BE CAREFUL with article writing gigs! [ARCHIVED]

[Guest angelaonfiverr]

Hi,

I am a genuine UK copy writer.
Given that the buyer provides useful answers to my questions upon purchasing the gig, I can write a powerful 300 words sales copy in around 15 minutes.
As a result of 16 years industry experience.
For me $5 for this time effort is reasonable as most clients come back and upsell.

Fiverr is about finding the talent.
Sorry to learn you got ripped off.
But you also need to think what you are investing in and the nation in which your buyer is from.

The UK living wage is £7.50 approximately.
For a person in this county earning a living from Fiverr, for $5 gig they’ve 10 minutes to honour the gig, just to make the same money as a McDonalds employee on minimum wage.

Other Western countries will be similar.

If you want quality, be prepaired to think what you are buying.

If they are non-english nationals, chances are the quality will be poor as they will use programs to scam and plagerise other peoples work.

If you want an English National honouring your project then expecting someone to do 500 words for what becomes a $4 earner (Fiverr take $1 commission) (so £2.70 in the UK) then realise that their time is at least 30 minutes for this task and that is being modest. That don’t even by a kids Happy Meal from McD’s in this country.

So be smart, stop moaning, and pay for the quality you want, else retract the gig!

Angela

[cebiledube04]

I started in July, However I do think it is time to raise my charges from that $5 for 500 words to $10. I am about to have 30 positive reviews

[cebiledube04]

Do you really get gigs at that price? wow!

[Guest rakib2190]

it is so bad, and hope everyone try must provide quality jobs

thank u

[edume]

I tested a number of people with writing skills and found out that all were simply grabbing an article relevant to the topic, spinning the text and delivering. Even though they say 100% copyscape it is not perfect. We used other methods to check for duplication and found all had at least several sentences copied from an original article. (80% unique) Nobody uses their head to think and write anymore.

[jogrefoln]

I’d like to recommend to anyone unhappy with what they make here to get started reading about how to scale a business. I joined Fiverr about 4 months ago, but only started really promoting it about 2 months ago. I’m already at level 2, and I currently only have one client on this site. I promise you that client isn’t getting 500 words for $4 out of me, I don’t care who he is paying a dollar to for the privilege.

I dropped the hammer on that action almost immediately after joining, and I’ve been busy ever since.

I’m a writer who uses his head to think and write, and I also love my work. That makes it easy for me to defend it when clients bulk at my rates.

Buyers respect writers who respect themselves. Trust me, it’s true.

I have literally told clients arguing with me too long over price (and believe me it doesn’t take me long, I’ve got work to do.) that I was too busy to argue with them, and I sincerely wished them luck in finding a quality writer for less.

That’s when the begging starts. "Oh, …well, …I guess I’ll give you a shot bla blah blah…"
At that point the roles have been reversed, and “I” am now interviewing them!

“Knowledgeable” clients, which are the only ones I want to write for, immediately recognize that I’m not some fly-by-night-fiverr.

Wanna know my secret for getting them to stay and order from me again, and again?

I PAY MYSELF A LIVING WAGE AND DELIVER THE PRODUCT I ADVERTISE!

$5 is only an entry point. If you’re serious about making money writing here, smash through that gate by paying yourself better and delivering outstanding content. Don’t be a bottom feeder fighting with zero value competitors if you actually have talent as a writer.

I even considered setting my Basic Gig to “I will communicate with you regarding your writing project for $5” lol I’m not kidding. Time is money, and money talks.

Knowledgeable buyers understand this platform well, and understand that it is still the internet, and certain risks are involved. They actually read the gig descriptions, and know how to follow basic instructions to minimize poor experiences. They order that first $5 gig to see what the writer is working with. When they find one not only do they keep coming back, they are willing to pay a reasonable rate for it. They appreciate you, and will support you.

What a pleasure they are to work for as well!

There ARE excellent writers on here, just like there ARE scammers, and hacks as well. That’s a free market economy for ya, …buyer beware. It’s no different than anything, or anywhere else. Where there is an uneducated sucker there is an educated grifter waiting to pick his pocket.

If both Buyers AND Sellers would spend a little time improving their own skills then this site might actually one day be a place where a real writer can make a real living, and real clients feel safe ordering, and recognize that quality content doesn’t come for less than the cost of a pack of cigarettes.

[jane_4]

This is true firstly people complain about high prices as there are a lot of sellers willing to write at low rate and then they come up with something terrible. Here the issue is plagiarism but mainly the write up provided by buyers for proofreading is pitiful, I sometimes feel like I should write this whole again rather than getting irritated on how to pull it together 😃

[seofanatics]

I would ask for a sample of work first, and check that on copyscape
And i as a person, i do not provide custom sample whatsoever. $5 would be fine to get a custom sample, and if it doesn’t work, you can ask for a refund or walk away.

[seofanatics]

Absolutely correct! One of the major reasons why i stop writing is because of the “mental” input. Sometimes you need to learn entirely new thing before you can write good article in some niche.

[mariokluser]

You can btw check this with less of a hassle. In chrome you can add an add-on to copy as clear text. When you mark a text and right click you have this as an extra option besides the normal ‘copy’.

[lynn2011a]

Article writing for $5 should be an intro to the authors work. I would not expect too much for $5 but remember this is a world wide service and many authors are from 3rd world countries and have an excellent grasp of the English language and do quite well. What may be too damn cheap for you may be a days salary for them.

[edume]

@fastcopywriter Yup, that’s why fiverr was created for Walmart wages to benefit business.

But, there are a lot of buyers out there that need quality. We write longer video scripts, 300, 400 words and won’t accept anything less than $25 to $35.

It’s that old saying, you get what you pay for. So, $5 won’t get you what you want, but $25 will.

[Guest olivewriters]

As a writer on fiverr, i must say there are few good writers who have passion for writing even when the price is not motivation,to be successful writing online, you must go extra miles to satisfy your clients,am new on fiverr and so far so good no one has complained to my before about what i have written for them,i take my time to give them duration so that i can do my finds on what they want me to write about.I LOVE WRITING.

[cmsdesigner]

Is it happened? I don’t think so.

[plinux]

So far all of those who wrote for me, except for one case, have used automatic writing software like the ones mentioned in Huffington Post and on other channels: http://readwrite.com/2013/01/15/why-write-your-own-book-when-an-algorithm-can-do-it-for-you

The problem with these is that whatever comes out, although it sounds sort of good and they’ll pass the originality test, is utter nonsense and it’s certainly a waste of money.

[fine_articles]

I long stopped giving out samples because, when I was new to fiverr, I gave out a lot of unique samples that most of these so called buyers disappeared with and published on their site. When I realized that, I stopped. You either give me your job or find another seller. Writing is not an easy job and most buyers don’t understand this. As a writer, I make sure I write everything myself. My articles are unique and I often get tips for them. So, I believe you can use the option of refund if you’re not satisfied. However, if you really treat sellers as fellow humans and not as a slave, they will give you their best. I say this because I’ve seen buyers treating sellers so hash over a meager $5.

[topaz_muse]

Isn’t that what live portfolio is for? To showcase example samples of your work/what you’re capable of doing as a writer?

[philtabest]

Although I think it’s awful that you’ve been scammed like this and that if people advertise their services at a price, they should deliver at said price. I do believe that 500 words for $5 is still very cheap.

Think of it liike this: A University diseratation is approximately 10,000 words. A question for anyone who went to University here: How long did it take you to write your disertation? Divide the answer by 20 and you have an idea of how long it would take to write such an aricle, especially if it’s a topic you have no knowledge on.

When writing an article, you first have to research (Which takes time), Write the article (Which takes time) and then do a manual spelling and grammar check (Which also takes time.) because the automatic thing just doesn’t cut it.

I have brought one writing gig for my website so far, as I don’t know how to sell myself and am going to get someone to do my profile soon too. For my website at least, I paid $5 for 50 words, which is still very cheap, but I got great service.

Looking back though, I think I shoud have started on my Fiverr profile first, as more people see that. I am only using the money I get from Fiverr at the moment to pump back into Fiverr.

[philtabest]

That’s exactly what I was thinking! In my view if you just provide enough to make it unusable it makes your work look bad.

In my view it’s easy to see what someones writing style is like on this website, unless you are going for a translation gig. As you can see whay their writing is like in the messages they send to you.

[maria_catalina]

That does create a major issue for sure. It’s becoming a common trend online these days. For writers of such sort, it might be an easier way to make some pennies with doing anything, I said it right. Absolutely doing nothing and faking the client-- that’s what they have been doing. Be always cautious when you receive the completed work; ensure that you give time for checking out the work and give away the final rating to the seller. In such a manner, we can limit this condition as it’s quite evident to make the internet a better place to surf for anything.

~ Maria

[fastcopywriter]

You can always show something you did for someone else. That’s what I do when people want to see headlines, facebook ads, etc. In the end, if a scammer is selling suppositories on his website, he can’t do anything with “The Joy of Fishing” or whatever article you wrote.

[fastcopywriter]

No, Fiverr was created because someone saw an opportunity to make money by helping other people make money. Walmart wages? I don’t think so. My best friend used to work at Walmart and I got to a point where I was making more money than him, without doing an 8-hour a day job.

Another friend of mine, a full-time mom and former copywriter, is starting to do well writing 500-word articles about food and children, her passions. She’s also doing advertorials, something most people don’t know how to write.

Fiverr is flexible, I would never do 500-word articles because I find that to be boring as hell and time consuming, but others don’t. For others coming up with brand names or headlines may seem like a slow death, for me it isn’t.

I respect you, if you want to write for $25 or $35, that’s your prerogative. But don’t assume everyone is like that, I’m sure there’s a lot of amateur writers who are doing it for the opportunity to build their portfolios.

[fastcopywriter]

You didn’t work for pennies, but you did 8+ hours a day, sometimes you came on weekends, you suffered bosses, colleagues, office politics. At least that’s my assumption, because that’s my experience.

What’s so great about the corporate world? I’m a copywriter, and yet they expect me to be a proofreader. I like writing headlines, radio, and TV, and yet nowadays I’m being asked to translate technical manuals into everyday language, to write blogs, long copy, why? It’s boring.

This is why I stay on Fiverr. Besides, Fiverr is the only place where I get positive feedback all the time. You know what that does to your self-esteem? In the real world, a compliment was rare and criticism was common. I used to live in fear of making a mistake, used to fear getting fired. Here if I get a problem client, I can refund him, no sweat. The real world isn’t like that, they don’t forgive, they don’t give you a break, they don’t remember all the good you’ve done.

[flyingmongoose6]

$5 is too low for a 500 word article. But that being said, a seller should not plagiarize the article regardless of the compensation. I am very sorry that you encountered this problem on Fiverr.

[Guest ramiyo]

Choosing when hiring seller looks his or her previous work sample for judge his or her quality. Make sure he or she good and honest seller when hiring.