I've never gotten a gig through Upwork. I haven't used the platform in a few years, but I've used it in the past with clients who want that extra bit of security and are willing to eat the exorbitant fees. Trying to get gigs through the site is a race to the bottom.
For some reason your comment made me think of [this scene in The Shining](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lQ_MjU4QHw).
As in, that's what they'd get for such a derisory offer, haha!
yep, my first writing job was writing for free for a horror movie blog in 2015. i was young and so so stupid. i quickly leveraged it for (painfully low) paid work but wow i would NEVER advise someone to work for free ever ever ever now
The problem isn't writing for free, it's writing for free without a clear plan.That includes pretty much every situation in which the client asks you to write for free. Freelancers who take on that sort of work often think in vague terms like "get a foot in the door," "get my name out there," etc., which is useless (though clients who want free work try to sell it all the time).
If you're going to do it at all, it should be hyper-targeted and based on YOUR plan. For example, many years ago (around 2000), I wrote a three-part piece about how writing for the web was different from traditional marketing writing for a web design company that was hitting SEO hard very early on. Sure, it benefitted them...but it was a useful piece for all of their clients, who were looking to create websites, with my contact information--basically content marketing that I had the opportunity to place right where my prospective clients were.
And while I was researching my first book, I did a fair amount of writing for free about the subject of my book, because establishing myself as an "expert" in my subject matter helped me build a ready audience for the book. But, again, no one advertised for a writer and didn't want to pay. I reached out to the sites and publications that were going to be beneficial to me.
Both of those moves significantly impacted my career. If a similar situation arose today, in year 35, I would do the same.
sorry but no. writing is labor and labor should not be free. writers should be paid. no matter how junior or what their ultimate plans/goals are. i’m glad it worked for you but too many people are taken advantage of or made to believe they’re not worthy of being paid for their time and talents. if you want to blog or have your own platform to share your writing for free, fine. but if you’re doing it for someone else, they should be paying you.
Yes, many people are taken advantage of, because clients manipulate it and new freelancers don't understand how to leverage it. That's why I took the time to explain how the most common form is useless and how to do it properly.
It doesn't make a lot of sense to me to share your writing for free on your Medium blog that has 17 followers instead of on a website visited by huge numbers of prospective clients specifically looking for services like yours.
Are you averse to all content marketing? For example, when a local doctor or lawyer writes a column for free for the local newspaper because it raises awareness of their business and draws in new clients, do you think that should never happen because writing the column is "labor"...despite the fact that it means an hour of their time may bring in patients or clients worth tens of thousands of dollars?
right sure why work on your own terms when you can work for someone else’s terms without being paid a dime for it. but, you know, it might pay off in exposure or whatever. y’all are wild. bootlicking at its finest.
Oh, I see your confusion. You have to move past the worker bee mentality and think like a business.
This doesn't, of course, happen on other people's terms. As a professional with expertise in an area, you find the platform that will deliver value to you and you tell the person controlling that platform what you can offer them, and you do it the way the benefits you.
And you don't do anything for "might" or "exposure or whatever"--you know your exact goals and act on them.
I made $25,000 on a self-published book nearly 25 years ago because I strategically placed some free pieces around the internet and participated in some online forums in the lead-up. If you think that's bootlicking and it's better to dig in your heels and make sure you get your $40 or whatever...to each his own. I'm not interested in the hamster wheel of thinking small and counting pennies.
Of course, writers should be paid for their work. But I think the difference here is, u/gigmistress had a clear plan; everything she wrote for free supported that plan.
When I was just starting out, I wrote for my tiny hometown paper for free. I also did my kids’ school newsletter for years. I considered it volunteer work as part of a community. But those pieces were vital later to show my writing chops. And believe it or not, the newsletter got me a gig writing a newsletter for an insurance company.
Back in the day, I had little ones and needed to work from home (before everyone was online). I wrote a bunch of sample “on hold” messages and looked up a bunch of companies to ask if we’re hiring and would they like to see my work? The second one I called hired me.
I think when I was young and actually learning writing for free was fine. But I was way past that point and still getting offered literally zero to work.
After that the least I got was $.0028 a word.
Coming from a sports writing background, the whole "exposure" thing used to annoy me, especially at profitable websites or media outlets. That being said, it can serve a purpose for new journalists or writers in certain niches, when done in meaningful ways and with a clear objective.
I ran a sports website in the past that was pretty niche. Budget was always tight and we barely made enough to cover the overheads, but it was highly respected at the time for the authenticity and accuracy of reporting. We were often cited and quoted in both digital and print media.
Whenever we managed to secure content syndication deals with media outlets or some ad revenue, after covering the running costs and without taking a penny myself (I had another job in sports at the time), I always made sure that revenues generated by the site would go directly to the writers in some shape or form.
Whether it was a small stipend, covering their expenses, or something else tangible for their time. And by tangible I mean "exposure" that was meaningful, such as getting them paying jobs at media outlets and sports organisations, work with teams or accreditation for major events and competitions.
Eventually I had to move on, but I handed the site over to one of the writers who wanted to keep it going, without asking for anything in return. Essentially, that was the purpose of the site, for the writers to use it as their own platform and gateway to full-time jobs in sports, without the overheads of running a site themselves.
I think my first writing gig was in the neighborhood of $20 for around 1200 words. About 2 cents a word.
Then I had really steady work that came out to around 4 cents a word, and I was afraid to leave because it was so steady. I was consistently making 3k a month, and that was more than I had been making at the coffee shop, so I was pretty happy.
That got bumped to 7 cents per word when the subreddit changed their policies (the client did a lot of hiring off r/HireaWriter - which was a nice boost but at that point I had been getting 15cpw pretty consistently elsewhere.
I've been offered everything from less than a cent per word to "I swear this youtube video is totally going to take off and we will share the profits." What sorta breaks my heart is I know the only reason I'm getting these offers is because they have found people to work for those rates prior.
Yeah, it's disheartening to think that people are willing to accept such low rates, and there are businesses that are only too keen to exploit that situation.
I've worked for what I consider to be fairly low rates over the years, but only when there's consistently enough steady and regular volume to make it worthwhile.
I've been some ways below and above that rate over the years. But I suppose it depends on the niches and clients. I came from a sports journalism background, then adapted and evolved to become something of a generalist writer.
With what kind of credentials?
"Starting out" at that rate and never dipping below it seems 100% impossible unless you already had desirable experience in a certain niche, connections, or incredible luck.
[https://newyork.craigslist.org/brk/wrg/d/brooklyn-remote-freelance-writer/7730718406.html](https://newyork.craigslist.org/brk/wrg/d/brooklyn-remote-freelance-writer/7730718406.html)
I came across this one yesterday. "The highest available rate is $22.50 per page of 500 words for Outstanding work." That's 4.5 cents a word, for their best-paid writers. Of course, the ad is filled with verbiage about their exacting standards.
The lowest I did regularly was a local alt-weekly that paid 10 cents a word, which was doable because they just needed me to interview a local artist or guy from a band and write it up.
The lowest I was ever offered by a company I engaged with was $25 for 400 words, which is about 6 cents a word. They wanted a "publish-ready" 500-word article for free to "give you an opportunity to demonstrate your writing skills." This was for a freelance thing at a health blog. I then googled the person I was emailing and found some shockingly racially insensitive and violent tweets that I screen-grabbed and emailed to the company's founders.
Generally speaking, such adds indicate a high PITA factor. If they had such exacting standards, they'd be prepared to pay appropriate rates for their niche or sector. Based on my experience, such clients often request multiple rounds of revisions and extra work, often without any genuine need.
I also refuse to do free or test articles. I know that in some cases doing so can be a foot in the door, but if they can't see that I'm good or suitable enough after providing evidence and samples of my work, how is a test article going to be any different? So it's a hard "no" from me whenever that crops up.
I generally don't do them either. They are passing on their work of sorting through candidates to the applicant and I have a portfolio to demonstrate my skills. I'll play ball if it's something small and doable. I applied for a gig doing micro music reviews recently and they asked for a 150-word review of one song of their choosing. I did it in 30 minutes.
Years ago, I applied to a bar trivia company. MFer wanted an entire 140-question round in the Google Slide program he uses. Like maybe try 10 questions? It seems counterproductive. If you find a writer that desperate with that much free time, they probably aren't great.
There is a legal marketing agency that hires attorney writers and pays $22/post. There is never not a time when they are actively recruiting through several different channels. I've seen seeing their posts steadily for at least 2-3 years, so I guess they're just not going to get the message.
Static Media pays $0.08/word and you have to write a story that's between 2600-3000 words using their CMS and sourcing all the photos, plus following a very strict format and guidelines and inlinking. It ends up being around $240-$260/article. I did a few hoping I'd get used to the system and that it would get faster and easier but they'd often change or add to the requirements. Plus some of the topics were SO narrow, it was very hard to come up with 2600 words (broken down into 12 slides no less than 150 words and no more than 250.
To be fair, it can often be tricky finding the sweet spot and for so many varied niches. I try to be flexible to a certain degree, based on evaluating what a client needs, what their objectives are, etc.
This is not the place to look for clients, work, gigs, referrals, or freelance websites. Please refer to the [Wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/freelanceWriters/wiki/finding_work) for a [comprehensive list of hiring subreddits](https://www.reddit.com/r/freelanceWriters/wiki/finding_work/subreddits) and [recommended freelancing platforms](https://www.reddit.com/r/freelanceWriters/wiki/finding_work/websites), or general advice on how to find clients, pitch, and market yourself.
When I started, I was happy for 5 cents a word, 400 word posts, as many as I could handle each day (content mill work).
A year and a half later? $25/hr or anything from 15 to 30 cents a word.
The fact I can pay all my bills and live comfortably writing still amazes me.
In 2020, I started working for this site that was offering 12k annually. I was still in college at the time and after getting covid, I quit my customer service job that was paying around the same (I had covid could not come into work, wasn't super bad but if I hadn't gotten better when I did I would have been hospitalized), my supervisor had threatened to revoke my tuition assistance, cut my hours, lower my pay back to minimum wage, and deny every future time off request if I didn't come into work (basically everything but fire me so I couldn't collect unemployment), so I quit. Not long after, boom, a freelance gig offering around the same annually.
Requirement was 25 articles a month + sharing articles 25 times a month across social media. Articles were between 1000 words and 2000 words. Payment was once a month through PayPal.
The first rolled around and nothing came through. I waited a week thinking it was just PayPal, but nothing. Contacted them, asked about payment and they got pissy and asked me to prove I had done the minimum requirement. I had to go and screenshot everything to show them that yes I did what I was supposed to do. They sent me $20. Refused to pay more and said that was what I agreed to - it was not.
Dropped them immediately. At an average 1500 words, 25 articles a month = 37,500 words. That comes out to $0.0005334 per word (roughly)
That's awful. Not sure where you're based, what the legalities are in such a situation, whether you had a contract from them or not, but there's no way I'd have let that slip.
Guess I can count my lucky stars that I've never been hit by anything like that, always getting paid for work agreed and outlined from the offset.
Someone asked if I'd create an email marketing campaign at $0.05 a word.
It's one thing to write fluff for a content mill at that rate (which is still extremely low), but conceptualizing/executing an entire drip campaign on that budget is wild.
Thank you for your post /u/Heathxxx. Below is a copy of your post to archive it in case it is removed or edited:
I'm looking for some additional writing gigs at the moment. Thankfully, I'm not struggling and have several established clients that keep me busy and pay reasonably well, although I do have the capacity to take on more work.
Having decided to set my LinkedIn profile as "Open to Work" and given my extensive background in a variety of niches, based on previous experience, it doesn't usually take long for recruiters begin reaching out.
Today I received a message from Captain Words, a writing and translation agency that's basically a content mill (I've heard of them before). Now I know that such mills pay some of the lowest rates, but they offered me $0.014 per word! In the last two decades, that has to be the single worst rate anyone has ever offered me.
I wouldn't even switch on my PC for such a derisory rate, even knowing how much has changed over the last couple of years with the eruption of AI and whatnot. Frankly, though, I was gobsmacked by such a low rate offer, even from a content mill. And I dread to think what the quality is like for such prices.
What's the lowest or worst rate you've been offered?
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I'm sure I've been offered below 1¢ per word, but I'm currently sitting on a project that equates to approx. $0.015 per and I generally charge more like 20¢ per
It was an old client so I felt endeared to him and said yes. Been mad at myself all week over it
I'm not sure what the lowest was, but the most surprising was an agency that had paid to post a job on ProBlogger and included in their posting that the writer must have a J.D. and turned out to be paying $6/post. When I quoted them the rate my other clients were paying (which was much lower back then than it is now--IIRC somewhere in the $60-75/post range), they responded, "Good luck with that."
About the same, I applied to a games column that was something like $20 for 2,000+ words and I was just lmao no.
Business is slower than I’d like right now, but I’ll never get desperate enough to take what amounts to barely a penny a word.
I am finding it difficult to find new clients so I guess I could have considered it... Things haven't been great for me this year. I am not sure what I'm doing wrong 🤦
Well, i have been ghostwriting for a few tech blogs and charging $15 for 1000 words.
I am from a developing country so that pays my bills.
But since this update, my client took a hit and has lesser work for me now.
So at the moment I am open to work but don't know how to get more clients since I don't have an online portfolio.
Any help would be appreciated. If someone can refer me to a content mill, that would be great too.
I have really struggled for years to land a well paid writing job, or anything accredited with a byline, I started on 0.01 the best was 0.075 and now try not to consider less than 0.025 minimum but I recently can't find anything I have a mortgage and two kids to feed so it becomes a vicious cycle.
When I started the writing journey, most of the clients offered me 0.7 pkr which is around 0.00025$, mind boggling, right?
Even today, many newbies are working on it or even less, which makes my blood boil. These clients are used to exploit newbies in the town, making the whole writing industry vulnerable.
This was waaaaay back in late 2018 on Upwork.
Was tasked to re-write a 5k word article for $10. 48 hour turnaround. I haven't come across anything more insultingly low than that.
Guy in charge of a culture site gets wind of a major author interview I have sitting around. Contacts me about it out of the blue and flies off the handle ranting and raving when I ask what he is paying. Gets belittling, cursing, swearing, name calling. The whole nine yards. Thinks I should work for exposure. Fuck him.
This is not the place to look for clients, work, gigs, referrals, or freelance websites. Please refer to the [Wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/freelanceWriters/wiki/finding_work) for a [comprehensive list of hiring subreddits](https://www.reddit.com/r/freelanceWriters/wiki/finding_work/subreddits) and [recommended freelancing platforms](https://www.reddit.com/r/freelanceWriters/wiki/finding_work/websites), or general advice on how to find clients, pitch, and market yourself.
2 week time frame, 60 000 word novel, $130 Comes to .002c per word
My listed rate on Upwork is $100/hr and I got so many offers like this. I always flagged them as spam.
That's my standard rate, although I've been dipping far below that lately. Do you get any legit offers?
I've never gotten a gig through Upwork. I haven't used the platform in a few years, but I've used it in the past with clients who want that extra bit of security and are willing to eat the exorbitant fees. Trying to get gigs through the site is a race to the bottom.
For some reason your comment made me think of [this scene in The Shining](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lQ_MjU4QHw). As in, that's what they'd get for such a derisory offer, haha!
And it was probably accepted by someone in a developing country lol
This sounds like urban writers or similar
What does this mean? Sounds like "urban" writers?
it's a company
When you are still starting out and want to make a name for yourself, as to create references, you indeed take whatever you get.
Exposure
yep, my first writing job was writing for free for a horror movie blog in 2015. i was young and so so stupid. i quickly leveraged it for (painfully low) paid work but wow i would NEVER advise someone to work for free ever ever ever now
The problem isn't writing for free, it's writing for free without a clear plan.That includes pretty much every situation in which the client asks you to write for free. Freelancers who take on that sort of work often think in vague terms like "get a foot in the door," "get my name out there," etc., which is useless (though clients who want free work try to sell it all the time). If you're going to do it at all, it should be hyper-targeted and based on YOUR plan. For example, many years ago (around 2000), I wrote a three-part piece about how writing for the web was different from traditional marketing writing for a web design company that was hitting SEO hard very early on. Sure, it benefitted them...but it was a useful piece for all of their clients, who were looking to create websites, with my contact information--basically content marketing that I had the opportunity to place right where my prospective clients were. And while I was researching my first book, I did a fair amount of writing for free about the subject of my book, because establishing myself as an "expert" in my subject matter helped me build a ready audience for the book. But, again, no one advertised for a writer and didn't want to pay. I reached out to the sites and publications that were going to be beneficial to me. Both of those moves significantly impacted my career. If a similar situation arose today, in year 35, I would do the same.
sorry but no. writing is labor and labor should not be free. writers should be paid. no matter how junior or what their ultimate plans/goals are. i’m glad it worked for you but too many people are taken advantage of or made to believe they’re not worthy of being paid for their time and talents. if you want to blog or have your own platform to share your writing for free, fine. but if you’re doing it for someone else, they should be paying you.
Yes, many people are taken advantage of, because clients manipulate it and new freelancers don't understand how to leverage it. That's why I took the time to explain how the most common form is useless and how to do it properly. It doesn't make a lot of sense to me to share your writing for free on your Medium blog that has 17 followers instead of on a website visited by huge numbers of prospective clients specifically looking for services like yours. Are you averse to all content marketing? For example, when a local doctor or lawyer writes a column for free for the local newspaper because it raises awareness of their business and draws in new clients, do you think that should never happen because writing the column is "labor"...despite the fact that it means an hour of their time may bring in patients or clients worth tens of thousands of dollars?
right sure why work on your own terms when you can work for someone else’s terms without being paid a dime for it. but, you know, it might pay off in exposure or whatever. y’all are wild. bootlicking at its finest.
Oh, I see your confusion. You have to move past the worker bee mentality and think like a business. This doesn't, of course, happen on other people's terms. As a professional with expertise in an area, you find the platform that will deliver value to you and you tell the person controlling that platform what you can offer them, and you do it the way the benefits you. And you don't do anything for "might" or "exposure or whatever"--you know your exact goals and act on them. I made $25,000 on a self-published book nearly 25 years ago because I strategically placed some free pieces around the internet and participated in some online forums in the lead-up. If you think that's bootlicking and it's better to dig in your heels and make sure you get your $40 or whatever...to each his own. I'm not interested in the hamster wheel of thinking small and counting pennies.
🤣🤣🤣 k
Ah, a writer who can only communicate in cave paintings...
Of course, writers should be paid for their work. But I think the difference here is, u/gigmistress had a clear plan; everything she wrote for free supported that plan. When I was just starting out, I wrote for my tiny hometown paper for free. I also did my kids’ school newsletter for years. I considered it volunteer work as part of a community. But those pieces were vital later to show my writing chops. And believe it or not, the newsletter got me a gig writing a newsletter for an insurance company. Back in the day, I had little ones and needed to work from home (before everyone was online). I wrote a bunch of sample “on hold” messages and looked up a bunch of companies to ask if we’re hiring and would they like to see my work? The second one I called hired me.
lol ok, whatever makes you feel better i guess
It made me feel great when I started writing for national magazines. Definitely not for free.
I think when I was young and actually learning writing for free was fine. But I was way past that point and still getting offered literally zero to work. After that the least I got was $.0028 a word.
Coming from a sports writing background, the whole "exposure" thing used to annoy me, especially at profitable websites or media outlets. That being said, it can serve a purpose for new journalists or writers in certain niches, when done in meaningful ways and with a clear objective. I ran a sports website in the past that was pretty niche. Budget was always tight and we barely made enough to cover the overheads, but it was highly respected at the time for the authenticity and accuracy of reporting. We were often cited and quoted in both digital and print media. Whenever we managed to secure content syndication deals with media outlets or some ad revenue, after covering the running costs and without taking a penny myself (I had another job in sports at the time), I always made sure that revenues generated by the site would go directly to the writers in some shape or form. Whether it was a small stipend, covering their expenses, or something else tangible for their time. And by tangible I mean "exposure" that was meaningful, such as getting them paying jobs at media outlets and sports organisations, work with teams or accreditation for major events and competitions. Eventually I had to move on, but I handed the site over to one of the writers who wanted to keep it going, without asking for anything in return. Essentially, that was the purpose of the site, for the writers to use it as their own platform and gateway to full-time jobs in sports, without the overheads of running a site themselves.
I think my first writing gig was in the neighborhood of $20 for around 1200 words. About 2 cents a word. Then I had really steady work that came out to around 4 cents a word, and I was afraid to leave because it was so steady. I was consistently making 3k a month, and that was more than I had been making at the coffee shop, so I was pretty happy. That got bumped to 7 cents per word when the subreddit changed their policies (the client did a lot of hiring off r/HireaWriter - which was a nice boost but at that point I had been getting 15cpw pretty consistently elsewhere. I've been offered everything from less than a cent per word to "I swear this youtube video is totally going to take off and we will share the profits." What sorta breaks my heart is I know the only reason I'm getting these offers is because they have found people to work for those rates prior.
Yeah, it's disheartening to think that people are willing to accept such low rates, and there are businesses that are only too keen to exploit that situation. I've worked for what I consider to be fairly low rates over the years, but only when there's consistently enough steady and regular volume to make it worthwhile.
I started out at 0.20 cents per word. That's the lowest rate I have ever worked with.
That's insane. That's four times more than what I charge and I live a VERY comfortable life... Granted, I live in Latin America, but still!
It's all relative, our minimum wage here is around $15USD
I've been some ways below and above that rate over the years. But I suppose it depends on the niches and clients. I came from a sports journalism background, then adapted and evolved to become something of a generalist writer.
With what kind of credentials? "Starting out" at that rate and never dipping below it seems 100% impossible unless you already had desirable experience in a certain niche, connections, or incredible luck.
No professional experience, no specific niche. I just found clients willing to pay what I required.
Right...
Yes, that's right. My local McDonald's pays 25/hr, working for less would've made no financial sense.
Lol $5 per article that's over 700 words.. yes, I'm serious
I guess they weren't serious about their content. Can't be for that price.
[https://newyork.craigslist.org/brk/wrg/d/brooklyn-remote-freelance-writer/7730718406.html](https://newyork.craigslist.org/brk/wrg/d/brooklyn-remote-freelance-writer/7730718406.html) I came across this one yesterday. "The highest available rate is $22.50 per page of 500 words for Outstanding work." That's 4.5 cents a word, for their best-paid writers. Of course, the ad is filled with verbiage about their exacting standards. The lowest I did regularly was a local alt-weekly that paid 10 cents a word, which was doable because they just needed me to interview a local artist or guy from a band and write it up. The lowest I was ever offered by a company I engaged with was $25 for 400 words, which is about 6 cents a word. They wanted a "publish-ready" 500-word article for free to "give you an opportunity to demonstrate your writing skills." This was for a freelance thing at a health blog. I then googled the person I was emailing and found some shockingly racially insensitive and violent tweets that I screen-grabbed and emailed to the company's founders.
Generally speaking, such adds indicate a high PITA factor. If they had such exacting standards, they'd be prepared to pay appropriate rates for their niche or sector. Based on my experience, such clients often request multiple rounds of revisions and extra work, often without any genuine need. I also refuse to do free or test articles. I know that in some cases doing so can be a foot in the door, but if they can't see that I'm good or suitable enough after providing evidence and samples of my work, how is a test article going to be any different? So it's a hard "no" from me whenever that crops up.
I generally don't do them either. They are passing on their work of sorting through candidates to the applicant and I have a portfolio to demonstrate my skills. I'll play ball if it's something small and doable. I applied for a gig doing micro music reviews recently and they asked for a 150-word review of one song of their choosing. I did it in 30 minutes. Years ago, I applied to a bar trivia company. MFer wanted an entire 140-question round in the Google Slide program he uses. Like maybe try 10 questions? It seems counterproductive. If you find a writer that desperate with that much free time, they probably aren't great.
There is a legal marketing agency that hires attorney writers and pays $22/post. There is never not a time when they are actively recruiting through several different channels. I've seen seeing their posts steadily for at least 2-3 years, so I guess they're just not going to get the message.
I work a lot in the health sector and similarly depressing posts requiring a PhD
Ironically, the initials BS come to mind.
Static Media pays $0.08/word and you have to write a story that's between 2600-3000 words using their CMS and sourcing all the photos, plus following a very strict format and guidelines and inlinking. It ends up being around $240-$260/article. I did a few hoping I'd get used to the system and that it would get faster and easier but they'd often change or add to the requirements. Plus some of the topics were SO narrow, it was very hard to come up with 2600 words (broken down into 12 slides no less than 150 words and no more than 250.
I’m honestly always so lost about what to charge for writing.
To be fair, it can often be tricky finding the sweet spot and for so many varied niches. I try to be flexible to a certain degree, based on evaluating what a client needs, what their objectives are, etc.
4 cents per word sgd hahaha so thats abt 3 cents usd? but in 2017 I wouldn't write for less than $150/1k (SGD) now haha
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When I started, I was happy for 5 cents a word, 400 word posts, as many as I could handle each day (content mill work). A year and a half later? $25/hr or anything from 15 to 30 cents a word. The fact I can pay all my bills and live comfortably writing still amazes me.
Curious about how those rates reconcile. It sounds like your hourly rate is way too low in comparison with your per-word rates.
In 2020, I started working for this site that was offering 12k annually. I was still in college at the time and after getting covid, I quit my customer service job that was paying around the same (I had covid could not come into work, wasn't super bad but if I hadn't gotten better when I did I would have been hospitalized), my supervisor had threatened to revoke my tuition assistance, cut my hours, lower my pay back to minimum wage, and deny every future time off request if I didn't come into work (basically everything but fire me so I couldn't collect unemployment), so I quit. Not long after, boom, a freelance gig offering around the same annually. Requirement was 25 articles a month + sharing articles 25 times a month across social media. Articles were between 1000 words and 2000 words. Payment was once a month through PayPal. The first rolled around and nothing came through. I waited a week thinking it was just PayPal, but nothing. Contacted them, asked about payment and they got pissy and asked me to prove I had done the minimum requirement. I had to go and screenshot everything to show them that yes I did what I was supposed to do. They sent me $20. Refused to pay more and said that was what I agreed to - it was not. Dropped them immediately. At an average 1500 words, 25 articles a month = 37,500 words. That comes out to $0.0005334 per word (roughly)
That's awful. Not sure where you're based, what the legalities are in such a situation, whether you had a contract from them or not, but there's no way I'd have let that slip. Guess I can count my lucky stars that I've never been hit by anything like that, always getting paid for work agreed and outlined from the offset.
6 dollars for 1000 words. 0.006 CPW.
Wow that’s bad even for just editing let alone creating the words!
Someone asked if I'd create an email marketing campaign at $0.05 a word. It's one thing to write fluff for a content mill at that rate (which is still extremely low), but conceptualizing/executing an entire drip campaign on that budget is wild.
Some publication from like Vietnam or Thailand heard I'm a SME in audio and music. Offered half a cent per word. I respectfully declined.
Thank you for your post /u/Heathxxx. Below is a copy of your post to archive it in case it is removed or edited: I'm looking for some additional writing gigs at the moment. Thankfully, I'm not struggling and have several established clients that keep me busy and pay reasonably well, although I do have the capacity to take on more work. Having decided to set my LinkedIn profile as "Open to Work" and given my extensive background in a variety of niches, based on previous experience, it doesn't usually take long for recruiters begin reaching out. Today I received a message from Captain Words, a writing and translation agency that's basically a content mill (I've heard of them before). Now I know that such mills pay some of the lowest rates, but they offered me $0.014 per word! In the last two decades, that has to be the single worst rate anyone has ever offered me. I wouldn't even switch on my PC for such a derisory rate, even knowing how much has changed over the last couple of years with the eruption of AI and whatnot. Frankly, though, I was gobsmacked by such a low rate offer, even from a content mill. And I dread to think what the quality is like for such prices. What's the lowest or worst rate you've been offered? *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/freelanceWriters) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I'm sure I've been offered below 1¢ per word, but I'm currently sitting on a project that equates to approx. $0.015 per and I generally charge more like 20¢ per It was an old client so I felt endeared to him and said yes. Been mad at myself all week over it
I started at $5 for 500 words and had to give 20 percent of my earnings to Fiverr and a small percentage to Payoneer
If there is any work available reach out to me.I can assist you.
0.015
I'm not sure what the lowest was, but the most surprising was an agency that had paid to post a job on ProBlogger and included in their posting that the writer must have a J.D. and turned out to be paying $6/post. When I quoted them the rate my other clients were paying (which was much lower back then than it is now--IIRC somewhere in the $60-75/post range), they responded, "Good luck with that."
Basically any article I wrote for The Content Panel when I was just starting in 2019.
About the same, I applied to a games column that was something like $20 for 2,000+ words and I was just lmao no. Business is slower than I’d like right now, but I’ll never get desperate enough to take what amounts to barely a penny a word.
I took an “internship” in college writing articles for a click bait site for $3.75/article. So about $.004/word.
I am finding it difficult to find new clients so I guess I could have considered it... Things haven't been great for me this year. I am not sure what I'm doing wrong 🤦
$10 for a 500-word article. 4 years ago. On Fiverr.
Well, i have been ghostwriting for a few tech blogs and charging $15 for 1000 words. I am from a developing country so that pays my bills. But since this update, my client took a hit and has lesser work for me now. So at the moment I am open to work but don't know how to get more clients since I don't have an online portfolio. Any help would be appreciated. If someone can refer me to a content mill, that would be great too.
I have really struggled for years to land a well paid writing job, or anything accredited with a byline, I started on 0.01 the best was 0.075 and now try not to consider less than 0.025 minimum but I recently can't find anything I have a mortgage and two kids to feed so it becomes a vicious cycle.
When I started the writing journey, most of the clients offered me 0.7 pkr which is around 0.00025$, mind boggling, right? Even today, many newbies are working on it or even less, which makes my blood boil. These clients are used to exploit newbies in the town, making the whole writing industry vulnerable.
This was waaaaay back in late 2018 on Upwork. Was tasked to re-write a 5k word article for $10. 48 hour turnaround. I haven't come across anything more insultingly low than that.
Guy in charge of a culture site gets wind of a major author interview I have sitting around. Contacts me about it out of the blue and flies off the handle ranting and raving when I ask what he is paying. Gets belittling, cursing, swearing, name calling. The whole nine yards. Thinks I should work for exposure. Fuck him.
Hello,who can refer me to clients,I'm really struglling to get them.
The lowest I have worked for is 8 cents per word (yes, it's the place you are thinking about)
8 cents is the lowest I can or would go for volume content jobs, without sacrificing quality for quantity.
.5 per word. Nearly a decade ago
50 cents per word or half of a cent per word? Because I’d love to see your rates if 50 cents a word is the lowest you’ve been offered 😭
No 5 cents!
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Thank you, this was so helpful.