If you are reading this, thank you. I am happy that you are all here reading this in the light of my months'-long absence. I've been working as a freelance writer at a website called HireWriters.com. It's nothing I'm going to quit my full-time day-job to do. However, it has become a legitimate side income for me and I enjoy doing it. Overall, I think it's a good website for writers and have recommended it to others who need a little extra money for relatively easy work.
For those who are not familiar with the website, it's a place where clients who need writing jobs done make their listings, and writers can claim them. The clients then can approve or reject the work that's done and give a rating based on their satisfaction. I personally have found an overwhelming majority of my clients to be very reasonable and generous with their acceptance and positive reviews. Writers are given a skill level based on their reviews and percentage of work accepted, and clients can specify a minimum skill level if they so choose. However, that will raise the cost of the article. The price of the article is based on both the skill level requested and the word count of the article being asked for.
It's a good set-up for both clients and writers. But, if you are a client, here are some things that writers wish you would not do.
1. Make Your Instructions Clear: I'm not joking. I once accepted a job from a client asking me to write a description of a website for a website directory. I did just that. I then was told, when my work was rejected, that what the client wanted was a positive review of the website. What? The instructions said nothing about a review. That brings me to the second point.
2. Don't Ask For Positive Reviews For Pay: I hope that this is self-explanatory. All it does is make the people looking at your listing think your product can't get positive reviews on its own merit, and it makes us thing less of the product you're asking us to write about. It's just bad business.
3. Pay Attention to the Word Count Range: Don't advertise a job in the 150-300 word count range, and then ask for a 300-word minimum. Why do I even need to say this? It happens with alarming frequency and it's completely inappropriate. Yes, you will need to pay more for a 300-500 word article than you will for a 150-300 word article. But, be willing to pay for what you ask for.
4. No Homework: It's glaringly obvious when a description of a job posted by a client is the client's teacher's requirements for a homework assignment. Don't pay us to do your homework for you. Just... don't. I know it sounds trite, but you're only cheating yourself. Please be assured that this would not be on this list if I didn't see it with alarming regularity.
I realize that this article might be a little dull. But, as I enter into the world of freelance I feel like what I look for in a client might be helpful information to people on both ends. How do you feel? Do you feel as though these standards are reasonable, or unreasonable?
Thanks and Happy Writing!
