Your career as a slave writer
Rant time! Every day – yeah, pretty much every day – I get an email from somebody seeking to hire a slave. In my mind’s eye, I see them standing there with a whip and an evil laughter. “Muuaahhahahhahahaaaaa!”
Here is one of those emails I just received.
I am looking for an article writer who can write quality articles for the keyword and the special instruction that i provide. I need 500 words and 700 words articles meeting the deadline. I give $1.20 for 500 words article and $2.40 for 700 words article. You can take a keyword after submitting an article. Time frame to complete 500 word article is 2hrs and 4 hrs for 700 words article. Let me know if you have any questions.
I was tempted to respond…
“Yeah, and I give $5.40 for a quality transatlantic flight. However, I got tired of the “comfortable” seating in the catapult, and the landing is usually quite rough – especially since I always hit the office tower across the street. But, “Hey”, you can’t beat the price, tight?
I didn’t send that email – what’s the point of arguing with an $%#@%! and starting a flame war with someone whose intelligence level makes him a threat to anybody standing close enough when he sets himself on fire?
A much better way to handle such things is…
Grab The Bookmarketer For Your Site
September 30th, 2011 at 5:22 pm
It happens. Freelance Content Writing is a very nice work, but sometimes awkward people come and make the market dirty.
October 1st, 2011 at 1:16 am
Sadly, I remember the days of being paid poorly to write keyword articles. At least I was paid $5 for a 500 word article. I didn’t know any better. I can’t believe that some seriously think that $1.20 is acceptable…
October 1st, 2011 at 12:46 pm
Oh you’d be surprised Miranda! Lots of people on online job boards slave away for less than $1.20 for 500 word article. Shame!
October 2nd, 2011 at 11:45 am
Hahaha, “quality” articles. Ever wonder how the singularity is going to start? It’s with people writing AI to meet these ridiculous demands.
October 2nd, 2011 at 7:59 pm
How eloquently stated. In the writing business you get what you pay for!
October 2nd, 2011 at 9:15 pm
People offer those prices because they know that there are plenty (largely overseas) who will take it. We are in a unique position because it’s very difficult to outsource writing because even the quality English speakers overseas can’t write the language with the nuance of an American.
I think it’s important that all of us who do this professionally keep driving the point home that if you accept those rates, that becomes the market. I pitch clients by saying that $5 writers don’t compete with us. We are a completely different type of provider and we don’t deal with people who want to pay under minimum wage.
October 7th, 2011 at 9:39 am
This is my pet peeve. I search sites like Guru and Elance, and while I do find high quality jobs I have to sift through the junk. And there are a lot of companies who devalue the worth of writing. I had a long email convo with a former client who was surprised that I’d raised my rates. I explained why what I do is worth more, and why you get what you pay for with cheap writing!