I've given myself a raise in my freelance writing business. I'm the one with the corner office (quite literally) so it's up to me to give it to myself. To grow and be happy I need to like my job and have enough money to live. What I'm now doing to try to raise my writing rates is this:
Negotiate periodic increases. When I negotiate a new contract with a client I'm now telling them up front that every six months I review pricing with clients and they are subject to increases. This way, I'm not locked in to the same prices forever and when I'm ready to raise rates, they are already using me and seeing what value add I bring to their business.
I have a client I've been dealing with for a long time and they pay me a bulk rate but I wish I'd thought of this when I negotiated the contract. Lesson learned.
Quote higher on new client quote requests. New clients are finding me through search engines and through word of mouth. As long as they're finding me, I have nothing to lose when I quote them.
How else can I raise my rates unless I choose to raise them when I quote? I figure if I'm busy enough I can afford to quote higher than I usually do when something falls in my lap. If I don't win the order, nothing lost. I know a lot of writers (that I'm just as good as) will charge more than I do and I want to improve my status as I go on just as I did in the business world.
I am not about to rob clients blind but I deserve a cost of living increase yearly as I develop my knowledge and skills and prove my worth and the only way I'll get it is if I decide to pursue it. Besides, if I quote high and they want to negotiate (and I really want the gig) I'll have wiggle room.
Find more streams of income. I have a blog post that's been earning me monthly income for 2 years despite taking only 5 minutes to write. I'm going to find more of those so I more have passive income and can be choosier about writing assignments and gigs I accept.
A huge part of self-improvement is avoiding complacency. If you want to make $100 an hour and you're only at $15, only you can command that extra $85. When you get to $100, don't settle. Stretch your legs and strive for $200.
Showing posts with label writing pay. Show all posts
Showing posts with label writing pay. Show all posts
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Thursday, April 3, 2008
Four Dollars a Word?
Do you have dreams of getting paid dollars instead of pennies for your writing words?
Last night I watched a rerun of Sex in the City and the main character Carrie Bradshaw was thinking about taking on freelance work with Vogue for $4 a word. I almost fell outta bed dreaming of those rates.
Last week I was copied on an email from a client that included another writer that they obviously use. I Googled that writer and found out they are selling a ten article pack for $790.00 which translated to about .15 a word. Even that sounds wonderful to me! I almost fell off my stability ball (seriously. I almost ended up on my head. I try to work on my stability ball at the computer a few hours a day and the idea of fifteen cents per written word threw me off balance). I am SO ready to make that kind of dosh and getting there will ultimately lead to the elusive dollar per word.
I'm not going to get there unless I make it happen so that's the plan. There's no boss doing a performance and salary review annually to help me get a raise since I'm self-employed so it's up to me to raise my rates and buy Darling husband that new boat he's been wanting...
Yesterday I was reading some blog posts from some very established writers and definitely saw some areas I can improve on both in my work as well as in how I project myself to clients so I'm working on a plan to get the kind of clients willing to pay for value added writing services.
I had one client haggling with me recently over a few pennies per word and I've now decided after working with some clients paying the same rates to me as two years ago that wherever possible I'm going to quote pricing with a six month period listed so I have the opportunity to move up financially. I'm also planning on targeting new niche areas that seem to pay really well so am developing my skills in key areas.
I know my work has improved in many areas in the two years I've been freelance writing so it's time to make sure my rates improve as well. I've quadrupled my original rates for the most part in two years. How have you fared over time in getting raises on your freelance work rates? How did you do it?
Last night I watched a rerun of Sex in the City and the main character Carrie Bradshaw was thinking about taking on freelance work with Vogue for $4 a word. I almost fell outta bed dreaming of those rates.
Last week I was copied on an email from a client that included another writer that they obviously use. I Googled that writer and found out they are selling a ten article pack for $790.00 which translated to about .15 a word. Even that sounds wonderful to me! I almost fell off my stability ball (seriously. I almost ended up on my head. I try to work on my stability ball at the computer a few hours a day and the idea of fifteen cents per written word threw me off balance). I am SO ready to make that kind of dosh and getting there will ultimately lead to the elusive dollar per word.
I'm not going to get there unless I make it happen so that's the plan. There's no boss doing a performance and salary review annually to help me get a raise since I'm self-employed so it's up to me to raise my rates and buy Darling husband that new boat he's been wanting...
Yesterday I was reading some blog posts from some very established writers and definitely saw some areas I can improve on both in my work as well as in how I project myself to clients so I'm working on a plan to get the kind of clients willing to pay for value added writing services.
I had one client haggling with me recently over a few pennies per word and I've now decided after working with some clients paying the same rates to me as two years ago that wherever possible I'm going to quote pricing with a six month period listed so I have the opportunity to move up financially. I'm also planning on targeting new niche areas that seem to pay really well so am developing my skills in key areas.
I know my work has improved in many areas in the two years I've been freelance writing so it's time to make sure my rates improve as well. I've quadrupled my original rates for the most part in two years. How have you fared over time in getting raises on your freelance work rates? How did you do it?
Friday, February 22, 2008
Reviewing Your Writing Rates
Are you making more per word or more per hour now than you did a year ago?
This morning I happened on an old post about writing pay that inspired this post. In the beginning of my freelance writing career I couldn't believe I was being paid to write. At first, I was willing to write for nothing---for experience and exposure and the glory of seeing my words somewhere other than in my journal or unfinished novels. I even got lured into doing a free 'internship' where a popular online magazine offered me the promise of possible paid work later if I'd populate their made for Adsense sites with travel articles. When I relized how much they were actually scamming me I told them I had enough paid work to keep me busy enough. They were indignant that I'd leave the "opportunity" without giving notice and tried to dangle a carrot. It didn't work and I was suddenly wiser.
It feels like forever ago even though it's only been 2 years since I first launched my writing career. Today I have a figure in mind for how much I will write for. It's essential that I spend my time on either making money or furthering my career or preferably both. It's come to a point where I won't write for less than a specific rate per word or rate per hour. Some writers make .01/word and some make $1/word. After you've been writing for a while you have to set goals for yourself financially and in terms of what writing you want to do. Today instead of taking anything thrown at me I only spend my time on lucrative and fun or very lucrative (if not fun) writing work.
How do you take your writing career in a specific direction?
After you've been learning the ropes for a while it's time to decide what to do next.
Decide how much you will write for and come up with a rate per word or better yet... a rate per hour that you want to earn. Higher rates per word don't always dictate how much time it'll take to earn it so look at more than just the rate. Look at research, revisions and ease of doing business with the client.
Try to find your niche so you can be known as a specialist. Some writers are known for autoesponders. Some are known for press releases or SEO or sales pages. Some writers become specialists in a specific topic.
By finding a niche that you're really good in and that you enjoy you can systematically raise your rates. By showing clients how great your work is, you can raise your rates and by not allowing yourself to become complacent you can raise your writing rates too. I have an old post somewhere in this blog that talks about my average rates being .01 to .02 a word and at the time I was very proud of those rates. Today I don't have to write for those rates and sometimes have to stop myself from accepting low paid work because I like the subject matter. Instead of doing low paid work during idle time, if I spend time on self promotion and my own internet marketing efforts for multiple income streams my time is better spent.
Starting out at .01/word was great for my career and taught me a lot about how to write for the web, how to get paid to write and how to get repeat clients but in order to move forward in your writing career you need to continually work to learn more about the industry, raise your rates and do the type of writing you enjoy.
It was interesting reading that old post this morning about how much I earned writing for a living a year ago and it'll be interesting to look aback in another two years and see where my writing efforts have taken me too. I'm looking forward to the journey!
This morning I happened on an old post about writing pay that inspired this post. In the beginning of my freelance writing career I couldn't believe I was being paid to write. At first, I was willing to write for nothing---for experience and exposure and the glory of seeing my words somewhere other than in my journal or unfinished novels. I even got lured into doing a free 'internship' where a popular online magazine offered me the promise of possible paid work later if I'd populate their made for Adsense sites with travel articles. When I relized how much they were actually scamming me I told them I had enough paid work to keep me busy enough. They were indignant that I'd leave the "opportunity" without giving notice and tried to dangle a carrot. It didn't work and I was suddenly wiser.
It feels like forever ago even though it's only been 2 years since I first launched my writing career. Today I have a figure in mind for how much I will write for. It's essential that I spend my time on either making money or furthering my career or preferably both. It's come to a point where I won't write for less than a specific rate per word or rate per hour. Some writers make .01/word and some make $1/word. After you've been writing for a while you have to set goals for yourself financially and in terms of what writing you want to do. Today instead of taking anything thrown at me I only spend my time on lucrative and fun or very lucrative (if not fun) writing work.
How do you take your writing career in a specific direction?
After you've been learning the ropes for a while it's time to decide what to do next.
Decide how much you will write for and come up with a rate per word or better yet... a rate per hour that you want to earn. Higher rates per word don't always dictate how much time it'll take to earn it so look at more than just the rate. Look at research, revisions and ease of doing business with the client.
Try to find your niche so you can be known as a specialist. Some writers are known for autoesponders. Some are known for press releases or SEO or sales pages. Some writers become specialists in a specific topic.
By finding a niche that you're really good in and that you enjoy you can systematically raise your rates. By showing clients how great your work is, you can raise your rates and by not allowing yourself to become complacent you can raise your writing rates too. I have an old post somewhere in this blog that talks about my average rates being .01 to .02 a word and at the time I was very proud of those rates. Today I don't have to write for those rates and sometimes have to stop myself from accepting low paid work because I like the subject matter. Instead of doing low paid work during idle time, if I spend time on self promotion and my own internet marketing efforts for multiple income streams my time is better spent.
Starting out at .01/word was great for my career and taught me a lot about how to write for the web, how to get paid to write and how to get repeat clients but in order to move forward in your writing career you need to continually work to learn more about the industry, raise your rates and do the type of writing you enjoy.
It was interesting reading that old post this morning about how much I earned writing for a living a year ago and it'll be interesting to look aback in another two years and see where my writing efforts have taken me too. I'm looking forward to the journey!
Monday, January 28, 2008
Freelance Writers: Don't Let Your Manners Get In The Way of Getting Paid To Write
Etiquette is important when you want to establish yourself as a professional but it should not be at the sacrifice of your business.
Don't be afraid to ask about money early in the negotiations with a client or potential client. It's to your advantage to approach the subject with confidence and without apology. You both know the score and that you are a freelance writer who writes to earn.
I often see opportunities that are paid with byline or that are a little low paying but offer a lot of good for your career but too often, I think freelance writers are afraid of hurting their image by asking about money. Most freelance writers do it for money despite their love for the craft so it's important to take the right approach on the subject to minimise your exposure for loss.
When you negotiate a writing project, you need to have clear expectations of what is expected of you and when you'll be paid. It's much easier to do the job you're being paid to do if you know up front what to expect. Here are a few money related tips for you:
New Clients And Writing Project Deposits
If it's a new client, ask for a deposit and don't start the job until the deposit clears. If they are frightened off, either they are new to the industry and not convinced you won't rip them off or they are not to be trusted anyway. If you establish yourself as a professional and treat the negotiations as such, new clients won't be suspicious of your motives. However, you must be sure you deliver on time when you have been paid a deposit or you probably won't have repeat business.
Milestone or Interim Payments
It's ok to arrange interim payments if it is a long project that eats up a significant amount of your time. You won't know if it's possible unless you ask. It can be difficult to write for several weeks without money coming in and frankly when it's a new client, it's easier to chase for a week's pay than four weeks of pay so it's something to consider. Milestones are also a great idea for ensuring that you are on target to meet the client's expectations. Better to do a rewrite on a week's work than a month's!
Invoice Immediately!
Invoice as soon as you send the job. If I'm being paid by PayPal, my invoice is a PayPal invoice. The minute my assignment is in, I'm making arrangements to be paid.
I like the PayPal invoice as it tells them immediately, "The work is in, now pay for it!" I also like to initiate the payment myself with the PayPal request instead of waiting patiently for the client to manually pay me. They don't have to look up my e-mail address or ask me for my PayPal e-mail account and the clients have the ability to pay me with the click of a button instead of manually paying me and if I need to, with the click of a button I can send a 'reminder' notice. I rarely simply use the reminder notice on PayPal, mind you. I'd rather ask the question and give the client an opportunity to answer me.
Following Up On Past Due Invoices and Understanding the Details of Payment
If the buyer is not meeting their agreed commitment, it's ok to follow up. Don't stew and worry about your money, find out what's happening as soon as they're late. If a client falls outside their normal habits for payment, I send a quick and polite follow up e-mail. There's nothing wrong with this and it's not bad manners. As freelancers, we don't necessarily have a weekly paycheque so we live by the ETA our client gives us for our payment.
My last suggestion is that you find out how they will pay you up front. This is something I've struggled with a few times with clients. If they're sending a cheque, you know your own bank's policies and to account for snail mail but if you are expecting a PayPal payment and you get an e-check instead of a live payment, it's a lousy feeling when you weren't expecting it. Depending on the country you're in and the country the client is in it can take weeks for it to clear so when it's indicated that you'll be paid by PayPal, there's nothing rude about asking if it'll be a live payment or an e-check.
Talking about money isn't rude when you are a freelancer and on the contrary it's a detriment to your livelihood so approach the subject confidently and professionally.
Don't be afraid to ask about money early in the negotiations with a client or potential client. It's to your advantage to approach the subject with confidence and without apology. You both know the score and that you are a freelance writer who writes to earn.
I often see opportunities that are paid with byline or that are a little low paying but offer a lot of good for your career but too often, I think freelance writers are afraid of hurting their image by asking about money. Most freelance writers do it for money despite their love for the craft so it's important to take the right approach on the subject to minimise your exposure for loss.
When you negotiate a writing project, you need to have clear expectations of what is expected of you and when you'll be paid. It's much easier to do the job you're being paid to do if you know up front what to expect. Here are a few money related tips for you:
New Clients And Writing Project Deposits
If it's a new client, ask for a deposit and don't start the job until the deposit clears. If they are frightened off, either they are new to the industry and not convinced you won't rip them off or they are not to be trusted anyway. If you establish yourself as a professional and treat the negotiations as such, new clients won't be suspicious of your motives. However, you must be sure you deliver on time when you have been paid a deposit or you probably won't have repeat business.
Milestone or Interim Payments
It's ok to arrange interim payments if it is a long project that eats up a significant amount of your time. You won't know if it's possible unless you ask. It can be difficult to write for several weeks without money coming in and frankly when it's a new client, it's easier to chase for a week's pay than four weeks of pay so it's something to consider. Milestones are also a great idea for ensuring that you are on target to meet the client's expectations. Better to do a rewrite on a week's work than a month's!
Invoice Immediately!
Invoice as soon as you send the job. If I'm being paid by PayPal, my invoice is a PayPal invoice. The minute my assignment is in, I'm making arrangements to be paid.
I like the PayPal invoice as it tells them immediately, "The work is in, now pay for it!" I also like to initiate the payment myself with the PayPal request instead of waiting patiently for the client to manually pay me. They don't have to look up my e-mail address or ask me for my PayPal e-mail account and the clients have the ability to pay me with the click of a button instead of manually paying me and if I need to, with the click of a button I can send a 'reminder' notice. I rarely simply use the reminder notice on PayPal, mind you. I'd rather ask the question and give the client an opportunity to answer me.
Following Up On Past Due Invoices and Understanding the Details of Payment
If the buyer is not meeting their agreed commitment, it's ok to follow up. Don't stew and worry about your money, find out what's happening as soon as they're late. If a client falls outside their normal habits for payment, I send a quick and polite follow up e-mail. There's nothing wrong with this and it's not bad manners. As freelancers, we don't necessarily have a weekly paycheque so we live by the ETA our client gives us for our payment.
My last suggestion is that you find out how they will pay you up front. This is something I've struggled with a few times with clients. If they're sending a cheque, you know your own bank's policies and to account for snail mail but if you are expecting a PayPal payment and you get an e-check instead of a live payment, it's a lousy feeling when you weren't expecting it. Depending on the country you're in and the country the client is in it can take weeks for it to clear so when it's indicated that you'll be paid by PayPal, there's nothing rude about asking if it'll be a live payment or an e-check.
Talking about money isn't rude when you are a freelancer and on the contrary it's a detriment to your livelihood so approach the subject confidently and professionally.
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
What Is The Biggest Writing Career Danger?
The biggest threat to your successful writing career is complacency. Don’t get too complacent or you’ll find that your writing rates stay the same, the work gets boring and the opportunities might dry up. It’s easy to fall into a routine with your writing once you have work and money flowing in but the worldwide web is an ever evolving medium and if you don’t stay abreast of news and new techniques, you’ll find that the ship of profit is passing you by.
If you want to raise your rates and increase your income consistently month after month you have to work constantly to ensure that it happens for you.
You’ll often hear the adage, “Get in on the ground floor.” It’s very true with the Internet. The dot com boom made many people very, very wealthy because they got in at the right time and timing is very important in the online writing world. With writing rates, I’m told they’ve been cut down by over 60% over average writing rates three years ago because of outsourcing to countries like India where wages are cheaper and in this industry because there are so many people out there more worried about quantity than quality. While that’s a topic for another blog post there is a point: you have to stay competitive, get ahead of the crowd and work constantly to find profitable niches. Keep your ear to the ground to find out about ground floor opportunities before they're too widely marketed. Figure out who is giving out the best secrets so you can find out before everyone else does!
To maintain an upward curve in your workload and rates plus have longevity in this industry you need to do a few things:
-Continuously learn. You have to keep up to date on the lingo, the terms and the needs of your potential customers. Keep up to date otherwise you’ll miss the bus!
-Self promotion. Constantly market yourself to keep your opportunities coming in. If you are on the top of the search engines today you can’t become complacent or you’ll disappear off page one in no time
-Keep looking for jobs. The only way to raise your rates is to apply for new jobs. The only way to get qualified is to apply for better paying, higher quality work so that you can build the experience and expertise you need in order to qualify for the better paying writing jobs. Doing the same tasks over and over will result in complacency. It’s ok to have long term clients but you need to keep working to broaden your skills and horizons as well. Your clients probably won't give you a raise in rates if you don't say anything and if most of today's clients are low paying work, start dressing for the job you want instead of the job you have got :)
-Don’t put your eggs in one basket. Diversify! Get more than one niche and have more than one client otherwise if things drastically change you could be left scrambling. Don’t get too comfy or the rug could be pulled out from under you.
How to avoid complacency in writing?
Each week you should set time aside to read up on your niche and the industry in general. You should also regularly keep in touch with other writers through a group or community forum so you can stay abreast of news and opportunities. You should also market yourself through some way to keep your name in the search engines with new entries at all times. This can be blogs, article directories, e-books, forums or other areas. Staying active in cyberspace will help you tremendously with your writing career.
If you want to raise your rates and increase your income consistently month after month you have to work constantly to ensure that it happens for you.
You’ll often hear the adage, “Get in on the ground floor.” It’s very true with the Internet. The dot com boom made many people very, very wealthy because they got in at the right time and timing is very important in the online writing world. With writing rates, I’m told they’ve been cut down by over 60% over average writing rates three years ago because of outsourcing to countries like India where wages are cheaper and in this industry because there are so many people out there more worried about quantity than quality. While that’s a topic for another blog post there is a point: you have to stay competitive, get ahead of the crowd and work constantly to find profitable niches. Keep your ear to the ground to find out about ground floor opportunities before they're too widely marketed. Figure out who is giving out the best secrets so you can find out before everyone else does!
To maintain an upward curve in your workload and rates plus have longevity in this industry you need to do a few things:
-Continuously learn. You have to keep up to date on the lingo, the terms and the needs of your potential customers. Keep up to date otherwise you’ll miss the bus!
-Self promotion. Constantly market yourself to keep your opportunities coming in. If you are on the top of the search engines today you can’t become complacent or you’ll disappear off page one in no time
-Keep looking for jobs. The only way to raise your rates is to apply for new jobs. The only way to get qualified is to apply for better paying, higher quality work so that you can build the experience and expertise you need in order to qualify for the better paying writing jobs. Doing the same tasks over and over will result in complacency. It’s ok to have long term clients but you need to keep working to broaden your skills and horizons as well. Your clients probably won't give you a raise in rates if you don't say anything and if most of today's clients are low paying work, start dressing for the job you want instead of the job you have got :)
-Don’t put your eggs in one basket. Diversify! Get more than one niche and have more than one client otherwise if things drastically change you could be left scrambling. Don’t get too comfy or the rug could be pulled out from under you.
How to avoid complacency in writing?
Each week you should set time aside to read up on your niche and the industry in general. You should also regularly keep in touch with other writers through a group or community forum so you can stay abreast of news and opportunities. You should also market yourself through some way to keep your name in the search engines with new entries at all times. This can be blogs, article directories, e-books, forums or other areas. Staying active in cyberspace will help you tremendously with your writing career.
Monday, October 22, 2007
Knowing When To Walk Away From A Writing Job
It became painfully clear to me this morning that I had bit off more than I wanted to chew. I’m learning in this business that (to quote the famous song) you have to know when to walk away and know when to run!
The e-mails back and forth from the client before he gave me the green light should’ve been my first clue that he would be high maintenance. High maintenance isn’t uncommon in this business but it can make a job less profitable.
My first clue should have been that a 600 word article with 100 words worth of keywords is going to produce a so-so keyword article and when the client seems high maintenance it’s a red flag. You can’t possibly expect stellar quality copy with that ratio of keywords.
I think I did pretty well under the circumstances even though I had to go to 660. The email back was about a mile long with comments and suggestions for the rewording. I was only charging 2 cents a word and he had 4 more articles to go with the same level of keywords per article. I knew at the moment I got his mile long dissection of my first article with bolds, underlines and italics throughout that it was time to back away. I toyed with the idea of giving his rewrite a try and then decided to trust my gut instinct which usually doesn’t fail me.
Here was my reply:
Dear _____,
I charged my rate for standard keyword articles and frankly the number of keywords made it very difficult to get a good flow going with the article.
I'm concerned that the rewrites will be far too excessive for the rate I have charged. Judging by the length of your e-mail to me it appears that for each article I do for you I will have several rewrites to do on each article until you are satisfied. I'm not faulting you for having a specific need and expecting it to be delivered I'm just pretty sure that I didn't reflect that in my quote to you. .02/per word is for standard SEO articles and your article requirements now appear to be much more than that. I typically have no problem with a minor rewrite if I didn't deliver according to the brief but based on the keyword ratio, the word count and the expectation that every article will result in a rewrite I think I need to back out of this project.
Based on the descriptions you gave and all your directions I don't think I was able to accurately estimate the time and effort involved. Your response to me on the first one tells me that you have specific wants and needs and my expectation is that you will have a rewrite request for each article I write. Based on the rate I have quoted I'm expecting one set of instructions at the beginning of the project and the ability to meet them easily.
Based on my current work load I will have to refund your deposit. I'm sorry if this causes problems for you but while I have a high standard of quality in my work I don't feel that level of work you desire is something I can deliver based on the rate I charged you or my schedule availability.
With Regrets,
Dana
*****
Note to readers: Learn when to walk. I only charged $60 for 5 articles and know for a fact it would’ve resulted in at least 10 or more emails back and forth and several rewrite attempts. Before we even got started on the first one I had an e-mail trail of 15+ emails. The time it takes you to do the pre-sales support on a job can make the job unprofitable if you aren’t careful and while you want to satisfy a customer and produce work that they want, you need to be sure that you know up front what you are getting yourself into. I’m sorry that I left this man without his articles but know I’d have resented the job in the end because it would’ve cost me money to do it.
The client replied graciously and wished me well. Although he probably wasn’t pleased to have to go back to the drawing board and find another writer, I hope that he respected that I advised him straight away and understood my reasoning.
A year ago I would take any job for any amount of pay just to be able to write. I'd probably also take any amount of abuse and rework thrown at me. Today I have learned that time is money and there’s more to the fees than just the price per word.
The e-mails back and forth from the client before he gave me the green light should’ve been my first clue that he would be high maintenance. High maintenance isn’t uncommon in this business but it can make a job less profitable.
My first clue should have been that a 600 word article with 100 words worth of keywords is going to produce a so-so keyword article and when the client seems high maintenance it’s a red flag. You can’t possibly expect stellar quality copy with that ratio of keywords.
I think I did pretty well under the circumstances even though I had to go to 660. The email back was about a mile long with comments and suggestions for the rewording. I was only charging 2 cents a word and he had 4 more articles to go with the same level of keywords per article. I knew at the moment I got his mile long dissection of my first article with bolds, underlines and italics throughout that it was time to back away. I toyed with the idea of giving his rewrite a try and then decided to trust my gut instinct which usually doesn’t fail me.
Here was my reply:
Dear _____,
I charged my rate for standard keyword articles and frankly the number of keywords made it very difficult to get a good flow going with the article.
I'm concerned that the rewrites will be far too excessive for the rate I have charged. Judging by the length of your e-mail to me it appears that for each article I do for you I will have several rewrites to do on each article until you are satisfied. I'm not faulting you for having a specific need and expecting it to be delivered I'm just pretty sure that I didn't reflect that in my quote to you. .02/per word is for standard SEO articles and your article requirements now appear to be much more than that. I typically have no problem with a minor rewrite if I didn't deliver according to the brief but based on the keyword ratio, the word count and the expectation that every article will result in a rewrite I think I need to back out of this project.
Based on the descriptions you gave and all your directions I don't think I was able to accurately estimate the time and effort involved. Your response to me on the first one tells me that you have specific wants and needs and my expectation is that you will have a rewrite request for each article I write. Based on the rate I have quoted I'm expecting one set of instructions at the beginning of the project and the ability to meet them easily.
Based on my current work load I will have to refund your deposit. I'm sorry if this causes problems for you but while I have a high standard of quality in my work I don't feel that level of work you desire is something I can deliver based on the rate I charged you or my schedule availability.
With Regrets,
Dana
*****
Note to readers: Learn when to walk. I only charged $60 for 5 articles and know for a fact it would’ve resulted in at least 10 or more emails back and forth and several rewrite attempts. Before we even got started on the first one I had an e-mail trail of 15+ emails. The time it takes you to do the pre-sales support on a job can make the job unprofitable if you aren’t careful and while you want to satisfy a customer and produce work that they want, you need to be sure that you know up front what you are getting yourself into. I’m sorry that I left this man without his articles but know I’d have resented the job in the end because it would’ve cost me money to do it.
The client replied graciously and wished me well. Although he probably wasn’t pleased to have to go back to the drawing board and find another writer, I hope that he respected that I advised him straight away and understood my reasoning.
A year ago I would take any job for any amount of pay just to be able to write. I'd probably also take any amount of abuse and rework thrown at me. Today I have learned that time is money and there’s more to the fees than just the price per word.
Thursday, September 20, 2007
$1 for 500 Words Plus Pay For Copyscape
In hindsight, my reply to the message was far too nice. I am tempted to go back and edit but think I'll use my blog as an outlet instead.
This link:
http://www.wahm.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=454536
is a great example of why there's so much garbage content online. First of all, writers who accept these assignments probably don't have English as their first language. That's the only explanation for accepting $1 per 500 words. Maybe that $1 buys you more in a different country other than Canada the US, UK or Australia. Shrug.
Many writers who are desperate to write will take low paying gigs to get their start. This type of gig is way too low. Before I found out about the lucrative freelance writing market, I tried doing a few things to earn money online. Before I knew anything, I might have seen $10 for 5000 words as a fun past time but clearly, it's not for serious writers. I hope this guy doesn't get any serious newbies who are willing to write for that low just for the glorious title of being called a paid writer.
As for low paying assignments, I've done it, I still do at times but my bottom end is $.01/word and that's for no brainer and high volume assignments. But trust me, for $01/word you still get good flowing, true and quality original articles. Please don't support companies that don't treat writers fairly. You'll earn more money than this writing on AC and Helium and waiting a bit longer for payout.
If you want to find decent jobs, check out Deb Ng at Writersrow.com or the homepage of goldenprose.com
Cheers,
Dana
This link:
http://www.wahm.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=454536
is a great example of why there's so much garbage content online. First of all, writers who accept these assignments probably don't have English as their first language. That's the only explanation for accepting $1 per 500 words. Maybe that $1 buys you more in a different country other than Canada the US, UK or Australia. Shrug.
Many writers who are desperate to write will take low paying gigs to get their start. This type of gig is way too low. Before I found out about the lucrative freelance writing market, I tried doing a few things to earn money online. Before I knew anything, I might have seen $10 for 5000 words as a fun past time but clearly, it's not for serious writers. I hope this guy doesn't get any serious newbies who are willing to write for that low just for the glorious title of being called a paid writer.
As for low paying assignments, I've done it, I still do at times but my bottom end is $.01/word and that's for no brainer and high volume assignments. But trust me, for $01/word you still get good flowing, true and quality original articles. Please don't support companies that don't treat writers fairly. You'll earn more money than this writing on AC and Helium and waiting a bit longer for payout.
If you want to find decent jobs, check out Deb Ng at Writersrow.com or the homepage of goldenprose.com
Cheers,
Dana
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
