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
Writers Working for Slave Wages
Before writing this, I struggled with whether I should tackle a subject that has been discussed to death many times before - discussed by writers who, no doubt, are far more experienced than I am and can more eloquently say what they need to say about the matter.
With that being said, I decided to post this anyway. Why? Well, for one -- I've always been vocal about writers who accept a pittance for their work and the people who get away with doling out slave wages to them. I don't like it, and I don't accept jobs that pay below my bottom line.
But there are writers who DO accept these jobs. There are a multitude of reasons why writers might accept these low-paying gigs. On one side, you have the writers who don't know any better; who think, "Okay, I want to be a writer and I have to start somewhere." They may believe these rates are normal.
On the flip side, you have those who I wouldn't call writers, personally, but who am I to judge what makes somebody a writer? What I'm talking about are the people who don't care to make writing a career and are in it for a quick buck. They can churn out keyword soaked articles in mere minutes. Unfortunately, these are the articles that usually lack any sort of good quality at all -- but some clients don't care.
Then, you have the middle group. These are writers who know they are being significantly underpaid for their work, but don't know what to do about it. Honestly, this group is what facilitated the
Six Figure Challenge to begin with -- those writers that could actually benefit from learning there are other opportunities for their talent besides $2 articles.
So who is to blame for this? The writers, for choosing to accept these rates - or the clients who don't feel the need to pay writers what they are worth?
Let's put it this way - as long as there are writers willing to accept the kind of rates that would make any professional squirm, there will be clients who refuse to pay for quality writing. I'm not saying that I condone those $2-5 dollar article jobs or whatever, but let's not pretend that shady webmasters are the only people compounding the problem.
Please feel free to leave your comments below. I'm open to any and all feedback regarding this issue!
Denise
Labels: writing wages
