A recent post on the Struggling Writer blog chronicled his decision to stop writing 650-word Web articles for $15.
His reasoning was simple: He wasn’t making a living wage.
I’m not here to denigrate low-dollar Internet article jobs. But I would ask those writing them a hard question.
Are you really making a living wage?
Even a basic wage requires two articles per hour. And that’s without benefits. Plus you’re paying your own overhead (Internet, Web hosting, PC, software, office stuff, etc).
Some writers are productive enough to make it work at those rates. Most of us aren’t.
Of course, writing low-cost Web content isn’t wholly bad. If you’re targeting a specific industry but lack experience, writing cheap can provide it.
One day, your portfolio contains nothing in the financial services industry. The next day you’re a published “expert.” Every job brings its own intangibles. But – as you know – you can’t eat intangibles.
It’s time to get paid for what you do.
What’s Next for the Struggling Writer?
Fortunately, our friend the Struggling Writer has a few ideas in mind.
I want to pursue other article opportunities, probably in the print media rather than the web. I want to follow up on that grant writing opportunity. I talked with my cousin over the weekend who writes grants and she says NIH grants are a real specialty and some writers do nothing but. I should also push the technical writing more. I need to revise the front page of my website because it’s, well, crap. I tried too hard to do the marketing thing and it sounds just awful.
OK, he has ideas. But are ideas enough?
The Five Steps Every Underpaid Writer Should Take
- Ask Yourself “What Do I Want to Write?” Most people know what they don’t want. What is it you do want? What do you want to write? Get clear, and your self-marketing efforts improve 100% – because you really want what you’re seeking.
- Build a Messaging Platform. Who are you? What are you selling? Why would anyone work with you? If you can’t answer these questions, your prospects can’t either. I list the elements of the messaging platform here.
- Target Specific Businesses or Industries. The world is a big place. Don’t market to all of it at once. Be selective. Pick companies and markets. Develop expertise and contacts, and leverage them into more work. Equity leverage allows you to sell a small house to buy a bigger house. Use your “career leverage” to do the same in writing.
- Look For Work Where You’ve Already Got It. Are you overlooking opportunities with existing clients? Are you writing low-dollar Web content for a company that lacks customer success stories? Writing press releases for a company that needs white papers? Pitch them.
- Make Concrete Plans. Don’t rely on vague promises – they tend to fade away. Develop a plan of attack that includes who you’re selling to and how you’re going selling it (direct mail, e-mail, phone, adwords, etc). Don’t forget the deadlines. And then make it happen.
There is a lot of work out there, but a lot of its is low budget. Write it if you have to. Get paid for it. Leverage it. But always work at moving beyond it to better-paying work.
[tags]writer, freelance writer, freelance, marketing, [/tags]
Comments 12
I agree with Tom that targeting specific industries is essential for becoming a well-paid freelance copywriter. Focusing on technology companies has certainly been very rewarding for me in my nearly 20 years as a freelance copywriter.
To help other freelance writers learn about opportunities in this field, I wrote a free guide, “Becoming a High-Tech Marketing Writer.” It is available for download from: http://www.writinghightech.com.
Good luck!
Janice King
Freelance Copywriter and Author
Copywriting That Sells High Tech
Good article, Tom. Your point about intangibles is a good one and has a lot to do with why I started at LTK and why I was reluctant to leave. It’s a tricky balancing act, money vs. other benefits.
Andy the Struggling Writer
Hi-tech is a great market (I lived in Silicon Valley for 14 years).
Keeping up with the technology can be vexing, but once you’ve got the market smarts, you can leverage it into a lot of work…
Tom, I owe you lunch.
Your mention of my blog got me some work. You’ve done your good deed for the day.
Wait a minute – why didn’t *I* get any work out of the deal. The Internet’s just so unfair… 8-)
Good luck!
And oh yeah – does this qualify me for a link from your site?
Oh, of course. I should have thought of that.
I think that was a really even-handed post. Too often, the “rate question” devolves.
Now, on to the living wage question…
Let’s say Client X is paying a writer a mere 3 cents per word to write 500 word articles. $15 per article.
At face value, that doesn’t seem to be a good wage equivalency at all. On closer examination, though…
What if the writer could work for five hours, averaging a mere 30 words per minute over that timeframe. 5 hours x 60 minutes x 30 words/minute = 9000 words. That’s $270. Do that for 300 days out of the year and your making $81K gross.
But that’s impossible, right? That’s a helluva lot of writing on a daily basis.
Not necessarily. The reason why so many writers look at low rates and assume poverty is because they are approaching the work from a completely different mindset. They are thinking about how they slave over word choices for great sales copy. They are thinking about spending hours doing research, conducting interviews and outlining. From that perspective the rate is absolute crap.
If, on the other hand, the writer is commissioned to churn out 500 word articles that are factually accurate and conversational with a lowered expectation bar, it ain’t that tough.
And this, in my estimation, is where the question of fairness and rates tends to get muddled.
When Andy, you or I talk about writing and rates, we might not be talking about the same thing John Doe is talking about. He’s talking about content writing for would-be Adsense empire owners at a low per-word rate and less-than-The-New-Yorker-to-say-the-least expectations.
We can argue about whether that kind of work is really a good financial decision for buyers, etc. but there’s no question that there’s a market for it. I also think it’s fair to say that it can be a lucrative market for the right person.
I might prefer to stay out of that market, but I can use that kind of work to fill scheduling gaps and make a decent wage equivalency from it. That’s because I go into it knowing that “writing isn’t writing” and I approach it differently than I will a sales letter gig or a more involved ghostwriting job.
I think the rate question often gets muddled because we tend to make “writing” into a kind of generalized entity when it really isn’t necessarily that way.
All in all, I agree with your sentiments, but I do think it’s worthwhile to recognize that even seemingly miserable rates might be better than some think because the nature of the work is so radically divorced from that with which we may be better accustomed.
I have now written the longest blog post reply in history. Maybe that will get me some business, too.
Carson
Carson: Let’s keep in mind the goal here isn’t so much growing your business as it is growing mine. Andy wasn’t clear on that, so I gave him a free ride… 8-)
I appreciate your post. But want to respectfully disagree with one point:
If, on the other hand, the writer is commissioned to churn out 500 word articles that are factually accurate and conversational with a lowered expectation bar, it ain’t that tough.
Therein lies the rub. In a Plimpton-esque move, I’ve undertake a couple of low-budget article gigs to see what it’s like (and to generate material for this blog).
What I’m finding is this: it is “that tough.”
We’re writers. If we want to do this for a living, we’d better love to write.
I love writing well, and churning out enough words to hit a specified word count is miserable work – much tougher than struggling for the right words.
Making a few bucks is a good thing.
But writing beneath your talent is simply bad – especially when you project that kind of work over several years.
Writing low-budget articles seems like a painful way to move through a career.
I applaud Andy for seeking an alternative – and my original post was designed to help those stuck in a similar rut.
I’m a little surprised by the number of writers who seemingly do little more than scan Internet listings for low-budget work.
Few businesses thrive in that environment.
I believe that anyone wishing to make a career out of this needs to look beyond the “easy” stuff.
They should identify and seek out projects they want to write.
Otherwise, it’s going to be a long, long career. But maybe not a happy one.
Low-budget articles as filler or starting points?
Maybe. But it’s no way to make a living.
Agreed. And disagreed.
I sure wouldn’t want to work the lower paying segment exclusively, but I wouldn’t be so sure it’s an inevitable source of unhappiness for everyone.
There are people out there who do have the mindset and skill set to make it an enjoyable and profitable angle.
Most people, I would imagine, probably concur with your assessment. There are those, however, who don’t mind “writing as grinding” as a way to make a living.
Does this partial disagreement reach the level where some attention-grabbing name-calling is in order, or is this doomed to be another unnoticed civil exchange?
Carson
Carson, you ignorant slut.
I’m looking for a copywriter to write a 1000-2000k word web page sales letter thats good. Whats the best price I can get on this. I’m on a shoestring budget for now. please email me at rbrutus@comcast.net
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