The death of freelance writing industry
Is there hope for freelance writers in the coming years? That was the question someone hit me with when I was busy flossing how freelance writing pay these days. At first I thought it was not possible for this industry to just vanish but when I read in between the lines, I found some interesting facts that may kill freelance writing industry for good. I compiled a list of several facts but found that these were the most bothering.
4 facts that will deny freelance industry a happy ending
From own boss to everyone boss
I am a member of hundreds of writers groups in social media and I am actually surprised by the number of writers looking for writers to work for them. Professional writers are jumping into writing business and their writing wits gradually begin to blunt in the long run. They enjoy the comfort of bidding for assignments, delegating and submitting and they don’t notice their skills of writing deteriorating in the process.
I used to receive work from several people claiming to have retired from professional writing. Despite of what the profiles of these “employers” read, their grammar was pathetic. So a person sends revision request emails or assignment instructions with grammatical errors, spelling mistakes, bad sentence structure and expects to me take him or her seriously…
Lucky enough, writers are open minded and we work for these people giving high quality work at the end. It is good for people to delegate work if it becomes too much but make sure at least you keep writing every day. We don’t want to find ourselves in a situation where writers get lazy, hire newbies who end up being professionals and, they too get infected by the lazy writer syndrome. Following this chain of jumping into writing business we will end up with no actual writers and low quality work.
Low pay
I logged into one of my favorite writers groups and got an interesting post from a professional writer saying “who on earth, the hell, do newbies think they are? They bid work for as low as $0.5, which is worth over $5. How much do I put now? ” sorry I laughed but then I thought to myself, is the problem the client or the freelancer? When I first plunged my head into this industry I used to charge $3 per page. As work inflow progressed, I adjusted the rates up and interestingly, most clients too adjusted with them.
When I go to bidding sites, I ensure that my profile is a cut above the rest with professional presentation and best samples of my previous work. Regardless of what others bid, I can choose my rates and funny enough this may attract the attention of the client who gets curious why my rates are such outrageous. They end up looking into my profile and see that it is worth it, and that’s how I beat the low rates bidders. Play your cards well, because it is saddening to burn the midnight oil writing for peanuts and remember you have bills to pay and afford a good lifestyle. With this cycle we may end up with no freelance writers since they all will have switched to better paying careers.
Lack of training
According to a research, over 80% of freelance writers are guided by their intuition and passion on what to do when freelance industry. At the end of the day, they fall into traps and make the same mistakes other writers had come across before. Some end up giving up since they couldn’t get a real solution to their challenges due to lack of knowledge. Regardless of whether you are a professional writer or you just joined the industry the other day, the best way is to look for some advice and training from other experienced writers. This way, you will be able to avoid common mistakes and learn how to cope with new challenges.
related: 5 sure ways to produce high quality work very fast
Lack of diversification
Just the other day I got several emails from my friends asking me where I actually get work during the low season. Most of them told me they had one two clients which they rely on. When I replied to them that I at times get direct orders from local and students, they laughed saying they can’t do that since they had high paying accounts. Some of them said they can’t write articles since they pay too low and they rather stick to academic writing. No offense to academic writers, I included, but there are article sites such as scripted that pay as high as $40 a page.
The best way to keep work inflow during the low season is to ensure you diversify your field and type of clients. You can’t just quit because it is low season and academic jobs are not available. It is not right to dust your computer and skills whenever the high seasons arrives and finds you in another career. There are times the high season may never show up.
wishing you all the best
From own boss to everyone boss
I am a member of hundreds of writers groups in social media and I am actually surprised by the number of writers looking for writers to work for them. Professional writers are jumping into writing business and their writing wits gradually begin to blunt in the long run. They enjoy the comfort of bidding for assignments, delegating and submitting and they don’t notice their skills of writing deteriorating in the process.
I used to receive work from several people claiming to have retired from professional writing. Despite of what the profiles of these “employers” read, their grammar was pathetic. So a person sends revision request emails or assignment instructions with grammatical errors, spelling mistakes, bad sentence structure and expects to me take him or her seriously…
Lucky enough, writers are open minded and we work for these people giving high quality work at the end. It is good for people to delegate work if it becomes too much but make sure at least you keep writing every day. We don’t want to find ourselves in a situation where writers get lazy, hire newbies who end up being professionals and, they too get infected by the lazy writer syndrome. Following this chain of jumping into writing business we will end up with no actual writers and low quality work.
Low pay
I logged into one of my favorite writers groups and got an interesting post from a professional writer saying “who on earth, the hell, do newbies think they are? They bid work for as low as $0.5, which is worth over $5. How much do I put now? ” sorry I laughed but then I thought to myself, is the problem the client or the freelancer? When I first plunged my head into this industry I used to charge $3 per page. As work inflow progressed, I adjusted the rates up and interestingly, most clients too adjusted with them.
When I go to bidding sites, I ensure that my profile is a cut above the rest with professional presentation and best samples of my previous work. Regardless of what others bid, I can choose my rates and funny enough this may attract the attention of the client who gets curious why my rates are such outrageous. They end up looking into my profile and see that it is worth it, and that’s how I beat the low rates bidders. Play your cards well, because it is saddening to burn the midnight oil writing for peanuts and remember you have bills to pay and afford a good lifestyle. With this cycle we may end up with no freelance writers since they all will have switched to better paying careers.
Lack of training
According to a research, over 80% of freelance writers are guided by their intuition and passion on what to do when freelance industry. At the end of the day, they fall into traps and make the same mistakes other writers had come across before. Some end up giving up since they couldn’t get a real solution to their challenges due to lack of knowledge. Regardless of whether you are a professional writer or you just joined the industry the other day, the best way is to look for some advice and training from other experienced writers. This way, you will be able to avoid common mistakes and learn how to cope with new challenges.
related: 5 sure ways to produce high quality work very fast
Lack of diversification
Just the other day I got several emails from my friends asking me where I actually get work during the low season. Most of them told me they had one two clients which they rely on. When I replied to them that I at times get direct orders from local and students, they laughed saying they can’t do that since they had high paying accounts. Some of them said they can’t write articles since they pay too low and they rather stick to academic writing. No offense to academic writers, I included, but there are article sites such as scripted that pay as high as $40 a page.
The best way to keep work inflow during the low season is to ensure you diversify your field and type of clients. You can’t just quit because it is low season and academic jobs are not available. It is not right to dust your computer and skills whenever the high seasons arrives and finds you in another career. There are times the high season may never show up.
wishing you all the best