What to do when you see a low paying job
October 1, 2007 by Deb
Filed under Writing Gigs
Earlier today I mentioned how one of the regulars likes to “scold” various low-paying employers. This led to a discussion about wages, so lets talk about that, along with what to do if you see one of these jobs.
First of all, I’m pretty vocal when it comes to unfair wages, so I know how most of you feel about the insulting stuff. Writers need to earn a living and I don’t think some web based clients take into consideration how much work goes into a lot of these articles. When I see insulting offers, I may talk about them here (and create lots of controversy) or send them to my friend at the Craigslist Curmudgeon, but I never contact the person paying those wages. It’s harrassment, it’s rude, and it gives writers a bad name. One webmaster just emailed to tell me he’d rather deal with writers from India, not because they were cheaper but because they had better manners and didn’t call him names.
So what do you do if you see jobs you feel are too low?
- Move on – You don’t have to accept the job.
- Blog about it – It’s probably not a good idea to name names, but vent on your blog.
- Educate – Encourage wage discussions such as we have here. This educates both writers and bloggers as to what’s fair.
I think we all agree that $1 for a 500 worder isn’t fair. $10 for a 500 worder might not also be your cup of tea, but in some areas, this is a great hourly wage. It’s fine to disagree, but don’t scare away a potential employer. He may be starting out low now, but once he starts earning his wages may rise.
The computer affords us lots of anonymity which causes some of us to behave in less than a professional manner. Keep in mind first, that you’re not as anonymous as you think. Also keep in mind that if you continue to send insulting emails to a person and post negative, insulting comments at his blog or website, he has legal recourse and can sue you for harassment. If you have a habit of doing this to other people, it’s easy enough to prove. Also remember that the web isn’t as big as we think. Lots of people who are in a position to hire writers talk and share stories. The last thing you want is to become black listed because you’re difficult.
If you see a job that’s insulting, by all means talk about it. But remember, insulting is in the eye of the beholder. Talk about it on blogs and forums, but don’t harass. You make things difficult for all of us.
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I completely agree with you. I never email or contact low paying offers. The whole reason I even see their ads is because I am looking for a job myself. I don’t have time to email low payers. What a waste. We should all spend more time contacting potential clients and less time insulting others.
Some thoughts on low paying jobs.
1. The Web is international. What may be insultingly low pay for me in a US urban area could feed a family for a day or more in India.
A living wage in Crossroads, Mississippi, is not the same as a living wage in New York City. International competition comes with instant global communication. Live with it or don’t play in the Internet job pool.
2. Some people pahying extremely low wages for SEO writers or bloggers really don’t care or aren’t smart enough to care about the quality of the work. In the end most employers get what they pay for – content that doesn’t drive traffic to their Web sites. That’s their problem, not yours. Set your standards and ignore offers that fall outside your limits.
3. People write for different reasons. I write as a profession, so I need to make a living wage. Other people write to supplement their income from other jobs. For them, $50 is a fun evening out that the would not otherwise have. They have a couple of hours and writing 1,500 words for $50 now and then is worth it to provide a little extra income. For me, it isn’t. I have to generate a higher dollar per hour amount than that because $50 is just a small fraction of the mortgage. The result–same dollar amount, but different absolute value to the writer.
4.People should live and let live and mind their own business. It isn’t the writer’s job to educate or correct the employer. If a job isn’t for you, turn the time and energy you would spend complaining into something constructive– practice the piano, play with your kids, go take a walk. The time you spend complaining is time you will never get back. Do you really want to waste it on an anonymous person you have decided to dislike?
My pet peeve about job listings is employers who don’t specify a pay range or who are incredibly vague about what they want. I’ve quit responding to those offers. I don’t have time to write a cover e-mail and put together links to appropriate samples for a job that may turn out to be one of those write 10 200-word SEO articles for $25. Life is too short. I’d rather be out walking the dog. I might not be making money, but at least I’ll be burning calories.
I agree that to some writers, $10 for 500 words is not good. But, to be honest, the type of work that I do is fairly low on research – it seems like the online topics that are hot are hot with all of my clients at the same time. So, I can do about 30 minutes worth of research and put together four or five articles during my daughter’s nap, which is 2-3 hours.
At $10 a piece, that is $50 for two hours of work, or $25 an hour. It’s more than my husband makes at his job where we live. Even after taxes and such, it is still a good wage for my region. So why shouldn’t I take that? I don’t have a journalism degree, I am relatiely new in the market, so in my mind, that is good pay for my experiene. I never qualify for the high paying work, and I have no interest in getting into the print market at this time, so I am thankful that some places post these “lower paying” jobs. Howevever, the lowest I will take is the $10 for 500 words. So you can leave them to me and pursue your higher paying stuff. I won’t complain
As a freelance writer, you need to keep the focus on you. There always have been and always will be editors seeking something for nothing – that’s not going to change. It’s up to the individual writer to decide that he or she is better than that, and demand something for something.
Hey Deb,
I can’t find where to send you a private message or EMail, where is it on the site?
On another discussion, I mentioned I declined a position that offered twice the amount I am already getting paid via a long term contractor. I declined that offer because my current work is highly flexible and the contractor is very good.
A couple of weeks ago, I did take on another project that only lasted a few days but paid very well. My take was that this other offer only lasted a few days, was well paid and there could be other flexible work in the pipeline. So that suited me perfectly.
I avoid very low paid gigs, and quite frankly I just scroll down and look at the pay rate before reading an entire ad if I think it’s going to be low rate.
Matt -
I can be reached at deborahng(at)gmail.com
Ditto for what Tish said, especially the “If a job isn’t for you, turn the time and energy you would spend complaining into something constructive.”
The only time I’ll say anything is if someone’s offered me the job directly. If their rate is too low, I’ll decline. Usually that’s the end of it. Once in a while, I’ll get someone who responds to my email declining their offer with something smart, like a guy the other day who replied with something along the lines of “Many of our writers contribute voluntarily. You should be grateful for the [small pittance] we’re offering you.” That kind of thing is a pet peeve of mine, and I’m not usually so nice in those cases. But I don’t exactly consider that to be burning bridges, and I wouldn’t do it in a forum or just respond to someone’s ad to say it.
If you see a low-paying gig, I think it’s best to keep mum about it on blogs–unless it’s a blog where you can anonymously post. Last thing you need is for the person offering the low-payig job to be well-connected and tell their friends not to hire you also.
I write two columns for a few publications, some of which I don’t charge. I do this because I feel it’s better to get my name out for free than to insist on payment and get no publicity.
I really like the advice I’ve seen here about low-paying gigs. If it’s something you can churn out quickly and earn an estimated $15-20 an hour for your work, then go for it.
Deb, will you be announcing on this blog or in mass e-mail to all of us when you have the new domain name ready? Do we need to give you our e-mails?
Richard – I can tell you now – I reserved freelancewritinggigs.com. Of course I’ll let you know when I move, I’ll also probably do a redirect.
P.S. to say I just looked at the Craigslist Curmudgeon blog, and it’s pretty friggen funny. I ran across that donut ad a week or so ago and almost died. Now, if I had more time and thought he’d actually read it, I might have made an exception and written a letter to the person who posted that ad. Not a nasty letter, but maybe an inquiry of how many words per donut you get… These are the kinds of things I wonder about when I can’t sleep.
I agree making enemies online is a bad idea. This is my first visit here and I’m glad I found your site. It will actually be a great resource for my site. Thanks, Emma
As others have said, to me many of the blogs aren’t worth my time — but others may have ways to leverage what they do better with blogs, much as I do with print pubs.
So I tend to ignore the low-paying items, which may have been good once upon a time and may be good for others who are earlier in their careers.
But I’m very glad you don’t post the term-paper mill items. That’s something (my wife would say among the many things) that makes my blood boil — particularly considering I’m old enough to have done freshman and sophomore term papers on a manual typewriter. Junior year, I took my hard-earned money at the college newspaper and from summer caddying to by a catridge typewriter — pretty state of the art back then. But it still took a heck of a lot longer then than now to do a term paper. So those “opportunities” really &*&!*M*!@.
When I first started looking at the job leads from here and various other places, I would respond negatively to some of them. Not to low payers, but to people who were obviously looking to hire someone to write a paper for them.
Like Phil above, it makes me so angry to see those ads. I don’t respond to them anymore, however. I got it out of my system in the first couple of months and now I just snear at them and move on.
But going after the low payers seems futile. It’s really not my business (neither were the paper writing gigs – but the former teacher in me couldn’t shut up), like so many people have pointed out here – the low pay could be the difference between food on the table or no food, and the employers will usually get what they pay for in the end.
I took $10 for 500 words when I first started and will still take it once in a while if it serves me well (as in adding an article to my portfolio that I really think will help it).
After three years, I have finally found a couple of niches that I am going to choose to focus on, and articles that help me build by portfiolio in those niches are worth $10-20.
Thanks, Deb. I’m going to go ahead and bookmark it now just so I’ll be ready. It goes in line with my being OCD.
As I mentioned on the other thread, I have been known to give low-paying clients a piece of my mind. But as Amy stated, I do so in response to an email they’ve sent me. I also try not to be unprofessional about it, but I’m typically pretty firm.
The exception is if they are rude to me. As someone else mentioned, there is no excuse for the line, “You should be grateful to get paid at all.” I usually inform those types that I earn my entire income via writing, thanks!
I sometimes blog about low-paying gigs. I’ve said names before — once for sure, but it was because I felt the guy was doing a bait-and-switch, and other freelancers deserved to know that once he reeled you in he would offer you only $1 per 800 (!) word article.
I also tend to use my blog to warn other writers about shady clients, ones I’ve read about on other sites as well as those I’ve encountered on my own.
I recently had a client “lay me off” because he couldn’t afford to pay me. He was very forthright about wanting quantity over quality, and offered me a chance to bid on that kind of work if I wished.
I politely refused and told him to go ahead and find someone else who could provide what he wanted. We parted on friendly terms. He even later hired me for a one-time piece.
If I have an issue with an amount someone’s offering to pay me, I’m polite in my response, if I respond at all. Sometimes someone’s looking for the quantity over quality.
I just move on. If I’m contacted directly and don’t agree with the pay rate, I’ll politely decline or make suggestions about increasing the pay. This isn’t only for writing gigs, it applies to any work. Of course, I do occasionally take the low-pay writing gigs because I enjoy writing and am not a full-time freelancer. Also, not living in the US means that low pay can go a lot further. I would like to write for more money, but it’s difficult to get a part-time freelance job in Asia. Plus, more publishing credits will help me demand more in the future (I still have a reputation to build).
It depends on the amount of work and the payment amount. If it’s an easy topic that takes only 20 to 30 minutes then I may go for it. Sometimes it’s the only work I can get and it keeps me going. However I have been scammed a lot.
Misti, your story about the publisher that you parted on good terms with reminds me of two separate incidents where I’d bid too low on jobs, and very politely told the publishers that I’d finish that part at that rate, but they’d need to find someone else for future jobs because it turned out to be a very low hourly rate for me.
One publisher was in NYC, so I felt fine about saying, “I try to get $30-$35 per billable hour when I freelance, and this is coming out to about $5, so unfortunately I can’t afford to do it.” (I thought someone in NYC would “get” that amount of money. My other client was in London, and I don’t know what they thought was a fair wage.)
BOTH of these clients eagerly ponied up more money. The NYC client was the shocker; they were happy to pay me $35/hr for the remainder of the project.
My caveat is that I’d actually mis-bid on both of these projects. The low payments weren’t offered that way. And of course I thought I’d be making money when I did the bids! But if you bid low, no one in their right mind will come to you and say, “Please, let me pay MORE!:
Mary brings up an interesting point – in my experience with scammers, it was almost always the lower paying jobs that ended up NEVER paying. Why do you think this is? Perhaps they assume that those who are willing to apply for those jobs are less educated about their options when they are scammed?
Actually, I’ve had the opposite experience. The first really high paying offer I had was going to pay me $280 for four 500 word articles. He gave me the name of the website and everything so I wrote the four articles feeling pretty secure. I’d never had a non-payer up until that point, so I didn’t often ask for money up front. Then the day came for him to pay me and not only had he taken the website down, but he vanished into thin air. I eventually found the articles, but the company that had bought them from a website like Niche Content had purchased them fair and square and had the receipts, so they took them down and went to the company to battle it out. In the end, I never got paid, but did get my articles back for as much as that was worth.
When I started out, I did the $0.01 per word articles. I figured that work is work and you need to start somewhere. I am glad I took those jobs because when that same client needed someone to write an e-book, she let me take a shot at it. I probably wouldn’t have tackled a project like it so early on. It went well and I’ve done a few of them now. This same client also let me tackle sales letters (which pay a lot better
).
Her business has changed and she doesn’t do a lot of content anymore – but she contacts me for other (better-paying projects).
The point here is that while we all would like to start off making megabucks the first month, we need to pay some dues and prove ourselves. Keep working hard and doing good work and the better-paying opportunities will come.
Just my $0.02 cents worth.
Well said, Deb, thanks!
kk
Deb
Since your post mentions Indian writers I thought I’d jump in with my two cents worth! I am an Indian writer (my first time here!) and it surprises me to see how some writers seem to get so worked up about low paying gigs. We all know there is a market out there – buyers who won’t cough up more than a dollar for a 300 word article, and there are writers who fall all over themselves biddng for jobs like these. My point is this – if those jobs and the pay don’t target you, move on. Ignore them. Focus your energy on finding the better paying gigs. Seems to me people who act all high and mighty about the kind of pay they expect and are offered should be spending more time actually writing than dissing about the ones who pay peanuts.
For me, it all depends on life. If I am desperate for some money to pay a bill(hey, it happens) I will write anything for anyone as long as they pay me. SEO writing falls under this *desperate to pay a bill* theme. I am currently on the upswing and able to be a little more selective.
I would rather take a lower paying, regular gig vs a higher paying one time deal though.
~shrug~ Short answer: it all depends.
Amelia
As I write part time, and just to make a little money on the side, I take articles for about 0.02 a word… less if they’re about my favourite topic.
It all depends on your time management, I guess. I can do a standard football article of around 500 words in 15 minutes, so $40 an hour is fair for me. Others may not see it that way.
Nicole, I think you are absolutely right — by offering absurdly low payment, scammers know that they are hiring the more naive bunch. If they offered rates that experienced writers would be willing to work for, their scams would be uncovered rather quickly.
There are, of course, clients who promise higher rates and don’t pay up, but I think it’s more common with the lower-paying work.
The math seems to work out right for writers who want accept $10/500 word article and write 5 articles within an hour. After all, $50/hour IS a pretty decent wage.
I did the article milling thing for a while, thinking that producing articles in bulk for a low price was a lucrative way to go. It’s not.
Sure, you make money, but just how many articles do you have to write to keep your bills paid? Believe me, when you do the math, it will make you change your mind about accepting low paying wages. It’s just not feasible in the US.
To answer the question, I usually move along when I see low paying jobs. It’s not always necessary to blast the people posting the jobs. Sometimes they’re going off advice given by others.
Low-paying jobs are far better than no-paying jobs, and I’ve had a few of those lately. I might start exposing the ones that have disappeared into thin air after saying they will pay me $100 per article on my own site if it continues to happen. I have to request at least half of my pay up front from now on, and I would recommend every writer do the same thing.
On my end…I take what I can get. I have a herd of kids to feed, plus my inlaws and my own mother, so until my work is known more, I have to take lower pay. I don’t blast anyone except for scammers or non-paying clients after a long period of time. So far I have been pretty lucky.
It’s a finacial issue for some. An experience avenue for others.
Julie, it WILL get better! Just keep plugging along, sister.
Amelia
This is one of my favorite subjects. But has anyone ever been taken to court for harassing a cheapskate writing employer on the basis of an insulting Web ad?
Everyone deserves a fair wage; an e-mail that tells the truth is no worse than a striking bus union.
When I see a low paying writing job, I move on. Sometimes I grit my teeth in anger, but I get over it. If I talk to someone interested in freelance writing, I do share with them my theory on what fair pay is, depending on the types of articles they will be writing, their length and how much research is involved.