You're welcome Chant, and thanks for the plug Pat. Tomcatdss actually already is a member at AF. He even recently joined my tech team over at the Suite101 network - all about the networking, just like I mentioned above. Everyone has something valuable to contribute, and of course no one should be "ignored." Just make sure that you're paying more attention to people who are already doing what you'd like to be doing in the future. If you want to work for high-paying Web publications, then listen to those of use who have been. If you want to handle lower-paying bulk orders then listen to those who have done that and who are happy with their results. If you want to get into copywriting, listen to copywriters who are doing well.... etc.
If you thought getafreelancer was cheap, that means you didnt know about another site freelancefree.com? On this site, you get projects where you are paid $1 per 500+ word article, that's about $0.002 per word. Don't trust me??? Check out this project as an example. This is somewhat better in terms of the projects found on this website. You can come across worse paid projects if you browse through it.
How old are these guys ?? Haven't heard of em before...and they have weird requirements...some of the projects state that they only need people with a particular nationality.
I think its about an year since that website came up. No professional writer can work for the rates specified on this website. It's just beneficial to the buyers who are looking for cheap scapegoats to get their articles written.
Unfortunately it's very hard to find people willing to pay professional rates on those sites. However, I do once in a while find someone on GAF who will pay my regular press release rate, b/c they'd rather have quality work by someone in the industry than have a student or content writer do it. It's not often... but it happens. I've even had a few long-term clients come out of that, and a really interesting musician found me through there, who's significant enough that I ended up not only doing editing and a bit of writing work for a piece that will likely make it to MTV.com (and if it's picked up, I get byline credit), but I scored a great interview for the sample chapters of the book I'm writing for the proposal. So as much as I don't like GAF, it's at least been worth the time to browse the email alerts for me... never know when you'll find a hidden gem.
I would like to share with you an excerpt from an email I received. Here goes: "I'm looking for a writer who can produce at least 10, 700-word articles per week. Payment for each article will be $3.50 and will be done via paypal. All articles will undergo editorial approval. So, please allow 8-14 days after submission of each article before payment is made. All articles must be written according to given guidelines and there should be no plaigarism or copying from the web, as all articles will be scanned through copyscape and other anti-plaigarism software. Articles will also need to be proof read, spell-checked and edited before you submit them to me. All sub-standard work will be rejected. All work needing excessive revision will also be rejected. In other words, articles should be ready for submission to the client once you have completed them. In terms of the authoring rights to the articles, these will be passed over to myself once articles have been submitted." I wonder how they can impose so many conditions for the pittance they pay. This email seems really ridiculous, doesn't it?
No, you got it wrong. All opinions are valuable, from novices to experts alike. You can learn the same from of beginners' success and mistakes, as you can do it from people who have a established reputation as writers, but in this case seen from a professional perspective. That is what I meant, as you can read in the words of Rebecca and Jenn. Luckily you said you were kidding, but anyway wanting to share my thoughts If you visited www.AllFreelancing.com now you may now why I like to plug this project, considering also that their success will serve us as encouragement to avoid fall into those 0.0008 cents or less per word, originally discussed. Due to commitments and loads of job I have been a little away from forums but really wanting get back to active posting in both places, if my postings are useful somehow
You should have emailed them back saying something like: "Payment will also need to be cleared prior to your receipt of the content. All sub-standard clients will be rejected. All clients issuing excessive demands for half a penny per word will also be rejected. In other words, I'm a quality writer that respects myself and knows my worth, and clients must be ready to pay a fair wage based on the value of my time if they'd like me to work with them, or I'll simply give my time to someone else. In terms of the authoring rights to the articles, these will be passed over to the client if, and only if, they pay a competitive wage in this niche for a writer with my background, experience, and history of quality work."
I think for the most part people looking for content on most of those sites are looking for "extra-curricular" content to make their sites appear larger to the search engines. Quality, rarely, is a real thought in their mind. They want words to fill a page. Professional writing services, the quality of which someone would apparently have to pay an extra fee for exclusivity (never heard of that before), are not what people with my-built-for-adsense-site-keyword.info are looking for in anyway shape or form. I use elance and have found two providers thus far that are around .025 - .045 per word. Basically $15 per 400-600 word article that have exceeded my expectations and I am even having write my high end content. I am a firm believer that a market drives the pricing, both on the high end and on the low. If you want to compete you have to price it accordingly or just take less jobs, or at the very least market yourself in different areas