Are Any Writers Ready to Give up on DP?

I have to admit, I am really saddened by the low rates. I am curious as to what my fellow writers think about these prices and if they are ready to throw in the towel or drop down to a penny a word.

I do have other writing gigs, but I have always preferred writing for clients one on one. I know I received some PMs about other writing gigs, so I thought I'd share a couple, and if any other writers want to throw some companies willing to pay .02 per word and up, please feel free to list them. I would love to focus on magazines, but at this point, I'm here doing the week to week thing (paycheck to paycheck...or maybe paypal to paypal..lol)

 

I've been spending some of my time investing in the long term - creating content for my own sites in down time and also working with Associated Content some.

I don't think I'm ready to leave DP altogether. It is a little disheartening sometimes, though.

We shall see what happens.

 

I don't mean to be rude or anything, and have a ton of respect for you from what I have gathered about you in my short term of a member here so far but these threads are popping up every few hours now and it's getting annoying.

You are posting this in the wrong section (should be in the Copywriting section) and why can't all the complainers just complain in one thread?

While I do agree about the topic, and most fo the time my rates are $.02-.03, and I am sickened by the "Looking for desperate writers - paying $.50 per rewrite!" threads, I can live with knowing that they will get what they pay for, and they are really just wasting their money as that content will probably make them nothing.

On the other side of the battle, some of the writers can live off of these rates, but for us people in countries where the economy level is really high (like for me, I am in Canada), bending over backwards for a cent or less a word is just really painful.

I like to think about it as bending over -- if I could get paid $.025 for every time I bent over, I think I would do it. Say I bent over 40 times a minute, which is 2400 times an hour, I would make $60/hr -- although a job like that can be related to the one of a stripper, escort, model, or prostitute because as I age I will start making less...and less...until I break my back and can't even make a cent!

Terrible analogy?

 

well mam -
This price {is low} for an article, frustrating and unacceptable. The best thing is to select some permanent customers and write for them according to their rates-
then after a month experience, ask them to increase your pay rate
thats what i did , but it happens only when you are providing quality content to your BOSS and he/she is impressed from your work

i hope i have given my idea, dont want to create any problem for you MISS CHARISSE V

 

I think to truly understand this problem of people requesting "low" wages that you have to take into account, that those writers may be living in countries where work is hard to come by, and the minimum wage would be lower than the amount of money they make from writing articles. This is why there are a lot of article writers coming from India/South America. To them this forum is a blessing as they can afford to put food in their families mouths and enjoy the things we take for granted.

 

My prices stay the same and I continue writing top quality articles, even now.

When I'm not working for someone else I'm working for myself which often pays extremely well in the long run.

It's a win-win situation for me, I enjoy web design as much as writing articles. I think you need to be proficient in both as well as in SEO going forward.

 

Kurg, you are totally off-track here. Charisse is strictly a writer, which means she has to rely solely on her writing skills to bring her income with that in mind, DP is a horrible place to make a living. I make more working as a waiter in an Assisted Living community than I normally do off my clients from DP, which is saying a lot.

Now, I'm not saying to give up on DP, because there are some great clients that come around every so often with good rates, and good, realistic expectations of you. You just have to look at that, that bright side, and ignore all the stupid crap that goes on here, like $.50 for a 500 word article.

Charisse, I mostly agree with the fact that DP sucks for writers, but if you plan on having writing as your main source of income, you just need to look elsewhere. You need to set up your blog, and market yourself. Get some guest posts on other authority blogs, and put a little plug that you are a freelance writer. Eventually, someone will notice you if you are good enough, and your career will take off. I know I made this sound, a lot easier than it is, but trust me, it has worked for me in the past, when I freelance wrote a lot, and I'm only 16 now, so, just keep working, and try out my advice.

All The Best,
Zac

 

zacdavis, you are way off.


She specializes in:

 

Yeah, would have been helpful to check out her website, I guess, since she does have web design listed on there, although, judging by the design of that website, I would take it off that list, and Logo Design as well, leaving everything on that list under the broad category of writing.

 

it is true that most of us are badly and low pay. Some customers hire a few writers and choose the best. The rest aren't paid at all.

Magazines and newspaper offer higher pay for articles but they need to be in quality. I do think it is necessary for all writers at DP to set a price limit to avoid exploitation and under pay.

 

That will never happen, which is the ugliness of Capitalism.

 

I know that most of you will disagree, but DP is not the real problem. Those who take the bait are. Any member can post any work and accompany it with a price not acceptable to everyone, but still many are interested to give their time in doing such work.

There are still plenty of clients and writers in DP who know the value of their work. If you produce good quality work then you must demand a better pay for it before accepting the offer.

 

In my opinions as a customer here, It depends on how those writers present themselves. If they started with a price oriented and offers a cheap then it would be hard for them to increase the price later except their quality is exceptional. I am current paying between $15 - $45 per 500 words article depends on where I was going to use. If I'm going to use quality article that can concert then the article should be written by native english speaking country writer such as US, UK, AUS and not countries that are not native english one (will not disclose here).

I have experienced in both $5-$10 article that quality like $15-$20, and some $20 that quality like a rubbish $5. The price is not a real indicator for all, but low prices is often low quality in general. I have experienced with some Latvian guy here who claimed an UK writer. He is totally garbage by charged me for $15 and delivered $5 quality to me, plus denied my request to fix some grammar error and quality.

DP can be a great place for you writers, depends on how well you present yourselves. Any writers can ask any price just need to prove themselves to customer first before ask anything like that. You cannot convince peoples to buy YOUR $15-$45 per article if you cannot prove them your quality. Many customers need quality content and can afford but they need confidence in your writing talent in a first place.

 

I think OP is great writer but this thread is supposed to be in General topic rather than BST section.

 

I think not, humbly speaking! This thread is very relevant to what's going on (unfortunately) on Content Creation Service section, especially on DP where I personally found the writer in me getting acknowledgment!

I have seen the degradation of other online marketplaces, especially like get*a*free*lance*r, and others like it. It's like a war going on there! A war of under-cutting writing fees, and the buyers too are offering ridiculous offers like $1 or $2 per article! I may be wrong in doing so, but I do not visit those places anymore.

DP here has been the BEST marketplace for good writers, it still is. But the under-cutting that's going on is something that's going to hurt the overall great standard that I have witnessed since I joined. Either we have to follow the unfortunate trend, or we may perish! These are my personal views though and absolutely no ill-feelings for any other soul here.

Some of us do genuinely belong here, and we hope that the good old days will return soon! Personally I would like to see DP FILLED with quality buyers, sellers, traders, and readers!

God Bless us and DP too!

Keep Smiling (even if it hurts!)

 

Wow,

I was surprised to see the responses here. Yes, my website looks pretty bad, lol. That's due to the fact that I love making graphics and working on websites, but tend not to have the time needed to devote to it, as I am usually writing. My writing is a full time gig for me, dedicating at least 8 hours each day to the craft. As for my website, I did get some of the font fixed last night, and I am proud of my colorful design.

Anyway, back to writing, when I first joined DP, my prices were fixed at .02 per word, and I frequently found myself getting "slammed" by those writers who look down upon us "content writers" and those who felt that we weren't really contributing anything to the writing genre as a whole.

I have a pretty long list of clients and companies that I work with, but I had always felt that DP was the best place to meet new clients, network with other writers, and if you created a package to sell, could post it here and know that you would get fair wages.

Really, my post is more of an observation as I had taken a little sabbatical from the forum, worked on other projects, then thought I'd come back. I was shocked by all of the "undercutting". I'm a nice person, and I have told many writers over the years where to find work, how to get more work, and have tried to create Website Content PLR as a place where other writers could share and sell their PLR sets free of charge.

It was a shock to come back and see that the prices I had taken so much flack for (as being too low) were now extraordinarily high (no offense Deb NG...lol); but if you were around on the WAHM forums before the launch of Freelance Writing Gigs, you know the debates that took place regarding "low wage", etc.

I just left with the feeling that for writers to make it on DP, they were going to need to write twice as much content-

However, I've met some new clients already and my opinion has changed. I agree with the posts that state you just have to be true to the price you set, and not to settle for anything less.

Ok,
I'm off to remove the "will do webdesign and logos" off my page...



Charisse

 

No, Zac is right,

I am strictly a writer and that is how I make my living. I have created a few websites for others and logos, and that is how I added those to my website. However, I am hardly the "web designer" as my late night struggles trying to get the kinks out of my own site evidence this.

Yet, when it comes to writing- now that's where I'm at home. I do rely solely upon writing for a living, that's why the low rates are so disheartening. Thanks for pointing out my description, as it needed a serious update!)

But yes, Zac is right on the money, I depend solely on writing (except for my affiliate ads and Google Adsense from my own blogs). But my writing is my career, and I have made peace with the fact that at this point in my life, going after $1.00 a word projects (mostly magazines) isn't very practical. Like I said before, I live basically PayPal to PayPal and though 50 cents an hour might cut it from some in other countries, it doesn't quite make it for this American, native English speaking, U.S. born and bred mom who's feeding her kids.

It's just ironic that two years ago I was slammed for offering such low prices, and now those same prices are being referred to as "twice as high as the norm."

I was seriously wondering if the United States was in such a depression that writers were now expected to sell content (American writers) for 1/4 a cent a word.

I hope this thread stays, as I feel it is totally relevant to Content Creation, since this is really a thread discussing the views of the content writers on DP.

Thanks,

Charisse

 

Technically this is Content Creation (but under BUY SELL TRADE) so it's not the right place.

I think that most of us (over 18) are capable of getting a real life job that pays a decent amount -- technically, zac is not right because you even admitted to doing design, even if you are not that great at it.

I think this thread should be with the other hundreds complaining about it -- the CopyWriting section.

 

Anyway, if the mods move the thread, they will. There good at doing that. If I offended anyone by posting here, I apologize. I thought this was applicable, I thought about it when I clicked the little check box stating that this was the best area for the thread. I'm not infallible, so no need to lambast me.

Thanks,

Charisse

 

Real life job, as in not virtual.

If you can't even start to grasp that a "real life" job means outside of your home (computer work at home is a real job, but it's not outside of your home, what better term would it be - job that's not for the lazy, labour?) then I don't know that to say.

I don't mean to start a dispute, but you obviously don't know what you do a living. You say in this thread you just do writing, but on your site it says a whole lot different.