A few announcements
Good morning, friends. The rent is due!
A couple of things:
- Congratulations to Mariella who won the October comments contest. She had the most comments here when I logged on this morning. Send me your email, Mariella, and I’ll send you that $50 Amazon gift certificate.
- Candy Addict is having a massive candy giveaway.
- Soccer Lens is having a football writing contest. (That’s soccer to us Yankees.)
- b5Media’s Home & Dining Channel is hosting a Fall Harvest Scavenger Hunt Contest. The winner will receive a gorgeous autumn themed gift basket.
Something else. One of the regulars here has a reputation for “scolding” employers she doesn’t feel pay fair wages. Including several of the places posted here from time to time. I’ve received many complaints and a few potential clients won’t contact me about posting gigs here as a result. While I can’t stop anyone from visiting this blog, I can tell you why this isn’t a good idea.
Over the weekend this writer left a nasty comment at one of the websites/blogs where I contribute. In fact, it was directed at my most reliable client who is more than generous and always has plenty of work. Here’s the thing: if you don’t agree with someone, don’t send him a nasty letter or post nasty comments at his website. Just move on. Not only do people remember names, not only can this be considered harassment, but keep in mind they discuss your tirade at webmaster forums. Perhaps your name will be blacklisted or clients will be reluctant to hire you as they feel you’re nothing but trouble - even if they pay lots of money.
I doubt this particular “scolder” cares about my reputation, but it also is damaging to FWJ for someone to have viewed a gig here and then go blast a webmaster for offering $25 for 500 words. If you don’t like a job, move on. That’s all there is too it. You don’t have to start insulting people. You can read more about it at Performancing.
That is all.
Leads are coming a little late. I had a little crisis…(sorry).
Good luck!
Deb
Please see my other blogs:
Posted
on
Monday, October 1st, 2007 at 7:44 am under
Amen to that. I’ve been on boards and been blasted by people who feel I am being grossly underpaid for a writing gig I landed where I’m getting $80 for 2,000 words. While this might be pathetic pay to some of you, one travel article takes me a couple hours to write (I was a travel agent for four years, so I know travel). That’s $40 an hour to me and in northern VT that is incredible pay.
I’ve been a stay-home mom for 14 years now. We struggle to make ends meet in this area, and I’ve contemplated going back to the working world, but there are downsides to that too. Most companies laugh at stay-home mom’s because their resume is “blank” though I disagree at that, I’ve done more in these 14 years than a full-time employee may have done. Jobs in this area require a drive to Burlington or Williston usually, which means 30 miles one way - that’s a lot of gas and wear and tear on the car. Not to mention, if one of my kids becomes sick, I am 5 minutes from the school here and I don’t have a boss groaning about me having to leave work.
My mom just spent five months trying to find a job after an area bank decided to send the check-processing department out of the country. The best wage she was offered was $9 an hour. That’s with seven years of banking and fifteen years of cash office behind her. If that’s the best she was offered, I don’t stand a chance at anything different.
For that reason, a posting offering $25 for 500 words is like a godsend to me. I’m currently working on a batch of articles that are $5 each for 300 words and while this seems trivial and underpaid to some, I can get three articles done an hour so to me that’s damn good pay and when this batch of 100 articles is done, I’ll have enough money to pay for groceries for a month and a half and that’s what’s most important to me.
October 1st, 2007 at 8:03 amAnn, I also think hourly rate is very important. Just like on our discussion about blog postings before. I also do blog posts which pay much less than my standard rate but since I could write them off the top of my head, it’s all good.
Wow Deb…I forgot it’s October 1!!! Thank you so much, I’ll email you in a while
October 1st, 2007 at 8:27 amBTW, may I ask if non-US residents are eligible for the Fall Harvest Scavenger Hunt Contest?
I agree with Ann G. and she beat me to it. LOL.
I find that a 25 dollar job for 500 words is not bad pay. When the pay is that low I look at the time it takes and then look at how much it would be an hour. A 500 word article would take me about an hour tops. That is from start to sending it out. To me 25 dollars an hour is not a bad pay check. I know that I won’t have that kind of pay in teh field that I have a degree in which sucks. Sure 25 dollars isn’t the big time but at least it helps pay the bills and it can lead to more experience and better pay.
When I started out nine months ago I started with a contract right away that paid me $75 per article. The articles were extensive and took a bit of time, usually around 4 to 6 hours with research, writing and revisions. That is still a per hour rate of $12.50, which is sadly more than I did working in my field, with an honors degree and 7 years experience. Sure it didn’t look like much but with the number of assignments I was well over 6000 by the end of the contract and I was offered a large assignment that was for several thousand near the middle of the contract which boosted my earnings for several months with them.
The job wasn’t wonderful, at times I felt like I was overloaded with non-fiction pieces but the client paid well, paid on time and made my first experience working freelance very positive. I would work for them again if they needed anything.
So my thoughts are don’t knock the little companies that offer low paying jobs (unless the per hour pay doesn’t work out to anything) since you can have quantity and eventually have higher paying positions. I know the experience I gained from this one contract has helped me break into the magazine market (I obtained a monthly column) and has also helped me gain many other contracts. My portfolio is up to just over 100 articles in 9 months and also a dictionary.
So people really shouldn’t bite the hand that can potentionally feed them because this small company that pays next to nothing may become a very lucrative company that pays their writers significant amounts. I am sure they will remember those people that were nasty and when these same people come looking for work, I am sure they will tell them to forget it.
Ok, I ranted a bit more than I had planned. LOL. I’m off to do some work.
October 1st, 2007 at 8:33 amAnn,
I agree with you about the hourly rate thing. I write short travel guides for a company out in CA. They pay $80 for about 2,200 words, which even I thought was ludicrous at first. However, the guide is written according to a template. Once I did one or two, I knew exactly what information I had to research, where it needed to go in the document, and how it had to be written. I can easily complete a guide in less than two hours now.
In addition, they have been my best client. They send me work regularly (I have made nearly $4,000 from them since March 2007), pay quickly (same day I submit a batch of guides), and the editor is a dream to work with. It sure beats clients who promise to pay big bucks and then don’t come through. I’ll take a little bit lower of a rate for reliability any day.
October 1st, 2007 at 9:07 amI agree on hourly rate item as well, though one has to consider how long one can crank out several thousand words a day before breaking down.
It’s one thing if it’s a lot of copy and paste, but carpal tunnel can be a real issue if one is doing several thousand words a day, day-in, day-out.
I understand the need to pay bills, and have had some crank it out items (including actual jobs) in the past, but such items were always accepted with the plan to prospect hard in order to dump them in the future. It’s no been five years since I’ve had to take one of those.
October 1st, 2007 at 9:43 amThe “fun factor” and client reliability are definitely important issues. I write two wine columns which are fun and interesting to write. The pay is decent for the amount of work I put in. The client pays like clockwork. I tend to put in some extra time and write some additional words - beyond my minimum - because I like this gig so much.
My previous at-home job was as a daycare provider. While great for weight loss (12 hour days, plus USDA meals and no time to sit), the pay per hour was dirt. I do look at all my writing jobs on a per-hour basis because I have limited writing time available. That approach works best for me.
I am sorry to hear that some fellow writers are being less than professional. I’m happy, though, to read the great comments here and know that, for the most part, I’m a member of a wonderful fellowship of writers.
October 1st, 2007 at 9:49 amI guess the rates are up to the individual. That doesn’t give writers the right to visit a client’s blog or send emails that are abusive and insulting. This particular writer also sent me a nasty email about a job I posted in which she felt the wages were too low - I know from other people who do this sort of thing it happens with them too. It’s a great way to earn a bad reputation.
We’re all grownups. We don’t need scolding.
October 1st, 2007 at 9:50 amI was offered a writing gig the other week that was double the amount I was being paid by my regular contractor. I declined the offer because I decided to stay in my long term role due to the contractor being (1) a very nice person, (2) pays on time… every time, and (3) has a very flexible work schedule.
The offer was a lovely gesture and one I appreciated very much, but I knew if I took that one on then my long term one would have had to go. Flexibility is very important to me at this moment in time.
October 1st, 2007 at 10:00 amBy the way - I should add that this person who received the hateful comment this weekend (and is continually sought out by the so-called-writer ) is actually one of my highest paying clients and is definitely my most reliable client. He really looks after his writers, which is why I take such issue.
October 1st, 2007 at 10:07 amI’ve just taken another look at Phil’s post and yes, I can relate to the carpel tunnel syndrome. I had to spend about 3 months resting one wrist and also had a swelling in my muscle in the upper arm.
To make matters worse, I also done a stint at designing cards as well as writing them. The designs involved a lot of pencil pressure. I felt fine whilst designing them but afterwards, my muscle on my other arm swelled up too
October 1st, 2007 at 10:11 amI’ve just got to take things steady now, and that’s another reason I watch what projects I take on.
Shell, I can also related to the CTS issue. Just like I said before, my hands are starting to kill me especially since the weather’s become cold recently.
Hope your crisis works itself out in the end, Deb.
October 1st, 2007 at 10:26 amNancyP Says:
Daycare providers are among the lowest paid people out there. I ran a state-approved daycare for a year. On top of the paperwork (I had to keep daily charts of what the kids did every hour, plus when and what they ate, what I was earning, etc.) I had to have my home inspected and had to keep a visible exit plan posted on each floor where children were allowed. At the time (this is 6 years ago, the going rate was $1.50 an hour per child, with discounts given to additional children from the same family. I had one family use my daycare for about six months before deciding that $2 an hour for both of their children was just too much money and that she needed me to drop my rate to $1 an hour for both children.
I let her walk.
My best friend has a two year old and pays $160 a week for daycare in New Hampshire. She is the first to say that if you break it down, she’s at the daycare at 7am and picks up her son at 6pm. That’s 11 hours per day. This daycare is making $160 a week for 55 hours or about $2.90 per hour. She gets furious when her co-workers complain about how much money daycare providers are raking in.
October 1st, 2007 at 10:41 amI’m always annoyed when I go to forums and see people griping at someone who posted a gig. My feeling is, if the job’s not for you, move along and find one that is.
What amazes me most is that these types of people — usually professional writers on a high horse that newbies are degrading their profession — seem to spend so many hours complaining that I don’t see how they get any work done at all. Not that it’s not a valid beef in some cases, but complaining on message boards and blogs isn’t going to change anything. No matter how low paying, there will always be someone who wants the gig, and there will always be the next person who posts another job for even less.
Even for those gigs where someone is offering $1.50 an article, I would never think of writing a nasty response. Not because of reputation but because it’s a waste of time. I see hundreds of them a week; I could spend a 12 hour day writing hate mail. Now, if someone offered me (as in, the job offer lands in my email box) a gig I find insulting, well, that’s a different story.
October 1st, 2007 at 10:57 amMy wife is a day care provider, and I agree with the comments above. Companies like Kinder Care might be doing well, but the workers receive minimum wage.
However, there are also parents that “dump the kids off” early, pick them up late, etc. These same parents typically expect day care, schools, coaches (I coached grade school basketball), to play the role of parents rather than doing it themselves (yes, it’s a sore point).
From comments, I don’t think any of this blog’s visitors fall into this category, but there are a lot of deadbeat parents out there.
October 1st, 2007 at 11:00 amMy degree is in Early Childhood Education and I have worked in daycares and preschools. To me it wasn’t the pay that was so awful it was how the company treated their teachers. We were often described as glorified babysitters but I was sitting on a degree with medals, awards and extensive training on the development and teaching of children from birth to 12.
The centers take advantage and when the government starts talking about creating childcare spaces and giving incentives to centers you know that any money is staying in the grubby little hands of the management. I know one organization I worked for, not for profit organization, hired a person to come in and look at how efficient management was. The person changed two job titles and that was it. The total bill…close to $40,000. This was a way to get rid of overflow cash that they can’t have at the end of the year. Did they give it to their teachers? Ummm no.
The ECE field is a very sore subject for me. Parents generally treat teachers horribly and even if they don’t you get enough headaches from the center to make up for it.
The main point though, is that I didn’t go and send nasty emails to centers about how they under appreciate their workers. I just left the field. Same goes for these people who are mailing nasty emails to gigs. If you have a problem with the highs and lows of working freelance than just leave the field.
Can you tell I get riled up about ECE? LOL. It’s almost like starting a pro-choice debate with someone who is a pro-life advocate. Not good. VBG.
Hopefully people can just grow up and realize that the world is unfair and there is only one thing you can do about it…work to make it as close to fair as possible. Everyone has been in a position where they need to take a crappy job whether it is freelance or the “working” world so just ignore those low paying jobs because there might be someone who really needs it and hasn’t been able to get higher paying jobs.
October 1st, 2007 at 11:22 amWhen deciding on an assignment, I have found you have to get a firm calculation how long it will take you to write it. If it pays $50-75 for a 1,000-word article that will requires lots of research and a few phone calls, then you probably won’t even make minimum wage once you’re finished. But if it’s a few quick calls and material that can be turned out quickly, then you probably can’t go wrong.
I currently have only a blog but no Website. Is there a problem with directing potential clients to a blog? I have my resume posted there.
October 1st, 2007 at 11:30 amI am new to freelance writing. I won’t take horribly low paying work, but for some it might be better than nothing, we never know other’s situations. If you don’t like the pay, then don’t apply! No one is forcing you to take on assignments that do not meet your financial goals. Complaining and insulting people is a great way to get what you want…no job!
October 1st, 2007 at 11:34 amIn some ways, I find myself astonished at how low-paying the writing profession is. One newspaper job, which wanted 10 articles a week (that means really having to put in the hours) for $8 an hour. There was another newspaper that paid about $15 an hour, which was nice. I guess once you become successful and established, you can dictate your own fees. Kind of like how a studio has to ask whether they’d rather spend $20 million to get Robert DeNiro or spend a few tens of thousands of dollars on an unknown who might turn out to be a complete bust.
October 1st, 2007 at 11:34 amNormally, I would settle for low-paying work, but since I currently have no day job and don’t have any expendable cash, I spend a lot of time looking for work that pays NOW instead of later.
October 1st, 2007 at 11:35 amRichard - I can’t see no problem in directing potential clients to your blog if they request to see some of your work. The main thing to remember is that everything looks professional, and that your resume markets your abilities in a good, strong light.
I noticed some job ads request sample blogs that have a wide audience base, but this isn’t always the case. Some companies may just want to see your writing style, etc.
October 1st, 2007 at 11:38 amThanks for the linkage!
brian
October 1st, 2007 at 11:38 amRichard, we’re in the same boat right now. In the future, I want to spend time querying big pubs and mags that pay 60-90 days after publication so I could “get my name out there” and have the “street rep” to get higher-paying gigs. But as of now, being a full-time freelancer who has to take care of her family at the age of 23 and fresh out of college; I also look for gigs which pay immediately. Just being practical here.
October 1st, 2007 at 11:41 amIf you have so much time to moan and complain over pay, you obviously have too much time on your hands.
Get looking for a job.
JMHO.
October 1st, 2007 at 11:56 amI’ll be honest and say that I skip over the $25 for 500 words jobs at this point in my career. I did them when I was first starting out, for various reasons. I’m firmly in the camp of doing what you think you need to do for your career.
And who is to say the rates won’t go up? I once did articles for a company that paid me $50 for a 1000 word piece. At the time, the income was pocket money for me, and I had the chance to learn some things. Within a year, the rate increased by $100 an article. Still not great money, but the per hour rate improved immensely. Plus, that $150 was more than I made per day in my office job.
I know some people who don’t hesitate to write berating letters to editors offering jobs. I know they think they are defending writers everywhere with their letters and comments (a few have told me that’s why they did it). However, this is a career that is all about networking. Some of these same writers who write those letter moan about their own lack of work. Well, if you’ve developed a reputation as a complainer, news will spread. Plus, they never seem to think of the consequences of their actions, like the loss of opportunities for other writers.
October 1st, 2007 at 11:58 amI honestly don’t know why that person took it so personally. You aren’t being required to write for $5 a gig unless you want to do so. I think often people capitalize on the anonymity of the web to vent frustrations they would never otherwise vent. It seems a shame, however. I’m sure their energies are best spent elsewhere.
October 1st, 2007 at 12:09 pmI just have a quick note to Deb - thanks for saying rent is due. I payed mine today and it felt so good.
Nice knowing others are doing the same.
October 1st, 2007 at 12:57 pmOne more thing - because they are slow today, I am feeling so aware of how much I count on your leads, Deb. I’m used to them being there, all the time, like a comfy pair of slippers. Waiting for them today is making me so GRATEFUL for this amazing service you provide to me and the other freelancers. So THANK YOU!!!
October 1st, 2007 at 1:00 pmIf someone wants to complain about a company/employer/contracting agency, there’s a site for doing it: trenchmice.com
(Also a place to scope out potential employers.)
October 1st, 2007 at 1:05 pmSorry, this isn’t exactly on the topic but…
Deb, do you blog for the candy blog? That looks like it would be SO much fun. Except just reading it is making me hungry. :-\
October 1st, 2007 at 1:09 pmAMy, I second that. I would love to blog about candies…… *_*
October 1st, 2007 at 1:12 pmHi Amy,
Nope. That one isn’t mine, though I’m acquainted with the blogger who maintains that one. It’s a fun blog, isn’t it?
Deb
October 1st, 2007 at 1:12 pmYes, I am addicted already. That’s the funnest blog I’ve ever seen. Now I want those Chocolate Skittles.
October 1st, 2007 at 1:18 pmHow do I get a blog job like Candy Addict? I think I could go for that, especially if I get free samples! Guess I need to keep looking around for a job that cool.
October 1st, 2007 at 1:20 pmI completely agree on being grown ups here. No scolding needed. What is acceptable payment to one person, may not be to another. Paying bills is my priority.
October 1st, 2007 at 1:29 pmFirst things first: Congratulations, Mariella! I can’t help but comment that you beat me even despite the catfight on the August 24th thread. I posted an awful lot that night — LOL.
Re: Nasty letters:
Well, I have to admit, until I saw the mention of the nasty comment on another site, I thought that was me Deb was talking about. LOL.
I have to say that although I never would have written a nasty note over $25 per 500 words — which, as people have already pointed out, can be pretty good depending on what your hourly ends up being — I have been known to give the $1-per-article clients a piece of my mind from time to time. I usually just skip over that kind of ad on the job boards, too, but I’ve had it happen where there is no rate posted (or a different one), and when I apply I get an email offering me a buck per 500 words or something equally ridiculous. In those cases, I usually do write back and tell them in no uncertain terms that their rates are insulting.
My emails to such clients usually go something like this: “Thanks for your response. Unfortunately, as a professional writer, I do not work for lower than…” It’s not blasting, but I think it gets the point across just the same, if not better.
I do agree that if you do that too frequently or with the wrong people you could get blacklisted. However, usually the clients offering $1 per article are not really “in the business” to blacklist you, anyway. Joe Schmoe thinking he’s going to get rich on Adsense does not qualify as someone you need to worry about.
October 1st, 2007 at 1:37 pmI also wanted to comment on the daycare discussion. I worked in childcare and preschool for about 6 years, with more than half of that spent in the major corporations (Children’s World and Kindercare). The pay sucks, no doubt about that. Children’s World starts their employees at minimum wage, and their idea of a good raise is about 15 or 20 cents a year. About 6 years ago, after becoming group leader qualified, I tried to go back to Children’s World, but when I found out that the highest they could offer me — even with all of my qualifications — was under $8, I declined and moved on.
All I can say is, they get what they pay for.
And, Phil, I agree with you — too many parents see daycare as an alternative to raising their kids. I saw some really sad things when I worked in childcare.
October 1st, 2007 at 1:49 pmOn the daycare issue - I’m so shocked - and a bit envious - at the daycare rates you guys are paying. The standard rate in Switzerland is 40 to 100 $ per child per day, all depending on your taxable income. Rather stiff but I must say the service is really good - child:caregiver ratio is 3:1 for babies and 6:1 for pre-schoolers.
October 1st, 2007 at 2:50 pmIn Germany, a “day mother” earns 6$ per hour per child…
agree –
Yes, but Switzerland is known for very high-quality care. And at least the price is determined on your income. Many American families, particularly single parents, can’t come close to being able to afford $600 a month!
October 1st, 2007 at 2:56 pmOh, and agree –
The ratio (in Colorado at least) is 5 infants/one-year-olds per teacher, 7 two-year-olds per teacher, 10 three-year-olds, or 12 four-year-olds. Daycare for school-agers is 15 per teacher, but at one center I worked for they were able to bump up the kindergarten room to 25 per teacher simply by making it a “private” kindergarten program.
Those ratios are high enough, but unfortunately many daycares bend the rules a little…or a lot. At one center I worked for, I had 20-some 3-year-olds all by myself every morning for about an hour (more if the second teacher was late).
October 1st, 2007 at 3:00 pmI don’t know how much VT rules have changed, but when I was a daycare provider in the late 90s I could have up to 10 kids in my house at the same time, but only two of them could be infants. If I took more than 2 infants or more than 10 kids, I had to hire a helper.
I’m glad we sacrificed a lot to make sure I was home with both of our kids. Just seeing the difference in them today is well worth it. Meanwhile, the families here who put their kids in daycares or gave them a key and had them stay home alone after school. It’s depressing.
There are five girls in this neighborhood who had kids before their 19th birthday. One more is due next month. A 16 year old is about to become a dad. One died after getting into a fight at a high school party. One is in jail for drug crimes and another is heading that way.
I live in a quiet, family neighborhood, so this has been a wake-up call to me that it might not just be poor or city areas where things like this are happening. I think lack of parental involvement is the key issue.
October 2nd, 2007 at 9:12 amAnn –
For the record, I was talking about ratios in daycare centers, not in-home daycares. I don’t know what the rules are for those here, but I think they gauge it by the size of your house (or the size of the area you intend to have the kids in).
October 2nd, 2007 at 12:01 pmKatherine-
I should have clarified my post. At the time, the rules for in-house daycare and licensed centers were the same except that licensed daycares had to be in a separate building not attached to a home, for example you couldn’t turn your garage into a school and call it done.
I went and looked today’s rules up for the state. Daycare centers licensed with VT with no more than 59 children must have a director or head teacher who holds a teaching degree. The ratio of children to daycare providers cannot exceed 10:1 for those under Kindergarten age or 13:1 for those over kindergarten age. So it’s really no better here than it was back in the 90s.
I find another rule pretty sad. More than 1/3 of the day cannot be dedicated to watching movies or television. That means that if your kid is in the center for 9 hours, for three of those hours the child may be sat down watching TV. Now by no means am I a perfect parent or surrogate mom, but usually I cut off my best friend’s toddler after two 1/2 hour shows and have him to play with me or we’ll go outside and wander around the neighborhood. Now I know why he’s so addicted to the television and throws a fit when I only let him watch Dora and Diego and nothing else.
October 2nd, 2007 at 1:47 pmThe teaching degree requirement and the ratios are better than our laws in Colorado!
I also find the TV rule sad. When I worked in childcare, it was a rare occasion when we had a “movie day.” Once a month, tops?
My personal feelings regarding television have changed over the years. When I would babysit 8 or 10 years ago, I saw no problem with allowing the kids to watch TV — I viewed it as a special treat on a night where they had a babysitter.
Now, however, I’ve realized that most kids watch TV so often that it’s not really a treat. I almost never turn on the TV when I am babysitting now, and the kids I watch regularly don’t even ask anymore. Without the temptation of TV, they seem to have more fun playing, anyway.
October 2nd, 2007 at 2:48 pm