How Are You Going To Get Out the Low Paying Freelance Writing Rut?
April 4, 2009 by Deb Ng
Filed under Writing Gigs
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The thing is, it’s completely relevant to where the person lives.
Writers need to stop thinking locally. There is no such thing as local anymore. The Internet is world-wide. For most of these jobs anyone with an Internet connection and the relevant writing skills can do the job. And if someone in, say, Iran or Russia or India or Australia is willing to do the work, who are you (individually) to determine what is or isn’t a fair wage?
The U.S. is not the only country in the world. It’s extremely selfish and quite uneducated to automatically assume that what is low paying for you is actually a low paying gig. Because for many, many people in the world, it’s not.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I don’t particularly enjoy seeing gigs offering 1 or 2 USD for 1k articles but let’s face it…for some people 1 or 2 USD is worth triple or more of their own local currency. And if they have the relevant skills to do the work, it’s pretty arrogant to assume that they shouldn’t be allowed to do the work based upon the assumption from a U.S. writer’s perspective that doing the work at such a rate is bastardizing the system and perpetuating low-paying gigs.
Remember, the world is no longer determined by the geographical boundaries on a paper map. The Internet means the entire globe is the workforce of today, and of the future. You may not feel that a job is worth your time, but you should be wary of labeling it as “unfair” or “low paying” because the globe does not revolve around the U.S. anymore.
Thinking that we (writers) are somehow immune from global growth is ignorant at best. The Internet has broken down both communication and geographical barriers. To think otherwise is simply naive. In order to move into the future we have to be able and willing to adapt to the fact that the entire GLOBE is the work force of Internet Content Generation, and thinking in local terms just isn’t going to cut it.
I plan to follow some of Bob Bly’s tips…one of them is to find and focus on a niche that pays better to start of with and which not too many new writers offer – say White Papers or industrial copy or B2B, invest in learning about it, update my skills in that area and pitch to clients in need of those services.
Right. First off, I would like to respond to TW’s comments. I absolutely agree with you that location matters in setting a rate for one’s services. I live in a so-called third world country and can lead a comfortable life with half the pay US writers get/demand.
However at this point of my career, I have recognized one thing. I do know if TW agrees, but for me, its the effort I put in that counts. For example if a 6-page journal article (I am a medical writer, by the way) takes 48 hours to put together, but a 2-page advertising leaflet takes me 72-plus hours, there are no prizes for guessing that I’ll charge more for the latter.
Coming to the topic per se. I have often seen comments here, which berate writers from non-Western countries charging pennies. When a writer starts out, he/she is generally unaware of the market rates. Mea culpa, for I have written $2 articles, but once I got to know the standard wages, I waved a big goodbye to those sort of rates.
In effect, what I am trying to say is knowledge matters. If you are aware of what most writers charge per word/page/piece, then it goes without saying you’ll want to match them regardless of your location.
Whenever you move to a new location, you are always advised to recce the area to find out where the grocery store or even a decent coffee shop is located. Writers, no matter what their experience, would be better off by studying the market and the sort of wages being paid to their ilk before dipping their fingers into the freelancing world.
My 2 cents!
do not know.* Sorry for the typo
It’s funny, I was talking to a friend recently. He is a news reporter and was let go by two of the newspapers he worked for. They simply didn’t have the money to pay him what he was charging. Rather than take their pay cut, he’s now on unemployment and struggling to pay the bills and keep food on the table for his wife and kids. I’m not sure that’s an improvement. While it might make him feel better that he’s not wavering from his principles, he is unemployed and has been for a month now. He’s not had another offer in this month because he isn’t willing to work for less.
I still say every person’s situation is different and in this world, you do what you must for your family.
@ Anne G.: I’ve been in his shoes. When the housing market started crumbling back in 2006 I was forced to reduce my rates after 5 years of maintaining the same. It was the only way I could drudge up any work when I was competing with illegal immigrants. As a self-employed individual I didn’t have unemployment to fall back on, so I did what I had to in order to put food on the table. It sucked, I had to swallow my pride, but in times of need you do whatever is necessary. Sadly, however, it got to the point where I just couldn’t find work at all, regardless of the price I was charging, which prompted my move overseas.
@ Grace: I’m in a similar situation. The USD is worth 1.5 of the Bulgarian Leva, as a general rule. It hovers between 1.4 and 1.6 and has remained somewhat steady in the past 10 months or so. There was a period back in early 2008 when it dropped as low as 1.2, but that’s as low as it’s gotten. I’ve seen it as high as 1.9 (meaning every 1 dollar is worth 1.90 of the local currency). Now, the beauty of it here is that the cost of living is cheaper than the States. Also, the wages here suck, by comparison. The average wage here is around 500 leva a month, which is basically 300ish USD per month. That’s the average person, like the guy working the cash register at your local grocery store or Starbucks/etc. Call it the minimum wage. If you have a college degree you will make about 1200 USD a month, and if you work for a foreign company or in a specialized field you make about 2k Euro a month (or 3500ish USD).
I never look at articles according to their per-word or per-dollar rate. I look at the project as a whole. I recently had a client come to me with a project that only paid 3 dollars per 250 word article. That’s “low rates” according to all of the freelancers I see complaining around this site and others. But I look at it this way…the overall project is worth 1200 USD (it’s 400 articles). I pump out 5 articles per hour, minimum. You do the math.
Also, I do work for Demand Studios. A 15 dollar article takes me 20 minutes, on average. Sometimes 30 minutes. I’ve done a couple that took under 15 minutes. I average 25 dollars an hour through them.
I have another client who only pays me 5 USD per article, and I have to have a minimum of 600 words. But I enjoy the work and I put out 5 or so articles per month with them, so it’s an extra 25-30 bucks and I love the content.
For the month of April I’ll likely hit close to 2k USD for a rough time investment of 25 hours per week. Basically that comes out to 20 dollars an hour average for all the content I do. That’s how I look at my projects. Not per article, not per word, but how much will I make this month and what does it take to get me to that point.
I think 20 USD an hour is a pretty fair wage. Even if I were still living back in the U.S. it’s a pretty fair wage. And these are the so-called “low paying” gigs that people complain about. I seriously think if people would spend half as much time actually getting out there and writing content instead of complaining about how little people are paying, they’d find their bank accounts overflowing rather than needing to complain.
For the record, I did some work last year for significantly less. But I came into this with no college degree, no high school diploma, and no previous writing experience. I used the specialized knowledge I had an I found a few gigs that would let me work in my specialized knowledge areas and they paid…albeit not that great. Would I continue to do those gigs today? Not on your life. But they serve their place, and for many people around the world.
The beauty of my situation is I live in a place where the USD is worth more than the local currency. Bulgaria is still a growing economy. I still regularly meet people who are literally in shock and awe that I can sit at home and work 20 hours a week, part time, and clear 2k USD a month. That’s 3k a month of local currency, which is unheard of unless you are in a specialized field or happen to have a Masters degree working for a foreign company. And that’s the crux of the issue. There are people like Grace and myself all over the world. Some writers come from areas of the world where the USD is worth even more than double. And those are the writers that we (everyone) have to learn how to compete with.
I write on my blog (if you haven’t read it yet) that it’s like this: anyone who remembers when the threshing machine came about in the UK can tell you this story. The local farmers went out and bought this new machine because it could thresh grain at such a rapid pace compared to manual labor that it was simply stupid to NOT get one. However, the manual laborers who had always gone out and harvested the fields for the farmers were suddenly out of a job and started going around burning barns, burning the threshing machines, and rioting because their jobs were suddenly taken away. The way I look at it is this: the world is always growing, constantly evolving. If those laborers would have taken the time to expand their knowledge they would have understood that in order to carry on, you have to adapt. You don’t throw hissy fits and temper tantrums…you either learn to adapt, or you drown.
Writers of today need to learn to adapt. You can’t keep expecting to get away with the same rates you charged 5 years ago. Times have changed. Employees are available on a global level now, not just a select few people who can afford broadband internet like it was 5-6 years ago. Broadband internet is available in almost every country in the world now. Wireless hotspots exist in every nook and cranny. And as a result the employee pool is so much larger, and so much more diverse, that it’s anyone’s guess as to who you are competing with for a job. And you can either learn to adapt by coming up with new and innovative ways to perform your job, or you can riot like the farmers of old, burning the machines and the barns, and still go home to an empty table that has no food on it.
Me, I like to eat. I’ll do what it takes to adapt. My previous occupation went under. No one has money to build houses in the recession. And even if they do, they can’t afford to purchase my skills anymore. So I found a new job and I’m going with it. So far, I’m learning to swim rather quickly, and I’ve done so using these so-called low-paying markets. Sure, I’m not charging 100 dollars an hour for my services, but I don’t need to. I’m more than happy to make 1500-2k a month, because our living expenses are next to nothing compared to the average American or British citizen. And if that means I’m stealing food from your plate…well I hate to sound crass, but at the end of the day I’d rather put food on my plate than worry about whether or not you (generalizing, not targeting anyone individually) have food on your plate. That’s just the plain and simple truth of human existence. It ain’t pretty, but it’s the realistic truth.
@TW – It takes guts to move overseas, but I hear Bulgaria, especially if you go down towards the Black Sea is an amazing place to live.
And you’re comments on feeding yourself and not worrying about others are very true. I look at it this way, no one has ever apologized to me for grabbing the last item on sale, taking the last parking space in a crowded lot or even the last cookie at some school meeting. Like it or not, it’s human nature to fend for yourself.
In the end, the jobs I do take must pay me the same as or more than I would make taking a job elsewhere. Add in the cost of gas, jobs are generally in Burlington or Williston which is a 30 mile drive (one-way) for me. I save money by working at home. I have one job that pays what others would consider horribly low – 2 cents a word. The writing they have me doing is simple stuff that requires no research. Their latest assignment was for 125 to 150 word blurbs on chain stores found in the U.S. It took me 2 hours to do the batch of 14. In the end, my invoice was for a little more than $40. That’s $20 an hour and very good pay where I’m at.
Steve – LOL!! I love that about the stimulus plan. If we hear something like that coming down the pipe, there WILL be much rejoicing.
We’d certainly put it to good use.
By believing that I can. And by following that belief up with action – applying for the jobs that suit me, not just any job. I have talent, and anyone would be lucky to have me.
I’m good enough, I’m strong enough and gosh darn it, people like me. Sorry – Stuart Smalley creeping in.
But seriously – I apply for the jobs that would be right for me and meet MY needs.
@ Anne G: I actually traveled here quite a bit since 2002 before making the move…usually 2-3 times a year, for a month at a time.
The Black Sea is simply amazing. If you’ve ever been able to experience the Mediterranean, it’s very similar, and the history is just as vast. Varna has been a sea port for thousands of years, and the historical areas around the countryside and seaside are just endless. This is a country of rolling hills, vast meadows, endless plains, huge forests and mountains, and plenty of seacoast. I *love* it here, which is partially why my wife and I didn’t have much of an issue moving here when we were forced to consider other options. She’s from here originally, so really we were just coming back to her home.
It’s beautiful, it’s cultural, and the people are amazing (outside of the city). In the city (Sofia at least, where we live) it’s just the same as any other big city, lol. Crowded, traffic congested, people are always in a hurry…but if you drive 15 minutes outside of the city limits it’s another world, one of welcoming villages and warm, friendly inhabitants.
This is one of the premier ski destinations for British and Irish tourists. The food, wine, and accommodations are top-notch in the resorts. As far as the sea-side goes, I’d take Turkey over Bulgaria, simply because I have a serious weakness for Turkish cuisine, and I absolutely love haggling over purchases, which is something you don’t get to do here in Bulgaria. Still, it’s different. Bulgaria has only been in the EU for 2 years now and there are a lot of changes that need to happen to bring it up to speed with the Western world in some areas. In others, however, I wouldn’t trade it for the world. It is VERY relaxed here. Extremely relaxed. Did I mention how relaxed it is here?
And yes, it was somewhat scary to move over here. Leaving everything behind, and spending the majority of our savings. But we knew we would be better off in the long-run, and to be honest, we really didn’t care for the way things were going in the U.S. Neither one of us have looked back even once.
Other than the occasional craving for a Wendy’s hamburger or a thick, juicy steak. It’s hard to find cuts of beef over here, as it’s a completely different culture and they eat lamb, pork and fish far more than beef.
I’ve been taking the advice to ‘charge more’ to heart. Unfortunately, I might have taken it too far. I lost an opportunity for a job because I charged too high, though I only charged what I felt was the industry standard rate. I know that many ask for far more than I do. But many are also willing to work for much much less. So, though I’m loathe to settle for pennies, I’m having to re-calculate my rates. I’d rather have work with slightly less pay than no work at all.
I know this doesn’t answer the question on the post. I don’t want to discourage others from charging more. Just don’t swing way to the extreme end of the scale.