How much would you pay?

Just a kindda survey:

How much would you pay for a 300 - 350 word unique article on the following topics:

1] health
2] travel
3] home loan
4] food
5] hobby

Thanks in advance...

 

I am not buying any.

For fresh content that will not be resold the going rate seems to be 5-7$ depending on the subject and skill of the writer.

These are prices offered here and on a couple of other forums.

This is a holiday weekend you may wish to repeat the question next week if you don't get a lot of reponse. You might also include your subject areas.

Hope this helped.

 

I wouldn't pay anything for it from a general writer. You'd have to be an expert in the field through your education or experience (especially with anything health-related). And then I'd pay somewhere in a professional rate range (meaning significantly more than single digit rates). But not looking for anything like that right now, and already have two writers in mind when I am ready for a few projects.

Jenn

 

we pay our content writer 10$ per hour for the insurance info she writes. She has been fully trained as an insurance sales woman at our company though so its pretty darn good content. Though it would be much better if she had more time to write it.

 

From the perspective of a freelance writer, a rate of 0.02-0.03 cents per word would seem acceptable and you can expect a decent quality to them. As Jenn has put it a specialized writer usually has much higher rates.

You can find plenty of these writers either here on this forums, or on freelancing sites like elance.com or rentacoder.com (the one that I use). Be aware though that plagiarism is a wide spread phenomenon, so you should check on copyscape if the articles are original.

Hope this helps.

Best regards, George

 

Even for professional general topic writers, $.02-.03/word isn't acceptable. At least not by industry standards. Those rates are either for amateurs or people who don't properly value their work, and underprice because they're stuck in the incorrect mindframe that "more clients" means they're going to make "more money." That's simply not true. Unfortunately a lot of people here in the forum assume things like that are the norm, because there are a lot of beginning writers, or writers who aren't native english speakers desperately trying for a piece of the pie so to speak, because they know webmasters need content. I've only come across two or three writers that I'd actually consider "professional" (a title that is a result of much more than simply selling something), and they're also the ones who value their work at market standards. Discussions about writer rates have been done to death though, so I'll leave it at that.

Jenn

 

seems like it depends on where the person is living of course. I can hire a native english speaker who has a major in english for not too much in china. In fact thats what im doing now for one project.

Its hard to generalize in an international forum like this since things change so much depending on which country people are living in.

 

I personally would just write it myself. But I guess $5-$10 an article would be about right.

 

That's true to a degree because of basic economical differences between nations. But at the same time, I did already say this forum was an exception. The fact is that there really are very few professional writers here, simply because they know where to find standard paying jobs elsewhere (not to mention most likely have no interest in general webmaster issues). The reason this forum is an exception though is largely because of the international audience and non-native english speakers from outside of places like the US, UK, Canada and Australia who offer low rates because it might be feasible for them where they live. And many webmasters would rather get work cheap, not have great english, and just edit themselves (from what I've seen posted in threads and such around the forum). That's not how it is in most of the writing community. Honestly though, if you have a native english speaker with a degree in english working really far below standard rates (which would even out reasonably well in native english-speaking countries), then I'd have to say you lucked out, because it sounds like that writer is seriously undervaluing their work, and could be making much more by targeting a different publication niche.

Jenn

 

Yeah perhaps i did luck out my friends always tell me im a lucky guy. I'm not cheating him btw, just taking a known percentage for finding him the work.

Actually i'm fairly certain theres an untapped source of writing potential here in china. Theres thousands of english teachers here who are just tired of teaching and want to move on to something else. A monthly salary of about 1000 USD would be enough to get full timers on board. Anyhow i'm just some floating thoughts...

 

I have to agree with Jenn's comment. .02-.03 cents a word is a paltry sum compared to the industry standard, and professional writers work for much higher rates. While you can definitely find writers on DP and other similar forums who are happy to work for pennies, writers who value their work, skills, and time won't work for such a low sum.

 

50 dollars might be the tip you leave to a cab driver in New York, but also the wage for a very smart engineer in Pakistan. Indeed the value of money changes drastically across continents.

The online medium does simply not conform to the industry standards as seen in the United States. When I began to write I actually charged about 3 dollars for an article. Real bargain ehhh. Anyway that was for a purpose, I was not trying to build a fortune, but a reputation. On freelancer sites like the one I use that is critically important. Now I win an average of 15 to 20 dollars per hour, precisely because I was willing to take on those crappy contracts. That might still sound not very generous, but the rate is on the rise. Credibility is what matters most in this environment that can't be essentially trusted and the rates are the most accurate reflection of the level of credibility. The point of my rant is to suggest that these writers who charge these prices are not necessarily bad writers, quite the opposite, what they lack is the portfolio.

Regards, George

 

You said it so well.

And in an International market place, $10 for an hours worth of sitting on your butt and writing is a handsome wage.

 

And as I already said, this forum is the exception, and far from the rule. My references to industry standards are based on the fact that I'm discussing articles in english, by native english speakers which deals with mostly (although not exclusively) writers and their rates in the US, UK, Canada, and Australia. Also, as I've already stated, another reason things are different here is because there is a large pool of amateur writers.

On top of that though, for you to refer to writing as just "sitting on your butt" shows that either you're a writer with no respect for your own work, or you're simply ignorant to the amount of work that goes into anything provided by a professional writer. Do you also feel designers should be happy with "$10 for an hours worth of sitting on [their] butt"? What about programmers? What about lawyers dealing in things like contracts rather than courtroom issues? What about accountants? What about executives who spend most of their time in their offices "sitting on their butts"? Sure... anyone can assemble some basic, and often unconfirmed, facts from other websites, and reword things into a pretty generic article, cram it full of keywords w/o thinking about a readers' best interest, let the client handle the editing, and call themselves a writer. And I agree... doing that barely warrants $10 / hour. But unless you're talking about amateurs, most writers don't do that. We pull from expertise that we've spent a lot of time, not to mention a lot of money, building up through attaining degrees, building experience in our industries, networking, and continually educating ourselves. After basic business expenses, self-employment taxes, and the fact that the average freelancer only gets to bill 22-23 hours in a week rather than 40 (b/c the rest is spent on administrative and marketing efforts), $10 can actually figure into a loss per hour.

Jenn

 

Jenn,

I meant no dis-respect. We do have a difference of opinion.


Writing something consise and meaningful is a job that should be respected. I do respect it. I find it damned hard to do.

On a scale of 1-10 for physical labor, writing is a 1. Hence the sitting on your butt comment.

If you disagree, come spend a day with me toting crap, climbing ladders and so on. If that doesn't do you in, I need a new water line on one of the houses. Ditch diggers get $10 per hour around here.

I bet sitting on your butt and writing will look pretty good after one day of ditch digging.

 

I'm curious, Colbyt -- since when did physical labor become a requirement that constitutes a "real" job?

Writing is a highly regarded profession that shouldn't be mocked because we aren't climbing ladders and swinging hammers.

 

I'm no stranger to "labor." I've been trained in automotive repair, and went into mechanical engineering before opting to move to public relations. Not long after graduating, before I moved into nonprofit PR, I did retail advertising and visual merchandising - basically overhauling entire department stores between two people to prepare for advertising events, creating display designs that would entice people to buy, etc. Lots of ladders, heavy lifting, and I actually broke my foot in 5 places doing it. I've been on my feet all day, gotten my hands dirty, and know all about hard work. As a matter of fact, I enjoy it enough that I still dabble in cars and building, and more technical design (which I'm surprisingly much better with than my pathetic Web design skills.. who'd have guessed it). But I do have to say, operating a business, through PR consulting, writing, and editing, wears me out more mentally than physical work ever did physically. I'm not saying manual work is easy in any way. But writing isn't just about writing. It's about researching the best outlets & clients (and market research can be exhausting in itself), managing business affairs, financial records, marketing, and THEN the actual writing. It's not a matter of sitting down and just writing. If I just want to "write", I work on my novel (which I'm hoping to finish in 2-3 months from now with my lack of time to devote to it lately... yay!). Business writing is much more daunting than simply writing in a journal or for personal reasons out of sheer passion. You have to remain factual, reliable, and consider not only what you're saying, but how you say it so that you maintain your image and the reputation the particular client strives to achieve. There's much more to it than I think you give it credit. I've woken up countless mornings at my desk because I've literally just crashed there. And I certainly work "harder" now than I did doing anything else. And my pay, for the most part, reflects that adequately.

Jenn

 

there is a very subjective side to this, I would only hire someone to write content for me if I am certain the person knows what it is they are talking about, they must be prepared and be really professional.

 

I agree with DeniseJ and Jenn. Professional writing doesn't come cheaply. There are others in countries around the world who can charge less, but perhaps they should not be. Why settle for less if your quality is at a professional level, regardless of location?

Also, as a thought, there are different kinds of content available. True articles for consumer based sites need to be of a higher standard than simple keyword based articles...

Find a professional for high-quality articles, and you will get your money's worth. If quality isn't an issue, there are many content writers who can prepare a basic page for $5-$10.

Rebecca

 

It isn't and I wasn't. I actually agree with most of the the points that both of you have made.

The point that I was making was that in many parts of the world $10 per hour for non-physical labor is pretty good money. Whether you want those people writing your articles or not is for you to decide.

Professionals of any profession living in the States or Great Britian can not compete with the prevailing wages in the rest of the world. There are just too many hidden costs. Like you, I have a price that I charge for local services. It is based on my cost of doing business. People either pay my rate or they hire someone else. I am not aloof or snotty about it; but I don't negotiate prices.

Now we come to the actual issue, or the difference I have with you guys. It does not upset me when they use someone else. I don't feel the need to speak ill of the client or the service provider. Maybe they will get a great job for a lower price or maybe they will get a hack job. Maybe they will get a hack job that satisfies them.

People who read your work, view mine or see a thrird party work in either category will decide for themselves which is quality and which is not. That and that alone will determine the correct price/value relationship and our ultimate success or failure.

I wish you both well. I'll even let you have the last words.