Freelance Writer Or Crack Whore?
Sep 13th, 2009 | By Alex | Category: Freelance, Writing
Work is work, right? Especially if your a freelance writer and need five dollars for gas money so can get to Wally World and buy some Ramen noodles. Well, it’s either that, or the dog. But, five dollars for 300 words? Can crack whores do better than that for an hour?
Let’s work this one out. If you write 300 words at 60 words a minute, that’s a dollar a minute. Not too shabby. On the other hand,Crack whores might have to work for as long as twenty minutes to get that five bucks, which comes to .40 a minute. Pretty lousy for the mess and short high.
I hope the urge to mock me is setting in right now, because if it isn’t, I can point you to all the five dollars for 300 word jobs you want.
If you ARE mocking me, you know it takes a solid hour to get 300 words researched, drafted, finalized, and approved. No, that hour doesn’t happen all at once, but it does happen.
The question remains, What should we expect to get paid for 300 words? Ooooops. Trick question. The real question should be, what do we think our 300 words is worth?
The answer is all up to the freelancer. There is damn good money being paid to writers who deliver quality with every word. There is just good money passing hands to good writers, and there are the five dollar jobs. It all depends on what you think your work is worth.
I know it takes time to gain a reputation, but to take those cheap jobs, one after another, after another, and so on will dilute your reputation and self esteem. You are providing a solution to a problem, and that problem shouldn’t be the client’s cheap needs. Your solution should be to provide the client with the best work you can, and you’ll soon find that your work is worth more than five dollars an hour.
If you don’t think it is, you’ll be on the streets, turnin’ tricks and smoking the glass god before you know it.
Well, at least I always know I can get bread money
Desperate freelancers are making it harder for great writers, but great writers owe it to themselves to forget the insulting offers of cheapo would-be clients. And with the glass god as Not An Option.