Traci - To tell you the truth, I have received a couple small jobs here on DP, but nothing much. If you have any specific questions feel free to email me!
I figured as much. If I were a professional buyer, I'd quickly get disappointed. The forum is overflowing with low-level material. As a professional writer, I'd also get disappointed. You have lots of low-level buyers (mass word buyers) and many sub-college-level writing offers to deal with. DP is basically that first rung on the ladder. In casino-speak, we'd call DP a "break-in house." You come here to break into the industry, but after a couple weeks or months, you should move on--unless your talent prohibits you. If you're a talented pro-level writer, your time (after you've established yourself) is better spent elsewhere.
I think that in order to get started and collect the feedback which is pertinent to your profession, you have to start somewhere, even if it means scraping for pennies for the time being. I wish that we can all say, "Hey, I'm great at this! pay me $12,000 for a job." I believe that persistence and hard work come through alot. Jim
I agree. While I didn't actually start my writing business with DP, it was my second place to find writing jobs, and I have made several long term clients because of it. I have raised my rates, and while I'm not making near the $7,000 mark, I did surpass the $2,000 mark this month, which is fairly good seeing as I just started about 3 months ago. Everyone must start somewhere. I started small and am increasing my rates every couple of months, until I am comfortable with the income, and working less to earn it
Congratulations on the great work and if I wasn't so jealous, I'd be happy for you! LOL! Just kidding, good job!! You give the rest of us hope and motivation. Honey
Yeah, I'm one of those guys charging 0.1 per word. After reading the posts around, I do agree that we are somehow being exploited. Maybe all article writers should agree to accept only more.
That wouldn't work because unfortunately human nature is to be greedy. just stick to your guns and your repuation will keep you ahead of the game longer than the penny writers. It gets tiring busting your behind for a piece of gum when they see the other people getting full packs. Jim
Wow, nice going Chris. I'm a freelance writer myself but I ain't nowhere near the 7k mark... Though, I do believe I'll get there someday. And I also checked your blog, it's pretty cool. Great work...
Finding clients is not at all difficult. You deliver quality work, and clients will come. Most of my clients are refer me to their friends, colleagues etc. (I don't need to do anything at all.) At the beginning it may be hard, but hard work, DOES pay!
Encouraging words here from Chris and the others. A great way to get me out of this rut that I'm currently in. I'll be subscribing to your blog, mate. - Ced Solidon
I just started copy writing, but that doesn't mean I'm not a good writer. I'm a 16 year old college student, born and raised in California, highly gifted and have always been in advanced English courses. I tried to find introductory jobs in the Content Creation forum, but I feel like none of the listings are worth my time. People want me to give them 500 word college level articles for $10.00 or less. That's like a slap in the face. I don't like to produce bad work, so I would spend at least three hours researching, writing and revising the article. If I spent three hours on an article, then I would be receiving much below minimum wage for a specialized skill! Where can I find decent paying jobs?
Have you tried elance.com? You can bid on projects that YOU choose to bid on...if someone is not offering enough, simply don't bid. However, you should keep in mind that if you're new to writing online for others, you have no track record. You may have to start out charging less in order to gain a name for yourself. I think most of us probably started out that way. As young as you are, with your ambition, I'm sure you'll do well! Best of luck to you! Honey
Thanks for keeping the thread moving forward guys! There are a lot of great points here. The main theme seems to be that most writers dont want to write for pennies, but get "forced" into doing so. There is nothing wrong with starting out finding jobs at DP, but sooner rather than later you will want to move onto bigger and better things. As you will see on my blog, your freelance writing career will fluctuate. In my original post in this thread I showed that I made $7k in October. Well, in November I only broke $5k or so. But all in all, if you stick with producing solid content it will work out in your favor in the end.
That is completely awesome. How did you manage to snag $200+ per writing job? How long were the wrting assignments? 200 words? 400?
Perry - Yes, you are correct in thinking that. Of course, you must remember that most of these projects are not your run of the mill keyword articles. They include everything from sales letters to feature articles, etc.
24 jobs = $7,047.84 its too good, I also work at freelance sites but never earn anything close to what you earned