I’m sure everyone whose ever tried their hand at freelance writing can relate to this particular pet peeve of mine: clients who do not value our services as writers. This may be a common issue across a wide spectrum of careers, but it is especially prevelant in the world of writing. Case in point, I am surveying Guru today for leads and the headline of one job says “On Call Writer: Super Low Budget”. This particular person is looking for a writer to churn out up to five page articles with a word count of between 300-500 words/$1-$5 per page. You do the math. This comes out to anywhere from $25 (at best) and $5 (at worst). AND the buyer wants anywhere from 24 hours to a maximum of 3 day turn-around. In my little-experienced mind, the only way you could get me to do this project is if they paid me $25 for a 300 word article on a subject that I had to do zero research on with a turn-around time of 3 days. Speedy, cheap and decently written (he wants bidder to include sample), he’s not looking for much, is he? Surprisingly, at post time, job has zero bids.
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February 1, 2008 at 9:54 am
Star
No bids? Just wait! Writers these days seem determined to race to the bottom. I have heard of people seeing a job listed at $50 (also semi-insulting) and saying, “I will do it for $25.” They bid against their own interests! No wonder some people see writers as dopes! Come visit our humor site, Writer’s Catablog. We joke about the profession–and it must be annoying to some, we also insist that it is a profession and worthy of pay! Good pay! This isn’t typing–it’s maintaining an office, communicating with the client, having the background and perspective to know what is required, and having some training. Money people–you deserve it! You will earn it.
February 15, 2008 at 10:33 am
Christopher
No suprise there. I’ve been on both guru and e-lance to seek new clients website design company, and apparantly, I’m being way underbid for projects. I refuse to code for $10 an hour (what some other designers are willing to work for in India). The funny thing is, I’m told by others here in the midwest my rates are too low. Its a no win situation.