PM with this information. But as I said above, check out the threads and ask those in the class what they thought.

 

I was in the class and saw that no one was participating in the daily classes, I mean why try to continue teaching when no one is responding..over and over and over again. There was an open invitation for anyone who needed specific help over the last days of the class and no one ever posted that they wanted help. SundayBrew was more than willing to help everyone in the class, we just let it expire, so charter, just be thankful he is offering you a second chance to participate in the online marketing knowledge class and make good use of it this time. As far as the server issue, my sites were affected too but it was no fault of SB's, things like this just happen.