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Online listings for freelance writing work have greatly expanded the reach of writers seeking clients. It’s exciting to think about making money from someone on the other side of your country or even the other side of the world. But some of your competition is operating in countries that have substantially different economies. A dollar to them is worth much more than a dollar to you. You won’t have to skim through too many job listings before you are shocked by what some of them offer to pay. Listings offering $4 or $5 per 500 or even 750 word articles are commonplace.
This severe undercutting of pay for writers usually occurs when people in developing economies market their English writing abilities. Getting $5 for an article is considered good wages, but for the rest of the world it is worse than not worth the effort. It is insulting.
So, how does a freelance writer compete? The good news is that a great deal of the work produced for these slave wages is of poor quality. I’m sure the people writing them worked hard to learn English, but the results are rarely better than search engine fluff. You can spot them instantly if you surf through article directories. They invariably have grammar mistakes, poor syntax, and nonexistent transitions. All of these problems are to be expected from someone working with English as a second language, but most clients do not want to represent their businesses with such content.
Most clients need and require professionally written works by people writing within their native language. Prospective clients are looking to pay for effective communications. Some might get excited by the thought of a $5 article, but when they see it, their enthusiasm will dim. Several freelance jobs I’ve done where ghostwriting, so my clients were putting their names on the work I was producing. They needed someone who could do a good job. An outsourced hack job from someone not writing in their native language was not going to pass muster.
There is hope for earning a reasonable price for your freelance writing efforts. Competition will remain stiff and you will have to cut bargains sometimes, but do not let the pathetic prices you see out there discourage you or influence the rates you charge. People posting jobs for $5 an article aren’t looking for quality. If they are, they won’t be getting it at that price.
Tips for marketing your value:
Make sure that your marketing communications cite your educational credentials and mention that you are writing with your native language.
Include testimonials from clients whenever possible.
Emphasize your commitment to effectively communicating with your clients’ audiences.
Provide access to samples of your written work.
Frame your rates in terms of their value to clients. Paying you is meant to give your clients the time to conduct other crucial business. Clients are often quite capable of writing, but it is not their core strength and they would rather be doing something else. Remind them of the value you can deliver.
Finally, just because you can compete within a global marketplace, you do not necessarily have to. Do not ignore your local region. Clients are often eager to connect with a freelance writer nearby who is working in the same time zone, might be available for occasional face-to-face meetings, and understands the local market and audience.
Your good work will do more to earn you good pay than fretting about people in other countries undercutting the market. You are better than a pool of English students willing to work for next to nothing. Also, a highly competent writer in a developing economy will be quite aware of what he or she can earn in a global market and is not going to want slave wages either. Market your value, deliver good work, and you will compete just fine. Most business people know that they will get what they pay for.
Tracy Falbe has worked as a freelance writer in the past and is currently focused on her fantasy fiction writing. She sells her novels directly to readers at http://www.braveluck.com
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