A Totally Original Idea

“Fated” Written by Jasmine Walls Illustrated by Amy Phillips

I’ve meant to make this post before, but since I don’t exactly have a ton of followers I’ve instead just given people the info as needed. but, I’m thinking now it might be good to have this as an actual post, because I don’t know everyone who might need it.

so, this is about the websites I write for. a few things first:

this is about freelance ghostwriting for (usually) web content

ghostwriting means your name is not anywhere on the article

you do not retain the rights to your work on these sites

this is not about feature articles that you come up with your own idea for, pitch to an editor, and then write

or about articles that you come up with on your own, write, and then submit to publications

this is about writing boring articles for crap pay because you don’t have any better options at the moment.

these sites are not, for most people, an ideal or permanent job solution. the pay is crap, the articles are boring, but:

it’s low-pressure

you can do it from home

you don’t have to interview

you can get paid every week

you can write as much or as little as you want

the sites are legit and WILL pay you

so it can be a great short-term or supplementary income stream, for people who are cool with writing a lot of words on boring topics.

there are 3 sites I am signed up with, but 1 of them isn’t even worth mentioning because it’s just crappy. the other two are very similar, except one is much bigger than the other and has more constant work available.

to reiterate: these are very low-pressure writing jobs. you do not have to fill any sort of quota. you can go days or weeks or months without writing a single thing (I have) and they don’t care. when you select an article, you have a certain amount of time to complete it, but if you don’t manage it and time runs out, nothing bad happens. no one will complain to you about it. if you pick an article and then decide not to do it you can give the article back and again, nothing happens. I’ve done this many, many, many times.

so, if you are having a day where you cannot write, you don’t have to. if you’re having a day where you feel like you can churn out some articles and make some money, you can write as many as you’d like. low-pressure. no one telling you when to work.

I say ‘low-pressure’ instead of ‘no-pressure’ because your articles have to be approved for you to get paid for them. this is how the sites work:

you apply to be a writer

once accepted, there’s a big long list of articles to choose from

these articles are requested by ‘clients,’ and the site you’re writing for is the middleman between the clients and the writers

when you write an article, the client has a certain amount of time to review it and accept it or send it back for revision

the two sites have different procedures for revisions, I believe. I’ve only ever had one article come back for revision, on one of the sites, and that was because I made a silly mistake. I fixed it, it was approved, no problem. however, I also haven’t really written a lot on the sites,  compared to other writers, so my experience is limited. from my understanding, though, the clients HAVE to give you a chance to fix an article before they reject it, and if you think they’re being unfair about it you can talk to an editor. that’s the point of the writing sites, to be a go-between and make sure both the clients and the writers are being treated fairly. I’ve read complaints about clients before, but again, from my knowledge, both sites are pretty good about handling disputes and making sure articles that meet the stated requirements are accepted and paid.

okay now for the sites, with my notes about the differences:

The Content Authority: I’ve been with this site longer, and it’s the smaller of the two. this means that there isn’t always a lot of work to choose from. however, this site pays slightly more on average, and since it’s a smaller company the editors tend to be a little more amiable, from what I’ve seen? also, this site will hire people from outside the U.S. they pay once a week, on Mondays, I believe, as long as you’ve made $25 (in approved articles).

Textbroker: this site is much larger than TCA, which means they have a lot of articles to choose from pretty much all the time. they pay once a week, on Fridays (as long as you’ve made $10 in approved articles), but you have to actually request a payout, it’s not done automatically. they are also really picky about arbitrary grammar and punctuation rules, and they make it unnecessarily difficult to find their preferred nuances. this is a major complaint I have about the site. you’ll have to search the ‘grammar’ section of their blog to find out how they like their commas. (seriously, it’s ridiculous.) also, this site only hires U.S. citizens, but they have a U.K. version that hires from some other countries as well: http://www.textbroker.co.uk/. I know nothing about the U.K. site so I can’t tell you anything about it.

for both sites, writing articles is about the same:

writers are assigned a number level

articles also have number levels

you can write articles at your number and below

articles are paid by the word (for the requested word count; you don’t get more for going over)

the amount each article pays per word is determined by its number level

higher number = more pay

both sites PAY VIA PAYPAL. you MUST have a paypal account to get paid. both also may require you to prove who you are; I had to scan and email my ID to Textbroker when I started.

and for both sites, you’ll have to submit a short writing sample to be accepted as a writer. DO AS WELL ON THIS AS YOU CAN. it’s the only thing they judge you on, basically. for Textbroker, this will determine your starting level as a writer. (their highest level is 5, but you can’t get that going in, only after you’ve been writing there and they’ve deemed you worthy, or whatever.) at TCA, everyone starts at level 1, which sucks, but after 5 articles they review you (or you politely remind them to review you because sometimes they don’t do it automatically) and will bump you up a level or two if you write decent stuff. (their highest level is 4, and again, it’s only if you’re eventually deemed worthy.) level 3 at TCA pays a teeny, tiny bit more than level 4 at Textbroker. but TB has more work, usually.

for Textbroker, you can pick your own writing topic for your application, I believe, but TCA gives you one. the topic is randomized, though, so if you don’t like it refresh the page until you get one you do. (do this first! before filling out the form, so you don’t lose everything else when you refresh.)

whichever site you want to write for, READ THE INFO FOR WRITERS ON THE SITE. it will give you a general idea of what you’ll be writing and what they’re looking for. mostly these are articles for websites, and may require certain keywords included in the articles a certain number of times. read the FAQs for writers, read all the info in the ‘writer’ or ‘author’ section on the site, and read the instructions for any article you pick.

on both sites, the editors will review your articles every once in a while, and give you some sort of feedback, and possibly raise (or lower) your level. the editors at TCA tend to be more decent about this (and far less hung up on commas), because again, they company is smaller. the TB editors sometimes just assign your articles a number rating and then move on, though they’ll often leave comments too. basically, for either site, take their feedback as useful information FOR THAT SITE with essentially no bearing on anything else in your life.

you’re not writing these articles for your freelance portfolio, because it’s ghostwriting, your name’s not on them, and you don’t keep any rights to them. plus the topics are generally boring, and you’re being paid by the word, not by the amount of time you spend. these articles are not representative of you or your writing in general. they are merely a way to get paid on a regular basis. when you get comments from the editors, they are saying “here’s how to make us happy and possibly make more money for the things you write on this site.” that’s ALL. they are not saying your articles are bad or that you are a bad writer because THE SITES ARE NOT ABOUT GOOD WRITING. THEY ARE ABOUT MAKING CLIENTS HAPPY.

this, is essentially the reason I personally hardly ever write for these sites, because this sort of writing takes all the fun out of writing. I’m currently in the process of starting my OWN freelance copywriting business, where I’ll be setting my own rates and working with clients directly and actually having some fun with my work. knowledgeable copywriters charge MUCH MUCH MORE than what these sites will pay you. so, if you are really interested in making decent money writing, look into other types of freelancing—copywriting, or writing for magazines, or whatever you’re interested in. these sites are TEMPORARY or SUPPLEMENTAL income for most people.

some people do make a full-time living off of this sort of writing, but most of them still set their own rates for at least some of their work through the direct-order systems on these sites. they still don’t get paid as much as professional copywriters could be paid, and they also spend a lot of time writing. a lot. and they’re being paid by the word, not by the amount of time they spend on research, etc. if it works for you, go for it, but I can’t do that, and I can’t recommend it. if you’re a good writer, if you actually enjoy writing and want to do it for a living, you should be paid what you’re worth.

but? these sites are much easier than finding your own clients, and they’re also much less stressful. they’re also, for many people, a much nicer alternative to working a crappy low-wage retail job to help make ends meet. at least, it’s another option, and it’s always good to have those. hopefully this post helps some people find that other option.

Draven Draven