Freelance Writing Blog

Writers Worth: An Interview with Laura Spencer

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There are some people who just show up in your life one day, and Laura Spencer is one of those people. As you know from Laura’s guest post on May 5th, she is owner of WritingThoughts.com and a veteran freelancer. Laura has been helping freelance writers for years, and her advice comes from a strong background…

Writers Worth: Meet Jennifer Mattern

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No matter who you are, you’ve heard of Jenn Mattern. Jenn is one of the top voices in freelance writing today. Her knowledge is unmatched, as is her All Indie Writers website, a gorge-fest of free resources for writers of all stripes. I’m proud to call her a friend. Jenn is a no-BS personality. She’ll…

Writers Worth: Your Freelance Work-Life Balance

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New writers, listen up — Ashley Festa is a writer you should be paying attention to. In just a few short years, Ashley has graduated from college, gotten married, had children, and built a freelance writing business. She’s that kind of motivated. I’ve had the pleasure of watching Ashley’s career in freelance writing grow. She’s…

Writers Worth: What Technical Writers Are Worth

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Let me tell you about Dana Ford. Dana, or as he’s known by his Twitter handle “techrat_77”, is one of those people who appears one day and before you know it, he’s your friend. I’m talking a real friend. When my dad’s health took a turn for the worse, Dana was right there on Twitter,…

Writers Worth: Prince’s Influence on Freelance Writing

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When I opened Sara Hodon’s email, I was happy to see a great post. I knew it would be great, but what I didn’t know was how great the angle she took was. Sara’s ability to reach into a current event and distill what it means to her has resulted in a damn good post…

Writers Worth: Meet Sara Hodon

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It’s funny how you meet people by chance. Sara Hodon is one of those people. Sara got in touch with me last month regarding an article she’s writing — she needed some input. She’s smart, articulate, and a good freelance writer. That’s when the light bulb went off for me — what a great opportunity…

Writers Worth: An Interview with Paula Hendrickson

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If you’ve been around this blog for any length of time, you know Paula Hendrickson. Paula is a veteran writer with some serious street credibility — she’s certainly the only writer I know who’s interviewed Oprah. But beyond that, Paula is a fantastic writer and an intuitive business pro. She showed up here on the…

Writers Worth: An Interview with Anne Wayman

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One of the first people I met when I started my freelance writing career was Anne Wayman. Anne was then the moderator of About.com’s Freelance Writing page, and she’d built a great community of writers. So when she started her own community shortly after leaving About, many followed. Then Anne and I teamed up on…

Writers Worth: The Worst Advice You’ll Ever Receive

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I love Anne Wayman. The minute I announced that I was looking for guest posts for this year’s Writers Worth Month, Anne sent a note offering. She’s like that. She’s always happy to lend a hand and to be part of the writing community. She’s a natural teacher and has taught many of us how…

Writers Worth: Why You Need a Freelance Evolution

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If you’ve been around this blog for a while, you know my stance on content mills. I’ve used up plenty of blog space railing against the low pay and the lousy math they use to convince hapless writers that they’re riding the gravy train. So today’s post is another post about content mills, but with…

10 responses to “Writers Worth: Why You Need a Freelance Evolution”

Paula Hendrickson

May 6, 2016

I'm the eternal optimist, so of course I believe things can change for the better. Even a former content mill. (As for HuffPo? Well, maybe not.)

Reading Dave's story was enlightening, and his line about the HuffPos of the world: "Demand Media was bad, but at least they were paying." Was so true it's chilling.
Lori Widmer

May 6, 2016

That struck me too, Paula. We think we've scored a victory when in fact things just eroded even further.

I suppose it's tough to give a thumbs-up endorsement to a former content mill. It's like asking us to believe that reform has happened — in this case, it appears to have, but writers have pretty long memories, I guess.
Paula Hendrickson

May 6, 2016

I do like how Dave even said his company shouldn't be a writer's main source of clients, but more as a backup system for those inevitable slumps most freelancers face.

Very refreshing, especially considering most content sites seem intent on keeping their freelancers beholden to them.
Laura Spencer

May 6, 2016

Interesting points here Lori. It's refreshing to see this attitude. If only all content mills would make this change…
Lori Widmer

May 6, 2016

I agree, Laura. Not all care enough to do so.

And for what it's worth, Dave admitted that part of the reason they changed their business model was because they couldn't turn a profit. The change wasn't entirely altruistic, but I'm still glad it happened.
Ashley Festa

May 6, 2016

I noticed that too, Lori, that they weren't making money, which is why they took another look at the business model. At least they changed, I suppose. And at least he recognizes that great writers deserve great pay. That's what worth is all about!
Jennifer Mattern

May 7, 2016

I'm slightly hesitant to comment here, but you know. That rarely stops me. 😉

The reason I'm hesitant is because (full disclosure), Dave is a client. I was brought in to consult on and help improve the survey Lori mentioned. But I hope those who know me also know I don't get behind anything — even a paying client — if I don't believe in what they're trying to do. (Same gal who walked away from a long-time $30k+ per year client simply because their new SEO policies crossed my ethical line — I don't take this kind of thing lightly.)

I'm not going to tell you that CopyPress is awesome and you should sign up. I don't personally use them, so I'm not in a position to do that. But what I will say is that Dave is "good people." As others have noted, it's refreshing when companies try to change for the better. As a PR pro, I have quite a lot of respect for that, as well as companies who take criticism and turn it around to improve things (as in the case with their survey).

One important thing Dave pointed out in our previous discussions was that this survey isn't just about collecting data on freelancers. It's about educating marketers. It's important for marketers to see what real freelance pros expect and charge (compared to feedback they get only from big marketplaces featuring a large number of low quality writers, which can skew data.)

We're not always the easiest group to reach, because we don't tend to congregate in large groups in marketplaces and content mills. So please, take some time to take the survey mentioned in the post. Make sure we're better represented this time around. Let marketers who hire freelance writers know that, no, $.05 per word is not a "standard" freelance writing rate for example. Even if you don't work through these marketplaces, you don't know where your own prospects are getting their data before considering your rates. Help make sure that data is more accurate.

I, for one, appreciate that CopyPress saw the shortcomings of their past surveys and is trying to improve things this time. The biggest issue is reach. So spread the word.
Devon Ellington

May 11, 2016

You get what you pay for. Since he wasn't paying for quality content, of course he wasn't getting it. I'm still a little skeptical.

Of course, I am the Anti-Niche — also known, thanks to the article I wrote for WOW- WOMEN ON WRITING — as a "Renaissance Writer". I can do many things, and it serves me well.
Susan Feerman

July 11, 2016

Thanks a good post!
1. lwidmer
  
  July 12, 2016
  
  Glad you liked it, Susan! It’s always good to examine things closely, I think.