Why do content writers charge only $0.01 per word

I for one understand the reluctance of big companies when it comes to lega matters. There happens to be a record number of lawsuits these days. Everyone it trying to find a way to make an extra buck without actually working for it.

 

That's because they are not targeting the right clients.

They *think* they can start low and hike their prices up once they produce quality work and have a pool of clients. What they don't realize is that this pool of clients is only going to pay what they are to anyone for their work. If he hikes the price, they're going to jump out of the pool and find someone else.

In my humble opinion, it's good to start in the range you think your writing is worthy of.

 

Actually it does matter. If the work proves to be a copyright violation, the client should be able to sue the writer (whether or not it's ghostwritten is completely irrelevant in that sense). The writer generally would have to take responsibility if they're the one creating the infringing work (the company gets sued and then in turn sues the writer, or the original complainant sues the writer directly). The company can't fall back on that if the writer is in a location where they're not violating their own country's copyright laws. Yet the company / client can still be sued if it's a violation in their country.

 

Bumba,

What you wrote actually points out a difference. The language you used is definitely not an American style of speaking English. It's not bad, but it's a bit formal. There are nuances to the language that you might miss by being in, or from, another country.

Not that it doesn't happen here either; try being from the south and having to remember that not everyone says "y'all" around the country.

 

Take a look at this thread

http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=1579391

This guy wants to get dirt dirt cheap work done. I do not know one good quality writer who is willig to work for this rate.

 

When you talk about being paid more for 'looking in the right places' do you have any examples? I know that places like Get A Freelancer and eLance etc. are perhaps better paying but people do tend to have a reduced success rate on them.

The only other places I can think of are forums similar to his one (WarriorForum) but they have the exact same problem that DP has with spammers/scammers/excess supply etc.

I spent last summer writing to earn a little extra cash whilst I wasn't working, and found that I struggled to find business even a $0.01. Luckily I managed to pick up a long term deal (on DP curiously!) where I earnt a set rate per article, which sometimes would work out to be $0.01 and other times over $0.03. It would probably average out at about $0.02 which I think is remarkable for most copywriters here.

 

And yet, if you noticed, someone did respond to it.

 

If you're "looking" for work, you're never going to land the high paying gigs. That's because most are never advertised. You get them by building a platform and networking. $.02 - .03 per word is nothing in the grand scheme of things. You can easily earn ten times that much, and more, by making clients come to you instead of vice versa. Most writers simply don't have any real credentials making them worth more to a buyer or they don't put the effort into harnessing what they do have to build a platform and visibility.

 

The problem is not poor writers charging $0.01 per word, but decent writers charging low rates because they WANT the job or because they fear that poor writers will take away their jobs if they don't charge low. If buyers could only get poor writers at rates of .01$/word, most buyers would be probably forced to pay higher.

Poor writers almost never get proper writing jobs, no matter how low they charge, except from broke ass webmasters, profiteers or content flippers (Buy, edit, raise price, sell).

 

Well, I have figured it out. Just charging $0.01 per word is about $10,000 per year. Not enough to make it in the US unless you work constantly around the clock. To really enjoy life to the fullest a good quality writer must charge between $0.05 and $0.10 per word.

The issue is there are a lot of buyers who are not willing to pay this rate here on DP. I really just need to get my website up and running and go with it.

 

In some parts of the world that is a decent living. On the web it is mostly an outsourcing market.

I do web design and graphics and it is the same people are running around doing $5 logos and $35 themes on the Internet.
There is no way you could make a living in the states off of that.

I would suggest try to get jobs in your local economy. Because someone paying $100. mo rent will always under bid you when you are paying $1000.

 

There are some buyers who are willing to pay those rates and higher, here on DP. But you won't see them posting "I am willing to pay $0.10 per word for writing articles" or such.

A lot more buyers exist, who would be willing to pay those rates (Although they don't do now), if you show them (With some sort of proof), the results and profits that your content can bring them. Therefore, having a top-notch (And/or successful) blog or personal website with a nice portfolio will definitely help.

 

Well I plan on putting together a website tonight. Hopefully I can get it up and running and have some success at freelance writing.

 

All I can say about this is it's kind of like getting traffic. Would you rather have 1,000 people coming in a week just passing by, or 100 people coming to buy. Why work so hard for pennies? I have to agree with JH, you are just targeting the wrong market.

 

I am beginning to believe that my market is wrong. But, that is where I need assistance.

I believe I can make more money with other types of writing press releases, sales pages, and stuff like that but I have never wrote any of those so I stick to what I know.

Now it is time to focus on a niche and go with it. I believe I can get some good high paying jobs soon.
I just have to weed through the low paying buyers

 

Well, most writers charge $0.01 as they are starters. Pro's will never take less than $20 per 500-600 word article!

 

Most "pros" probably wouldn't touch a project paying that low. Remember, just because it looks high compared to what most DP writers publicly charge doesn't mean it's high in the real world.

If you don't know how to do it, then you don't have the credentials to be well-paid for those projects. Either specialize in what you can actually do or learn how to do something else and get credentials to back it up (a degree in marketing, plenty of experience writing your own with great conversions, etc.). If you really want to write press releases (and not produce crap) you should learn about public relations basics. If you want to write sales letters, you need to get a handle on the fundamentals of marketing and consumer psychology first. Don't get me wrong. You'll get gigs without those things. But they'll still pay ridiculously low rates. Both can be well-paying gigs, but you need something to back up higher rates before you'll earn them.

Don't pick a specialty just because you think it pays well. Any type of writing can pay well if you're good and you can market yourself effectively. So focus on something you won't get sick of, and find something you enjoy.

 

It really is a competeition thing, I have a degree in english and I am english yet I still charge these crappy rates.

 

Let me add to this pure gold advice.

1] Focus on doing what you love and can do best.
2] Specialize. Specialize. Specialize.

If you are an article writer, think of the article niches that you do your best work in, or the topics that you know best and can write great articles on. For example, If you are well versed in computer hardware related matters or can write great articles on them, you can specialize in writing articles about computer hardware.

Then you can ask (And get) higher rates for writing articles on those topics, because you are a specialist at it and do a better job at it than general writers. Previous customer feedback can help you identify niches where you are great at.

Establish yourself as a specialist in one area and promote yourself heavily on that. For example, Jhmattern is a PR specialist and many people know it, especially the ones that matter the most, buyers in need of press releases. Wonder why?

 

It would help if you Capitalized when you should and also use a spell checker.

Who wants to hire a writer who's blog posts are full of mistakes???