In Defense of the Freelance Writing Content Site Haters
October 19, 2009 by Deb Ng
Filed under Freelance Writing, Web Content
I believe there are no haters, only opportunities. I always look at negative situations as a way to make lemonade. In that spirit, I’d like to defend the people who have been bashing web content sites, those who work for content sites and/or those who defend freelance writing content sites. You see, I get it. I really do. I know why some freelance writers don’t like or appreciate web content sites. For example many of them feel:
- Some content writing sites pay very little money
- Some content writing can be tedious
- Without a strict hiring policy, poor writing is flooding the Internet
- Did I mention low pay?
- It appears that writers are churning out writing in an assembly line fashion
- Writers (for web content) don’t have the strict training as journalists, copywriters, technical writers and other specialized writers
- They feel it devalues the craft
- They feel content writers don’t respect writing or themselves
I didn’t say I agreed with all the above, just that I understand why they feel the way they do.
Web writing represents many things, but especially a changing marketplace for writers. Long time journalists and copywriters are being laid off only to find out the pay rates, types of writing and even standard of writing have taken a drastic decline. It’s easy to see how distressing this can be to someone who spent four years in journalism school and thirty years in the field.
As hard as it is to explain how things have changed, it’s even harder to accept things have changed. I think some people view web content the way I view writing for free so I do understand. I don’t believe web content to be evil, only some web content. Like all writing opportunities, I believe there are both good and bad. To lump all web content together is a mistake, because not every place is the same. Web content allows for:
- Beginning writers to hone their craft
- Advanced writers to supplement their income
- Hobbyists to earn a little money doing something they love
The way I see it, there are opportunities for all parties.
- If seasoned writers don’t feel the caliber of writing is up to par, they can help to mentor those writers who may need a little help. Instead of knocking beginners, reach out to them. Offer to take one under your wing and coach. Create a series of courses or guides. Become a part of the solution.
- If some writers don’t find the pay is up to stuff, help to create better opportunities. It’s one thing to complain about the rates, but many writers can’t land these opportunities. See what you can do to help out.
- If some writers feel content writers don’t have self respect, telling them they’re poor writers isn’t exactly the way to empower them. Rather than belittle, offer them encouragement and boost their self esteem.
Web content might not be for everyone, but it’s not going anywhere. I may not agree with those who feel it’s evil, but I understand where they’re coming from. Instead of bashing people for their choices, understand why they make the choices they do. Offer to help, encourage and empower. Positivity makes all the difference in the world.
I am a single work at home Mom and freelance writer. I do some work for a content company but most of my work is freelance.
You have hit the nail on the head on a lot of points. Keep up the good posts. I am going to go read a few more of yours.
Thanks, Kayla. Please don’t be a stranger. I look forward to seeing you become one of the regulars!
Truth is that you can’t make everyone happy and I feel that everything has its place, including these content sites, especially for those just starting out or needing some quick money. Or even just as an extra boost to your income to pay off those credit cards.
To be honest, I would give my right arm (I’m left handed lol) to be able to write for Demand but unfortunately I am not a US citizen or resident, but such is life. I did apply for LVK so maybe I’ll get lucky.
Great objective post.
Hi Anne,
Actually Demand is working on ways to accept writers outside of the U.S. Look for good things soon.
Thank you, you have given me hope lol… I hope you don’t mind if I pop you a question now and then about any news regarding this.
I read somewhere that DS was looking to open up a UK version of e-how but that it was not a set deal and may not happen till the beginning of next year. As far as you know, is that true?
Anne, I honestly don’t know the details regarding the eHow/UK thing. As soon as I do, I’ll let everyone here know.
The content sites exist because there is a demand for their product. Period. They provide work for a certain segment of the freelance writer population, which may include newbies, those who want to pick up some extra cash, or those who want something that is more like a job than a career.
Maybe instead of getting all worked up about the content providers (who are only responding to the market’s demands), the people who should be targeted for nasty comments – I mean a thoughtful discussion about the impact of their actions on the writing community – are the ones buying the content.
Just a thought.
Couldn’t have said it better myself, Jodee.
Now I’m no expert on content sites, but I wonder if they exist because of the demand or if the demand is created by their existence. It’s the same argument Hollywood uses to justify so much of the dreck they produce: “We’re just giving the people what they want.” But if Hollywood produced better films, would people stop going to the movies? Maybe it would whet the public’s appetite for a higher standard of filmmaking. I realize that “better” is a relative term, but it’s not THAT relative. I think we can agree that, on balance, “The Reader” is a better film than “Transformers.” Likewise, I think it’s not unreasonable to expect a certain standard of writing quality regardless of the medium.
People will always do what they have to do. I look at it this way. My husband’s employer laid off half of their workforce last December, they’ve been in business since 1955 and are one of the few companies left in the U.S. that make these specialty cables. The company manufactures specialty wire/cable that goes into everyday products like American-made cars (brake cables and electronic wiring), computer cables, solar panels, etc.
Since NAFTA, it’s become much cheaper for companies to purchase this wire or cable from China. The companies lost tons of business to China because they cannot compete without drastically reducing salaries and they insist on making sure their employees get a decent wage. As a result, they laid off half their workforce and everyone took pay cuts (including the management) to stay afloat. Doesn’t make it right for the workers who lost their jobs, but it happens so it’s one of those things they have to live with.
Knowing this is going on with thousands of companies all over the U.S., how many have changed their purchasing habits? Do you buy American made cars over foreign cars? Do you stick to clothes, foods, stereos, televisions,etc. made solely in the U.S.? Odds are high that you buy the most affordable for your budget, leaving you the most money in your bank account at the end of the month.
We’ve all been raised to buy within our budgets and I think this carries through to all corners of our lives, including content sites that want to make a profit by paying as little as possible.
For the record, I buy American whenever I can, even if it costs more. Part of the problem is the market is flooded with Chinese products. Check the labels and I think you’d be hard pressed to find much that isn’t. But so much of it is needless, space-filling junk, and who really needs all that?
This is one of those things, Anne. I’m a big “hater” of Wal Mart. They have horrible labor policies, and the reason everything they sell is so cheap is because it’s foreign and made in factories that are akin to sweat shops.
But you know what? As much as I hated them, and tried my best not to shop there…when we started feeling the pinch in 2007 prior to our move to Europe my wife and I started shopping for groceries there. Why? Let’s take, for example, a box of Cheerios at Safeway. 5-6 USD for a box of cereal. We could get the generic Wal Mart brand for 2-3 dollars. Half the price.
Now, not everything they sold was half the price of Safeway/Albertsons/any other chain grocery store, but the thing of it was…most of it was dramatically cheaper. We would go to Safeway and buy groceries and spent 100 dollars in a run for 3 bags of groceries. We could go to Wal Mart and get 5-6 bags of groceries for the same price.
So, regardless if you want to buy American Made or not, when your pocket book is feeling the pinch, you do what all the companies do to survive…you do whatever is necessary to make it through, even if that means using foreign above local/American.
Amen, Deb! I’m kind of tired of hearing all the negativity. I haven’t written for content sites, but at least those who have are taking some steps toward being paid for their writing. I don’t feel that negativity and complaining ever helps a situation or aids in moving people to the next level. Very well put.
The web world is huge place and there would enough space for everybody in relation to their skills and capabilities. I couldn’t blame those people who feel that they are the legitimate ones to do the job. I guess they have enough reasons to think that way, yet, that won’t justify their actions and given perspectives over the group of people who don’t belong to their circle.
Deb,
I applaud your reasoned approach. Seeing both sides can never have a downside. Even if one is firmly wedded to one side of the debate, knowing how the other side thinks can only improve our ability to rationally advance our viewpoint.
So much of what complicates the debate is the emotion. It’s intensely personal because writing itself is personal. We’re talking about our babies here, not widgets. Few can remain dispassionate when talking about their children. It makes us defensive, whether we intend it or not. That’s why your call for positivity is so necessary. It’s not only more pleasant and civil, it’s more effective. Few are persuaded to an opinion by insults.
I too, agree with the rational approach. I’m always looking for ways to explain to people that there are always two sides to everything. Sometimes more than two!
50% of my work comes from content providers like Demand Studios and Pure Content. I make anywhere from 25-30 dollars an hour on average if I’m writing about something I know nothing about, and if it’s in my niche areas I make 50-60 dollars an hour.
Depends on the person, the content site, and the content itself. To say that all content sites are evil, demeaning, low-paying, or otherwise is not only naive, but extremely short-sited. Until you know all the details behind something you cannot realistically comment on whether or not it is good or bad, because you lack the information necessary to make such a judgment call.
I think it’s extremely uneducated for people to call content writing a job. Writing *is* a job. Period. Regardless of the genre, the clients, or if you are freelancing for various clients or freelancing for a content site doing work-for-hire. It’s all work, and it all pays.
I completely disagree that content writers and content sites are perpetuating low-paying systems and poor quality of writing. I think it’s a case-by-case basis. Yes, some sites are notoriously low paying and yes, some sites do allow exceptionally poor quality work get pushed through simply to pad someone’s website with a lot of SEO wordage, but it’s not my place to comment on. If someone wants to do that work, good for them. Just like if someone wants to clean the sewers, or be a janitor, or be the guy who scrapes dead animals off the road, or the person who works at Wal Mart as a cashier, or the person flips burgers at McDonalds or the guy who flies the airplanes I ride in or the guy who drives the taxis I ride around in or the people who run the ISP I use or the people who make plasma TVs or….
You get the picture. Bottom line is, if it’s not directly related to you…it’s none of your business. If someone from the Philippines wants to work for a content site and get paid what is (to me) a scoffable wage, that’s entirely their prerogative. I’m not going to judge them, nor am I going to judge the site that’s letting them work for so cheap. It doesn’t affect me. It’s none of my concern. I make a living working for a different type of client, and I get paid an entirely different wage that is entirely up to me to determine.
Freelance writers need to pay less attention to what everyone else is doing and focus more on what is good for them and their own business. I certainly don’t make any money by going around telling other people how to think, what rates are/aren’t acceptable, and whether or not a certain company is worth working for. I keep my eyes peeled, I work hard, I love what I do, and I connect with people who want exactly what I can provide.
At the end of the day the only thing that matters is whether or not you have money in the bank and food on the table for your family with a roof over their heads. Not whether or not so-and-so is making such-and-such or anything else.
I’ve disagreed with T.W. so much- but here he said it better than anyone I’ve ever read has.
This should be posted on every blog as a special guest post. Heck, T.W., can I copy this comment and post it on mine- with full credit, of course?
See, even when people disagree on a lot of other things, there are always things you can find in common
Hell, my best friend in the world has *vastly* different opinions on religion and politics than myself, but we’ve been friends for over a dozen years now. Doesn’t change anything, even after we’ve had a heated debate over something.
You are welcome to copy and post it if you like, Julie! I’m honestly relieved that we were finally able to find something in common
That statement was actually a paraphrased version of something that I’ve been working on as part of my website network I’m launching in November. Feel free to reference back here or to my blog, either or.
Here’s another way to look at it, as well.
Person A works for a content site. He makes 20 dollars an hour. He writes 5 hours a day, and makes 100 dollars. He doesn’t have to spend any time browsing for leads, because he gets projects given to him. He is a sub-contractor; a freelancer.
Person B spends 3 hours a day browsing for leads. He finds 2 jobs per day, which he charges 50 dollars apiece for, and then spends an hour apiece writing them. He makes 100 dollars. He is a sub-contractor; a freelancer.
At the end of the day, they both made 100 dollars and both spent 5 hours doing the work. They both did it by writing. They both act as freelancers. There is zero difference between the two. Content writer or not, you are still writing as a freelancer, and you are still getting a paycheck for being a writer.
I have a really hard time grasping why so-called “freelancers” sneer down their noses at people who work for content sites. I see a lot of talk thrown around about how they aren’t credible places to work, how they should only be used as a backup plan for “advanced” writers, how they should only be used by “new” writers, how they are low-paying, or otherwise and…I just don’t see it. Especially when the paychecks are the same in the end.
Honestly. I’d love to see a survey with serious numbers when it comes down to it, but the people I know and associate with all make around the same amount of money I do. Some of them do it through residuals at place like eHow, some do it through word-of-mouth clients, some of them do it through content sites, others do it by journalism, and two of them freelance as Wordpress website people…and they all make between 50-60k a year. There’s zero difference (in the people I know and associate with) between the guys working content sites and the ones working strictly for a variety of clients. We all end up making the same (roughly) paychecks. (this is based upon a dozen or so people I know of personally).
I just think it’s extremely uneducated for people to go running around bad-mouthing content sites and content writers (in general) when A) they don’t know what they are really talking about because they haven’t got all their facts straight and B) it’s none of their business in the first place.
You’re right, T.W., you and I have found common ground. Something I am very passionate about and you just did exactly what I did last night in a conversation- did the math.
We should talk sometime. I have my email listed on my blog- would post it here but the way Google spiders FWJ and with the junk going on, I don’t want to post it here where I can’t track who visited.
Julie:
I was going to e-mail you some numbers today but for the life of me I could not seem to find any of your contact info on your blog (maybe I’m blinded by too much coffee this morning). In any case, if you read this, maybe you could pop over to my blog and drop me a line (my e-mail is in the profile section) or point me to where yours is on your blog =P I swear…I spent like 15 minutes but couldn’t find any contact info!
Very well said T.W. Very well said.
Thanks, Camesha
Hi,
I am a freelance writer working from home.I write articles in Associated Content and some times in Guru.com.
Deb can you help me getting some freelance writing jobs?
Regards
Jayanti
919437919257
What I love about your posts on this whole content site issue is that you are always respectful and try to view things from other people’s perspective. Pity we rarely find the same good-will coming from the other side.
I really can’t add much to this discussion; I just wanted to thank you, Deb. Thank you for playing fair and for respecting your fellow writers’ choices.