Thanks to Jodee for today’s headline and topic. This morning she sent me a link to GiantWow.com, a site looking for writers. I was about to write a long diatribe but thought it better to bring in an expert. Please welcome the Craigslist Curmudgeon for today’s guest post.
From what I can gather, GiantWow pays at a scale which increases as the writer sends in more articles. What a scale it is! Take a look:
From the website: (No, don’t go there. That would be sending them traffic. Geesh, people.)
Payment Guide
Upfront Ability Rating Payment
0-50 articles : $.10 - $.25 each
51-200 articles : $.25 - $1.00 each
201-500 articles : $1.01 - $3.00 each
501 - 2000 articles : $3.01 - $5.00 each
2000 plus articles : $5.00 plus
WTF?
It’s probably best to start off by explaining these are to be 400 worders. 400 word articles for a dime. I have no words.
It’s not until you enter into the 200 article threshold one starts to earn an actual dollar for one’s hard work. Can you imagine? Having to write 200 effing articles before you can earn a dollar for each? If you’re hoping to earn $5 you have to submit 2000, count ‘em, 2000 articles.
Here’s what I’m thinking. I doubt too many writers will reach that coveted .25 to 1.00 threshold before suffering from burnout and saying it’s not worth it anymore. I’ll even go as far as to say that may be what GiantRipoff is hoping for. They stock their site for cheap, rake in the Adsense and life is good. Mostly they’ll pay out dimes and quarters. Not too many writers will stick with them to see the glorious and ever so generous $5.00 payment.
This is what I hate about these low paying content sites. They pay dimes to their writers while earning hundreds of dollars for the same article. For that money you may as well put the same article on your own website or blog and if you’re lucky, you’ll earn a little more.
But then they get really ballsy…
3 Steps to get Published
So, you have made it to our site, you’ve heard the calling and now you want to write and
get paid for it. There are a few great sites out there that pay for original content but none
that pay you based on your ability to consistently create articles.
3 Steps to get published:1. Submit original material for review.
2. Get accepted for upfront payment or rejected for revision.
3. Get Published, Paid, and start building your online portfolio
For a dime you want original or revisions?
If you’re paying a dime, you’re not going to get Dickens. To expect originality, rewrites or revision for ten effing cents is even more insulting than the pay. How bad does something have to be to get sent back for revisions anyway. Considering this is a person who thinks "upfront" is one word, will he even know the difference? The mind boggles. Does no one consider writing is a job? Does it ever occur to the purveyors of assery and creators of lamery how writers have bills to pay and mouth to feed? Does anyone care cheap, crappy content is polluting the interwebs and creating a generation of kids who can’t speak facts, only regurgitated Internet content?
But it gets better. I took a peek at some of the links at GiantRipoff and the webmaster is putting the articles on generic (free) Blogger.com pages. So you’re not really contributing articles, but 400 word blog posts. Hell, we can do that ourselves, slap on our own Adsense and make our own money. And the writing? Well, I’d tell you to judge for yourself except I don’t want to send traffic there. Suffice it to say, there are people taking them up on their offer.
People. Do not be taken in by this less than generous offer. Being published isn’t enough. Be mindful of the company you keep. It’s not a good deal for the writer and it’s not a good deal for anyone looking for content on the web. It’s only a good deal for the cheapskate webmaster.
Say it with me, folks.
Ass.
January 16th, 2008 at 10:25 pm
I could not have said it better.
January 16th, 2008 at 10:33 pm
I went in to look - and as I expected some have already fallen for it and are writing. It’s all a blog format and I read one entry and have to say the sentence structure left me cringing.
>–from the game reviews at Giant Wow.
I’ve reread this sentence a number of times and I get what he’s saying, but when it comes close leaves me wondering what that “it” is!
If those are highly edited writing jobs, I’d hate to see a poorly edited one.
January 16th, 2008 at 10:33 pm
Thanks. But what strikes me is that this is so very bad it’s almost a parody. Will anyone, anywhere, really care about a dime? I doubt it. So what’s really going on here, beyond the obvious sales of insta-blog posts?
I think there may be more to this story, and something tells me we should know the names of the principals involved for future reference. But thanks again for getting us all this far on what appears to be a very strange and sad story.
January 16th, 2008 at 10:45 pm
I did a whois on giantwow.com and found the name of the owner. He’s primarily a writer for Associated Content and Helium. After reading a few of his articles, I can tell you he has absolutely no business judging or editing anyone else’s work.
January 16th, 2008 at 10:49 pm
To top it off, I bet they’re slow to pay, too.
January 16th, 2008 at 10:49 pm
It all sounds too scammy to me!!
January 16th, 2008 at 10:55 pm
Wow.
January 16th, 2008 at 11:01 pm
And I thought Get A Freelancer was bad. Freelance writers should start a union dammit. This way we can keep these slave drivers of the net!
January 16th, 2008 at 11:07 pm
I’m with Sue: Wow. Giant Wow!
Blogboy, why would you want to keep these slave drivers of the net.
Are they anything like the “slave drivers of the south” ??
Ping! Thanks for the heads up, Jodee!
January 16th, 2008 at 11:33 pm
Oh man. That’s so bad.
I wish we had police for this kind of shit.
Ass.
January 16th, 2008 at 11:54 pm
Wow. I’ll admit to getting desperate and taking low paying offers, but even I’m not that desperate.
January 17th, 2008 at 12:08 am
Are you serious? For real?
I hope I’m reading the payment scale. It looks confusing. Either way - this is so sad, it makes me cringe.
January 17th, 2008 at 12:22 am
OMG. This is just bad. I’m really bothered by the fact that people are participating. Geez.
January 17th, 2008 at 12:26 am
Someone said something about Get A Freelancer being just as bad? I know that 9 out of every ten that are looking for a writer are way beyond ridiculous. But is there anything I should know about with Get A Freelancer? Currently I am up for consideration with an Australian company that is starting a new online magazine. Does anyone know anything about them?
January 17th, 2008 at 12:31 am
I am fairly new to this arena. When I first discovered that people pay $2-$5 for 250-400 word articles/blogs I thought it was a typo, but 10 cents? That is ridiculous. Loretta
January 17th, 2008 at 12:49 am
What are you chumps complaining about here?
I’m well into my third GiantWow masterpiece and eagerly awaiting my hard-earned 30 cents. My kids will be going to college in 16 years, so I need to start building my portfolio now.
You’ll all be eating crow when I’m making upwards to 20 cents an article.
Crow!
January 17th, 2008 at 12:57 am
@Amy, ROFL.
I love the Craigslist Curmudgeon! Thanks for letting him guest today. He’s great at always breaking these scams open.
Assery indeed!
January 17th, 2008 at 1:04 am
@Amy,
Your comment made my day. Still laughing.
January 17th, 2008 at 1:40 am
Ugh. These people make me sick.
January 17th, 2008 at 1:49 am
Michelle: There are some good jobs at Get a Freelancer… there are also many, many bad jobs there. The comment about them being bad was the fact that many people will post there wanting professional-quality work at rates such as 20 articles for $5 or even worse. It doesn’t mean that everything that you see there is a scam, just that you shouldn’t go there expecting to find tons of wonderful jobs.
January 17th, 2008 at 1:55 am
Amen.
And yet, people are taking him up on the offer? Lol…I don’t care where you live or how fast you write. That’s crazy.
January 17th, 2008 at 1:57 am
Is there anyone anywhere in the world for whom this is a not a poverty wage?
I don’t think so.
It’s really hard to believe that he or she would ever get any “writers” to submit articles to their site.
I’m just amazed…
January 17th, 2008 at 2:02 am
Hey Amy — just 27 more articles and you can buy a gallon of gas!
January 17th, 2008 at 2:02 am
Okay, I went to the site. (I couldn’t resist.)
It looks to me as though nobody is contributing. I only found three “articles” out there. Those articles appear to have been written by the person who set the sites up.
January 17th, 2008 at 2:25 am
So did anyone else ‘register’ ??
January 17th, 2008 at 2:25 am
The minimum wage in Mexico is $5 per 12 hour day. If I can pass this on to one of my neighbors who has Internet and a computer and wants to write 50 articles a day … boy howdy, would he be all set!
January 17th, 2008 at 2:34 am
What cracks me up most is when I’ve confronted people who pay like this, they usually tell me:
“Oh but this is easy writing. Just a short 400 word article without a lot of research.”
(eye roll)
I love you Curmudgeon! Thanks for having posting this Deb.
January 17th, 2008 at 2:47 am
Hey Amy, after reading your success I must say I feel very encouraged!
Gosh, just think when I retire the world will be my oyster… I’ll be able to spend my hard earned cash down in Las Vegas, and gloat how I’ve made the big time
Yup makes sense 
January 17th, 2008 at 4:27 am
I had decided to start writing in 2008. I’ve seen so many sites offering these ridiculous rates that I now think I might be better off launching a career picking up cans along the highway.
January 17th, 2008 at 4:42 am
I’d rather pick up cans along the highway as well. At least I’m getting some exercise.
January 17th, 2008 at 5:53 am
@Andrea - You know, I hadn’t made the connection before you said that, but I live in Michigan where there’s a ten cent deposit on pop cans. So to earn ten cents, I could either write a 400 word “article”, or I could pick a can up in a parking lot.
January 17th, 2008 at 8:25 am
@ Lorie: That’s a tough one - do you pick up cans or write? Hmmm….Just don’t spend your 10 cents all in one place….
January 17th, 2008 at 1:04 pm
Hadn’t heard of the before and I’ll be sure to avoid them now. That’s absolutely pathetic. Hell, I can write garbage and sell it to AC for more than that. I might be willing to hand them some plagiarism for a dime, but no original content for that.
January 17th, 2008 at 1:06 pm
Maybe we should all send this guy some cans so he can afford to double the pay for the writers.
January 17th, 2008 at 3:04 pm
Well, I though I had been offered some poor paying jobs, but this one takes the biscuit. They are at least paying in dollars. The last one I wrote about on my blog was paying in their own version of money
Has anyone tried sending them 10,000 articles taken from an article directory? Here are a couple more that need to be avoided:
http://markpknowles.com/wasting-time-applying-for-jobs-that-dont-exist-part-2/
http://markpknowles.com/wasting-time-applying-for-jobs-that-dont-exist/
January 17th, 2008 at 4:55 pm
@Andrea… send this guy some cans? Perhaps we should just send him a message in a bottle, at least he would get the message loud and clear
January 17th, 2008 at 7:11 pm
Maybe the Craigslist curmudgeon should register for the site and post a series of articles on why you shouldn’t write for sites this this! He could make a few cents while giving his two cents!
January 17th, 2008 at 7:50 pm
Re: Picking Up Cans
You know I have a retired neighbor who does this. He walks around our neighborhood every Monday morning and again on Friday morning and then drives the loop along Lake Champlain (about 5 miles when all is said and done). He nets $150 after the weekend and $100 on a Friday. So there is decent money to be made if you have a big enough truck!
January 17th, 2008 at 7:51 pm
This one makes me sick to my stomach more than anything. The fact that it’s coming from someone who writes is even worse.
January 17th, 2008 at 8:11 pm
Let’s see…. at 10 cents an article…. I can retire in…. oh boy, I don’t have enough fingers to count how many years….
January 17th, 2008 at 8:45 pm
Ok, I know I tend to be willing to go cheap — but 10 cents… wow, I just can’t wait to jump on that site! I can’t wait to bust my butt attain my position among the online web greats like deb!
January 17th, 2008 at 9:16 pm
Wow, I don’t know if he’s trying to prey upon vanity and the desire people have to get published or stupidity. I’m sure it won’t take long for a novice to figure out making any decent money at that rate/pace would be absolutely impossible. I’m at the point where I almost want to cancel my DSL. I don’t want the web in my house. It’s overcrowded with way too much garbage.
January 17th, 2008 at 10:05 pm
Mudgie! Pace yourself–you are a national resource, no strokes allowed. These idiot bottomfeeders are amusing–nothing more. Certainly they will not be OUR employers, if you call it employment. Upfront isn’t one word? See? I learned something. Stay as sweet as you are!
January 17th, 2008 at 10:18 pm
@ Star- Honestly, I’ve always written upfront as one word too, and apparently some sources have it as an acceptable alternative. Not everyone likes it hyphenated, I guess. I learned something new too- my kindergartener knows the word. I had no idea. I thought we’d be stuck with four-letter words all year
It totally shocked me when she saw me typing it and said the word.
January 17th, 2008 at 10:22 pm
Upfront can be written as one word, a hyphenated word or two words.
We ask for payment up front.
We request upfront payment.
We prefer up-front payment.
January 17th, 2008 at 10:28 pm
I surrender. Upfront is now an accepted usage. I don’t have to be happy about it but it is what it is.
I do (not so fondly) remember receiving a public smackdown from a college professor for using the one word version and it stil smarts to this day. You win.
Yours in crankiness,
C.C.
January 17th, 2008 at 10:51 pm
I almost have no words. Except for maybe that Mr. Curmudgeon rocks. This has to be one of the sadder situations I’ve seen. What’s really depressing is knowing that some writers will send stuff in.
January 17th, 2008 at 11:07 pm
Thanks for sharing this. This is the first time I’ve heard of this site. Perhaps this guy really thinks he is doing a service with this *pay*.
@Jennifer…I agree. It’s sad that there will most likely be people to send material in to this guy and think the dime he pays is heaven.
I think MRS. Curmudgeon rocks!
January 17th, 2008 at 11:50 pm
Just a note:
For those of you who have been writing to ask who owns the site, and for those of you who are trying to post the site owner’s personal information, we’re not doing that.
The information isn’t secret, you can find it out yourself. But I’m not forming a lynch mob nor am I setting myself up for a lawsuit.
January 17th, 2008 at 11:53 pm
Writing is a skilled profession, and it really frustrates me that people don’t grasp that. These days, the only time I would take $40 for a 1,000-word article is if the artice can be completed in two hours–three, tops. Otherwise, no. Heck, can anyone imagine telling a mechanic that you’ll give him $10 to replace your car’s head gasket?
January 18th, 2008 at 12:53 am
Isn’t the Cr Curm one of your blogs?
January 18th, 2008 at 3:16 am
I think Craigslist Curmudgeon said it best regarding this ‘gig’:
WTF!!??
January 18th, 2008 at 3:50 am
The C.C. is some guy but I forget who. I wish I could remember where I saw his real name. He’s been around for a while now.
January 18th, 2008 at 4:41 am
A$$!
Great guest post. It’s been awhile since I’ve visited CC.
January 18th, 2008 at 4:27 pm
I don’t know if I should laugh or cry!
Great post
January 19th, 2008 at 5:16 am
To every new (and experienced) freelance writer — don’t ever be this desperate. Just like in a relationship, you teach people how to treat (pay) you.
As many others have said here, spend your time buildling your own site/blog with your own original content and marketing that to potential clients.
Now, where’s that person who wanted to start a union … with the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday upon us, I’m in the mood to start a “civil writes movement!”
May 1st, 2008 at 8:22 am
I have more mildly interesting news for you folks. I was in the band Giant Wow. At one point, up until a couple of years ago, that was our website, just dates and info about our band. I let it lapse. This is the result. We played CMJ Cleveland, and a bunch of shows around the Cincinnati area. No big whoop. I was in a more well-known band when I was younger, and so we had decent traffic there. When I saw what had become of our old url (I considered re-forming under this name), I showed it to my old bandmates. They found it hilarious.