That last statement is exactly right — the list goes on and on…

I share your dismay, Devon. We’re savvy enough to know that there are people who take these things, hence the reason these job listings continue. But when the job market is this tight, it’s obvious these posters are out to get what they can for as little as possible. There’s a special place in hell for them, too. Karma is coming.

Your experience with those serials is telling to anyone who may think 4K words a week is easy. I wish I could tweet that out to the freelance world — there is nothing easy about being overworked and underpaid. Ever.

When I wrote serials a few years back, I wrote four serials with 2 episodes a week at 1K/episode. I was writing 8K/week, doing the whole month on one serial, the next week the next, and so on. It nearly killed me, and wasn’t paying well enough for that.

That’s why Radish was so disappointing, when they transformed into underpaying content writers for several thousand words a week.

The list goes on and on . . .

Not surprising at all. You’re right — titles alone would amount to 300 words! That’s crazy.

I remember being asked to write a comprehensive overview of the state of workers compensation. In 800 words. That’s a facet of insurance that people have written BOOKS about. There was no way that was working. And the client was upset when I couldn’t rise to the challenge.

Their marketing pro called me and said “It’s not you — you’re the fourth writer they’ve asked to do this, and I can’t convince them it’s not possible.”

They too folded shortly afterward.

The new editor downplayed how much time & effort went into all those interviews and squeezing everything into 600 words. I believe I told her just including 12 names, titles, and companies would eat up half my word count.

No surprise that the publication folded not long after.

Were they serious? That’s not exactly how it should go. You’d think eventually the rate would go UP, not DOWN. Good grief! Smart of you to drop it. That’s far too much work for that rate.