Knowing Your Worth As a Freelance Content Writer
Being a Freelance content writer, I subscribe to a whole host of websites and mailing lists and today, I just opened one and read…then laughed. One of the websites I subscribe to is http://www.gatey.com. Well, it’s somewhat a kind of website that connects people who are looking for freelance writers and the writers themselves. I don’t know if it’s some sort of a scam or spam, but I received an email from someone offering me a ONCE IN A LIFETIME DEAL for a freelance writer.
It goes something like this….
“Hi, I am looking for a freelance content writer and your name <me> came up high on a Google search. I am going to make you rich by offering you this once in a lifetime offer. I would like you to post 100 messages in forums. All has to be done within 3 days time and I will pay you RM25 for it”
USD$7.20??? For one hundred posts??? You’ve got to be kidding me!
I know my worth as a freelance content writer and I’ve been at it for a long time now…closing in on the decade mark and I ain’t doing 100 posts for that kind of money. Don’t get me wrong, I realize I sounded cocky saying that but that’s not true. You see, as a freelance content writer who has been writing madly for worldwide clients for the past 9 years, I believe I have a worth. I am worth a whole more than that. On top of not being specific about what was required of the posts and the topic mentioned later on in the email was ‘the world’, I was, of course, skeptical.
Which made me think about about what I would have done if I received this email when I started out as a rookie freelance content writer. Would I have said YES? Would I have responded to the email? What kind of questions would I ask to get an insight into the requirements of the freelance writing project?
Gee….I don’t know.
And furthermore, come to think of it, why in 3 days? Is it a syndicate trying to employ freelance content writers to spam forums and online communities? Is this how spam works? Once again, I don’t quite know! But there’s one thing I know after writing freelance for so long.
You have to know what you’re worth as a freelance content writer, otherwise, those buggers out there are going to eat you alive! I mean, seriously. Who in the world, in his or her right mind, would write 100 pieces of junk about ‘the world’ for USD$7.20?
To this email, I only have one thing to say….PASS.
December 2nd, 2007 at 10:34 am
Welcome to the fabulous world of Craigs-Schmaigs. These
“business” people turned up about 1.5 years ago and have multiplied like a bacteria on a slide. A reported story that used to fetch $500, is now dangled in front of supposedly desperate, uninformed writers for $5–or even less. With newspapers deciding no one reads them anymore and fewer magazines being started, the environment has turned toxic. I had one of these so-called employers tell me he just paid what writers asked for. It could be true. On the lists, I have seen writers say they can type so fast they can make $12 an hour doing these. Since when is $12 an hour a writer’s fee?
For this reason, another writer and I decided we needed one true friend…and we invented Scribbles, our jaded assistant dog. Come visit him at www.writerscatablog.com. You can buy him on a coffee mug–which is also alcohol safe. We writers all need a stiff shot and a friend.
Chrs,
Star Lawrence
http://sunoasis.com/webjean.html