Do you REALLY Get What you Pay for?
A recent post at a forum I belong to happened to catch my attention earlier this morning. I want to write about it not only to voice my opinion, but to get your feedback on the matter as well.
A writer was accused of plagiarism, and the webmaster who hired this particular writer was very unhappy. The rates were fair, he said, and the writer blatantly copied and pasted in an attempt to pass off the articles as her own (a very poor attempt, I might add.)
Now, according to the details of this post, the writer was contracted to write approximately 100 articles for this client. The rate he paid her to write these articles amounts to just about .02/word.
On one side of the coin, I have to throw in the over-used phrase, "You get what you pay for." It sounds to me as if the writer, forced to write over 100 articles for peanuts, probably burned out and ripped off other content to turn in the project on time, get paid and be done with it.
Does that make plagiarism right? No, of course not. Not only is that illegal, it's unprofessional, stupid, and honestly... this writer accepted the project on those terms. If the writer was unhappy with the pay rate, she should have negotiated or turned it down. Anything other than plagiarism, please!
Now, on the other hand - knowing the rates this client paid, does he really have a right to complain about the quality of his content? Forget the fact that it was plagiarized. What if it was original content, but poorly written? Did he really think he could get over 100, professionally written articles for .02/word?
Let me know what you think!
Labels: commentary, writing thoughts
Your Bottom Line
If the quality of this post leaves something to be desired, I am apologizing beforehand. My dog I've known and loved for 16 years was put to sleep yesterday. He lived a good life, but I am still processing everything. I apologize now, and hope you still enjoy the post, for what it's worth.
Yesterday, I wrote about the
price of quality and asked for your opinions regarding how much quality costs in the writing world. I appreciate those of you who commented, but now I'd like to take things a bit further.
While the definition of quality will differ from person to person (as will the price people are willing to pay for it,) I'd like to ask you about your bottom line.
How much are you willing to negotiate on rates? This will obviously vary depending on the circumstances. There were several comments on the blog post yesterday about certain benefits of working with a particular client may outweigh the financial gain.
Has this ever held true for you? Do you ever work for less than you usually do because of different benefits a particular client offers you?
While I am usually a stickler with the rates I charge and rarely renegotiate, there are a few clients who I continue to work with that pay me substantially less than I usually earn. Why do I keep working with them?
For the side benefits, of course! These vary from client to client, but several people I've worked with in the past have been enormously helpful to me in ways different from monetary gain.
Now it's your turn. Let me know your thoughts and where your bottom line rests.
Best Wishes,
Denise
Labels: freelance writing, writing thoughts, writing wages
The Price of Quality
When I first began trying to freelance I have to admit - I was clueless.
My first gig was writing various articles about wedding favors. I had to focus each article on a specific keyword, and write 50 articles all essentially about the same thing.
At the time, I didn't realize I could be doing much less work for MUCH more money. I was just happy to be doing something I loved and getting paid
something.
Luckily, I started researching freelance writing and reading everything I could get on the subject. I talked to more established freelancers and realized: "Hey, I can do better!"
While I am constantly learning something new all the time, I am happy to admit that my low-paying, keyword writing days have long been finished with. Thankfully, my ignorance didn't last as long as it could have! To imagine I could still be stuck in the low-paying rut makes me shudder.
What am I getting at, you ask?
I realized that while I was churning out those annoying keyword articles, the quality of my work started to suffer. I became more concerned about hitting the word count than about the fact that all of my sentences began to sound boring and repetitive.
I know now that I was suffering from what I call "writing burnout," and had I actually been paid what I knew I was worth, burnout probably wouldn't have happened.
It's a problem I am constantly seeing across the spectrum - new writers jump on the freelance bandwagon, not knowing how much they could be getting paid, and end up letting the quality of their writing suffer just to collect a paycheck.
So, my question to you - what is the price of quality writing? I realize it's a very loaded question, and the answers will probably vary from writer to writer.
In order to answer that question, first we must determine what the word
quality means to us. It's such an overused phrase now, it almost ceases to have a real meaning anymore! "High Quality Writing Services" is now the catch-phrase for every wannabe writer competing for peanuts.
So, what does quality mean to you? And then... what price does
quality come with? It's something to think about, and I'm interested to hear your thoughts.
Best,
Denise
Labels: advice for writers, writing thoughts
The Power of Words
As writers, words are our lifeblood - our reason for being, essentially. Words are what allow us to inform, entice, excite, entertain or otherwise elicit emotion from our readers.
We are so wrapped up in words, in fact, that perhaps at times we forget to notice when words have become no longer our friend, but our enemy.
Words are
powerful. I am a firm believer that words are more powerful than any physical action one could possibly take against me. Truthfully, I'd rather be physically punched in the gut than be the recipient of a vicious verbal attack. Why?
Because words can
hurt. Emotionally. Deep down to the very core of your being. I don't like that.
Starting today, I am going to make a conscience effort to watch how I use my words around other people. Words are my life, but I'm choosing not to use something so powerful to hurt another person knowingly and/or voluntarily.
Perhaps, as writers, we should all strive to do the same?
Best,
Denise
Labels: writing thoughts
