lwidmer | Words on the Page

Friday Freelance Follies: This Job, Not That Job

Posted on by lwidmer

Hey, freelance writer — how desperate have you become in trying to get work and paychecks right about now? Hopefully not desperate enough to even consider the job posting just sent to me by Sharon Hurley Hall, who is an ace B2B writer and a writer chum. I read this and realized that these types…

How to Vet That Freelance Writing Gig

Posted on by lwidmer

A writer friend and I had been discussing a project she’d been approached for. A work acquaintance had approached her with a client who wanted a writer for a long-term gig. The client needed an editor, and the editor would be handling the editing of government agency content for a blog. The list of skills…

Freelance Marketing Mistakes You Need to Drop NOW

Posted on by lwidmer

Recently, a friend of mine received a LinkedIn connection request. She did what anyone might do — she visited the woman’s profile to see who she was and to see if it was a connection worth having. As she was looking, she received a message from the same woman. “Hi, (NAME)! I’m an editor and…

How to Drop Excuses Out of Your Freelancing

Posted on by lwidmer

“Yes, the rates are low, but they’re better than content mills.” That was a response I got recently to pointing out that a job listing had abysmal rates. The person responding knew, as I did, that neither of us would ever be accepting the pitiful pay that was stated in the job listing. But where…

Freelance Job Posting Fallacies We Fall For (Almost)

Posted on by lwidmer

I’m supposed to be writing an article right now. However, I saw something on Twitter that both shocked and saddened me. And then I got a bit upset. Because we are in a pretty tight economic landscape right now, there are plenty of helpful people posting job listings on social media. I applaud that. To…

5 Mistakes that are Killing Your Freelance Writing Biz

Posted on by lwidmer

When it’s July, my calendar is pretty light. I get to concentrate on marketing, networking, and improving my business. I get to see a lot when I’m out there on social media. Plenty of it is good. Plenty of it sucks, too. I’m not necessarily a judgmental person. I screw up just as much as…

Writers Worth: This Job, Not That Job

Posted on by lwidmer

These lousy job postings for freelance writing gigs are becoming more than a little ridiculous. The fact that I’m posting the fourth one in a few short weeks shows that they’re also becoming prolific. This one comes to us via fellow writer Libby, who said she emailed the poster to get a response on payment….

Freelance Guide to Building a Client List

Posted on by lwidmer

I don’t know what your writing focus is. I don’t have to. When it comes to finding freelance writing clients, there are quite a few similarities in how most writers market. No matter what marketing mix you use. But first, you have to know who you’ll market to, don’t you? I can’t help you too…

Writers Worth: This Job, Not That Job

Posted on by lwidmer

I take it back. When I said last week that the job posting we looked at was probably the worst ever, I was wrong. Really wrong. As in really, really wrong. Thanks to Sharon Hurley Hall for sending this along. I couldn’t contain my shock, either. And I’m willing to bet you each what this…

Writers Worth: This Job, Not That Job

Posted on by lwidmer

One can always tell when there’s an economic meltdown occurring. Besides my own McDonald’s Economics theory, there are the obvious signs that the economy is in the gutter. I’m talking about the job postings. Anyone who knows me at all knows I loathe job postings as a means of building a freelance writing business. It’s…

Jenn Mattern

Yikes. This is gross all-around. But the plagiarism checker line is a huge pet peeve of mine.

Not only does it say they know they aren’t paying for an actual professional… not only is it disrespectful as hell… but it says they don’t know WTF they’re doing in the first place.

Any client who thinks they only have an issue if a writer rips off someone else’s material word-for-word is going to end up in hot water eventually. They’re the same ones who are fine with “rewriting” rather than actual writing, and deem something “original” if enough words are change. They have no comprehension of copyright law and the fact that derivative works (which a rewrite would be, even though it would pass a plagiarism checker) are still copyright violations.

I don’t know why that detail ticks me off as much as it does, but it does. And it’s not worth working with clients that ignorant about a vital aspect of their business, because you don’t want to get caught up in the mess when one of their contributors steals from the wrong person. Never tie your reputation to a client who says something like this unless you’re prepared to lose it.

1. Mary Johnston
  
  YES. I use sites like Upwork to fill in the gaps and pick up one-off jobs (though lately I’ve moved away from them as they’ve started charging 20% of the fee) and I loathe the “no plagiarism” thing. Who do you think you’re hiring, some high school kid?
  
  IF I respond to a “rewriting” job, which I very rarely do, and only if the pay is reasonable enough to make it worth my time, I skim the original article for tone and points and write something entirely new from my own research and sources.
  
  I honestly believe many of those types of clients are hacks and amateurs themselves, and every single time I’ve lowered my standards to work with someone like that (early in my business) I ended up having to pursue payment or being ghosted. No-thank-you-very-much.
  
  I have much better luck with clients I’ve met through a Facebook group and referrals.
2. lwidmer
  
  Mary, that’s a great line — “Who do you think you’re hiring, some high school kid?”
  
  I hear you. Yes, you can rewrite from the original idea as long as it’s a completely new spin. That’s the right way to do it. Otherwise, “rewriting” is nothing more than changing a few sentences, which is nothing more than theft.
  
  I remember one job posting years ago where they wanted someone to do a rewrite. I responded that it was basically plagiarism they were suggesting. And they responded (and I’ll never forget this): “Not at all. We expect each article to be 60 percent different.”
  
  Uh, how exactly? That’s still not enough. In fact, why not just hire someone and say “Find a point in this article to expand on” or “I need 1,000 words on X topic.”
  
  Just make it a new assignment. We write about the same ideas all the time. The amount of work it takes to “rewrite” something would be similar to just starting with a fresh slant on the same topic.
3. lwidmer
  
  Jenn, thanks for your response. I agree. That line is just heinous.
  
  What ticks me off about it is the many messages they send with that one line. They want “professional” writers, but aren’t willing to pay enough for actual professional writers, so they’re stuck with people they think will plagiarize. They’re saying that their workload is such that people might be tempted to plagiarize to meet the demand. They’re saying that they don’t trust their writers. They’re saying they’re coming into this relationship not respecting you at the outset. And they’re saying they don’t trust you without ever meeting you.
  
  That’s how it reads to me. Who knows what they’re actually saying. I’ll never know because I’ll never waste time with them.
Paula Hendrickson

Wow. That stinker makes the response I had today, from what I thought was a respectable market, look almost okay. It’s not.

This one wanted at least one 2600-3000-word article per week, at 6-cents per word. A “paid” test was required, but they only pay for tests they publish. Hard pass.

1. lwidmer
  
  Paula, that’s absurd, isn’t it? To me, that says what they’d be like to work with. Frankly, anyone who isn’t willing to pay decently for good writing is showing their lack of respect.