Words on the Page

Writers Worth: Publishers and Bad Business Models

Posted on by lwidmer

Don’t forget to comment to win! Stop by the blog, comment on any one of the Writers Worth posts, and you could win one of these prizes: An Amazon gift card worth $25 or a copy of my ebook Marketing 365! Just leave your comment to enter the random drawing. Winner to be announced June 2nd! Jenn Mattern is…

Writers Worth: Handling Client Controversy

Posted on by lwidmer

Have you left your comment yet? Just engage in conversation on any of the Writers Worth posts and you’ll be entered to win one of a few nifty prizes! Legitimate comments only — if you’re anonymous, posting in a foreign language, or linking to your Swiss watch website, I’m afraid that won’t count. While Writers…

Writers Worth: The How-to’s of Comic Writing

Posted on by lwidmer

What’s on the iPod: Glorious by MaMuse Don’t forget to comment to win! Stop by the blog, comment on any one of the Writers Worth posts, and you could win one of these prizes: An Amazon gift card worth $25 or a copy of my ebook Marketing 365! Just leave your comment to enter the random drawing. Winner to…

Writers Worth: Persistence

Posted on by lwidmer

What’s on the iPod: Late in the Evening by Paul Simon Don’t forget to comment to win! Stop by the blog, comment on any one of the Writers Worth posts, and you could win one of these prizes: An Amazon gift card worth $25 or a copy of my ebook Marketing 365! Just leave your comment to enter the…

Writers Worth: Beyond Sticker Shock

Posted on by lwidmer

Writers Worth: That A-Ha Moment

Posted on by lwidmer

What’s on the iPod: White as Snow by U2 Don’t forget to comment to win! Stop by the blog, comment on any one of the Writers Worth posts, and you could win one of these prizes: An Amazon gift card worth $25 or a copy of my ebook Marketing 365! Just leave your comment to enter the random drawing….

Writers Worth: This Job, Not That Job

Posted on by lwidmer

Last week I mentioned that chum Jenn Mattern had sent over two lousy job offers for us to dissect together. The first one, which appeared here, was bad enough. This one makes that one look almost tame by comparison. The winner of the Worst Job on the Planet award: ScrewWritersWorldwide (not its actual name) is…

Writers Worth: Stop Chasing Payments

Posted on by lwidmer

Starting today, enter for a chance to win! Stop by the blog, comment, and you could win one of these prizes: An Amazon gift card worth $25 or a copy of my ebook Marketing 365! Just leave your comment to enter the random drawing. Winner to be announced June 2nd! I consider myself extremely lucky to know many…

Writers Worth: Your Pen of Expertise

Posted on by lwidmer

Starting Monday, enter for a chance to win! Stop by the blog, comment, and you could win one of these prizes: An Amazon gift card worth $25 or a copy of my ebook Marketing 365! Just leave your comment to enter the random drawing. Winner to be announced June 2nd! Cathy Miller is a vital…

Writers Worth: This Job, Not That Job

Posted on by lwidmer

What I’m reading: The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison What’s on the iPod: Untitled (Love Song) by Counting Crows Part of understanding your worth as a writer is identifying a lousy deal when you see one. Sometimes they’re not easy to spot — they’re wrapped in layers of exclamation points, copy, or details so that…

Jennifer Mattern

You know, $50 per post is better than the gigs a lot of new writers start with online. But for an experienced pro? Not a chance. The plagiarism issue also bugged me. I wouldn't do business with anyone who kicks off the relationship with distrust. It speaks to their competency in working with professionals. But boy oh boy, that last part stuck out. If it wasn't for that, I would have just closed it and moved on to find other ads worth sharing in the job listings. I couldn't believe they had the gall to take that kind of attitude. List your damn budget. Don't attack professionals that you claim to want because you're too cheap to pay for what they offer.

Gabriella

I stopped by here yesterday and realized I'd missed DAYS of Writers' Worth Week stuff! Good thing it's all here and I could catch up with you.

I mentioned last time you did this–I love these "This Job, Not That Job" posts. They make the case so well.

In this case, anybody who tells me they're checking for plagiarism is, like Lori said, waving a red flag that their utter cheapness has led them exactly where we know it will lead them. And then they're surprised. We're not.

Keep these posts coming, Lori. Fantastic stuff.–Heather 🙂

Lori Widmer

It was the experienced stuff that made me pause too, Jenn. That and the mention of checking for plagiarism. List the budget — exactly!

Gabriella (Heather, ha!), glad you found it. I was going to mention it on Facebook, but I knew you'd be around. 🙂

Paula

Amen to all of the above. Maybe we should do a group project for Writers Worth and all reply to a single ad (especially one like this baby) saying offering beginner rates and treating applicants unprofessionally is no way to find an experienced pro.

Ashley

How insulting. Even if the pay was a pro rate, who would want to work for a client who treats people like that? Human worth deserves better than that!

Lori Widmer

Paula, they don't care. That's why I'd much rather reach out to people who can make a difference — writers. If we stop answering these awful ads, these people will go away.

Amen to that, Ashley!

Anne Wayman

odd woman out here:

you know, I didn't find the ad offensive so much as ignorant… and I truly don't mind if someone wants to take the time to run whatever I write for them through copyscape… nor do I mind them telling me in advance… it's a total non issue for me.

And although I find the way they state their price surprising, at least it's clear – $50 per post period.

Gracious it's not, but it don't offend me the way it seems to offend you… it's so easy to ignore the ads I don't like.

Lori Widmer

No, it's fine, Anne. Everyone is going to have a different reaction.

For me, it was the expectation that the writer would have specialized experience for just $50 that bothers me. Add in SEO "expectations" and the Copyscape mention and it's all rather insulting to me. If I were new to the biz, $50 a post wouldn't be bad. However, the idea that I have to have a specific kind of background AND not be trusted to bring them new stuff speaks to a larger problem.

Not saying some writers don't create that kind of problem. I know self-appointed professionals who actually promote rewriting/revising instead of what they should be doing, which is creating something new.

Jennifer Mattern

Anne, I can see your side of it. But to me it's less about what might offend us as more experienced pros (we know how to handle ourselves) and more a warning for newer writers.

The problem is that it's not easy for new writers to ignore ads like these. Unfortunately many don't realize that the best gigs are rarely advertised. They spend (if not waste) a lot of time responding to ads just like this one. So it's less an issue of it being generally offensive and more a matter of helping new writers understand that they don't have to put up with disrespect, whether that comes from a prospect's ignorance or arrogance. And even if we choose not to be personally offended by it, accusing someone of being a potential plagiarizer before you even speak to them is, at the very least, disrespectful.

That's why I'm so glad Lori does this series. Newer writers often have a tougher time finding examples of better markets than what they find on job boards. So I think it's helpful for them to see examples of worrying ads where prospects don't seem to respect them as professionals and have those alongside examples of better options they might have been unaware of. Unfortunately you can tell a lot about a potential client and what a working relationship might be like with them from the way they advertise their gigs. This is just an example that sounded a warning bell for me which is why I didn't promote it and instead forwarded it to Lori. 🙂