Are freelancer writers being paid fair market value?

Hunter

If you think your writing is worth $1000 then you should find clients who agree. You might have to take your marketing efforts offline or else you will be competing with everyone else who is only charging a few dollars for the same work.

11 years ago

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Beverly

With online freelancing, you could be competing against someone who lives half a world away in a completely different economy where $1.00 or $10 is actually a lot of money. That kind of money won't get you very far in the Western economy. So just charge what you think your services are worth and your quality will win you enough clients to make freelancing worthwhile.

11 years ago

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Corzhens

The internet is universal and values will matter when it comes to the cost of labor. I agree that $1 in the US is a paltry sum while over here, that amount can buy a meal. So if the quality of writing is just the same between an American and an Asian then the Asian will have an advantage when it comes to the amount of payment.

7 years ago

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NaturalWriter

In the 'real world', writers are paid $1000's for articles but online, this isn't usually true. Many times, a site owner wants to just pay a few dollars per article. There seems to be a big discrepancy between what writers are paid online and offline. How do you justify this?

There is no justification.
When pondering over this issue consider the differences in both the employer perspective and the perspective of the employee (for online and offline work). Think about the differences in each one.

I think Freelancer's online struggle more because they have to work 10 times as hard as the other guy. Some feel as though they have to stoop down as far as doing 1000 word articles for $1...Why is that fair? Why does this happen? Why do we feel it necessary to do this? Why do the employers put out those kinds of offers? Our time isn't valued? Are we automatically labelled as "desperate" when we make that final decision to work online? Perhaps it's because the Internet has been deemed as a scamming work environment... Maybe that has something to do with it. I really don't know.

All I do is set my valued price, and do the work for my clients. If they don't like what I put as a value for my time, then they can do else where ;)

In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure.
~Albert Einstein

11 years ago

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mqss

Well you can't get paid $1000 for writing an article for a micro niche website that makes $20 per month, but you can get paid $1000 for writing for New York Times that is a multi million $ company.

It's all about experience, how well you are known and how large the company that wants to hire you is.

11 years ago

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Violet

There is no justification.
When pondering over this issue consider the differences in both the employer perspective and the perspective of the employee (for online and offline work). Think about the differences in each one.

I think Freelancer's online struggle more because they have to work 10 times as hard as the other guy. Some feel as though they have to stoop down as far as doing 1000 word articles for $1...Why is that fair? Why does this happen? Why do we feel it necessary to do this? Why do the employers put out those kinds of offers? Our time isn't valued? Are we automatically labelled as "desperate" when we make that final decision to work online? Perhaps it's because the Internet has been deemed as a scamming work environment... Maybe that has something to do with it. I really don't know.

All I do is set my valued price, and do the work for my clients. If they don't like what I put as a value for my time, then they can do else where ;)

In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure.
~Albert Einstein

There are just lots of users online. It's not that freelancers are desperate, just a lot of buyers who are desperate and hoping to get a lot of something for a little bit of nothing. And, hopefully there are no sellers who will fall for that.

11 years ago

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LizAnne

Also, many of the articles published in mass media offline are written by journalists with college degrees. And, these jobs are very rare, so competition is high and pay is high to compensate for the many years of training it takes to achieve the level of expertise required. Online writing rarely takes so much time as to deserve $1000 pay.

11 years ago

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angie828

Some are being paid well and others are not. Sometimes there are people that have a hard time justifying paying what a person is deserved, as they feel it is too much when really it is not.

11 years ago

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Ashlyn

Some are being paid well and others are not. Sometimes there are people that have a hard time justifying paying what a person is deserved, as they feel it is too much when really it is not.

On one forum they were bragging about getting over $100 per freelance article. I don't know how they manage to get clients to pay so much, but I would love to know the secrets of such high pay for article writing.

11 years ago

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dobguy1

I agree with a lot of posters here. Initially I started writing for Fiverr, which I still do as a level 2 person. My gigs are for writing blogs and articles and at first, I was writing 500 words for five bucks. As my reputation grew, so did the demand for my services. I now write 300 words for five bucks yet still get a lot of gigs. I also have extras which can bring up to 40.00 per gig. It takes time like anything but it has also allowed me to find clients overseas who need services I provide. I now write for companies not only in the U.S. but in countries like Bangkok, the U.K and Australia. Im new here but only recently started offering my services. I honestly never checked this out before. I'll see how it goes for me here as well. I like the fact there is a forum on this site and the platform is easy to use.

11 years ago

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NaturalWriter

I agree with a lot of posters here. Initially I started writing for Fiverr, which I still do as a level 2 person. My gigs are for writing blogs and articles and at first, I was writing 500 words for five bucks. As my reputation grew, so did the demand for my services. I now write 300 words for five bucks yet still get a lot of gigs. I also have extras which can bring up to 40.00 per gig. It takes time like anything but it has also allowed me to find clients overseas who need services I provide. I now write for companies not only in the U.S. but in countries like Bangkok, the U.K and Australia. Im new here but only recently started offering my services. I honestly never checked this out before. I'll see how it goes for me here as well. I like the fact there is a forum on this site and the platform is easy to use.

Welcome to the forum then!
I too, like the forum aspect of it as well. It gives it the community feel.

Do you feel writers are being paid fair market value?

11 years ago

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dobguy1

Honestly Natural Writer, I think it depends on the quality of what writers have to offer. If you write in broken English, fail to use a spell checker and word counter and do not reread your work to make sure it flows correctly, then maybe your being paid what your worth. If however, you write the best you can and use all the tools available to your advantage, then you will earn what your worth. It may not come at first, but with time. I've also found clients like content that is engaging and actually fun to read. Serious matter of fact writing does not always come out on top. I learned through trial and error and now sometimes I get overloaded but it took a lot of time and practice. I'm still learning but I think that never stops, especially when it comes to writing. I thought I could never write a book, but I did and then another and now I can look back and say, wow that was cool. I am a electrician by trade and a Marine Corps veteran and a surfer on top on that. So, writing was something I always wanted to do but never had the chance. Now I do so I enjoy it more than thinking about how much I should make. The money comes with doing what you love. If you don't like what your doing, no amount of money in the world really makes it worth it. So, I think writers are paid what they are worth depending on where they are in their personal writing journey. Hope that makes sense. Dave

11 years ago

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NaturalWriter

Serious matter of fact writing does not always come out on top.

You are absolutely right. I like to use creativity with my writing. The only kind of "text book" style books I like to read, are philosophy books...lol (nerd... I know...lol)

11 years ago

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Jagger

Print publications will always pay more. But, even online copywriters are still really well paid. You just have to develop a portfolio of your clients and advertise to all the right people and not accept cheap pay.

11 years ago

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Miken34

On one forum they were bragging about getting over $100 per freelance article. I don't know how they manage to get clients to pay so much, but I would love to know the secrets of such high pay for article writing.

Wow never been paid that much! I want to learn the secret as well.

11 years ago

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Charlotte

Wow never been paid that much! I want to learn the secret as well.

Most likely, that's for copywriting, such as for a sales page, versus just an article. Though many print magazines pay $1.00 a word or more and average word count is over 1000 words per article. So it's a highly paid job to write for magazines, but also highly competitive.

11 years ago

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Jade

The market for writing online is much different than offline. There are few print publications where a writer can actually get published in. Even if there were 100 magazines, just imagine all the tens of thousands of writers competing to be published there. Online there is way more work that can be done, but also a glut of writers and so it's a buyer's market. And, they can pay what they want.

11 years ago

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augusta

I don't think people or workers are ever paid what they deserved because a buyer or client would always want to get a good bargain even to the detriment of the worker and freelance writing is not an exclusion.Writers are never paid a fair market value because if one rejects a job they're others willing to grab that same job at even a lesser amount and one would at the end of the day lose out.

So without a good bargain, one is already doing the job so as to retain the client at a lesser price than what the job entails.

7 years ago

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Corzhens

That’s also how I feel that writers are not paid their worth. It is the law of supply and demand that dictates the price so we have to admit that there are more writers than the need for writers hence the price for writing has gone to the minimum. It doesn’t matter if you are a good writer for as long as the demand is lesser than the supply then the cost of written articles will remain cheap at the expense of the writers.

6 years ago

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vinaya

yes, writers for print are paid very well. However, not everyone is paid $100 for an article in the print world. UNless you are a Pulitzer winning writer or a writer for New York Times, you don't get paid high even in print. If you are a very popular online writer with a large fan following, you are paid well. Therefore, how much you get paid in print and online world depends on your reputation as a writer.

7 years ago

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Kakashi2020

Competition and Skill dictates the price of a service. It's all about your competency as a writer and the number of writers who have the same level of skill as you do vs the demand. Internet is global and that means a whole lot of good writers are competing to land a writing job and this drives the prices down.

6 years ago

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SEOClerks

Are freelancer writers being paid fair market value?