What is going on with this world? $0.008/word for article writing.

Plus, your writing isn't that bad to tell you the truth.

 

I charge $0.125 a word, which isn't much better than 8 cents, but I feel the quality I give is much better than a customer would normally receive. I mainly offer low prices so I can make sure I have a steady line of work. I thought about upping the price many times, as I have been doing huge article packages for some people. These packages end up being around $100, and I can complete these in a few hours, but they can be resold for much higher.

If you would suggest a better price I should offer, I would appreciate it. Now that I think of it, my prices do seem quite low. How much should I charge? I am a native speaker of English, attend a college writing class, and have been doing this for a good deal of time now. Served probably 500 or so articles on DP since starting about a month ago. Suggestions?

 

We are not talking about 8 cents per word. We are talking about 0.8 cents per word. That's not even one cent per word.

 

Zac, are you talking about charging 0.0125 cents per word? According to my calculations, for a 500 word article that would amount to $6.25. If you want to make an actual career out of writing, you should be charging MUCH more (provided your skills, abilities, and/or education warrant the price change.)

If, however, you only write for some "quick money" on the side, I suppose it doesn't matter how much you charge. I am simply concerned about professional writers (or wannabe professionals) who don't realize they can and should be charging much more for their time and talent.

If you want to increase your rates, my first tip to you would be to choose a topic (or a few topics) to specalize in. Specialists can charge more for their work, because they have proven experience in their chosen niche(s). General content writers who simply rehash information they find on the web are a whole different story.

 

I'm actually a licensed chemical engineer and I have once worked for more than a year doing technical research (organic chemistry) and I am simply fond of chemistry. The problem is, where should I find people who would hire me for my expertise? I have a lot of things in mind under that category if you ask me but I'm still finding my way around. Well, if people can help me out then that would be great. I don't find a lot of sites that are interested with chemistry. It's a boring topic but it's actually pretty cool (do I sound like a nerd? *raise eyebrows*)

 

Ha, yes that was a typo. I meant 12 and a half cents per word. I didn't read the first post well enough I guess- under one cent per word is absolutely crazy.

Maybe the thread starter who offered that rate made a typo too?

 

No, that's his rate.

philposter - If you've been working for a while, have samples, and have some steady customers, why not try raising your rate? Ask for more from new people, and if you can get enough work, then contact your regular customers, tell them you raised your rates a few months ago, but kept them on because they were proveng customers, etc., etc. but now you are going to have to raise it. Maybe offer them something between your old and new rate.

 

Philposters, my problem isn't that you are looking for writing work, it's that you presented yourself at first to potential employers that you were experienced at content writing. You say in your employment thread that you guaranteed that the articles would be without any errors (and there were a couple in that post), but then in this thread you admit that this is your first time selling your writing services! You say that you're a licensed chemical engineer. Well, how would you like it if someone came along offering their services as a chemical engineer but they didn't have the experience or qualifications to back it up but they got the job because they undercut your working rate of pay?

 

Inexperienced in selling articles, yes. But I am not an inexperienced writer per se as I know how to write articles if that's what you are saying here. Articles with intro, body etc etc. People start with reading first, right? I have done that. People observe written and published articles too, right? I have done that. Experience in writing? Yes, I have written a lot in my 24 years of existence. Selling what I have written, well it's just a few months ago that I have tried doing that. It's like saying, I have recently graduated from college, don't I have the right to work for my profession since I have not yet earned from it yet? Does that mean that after I graduated from college, I don't have what it takes to venture into that chosen profession? I am so sorry but I beg to disagree with you, chant. But anyway, I am not a native english speaker and I started with that small rate. I have seen native english speakers going for rates just a bit higher than that. Let's all live harmoniously, okay? We don't need to put anyone down here. Peace to all and I respect your views.

 

How am I putting anyone down? All I said is that you made guarantees about a certain level of quality with your writing, quality that comes from having experience with writing content for employers or by taking education to further your knowledge base. Did I say you had no right to try and make money by writing for people? No I didn't.

The point that I was making is that a lot of people think that being a professional writer means you can use a keyboard and have some experience writing essays, messages or blog posts. It's not the same thing. Journalists and writers go to university and spend four years on their education to get trained in how to write in a journalistic style. People trained in SEO know the best way to prepare an article to take advantage of that field. How are having these highly trained skills any different from someone going to university to get a degree in chemical engineering? Do I have to have some experience handling chemicals, like cleaning my stove or windows, to say that I am as fully trained as someone who's taken four years of school to become a chemical engineer? That sounds silly but obviously a lot of people think this way otherwise writers with a degree in english or journalism would be valued more than someone who has used a computer keyboard or has experience writing essays for school.

I guess you don't see any difference but I do. Thank you for respecting my views but I don't think you understand what it is that I am trying to illustrate. I can understand that you may be uncomfortable about this discussion and see it as an attack but all I am trying to do is show you the point of view from someone that has spent time and money to hone their writing skills. You have a right to make money by writing freelance articles but I think you misrepresented yourself and your skill level to your potential employers in your eagerness to find work and you still don't see the problem with that.

Put it this way: Just because I have learned to ride a bicycle doesn't mean I should assume that I am as good as people who enter professional tournaments, but if I present myself as that to sponsors that don't know better and that would pay me to ride my bike for them, am I not lying to them?

 

Sometimes the quality isn't real important, you just need some food for the SE's.

For example I just ordered 40 blogs to be created and then ordered 15 100word articles to stuff the blogs with.
I don't need the articles to be a masterpiece, I just need them to fill the blogs up.
:::shrugs:::

I gave you some rep, don't let them get to you

 

Hello,

I believe issues of this nature have been thrashed several times on this sub-forum.

I do not see its usefulness here. Please let's leave them alone to do their own business.

 

chant - You didn't talk in generalities about people, you talked about this person. My degree is in mathematics, yet I spent years of my life writing technical manuals. You assumed that because philposter is a chemical engineer that he never had any opportunity to write. Engineers write reports, journal articles, and proposals.

Anyway, if you want to make a general point, write generally, not about and to a specific member.

 

Just a few comments from browsing this thread:

1. Phil, it sounds like you have an interesting background. I studied engineering myself before getting into PR (mechanical, and not chemical, and with an emphasis on the automotive industry). Engineering is pretty fascinating all around, and you'd be surprised at how many writing opportunities there are. However, they probably aren't going to be in Web content. Instead, target companies that may need internal documents written (whether discussing developments in laymen's terms for investors, to writing white papers, to other reports). That's where the money will likely be the best for you... and it's fun in and of itself.

2. Let's get something clear by now... NO ONE'S writing is 100% free of grammatical errors. And hell... even if it were, the client could say they wanted it written to the specificiations of a different style guide. It's a stupid thing to claim, so stop doing it!!! (Not directed at Phil... just something far too many people do in sales threads here, because frankly their playing on the naivity of the clients who know even less about writing in remotely decent English than they do.) Even the pros who have been at it for years make mistakes. That's life.

3. As for what people are worth... this one's getting kind of old too, isn't it? Frankly, less than a penny per word is too low, and I don't give a rat's behind where you live. If you're a quality writer, you can earn more than that whether you're in the US, UK, India, China, or living under a freaking rock. You're worth whatever you believe you're worth. If you think you're worth crap rates, then you are. If you think you're worth more, then you'd just better have the marketing skills to back those rates up. To be quite honest with you, it's your ability to market yourself that's going to lead to higher-paying gigs... not "perfect grammar." And at this point, here's kind of how I feel about it. If you're charging a low amount, because your writing is awful, I hope you're at least having fun doing what you're doing. If you're charging too low, because you really think it's a smart business move, then you need to put down the style guides and get some business sense first. Remember... being a writer is running a business.

 

Let's assume 3 different people each need $1,750 each month to live. Each of them charges a different rate to write 500-word articles.

Susie's rate is $.008/word. She has to write 218,750 words a month just to make what she needs to live each month. That's 438 articles. Most months, she'd have to write 15 articles a day, seven days a week, just to survive.

Jack charges $.02/word and writes 87,500 words each month to cover his expenses. He writes 175 articles. He writes 9 articles a day, 5 days a week, and rests on the weekends.

Amy charges $.10/word. Every month she completes 35 articles to make enough to cover her bills. She writes 3 articles a day for about 2 weeks, then rests the other 2 weeks.

The lower your rate, the more work you'll have to do just to survive. This goes for everyone, when you figure up your writing rate, you have to consider how much money you need to live and charge accordingly. It doesn't matter if the DP market won't pay more than $.005/word. In the grand scheme of things, they represent a tiny smidgen of the writing market.

Don't get comfortable hanging around this forum looking for writing jobs. There're tons and tons of websites out there and I can say with certainty that all the webmasters aren't hanging out here looking for writers. That's if you're interested only in writing for the web market.

 

For some, it's a lot longer than that. Many graduate and still can't craft a great story.

As to rates, charge what you want. It's your life.

 

The reality of this issue is very simple. You have people in this forum who are not from the United States, and they live in places where the cost of living is much lower. At the same time, since English has become an International language, more of these people can speak and write in this language.

It is for this reason that you see such low rates. The fact remains that if you want to compete in forums like digital point, you sometimes must make sacrifices.

I live in the United States, but the prices for my writing is so low that I can compete with people in India, Malaysia, wherever. One reason for this is because I have become skilled at reducing my own living costs, while living comfortably at the same time. My monthly rent can rival the cost people pay in India.

I have many customers who live in India, and they can afford my prices. Despite this, I can save 50% of my income each month, meaning at the end of each month, once my bills are paid, I have 50% more in the bank than I did at the beginning of the month. Starting threads complaining about prices is not going to do anything. If you want to be a winner, use your brain. Think of how you can level the playing field. Where there is a will, there is a way.

Globalization is here, and if you want to survive, you have to level the playing field. If this means you have to write more each month just to make money, than that is what you do. Otherwise, there are other ways to make money online, or you can go back to a 9 to 5 job, which would be my last choice.

 

Telsa, we've already debated the issue of globalization until we're pretty much blue in the face. While in general, yes, it can have some effect, that effect isn't nearly as much as some people like to think. Here are the basics as to why:

1. The majority of those non-native speakers don't write in English well enough for compete for jobs outside of the lowest ranks of the webmaster marketplace.

2. The ones that can often don't accept ridiculously low rates, no matter what their cost of living is... they price themselves according to the market for their quality of work, and not their location, and in turn they make quite a nice living doing it. Let's face it... if you have the ability to make $50,000 / year, you don't willingly accept $20,000, just because you don't "need" it... you get what you can, and you live a better life letting the extra money go further. That's basic business sense, not to mention common sense.

3. The webmaster and online marketplace for writers stretch FAR beyond places like DigitalPoint. It's not all about cheap writing, just because that's what you see posted publicly. It just differentiates the writers who want things "handed" to them (such as through job bid listings, forum ads for writers, etc.) and those who know where to look for the better work from higher paying sites, and who have the abilities to land them.

4. I'm at the point where I really don't care if people in lower income countries want to accept slave wages through forums and such, because if it works for them and their needs, fine. But native English speakers don't have to do it, and absolutely don't have to compete with them, b/c they're not really competition. There are areas of the market where native language abilities are an absolute requirement, and the pay very often reflects that. Sure, you get the occasional person making demands on that and other things while wanting to pay scraps, and you'll have some naive writers jumping on it, but they'll never really "make it" as a writer that way, and they'll eventually figure that out, and those clients will often end up settling for something that's not quite what they want in order to pay a cheaper rate. Just because a writer can get by while thinking they have to compete in that market for now, doesn't mean they won't completely burn themselves (and their careers) out in a few years, and never really end up with much to show for it in the end.

So in the end, there's absolutely no reason to "level the playing field." You don't need to write more or find other ways to make money online. Writers just need to get some basic business sense and learn how to network and market their services. Even so-so writers can make a nice chunk of change just by learning how to leave the cheap side of the spectrum behind and figuring out how to market themselves effectively. There's really no secret to it. Even DP isn't just a home to that level of the market... there are quite a few higher paying clients here, and quite a few of us have worked with them. But they won't advertise publicly. Instead, if you post quality material and have something of interest to say, they end up finding you, and really, that's the best kind of marketing out there.

 

I don't know how much I can agree with this. I've worked with writers in India who write very well, and their English skills are pretty good. While there may be people here in Digital Point who will pay more, based on my experience(having done this for nearly a year and a half, most people are looking for a discount).

The number of people here paying $15 for a 500 word article are in the minority. Not only here in Digital Point, but in other forums as well. I have tried increasing my prices like this, and I didn't get any responses.

As soon as I start offering discounts, I've got people sending me PMs left and right. There is obviously a problem here, since this isn't the first thread where I've seen people complaining about "writing for pennies."

The way I see it, each market has its own demographics. I prefer to target the webmaster who wants good content, but who is on a budget. Personally, I won't work for 0.008 cents per word, but if I had to do it just to pay my bills and leave some money in my pocket each month, I would. I would do almost anything not to go back to a 9 to 5 job.

I can say with confidence that I don't fear people who charge that low, because I know I can charge a little bit more and still bring in a lot of customers. When you look at the number of people who responded to that thread, you can see that most are interested in their offer.

Another piece of advice to those who are complaining about this: If you find that you are not getting a lot of business here, you can either: a. lower your prices b. Offer additional services such as keyword research/optimization c. build an independent site and target customers who are willing to pay more than the forums rate.

A forum will naturally be price competitive, because you've got a bunch of people jam packed into one place. If you have your own website, when people come to your site, they don't have immediately access to another "thread" where someone is under cutting you.

I personally believe that the playing field has to be leveled, because when you look at outsourcing/insourcing/globalization, a lot of people are going to starve if they don't learn how to play this game.

 

I wanted to mention one more thing. When a webmaster offers 0.008 cents per word, more than likely, they will got so overwhelmed with responses that they will not be able to properly fulfill all their orders.

Many of the webmasters who send them PMs will get tired of waiting, because the writer is so flooded with responses that they can't finish them all. In a situation like this, the webmasters will begin looking for writers who charge a little bit more, but who are available for work. This is where I come in and make money.

I know about this first hand, because in the past, when I offered ridiculously low rates, I got hit with so many requests that I ended up not doing most of them. This is the downside to low rates. Also, because the writer is making such a low amount per article, they are forced to increase their production speed. These writers tend to focus more on speed than quality, because that is the only way they can make money. The problem is, the quality of the articles will often be diminished.


I personally don't like the cheap rates that are offered here. People treat writing like it is "so" easy. If it is, why are they willing to pay for articles to be written? Content writing should be given the same respect that is given to programming and website design. But then again, you have to cater to the needs of the market if you want to be competitive.