Comments on: Writers Worth Two: What You Don’t Deserve

By: Well-Funded Freelance Clients | Well-Fed Writer

Well-Funded Freelance Clients | Well-Fed Writer — Wed, 08 Apr 2026 22:47:43 +0000

[…] I think I did a decent job of attacking this victim mentality in a recent guest post I did (on Lori Widmer’s Words on the Page blog), entitled, “Why Writers Don’t ‘Deserve’ to Make More than $5 to $10 an Article.” […]

By: Why Writers Don’t “Deserve” to Make More than $5 to $10 an Article… - The Well-Fed Writer

Wed, 18 Mar 2026 13:01:32 +0000

[…] judging from the comments it elicited in its original appearance, it apparently did strike a positive chord with many […]

By: lwidmer

lwidmer — Mon, 19 Sep 2022 12:21:06 +0000

In reply to Lisa Hopwood.

“I’ve grown since then and so has my Writer’s Worth.”

That’s a great accomplishment, Lisa. I hope you take a moment to celebrate that you saw the situation and realized it wasn’t what you wanted. Too many writers get stuck in the fight for projects. You knew you wanted more and made what I suspect is a great decision.

Good luck, and please stick around. We’re here to support you.

By: Lisa Hopwood

Lisa Hopwood — Sun, 18 Sep 2022 19:02:13 +0000

This is a great article, and the relevancy hasn’t changed for 2022. Facing a gap year in employment during COVID, I turned to the Upwork and Fivver work exchange sites…rough crowd. I quickly realized two things. One, I didn’t like being in the ‘dregs’ of professional writing, and two, my academic writing skill-set wasn’t going to get me writing jobs I did want. I turned to online MFA programs, which led to reading this article for my Business of Writing course. I couldn’t have worded my feelings of 2020’s experience as well as Peter at the time, but I’ve grown since then and so has my Writer’s Worth.

By: Lori Widmer

Lori Widmer — Sun, 09 Feb 2020 15:33:47 +0000

In reply to Donna. Right? It fits so many situations.

By: Donna

Donna — Sun, 09 Feb 2020 07:21:22 +0000

Wow- this philosophy can be applied to just about everything in life!

By: Lori Widmer

Lori Widmer — Wed, 09 Dec 2015 13:35:01 +0000

Kevin, excellent points all the way! Content mills are an absolute disaster for writers thinking it's the only way to find work. It takes time, effort, and more effort.

I love point #6 -- there is never a reason to sell by price. Never.

By: Kevin Casey

Kevin Casey — Wed, 09 Dec 2015 09:46:28 +0000

It's amazing how little I think about content mills these days, since I started chasing my own clients - clients who allow me to make $500 a day on a regular basis. The facts of life for writers:

1. The highest paying writing jobs are not advertised - you have to seek clients out proactively.

2. There is no magic writing site that will make you big bucks.

3. If you're writing for less than 20 cents a word you might as well flip burgers for a living instead.

4. There is much less competition for the big money at the top. I've talked to million-dollar businesses that can't find a decent copywriter. Maybe that's because all the decent writers are wasting their time on bidding sites....

5. Writers who complain that that aren't enough decent-paying jobs out there are looking in the wrong place. Target businesses directly - by phone, email, personal networking, whatever. It works. I went from zero clients to $7500 a month in 5 months by doing nothing more than that - plus delivering quality work.

6. Never, ever, ever sell your writing services by price. Sell by unique value.

7. There's never been a better time to be a freelance writer than right now. I write about 8 months a year and travel/explore wilderness rivers/play digital nomad the rest of the year. Copywriting has given me a great lifestyle - I'm loving it!

Thanks for the post, Peter. Really enjoyed your book, too. One of the best BS-free writing resources out there.

Cheers,
Kevin Casey

www.kevincaseycopywriter.com

By: TJ

TJ — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 15:20:09 +0000

Excellent long form piece of price discovery. It's true of Odesk, Blogmutt and other crowd source services – the real winners of heavy competition.

Internationally, $5/hr can be a decent income in poor countries. English is the most spoken 2nd language; it's a natural progression as Internet resources related to virtual work that US based writers will get kicked in the arse…

By: Melzetta "Mele" Williams

Melzetta "Mele" Williams — Mon, 04 Jun 2012 21:04:50 +0000

Awesome, Peter! The trouble with blaming others for your poor situation is that you have to wait for THEM to change before things get better for YOU.

So, as you said, we may have to work harder, and dig deeper for those high-paying gigs.