Adventures in Freelancing

Today’s writer charges just $2.50 for up to 450 words, which is just over .005 per word. He promises perfect grammar and spelling. Here is his response to my ad and my response to him:

So, his strongest area is politics. He guarantees correct English, and no grammar- punctuation flaws. His bio states that he has a Bachelor’s with a major in political science and minor in English. Too good to be true for .005? Yes, of course. After looking at his bio, samples and posts on the board, I knew EXACTLY what I would get…….and I did get what I thought I would.

Huh? Honestly, there is a lot wrong here- but he is charging the right price for his work. This would take a lot of time to time to rework and make readable. It is not quality content, although he obviously is trying. I think in this case (not in all) the language barrier might be too much of a hurdle.

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I have another sample from a writer who was in the .01-.02 range, but I don’t think I need to post it. Although, he did put the word, “crotch” in it- which is awesome because I have been looking for a way to get crotch onto this blog. If I had known all it would take was a post about wrestlers, I would have written it ages ago.

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Anywho, I think that I have learned all that I need to from this inexpensive experiment. Content buyers (website owners, whatever) need to hush up if they are paying a low amount for a writer. Anything under .05 per word and they should consider themselves BLESSED if they get decent work. Those of you who write well (and I know some of the blogs I’ve read have made me feel threatened to be competing with you) and write for under .05 per word, your clients should be kissing your toes (that’ll be a google hit) because that shit ain’t right. Content buyers who say we need to lower our rates to be more competitive are either taking advantage of us or are extremely short-sighted.

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The other thing I learned? Stop undervaluing myself. Sometimes, I get scared. When another freelancer gets a job that I didn’t, or I feel like someone wrote a really great article that I couldn’t, or I get the feeling that another writer has more business that I do, or a buyer tells me no, my price is too high…I get scared. I start to think…what have I done? I can’t make this work. I’m going to leave my job and end up losing my home because I write like an idiot. I’m such a dumbass. What made me think I could do it? WHO DO I THINK I AM??? But the thing is, I have to do this. Period. Even if me is bad writerer, me has to take the chance. Just like Petri 1 and Petri 2, I am a Petri. They are out there, just like me. Maybe they don’t follow directions as well. Maybe they haven’t quite developed their voice. Maybe they lack finesse. But will they always? As they write and get feedback, they’ll improve. 

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Lastly, I think I learned quite a bit about honesty.  Neither of the authors I featured had an authentic voice in their pieces. It felt like they were trying too hard- which I totally get. Isn’t that what we all do when we are trying to please a client? But, how about if we let our real voice creep in a little? Can that set us apart from the pack? I’ve heard your voices, and I think it can.