Comments on: Let’s Brainstorm: How to Empower New Freelance Writers Not to Settle for Low Pay

By: Valueable gigs and valueless ads « An Artful Mind

Valueable gigs and valueless ads « An Artful Mind — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 03:44:25 +0000

[...] drastic comparison to the above comes an ad that falls right in line with a post I read from FreelanceWritingGigs.com the other day about low pay writing gigs. This “agency” from Ontario, Canada is [...]

By: Lamont Williams

Lamont Williams — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 01:34:40 +0000

I have been searching the internet all day today looking for good freelance writing jobs with only my junk mail email address anf the trusty WOT security of firefox, and I haven’t found those “good paying” freelance writing jobs yet. The best one I know of is Hibpages. Other than that, there are no freelance writing jobs that could help me that I know of.

By: Jenny Woolf

Jenny Woolf — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 14:03:15 +0000

Maybe we need to ask a hard question, too – are some of the people working for no or low pay, just as good as the people who are working for regular rates? In a recession, markets will pay as little as they can. Why do the “regulars” have the right to expect to get high rates?

I’m not saying they don’t have the right – I’m just asking. My personal view is that most pros are better than most freebie merchants. Markets who want to keep their readers know they can’t let quality slide,and they’ll try to pay as good rates as they can, even in a recession.

But it’s hard. Writers are under threat in all directions. I’ve found myself returning to this threat more and more on my own blog, and I never planned that to happen.
Jenny Woolf http://www.jabberwock.co.uk/blog

By: Jennifer L

Jennifer L — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 02:28:10 +0000

T: Ack! It’s so easy for people to use a tool to check for plagiarism these days…why would anyone who was predisposed to doing something unethical like stealing someone else’s clips and passing them off as their own even try to get away with it? I know, I know. I’m being all naive. Just because I do the right thing doesn’t mean that other people always do. Sad.

By: T

Sun, 22 Feb 2009 23:24:54 +0000

Another comment @Lisa R:
That’s so true. I’ve had some editors disappear off the face of the earth. I’ve been bugging a company for the past few weeks about writing some articles for them and they want me to write, but can’t give me a concrete answer about my fee payment. It’s very annoying. I told them I won’t sign a contract until I get a confirmed fee from them (and supposedly they are willing to pay fairly well per article).

Actually, some of my most consistent writing jobs haven’t been well-established companies. I write a lot of SEO content for a woman who owns her own SEO marketing company and I’m one of her outsourced writers. I adore her and we have a great rapport (and she pays me timely and she adds a bit extra to my fee when I can turn around projects quickly for her). I agree with Lisa R. Even though a company is well-established, that doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll pay or a lot or that they’re on the ball.

By: T

Sun, 22 Feb 2009 23:18:07 +0000

@Jennifer L: That actually is standard these days with writing samples. There is a LOT of plagiarism and it’s easy to rip off other people’s writing online. I worked on a project last month and this guy got caught for plagiarizing on his first assignment and was fired. Actually, I bet if they went back and Copyscaped his writing samples, I would bet anything they were plagiarized samples. You’d be surprised. Someone ripped off one of my yoga articles and found it on some random site and threatened the web hosting site with a lawsuit if they didn’t take off my article (since someone had stolen it and was using it without my knowledge). They finally took it down, but there are some people who have no qualms (and zero ethics) and will swipe articles from other sites (even when they are copyrighted articles).

By: T

Sun, 22 Feb 2009 23:13:12 +0000

This was a good post and I agree that it comes down to education. However, I do agree with some of the others who mentioned that it comes down to your personal decision. Some people don’t know better and some need to take what they can (due to this economy and trying to make some money). Some people don’t have the luxury of turning down lower paying jobs. I’m not a fan of lower paying gigs but I know there are some people who rely on these jobs (especially outside the U.S.)

As other people pointed out, a lot of these lower paying gigs are generated outside the U.S. (where their pay scale/minimum wage is a lot lower than the U.S.) There are a lot of third world countries (like India) who can live off these low pay writing scams.

I see these companies (especially outside the U.S.) as a big racket and don’t even get me started on blogs/sites that are ripping off people with “revenue sharing” (a big joke). The Internet has both been a blessing and a curse when it comes to writing.

Like I mentioned, it really comes down to education and sharing resources with other writers. I also highly suggest that writers read as much as they can about how to market themselves as writers. Read as much much as you can, and act like you’re the CEO of your own company and act accordingly. You need to be proactive.

By: Dan

Dan — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 19:32:32 +0000

Deb - have you ever tried a syndication marketplace site (e.g. The Syndicated News, etc)? Any idea of how much you can earn on a site like that?

By: Phil

Phil — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 12:53:57 +0000

Ashley,

If writing for enjoyment, one doesn’t need pay. But most on this site (from my reading of comments) are supporting their families partially or in full. Pay level is a critical issue.

By: Jessica Lynn

Jessica Lynn — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 05:44:13 +0000

Hmm. I made a post here yesterday, and I don’t think it got posted. It was pretty long too! Does this happen often?