How to Have Your Job Posted on Freelance Writing Jobs
December 18, 2007 by Deb Ng
Filed under Freelance Writing
Lots of mail lately from people hoping to post gigs here. Unfortunately I had to turn down more than half of them because they didn’t pay or they were insulting or unethical. If you’d like to post your jobs on FWJ, please be advised I won’t post the following types of jobs:
Non- Payers – I’m sorry but we all work for a living. This blog isn’t called Freelance Writing Volunteers, it’s called Freelance Writing Jobs.
Insulting Jobs – My rule is to not post anything paying under $10 or $10 an hour. While this may seem like a small amount to a lot of people, in certain parts of the country – and even the world – this isn’t a bad wage. Please, no $2 or $5 jobs.
Article Spinning or Rewrites – I know a lot of you don’t care about rewriting or "spinning" articles, but I do. I find the Internet is filled with articles that are either bordering on plagiarism or they’re regurgitated content. If you want to write that sort of thing, there are plenty of boards with these types of jobs. I’d rather encourage original content over something rewritten and rehashed.
Term Paper Mills – Nope. Not here.
If these types of job are your cups of tea, you can visit Craigslist or a bidding site, they have plenty of term paper or volunteer gigs there. Before you call me a snob, please understand this isn’t only a career choice for most of us. We truly care about writing, good writing. We also know that unless we put our foot down, the rates will continue to go lower for writers.
When you post a job here at Freelance Writing Jobs, you’re exposing your gig to the best writers in the business and good writers don’t settle.Thanks for considering the Freelance Writing Jobs community for your gigs.
That’s what makes this site so great for us, Deb. It’s wonderful to visit a jobs site where so much of the dross has been pre filtered. I turned down an ad for a term paper mill for much the same reasons you’ve outlined here.
Way to go Deb. We need someone to stand up for us! Why spend time cranking out a fantastic cover letter and putting together a great clips package for $2 an article? Thank you!
@Sharon (and Deb) Exactly! That’s one of the things that make this site so helpful. And if someone is offended that you refused to post a low-paying job, it’s not a loss as far as I’m concerned. I agree with always being professional and polite to clients and not burning bridges; but that doesn’t extend to accepting insulting pay rates. I wouldn’t expect someone to pay me my normal rate for a thrown-together, unresearched piece riddled with typos and errors, so why do some people think they can get good writing for less than minimum wage rates??
Thanks, Deb! You’re absolutely right about writers needing to put our collective foot down to insulting rates. I’m guilty of the occasional heated Craigslist rebuttal for exactly the reasons you named, and it makes me feel sick to think that writers are producing 500 word articles for $2 a pop or less. Here’s hoping that potential employers start getting a clue, and more writers start getting firm!
And thank you so much for it! I am just starting out, and the low-paying jobs can be briefly tempting, only because I’m trying to build up my collection of clips and broaden my experience. But if someone is offering to pay me a penny a word (or less), then it’s not going to be worth my time monetarily, and if I’m getting paid crap I’m not going to want to put in much effort, so the resulting article is probably not going to be anything I’m going to want to put in my clip file. So what’s the point?
Thanks Deb! You are our guardian angel.
I started freelance writing a few weeks ago. Thanks to my main website I could pick up three freelance writing jobs on my own those came from advertisers and long time readers. I’ve always enjoyed writing but mainly did it for myself.
When I checked some of the bidding websites I was surprised at the low paying projects that were being offered when I checked out some of the freelance writing boards. The quality of the work the people were looking for were extremely high. I thought the price they would offer would at least match?
I do like the jobs I’ve seen on your website, and I actually applied for one yesterday. I’m a new reader, and I really enjoy your website.
Echo what’s above, though there are a couple of other sites I still look at as well. But this definitely saves me looking through craiglist. I’ve yet to find work here, but think it’s only a matter of time.
When I do, get ready to drink a gallon of coffee…I believe in greasing the wheels for referrals (once they actually pay).
Starting out, I took a $3 or $4 job for a website that asked for generic articles of 300 to 400 words. I could write these in 10 minutes, especially when a lot of the articles she wanted were about motherhood or travel – articles about those topics take me little time. And $18 an hour is incredibly good pay in my area – Vermont’s not big on pulling in high paying jobs/companies. I needed the money and at the time I wasn’t finding much else. (Hadn’t discovered this site yet). I was making good money and was always paid on time. I learned something two months later when I just happened to Google some of the articles I’d written. She was taking my articles, turning around and selling them to Associated Content as her own material for $4 to $7 a pop.
A few of her “writers,” including myself, contacted AC and they immediately banned her for life. But that’s when I started refusing smaller jobs. The good note was AC then gave me back the copyright to all my articles, so I was able to turn around and sell them elsewhere.
I stay away from posting jobs that pay on in revenue shares. Too iffy.
I only post revenue share if the writer or blogger gets base plus revenue. Otherwise the writer only gets pennies – if he’s lucky!
Deb,
Exactly! That’s why I usually don’t visit Craigslist — too many insulting jobs.
Ann G,
That’s so cool that AC stood by you like that.
Revenue share only jobs seem to be a one way deal. When I bought my last PC, I suggested to HP that they give it to me free and I’d pay them a share of the revenue from the articles I wrote with it, but they demanded cash…
Way to go! (Echo what everyone else said.)
…This blog isn’t called Freelance Writing Volunteers, it’s called Freelance Writing Jobs.
LOVE how you handled that one!
Way to go, Deb! I commend you for writing this post and for holding such high standards here
Writer & Blogger,
Michele L. Tune
I can’t help chiming in to say WAY2GO, like everyone else had done!
THANK YOU! and CHEERS!
It’s wonderful to see writers take a stand on these kinds of issues. It often feels like ‘employers’ think the service we provide is next to worthless. I love the sources you provide and your beautiful integrity, Deb!
Thank you for having the courage to stand up for the rights of yourself and your freelancing readers.
Hello,
The title of this posting is “How to Have Your Job Posted on Freelance Writing Jobs”. But I don’t see an answer. I’ve looked everywhere on where I could post my opportunity!
You know Bart, I never realized there was no email address – send it to me at deborahng@gmail.com