Another Freelancing Source

I recently found out about another site that is fairly similar to Constant Content. This site is GhostBlogger.net.  I just joined the site, so I cannot report how good or bad it is, but I will be submitting my first article later today.

The pay structure is 3.50 for every 100 words, which is nice. You also have the option to set your own price for each article that you submit. The site puts their 30% cut on top of your price, so when the article is purchased, you get the amount that you set. There is no set payday...you can cash out when you want to, as long as there is at least $25 in your account.

You have the option of writing for requests for buyers, or on any topic that you choose, just like Constant Content, but there is no way to see what the buyers are buying, or what they are searching for. It doesn't have as many features as Constant Content, but one feature that it has that CC does not have is the ability to write the article directly on site - in fact, you have to either write it on site, or copy and paste your article into the box.

When I have a chance to see how it all goes, I'll write a fresh review of GhostBlogger.net. In the meantime, I've got work to do!

Freelancing Success with Constant Content

If you are a freelance writer who hasn't realized much in the way of success working through the various freelancing websites - where the competition is tough, and the bidders are tragically cutting their rates to win projects, you may want to give Constant Content a try.

I only joined the site on July 21st, which was just ten days ago. In that time, I have written and submitted 7 articles. Of those 7 articles, three have sold. Two were sold under the usage license, which means that they can be sold again and again, and they will retain my byline, and one was sold under the full rights license, which means that the buyer can remove my name, rewrite it, or do whatever they want with the article.

I've read what a lot of other writers have had to say about Constant Content, and I feel very confident that as I add more articles to my inventory, my sales will increase, and my income from that site alone will greatly increase as well. I'm just writing and submitting one article per day at this point (5 days per week), because I'm still working on other projects, and doing other writing work as well.

I'm happy to see that the little bit of time that I am dedicating to this endeavor each day is paying off :)

New Freelance Writing Website

Today, I've received two press releases about a new freelance writing site that is being widely publicized. When freelance websites that are writing specific advertise, that's great for the writer's who work through that site, but that may not be the case this go around.

First, I went to check the site out. The company is Real Writing Jobs. I clicked on the FAQ and read what it was all about. There's really not a lot of information there, but I was able to get a few vital bits of information from what I read, which lead me to not recommend using this website for freelance writing.

1. While the site did all of the proper things to protect itself against being accused of making false claims, they do tell you that you can make up to $10,000 a month. As a freelance writer, I know that to be extremely unrealistic, and I will even go so far as to say false.

2. This site does not pay you for your work, the clients/companies in their database pay you.

3. There is a membership fee for joining, even as a writer. Especially as a writer. You see, this isn't actually a place to find writing work. Instead, this is a membership website, where you will find links to sites where you will find writing jobs. I haven't joined the site, but I suspect that you will find the usual freelance sites listed inside, such as freelancer.com, vWorker, iWriter, etc. You do not need to pay for this information. You can easily find it on your own.

4. The company claims that even if you only have an eighth grade education, you can make big money writing. In fact, there are additional services that the company will direct you to if you do not write well. You can bet that this company will get commissions when you pay other companies to teach you how to write. 

Don't get me wrong. I'm not against anyone making money online - not even this company. What I am against is the way that they worded their squeeze page, making it seem like you will work for them, regardless of your writing skill, and promising big money for it - for a free of course, when in reality, it is just a database of links to other, free writing sites.

It just feels sleazy.

London Brokers Review

London Brokers is a site that operates much like iWriter, but to tell the truth, I've never done a single job through the site, and I honestly do not intend to, even though I did sign up as a member.

My first impression of the site, after signing up, was not good. When I finally got my email and logged in, the first thing that I felt was depression. There is a depressing video to watch, and for me, the narrator was very hard to understand. Then, you see the bulletin board where the jobs are listed. The whole site design completely turned me off, but what turned me off the most was the fact that while it operates like iWriter, it isn't at all the same.

At iWriter, there is the opportunity to advance and to earn more money for the work that you do as you build your reputation on the site. At London Brokers, there doesn't seem to be any real room for advancement that allows you to make more money. You can earn more money for jobs that are marked urgent, and you can earn a little more money if you complete jobs quickly - but the amount of extra money that you can earn in these two ways doesn't amount to very much.

Maybe I'm missing something, but I simply wasn't impressed enough to go any further than I went on this site. If anyone has a different opinion or experience with this site, I'd love to hear about it.

iWriter Review

I've just started using iWriter, and I think I may like it a lot. Of course, I haven't had time to get a full grasp of it - so this is more of a preliminary review, but so far, I'm really impressed with what I see. If you haven't heard of iWriter, it is a website where you can go and see articles that are requested, and simply write the articles that are available. You do not have to bid on jobs. The price for the job is already determined, based on your skill level on the site. Obviously, since I am unproven on the site, I am currently at the lowest skill level, but with enough writing that will quickly change.

I've already written and submitted one article, and am awaiting approval. As a new writer, I must wait 40 minutes between articles until I have been rated five times. After that, I will be able to write one article after another. Additionally, they will deposit my pay into my PayPal account each week, on Tuesday, which I especially like. To me, this is a no muss, no fuss website, and it takes the work out of getting the work. The minimum payout is $20, and the buyer or requester has 72 hours to approve or reject your article - and if they do nothing, the article is automatically approved and you get paid.

You can write the article directly on the site, which is really nice, but it is suggested that you copy your article and paste it into your own text editor before submitting in case something goes wrong - so you don't completely lose the article. The editor on the site is really nice, as it not only counts words for you, but also keyword density - and it is automatically run through CopyScape when you hit the submit button.

As a beginner on the site, the pay is incredibly low - it could even be construed as insulting. But if you haven't proven yourself, you have to work your way up from the bottom. I've been in this game for a long time, working through many freelance websites, so I know how this works, and I'm willing to accept it. What I can see through the interface at iWriter is that the more I write, and the more my articles are accepted (and I know that my writing is good enough for this), the more I will be paid per article. Therefore, I am willing to take the short amount of time it will take to work my way up to the better paying opportunities on the site. So, before you kick and scream over the low, insulting wages that are offered, think this through. So for now, I will take the lowest paying articles, requiring the least amount of words, on the easiest topics, so that I can quickly knock the work out, and gain the required ratings to be eligible for the high paying articles - and I will not be insulted. Too often, writers and other creative people let pride get between them and ultimate success - especially in the freelancing world.

Again, I'm really impressed with what I see so far. The site is very clean and easy to navigate as well. Watch out vWorker...iWriter could give you a serious run for your money!

VWorker.com

I've been working through vWorker.com for years. In fact, when I started with the site, it was still called Rent-A-Coder. I have to say that I've never had any problems at vWorker. This does not, however, mean that I don't fear potential problems. I have, to date, always been paid on time, and I have a perfect 10 rating.

I've never had an issue getting work through the site, and in the past I was so fearful of not winning bids that I often bid on too many jobs - and then won them all, overtaxing myself quite a bit. That made for a lot of all-nighters on my end to finish all of the won bids in a timely manner!

There are drawbacks to VWorker. First, the competition is stiff - but not in the way that you may think. In terms of writing skill, I don't feel that I have an overwhelming amount of competition at the site. The problem comes from the fact that so many people will bid very low on jobs. This forces me to either bid low as well - agreeing to do a substantial amount of high quality work for very little pay - or to bid at a decent rate and win far fewer jobs. Unfortunately for the buyers on the site, those people who are bidding incredibly low on articles really do not have a full grasp of the English language, and are usually found lacking when it comes to writing skill.

I've learned to value my time and my skill. I've learned that VWorker is not my only option for finding work. Therefore, I'm very choosy about the jobs that I bid on at VWorker. I look at the topic for the requested articles to determine how much research I will need to do, and how hard that research may be. I look at the number of words that the buyer requires, and all other requirements of the buyer. If the article request is one that I consider to be quite easy - it requires very little research and very little time to write - I'm okay with bidding low, because I know that writing such an article won't take more than ten or fifteen minutes in most cases, and because I know that I can do x number of articles in x number of hours, earning x dollars, I can easily determine whether bidding low on a job is worth it to me or not.

I am happy that VWorker now offers an additional payday during the month, for a total of three paydays. I'm happy with the fact that my earnings are transferred directly to my PayPal account on those paydays as well. I am ecstatic that VWorker is no longer charging the worker 15% of the bid amount when a project is won. Instead, the only thing that VWorker charges me is $2 for transferring funds to my PayPal account. I am totally against having to pay to work, and I hated having to pay that fee.

Another potential fear of mine is the rating system, and the arbitration process. I've heard all of the horror stories out there, and so far have been very lucky in that I've never had a negative rating, and only two arbitration's that were self mediated. Those two arbitration's took place because my mother passed away, and I needed to travel out of state for that, and of course I needed time to grieve. I contacted the buyers immediately and let them know the situation - that I needed to cancel those jobs - and they were quite understanding and accommodating.

I am careful to take a close look at the work history of the employer or buyer before I bid on a job. I need to know how many arbitrations they have had. If they have a ton, and it looks as though they are constantly looking for any reason to get out of paying for work that has been done for them, I simply will not bid on that buyer's jobs to avoid that potential risk. I also look at the work history and ratings of the people who have done work for them and have given them less than perfect ratings - in an attempt to be fair and in an attempt to get a clear picture of what may or may not have happened. Sometimes, the bad rating for the buyer simply is not justified, and a bad rating for a worker, or an arbitration is completely justified. You have to go into it with an open mind.

As for the rating system, the concept itself is great. Unfortunately, even with changes to this system through the years, the system is still geared towards coding type work. It really isn't designed for employers (buyers) to effectively rate a writer, and I can see where a buyer may be confused by this, and end up not giving a writer the rating that they truly deserve - which could hurt that writers overall rating significantly. Again, I've been fortunate not to run into that problem, but I've heard about those writers who have had this problem.