Low Paying Freelance Writing Jobs
I have received several emails and comments regarding my recent post, Three Quick Tips for Aspiring Online Content Writers. Many people seem to agree with every point that I touched on, whereas others are picking on this sentence: “In fact, with my first online content job I was paid $1 per 500 words; that is just about as bad as it gets. Over time this changed, but starting at the bottom is part of the process.”
I wanted to clarify my stance on that point. First off, I can understand why some people would not want to work for low rates. When I started out, it was quite disappointing that my first job paid so low. But with that being said, I still believe that there is nothing wrong with this if you are simply trying to gain some experience. Even though that job was one of the worst I ever had, it also taught me the most about the freelance writing industry. And that is something that I would not trade in for anything else.
The experience of working for low pay and learning how to move up the ladder was essential to my current success. Does this mean that you should work for pennies if you do not have to? Absolutely not. But the bottom line is that some aspiring writers give up prematurely on their career because they think that it is wrong to work for lower rates. If I would have followed that advice, I would have never boosted my freelance writing income to such a high level.
Those who are against writing for low rates have an excellent point; it is simply one that I do not agree with. I am positive that every beginning freelance writer would love to write for local newspapers and publications. But the post that I made was geared more towards those who want to get involved with online writing.
My advice is quite simple: start your freelance writing career getting paid as much as you can, but make sure that you start. The biggest mistake that you could make would be to hold out month after month hoping for higher rates. By getting involved with the freelance writing industry, no matter the pay, you will find that moving forward is much easier.
December 4th, 2007 at 1:47 pm
I agree with you. My first online content job wasn’t well paying at all. But, from that, I landed a second content job that pays double, which is more reasonable. The more writing you do, the more samples you have, the more jobs you’ll get. It’s that simple.
December 5th, 2007 at 12:38 am
Or what about nonprofit organizations? They almost all have newsletters, websites and now blogs. And if there’s an organization you’re interested in that doesn’t have one of these, then it’s a perfect opportunity for you to propose you create one for them. Nonprofit is at least a more respectable way to beef up your portfolio without earning yourself a reputation for doing work for pennies.
December 5th, 2007 at 12:41 am
PS: Chris, I really enjoy your blog, and I appreciate the opportunity to debate topics of interest to other writers!
December 5th, 2007 at 1:39 am
Even starting out, I don’t think I could have accepted $1 for 500 words of anything. It smacks too much of exploitation. Businesses should be shunned for paying ridiculous rates like that, not rewarded.
As Amanda notes, there are other ways to build a portfolio. I would rather give my work away for free to a cause I believe in than accept insulting wages.
December 5th, 2007 at 12:54 pm
Gigi - We are on the same page for sure. I think that starting at the bottom is a great way to get started.
Amanda - Thanks for your point of view. I’d love to have more comments from you in the future; you offer some great points!
Mike- Those low paying jobs are very rarely for legitimate businesses. Instead, they are for webmasters who are after unique content. Even then, you bring up some good points. Thanks!