Freelance Writing: How Much Is Too Little To Be Paid?

I've thought writing this article for a while.  The first reason is that I started out in this freelance writing endeavor doing articles for London Brokers for less than a penny a word.  Some of London Brokers large articles are actually 500 word originals with two unique rewrites for about $7.  If the article subject required just a little bit of research I could easily find myself working for about $5-$6 dollars an hour.  I gnashed my teeth there until I decided to invest some heavy time looking for other opportunities for better compensation.

The second reason I wanted to do this article was for my freelance brothers and sisters who are not exactly in the same position as I am.  In regards to the starving writer I can only say; "I would rather starve than work for a demanding client who puts out 3 paragraphs worth of instruction for less than a penny a word."  I'm just not down with that.  Compensation should be fair.  But I also understand that many freelance writers are not in my situation.  I love writing, enjoy doing articles for clients (especially when they love the work, right?) and would write even if I wasn't getting paid.  I plan to write for a long time.  That being said, freelancing is not my regular gig.  I am an active-duty Soldier with a housing allowance, food allowance, special duty pay, regular pay and a wife that works.  So, truth be told, if I didn't want to write for some extra cash than I could go on writing short fiction like I did for years just for my own enjoyment.  

For all those freelance writers out there that are not in the same position; I love you, respect you and feel the pain with you.  I do.   I mainly do this because I love writing, love being read and really want to have a handle on this thing before I am eligible for retirement from the Army in three and half years (at the age of 40!)   But I also understand that some freelance writers are grinding daily for work that will be the majority of--or all of--their income.

I think that the way to make this work is to work "smarter and not harder."  That's why I decided to expand my writing sites, work sources and types of writing that I do.  In the stock market this would be called diversifying a portfolio--investing set amounts of monies in different sectors so when one goes bad the others are doing ok or better.  All of my sites pay to PayPal and every two weeks when I cash out I have funds from at least 5-6 different sites and probably 1-3 private clients.  

The least amount of money I've ever made was with London Brokers.  I was working for less than a penny a word and my largest article was a 500 word original with 2 re-writes that I made $8.06 for.  And that was WITH a 10% bonus for a rush.  You can imagine…  I'm not opposed to, or ashamed of, writing for content engines but that's just ridiculous payment.  I am military-made and everyone is a private or a brand new, butter-barred lieutenant at some point.

The most I ever made for one article was an assignment I received from the Yahoo! Contributor Network(Associated Content) on the "God Particle".  The assignment was for 400 words about the supposed discovery of the "God Particle" and my opinion on the implications for the science and religious communities.  Over 21000 people have read that article thus far and at $1.50 per thousand views I made around $36 (up-front plus page views) for 400 words.  Yay!  

Other sites are kind of crazy.  I wrote on article for Break Studio (my first one for them) that I gnashed my teeth over for quite a while and made $8 for 700 words.  The next article I wrote for them was titled "Greek Yogurt vs. Regular Yogurt".  The yogurt article took 15 minutes to knock out 300 words and made $8.  But that's just the way Break operates.  250-700 word articles on a particular subject.  If they accept it, it's $8.  If they, don't you fix it what they tell you to fix, resubmit…and get $8. 

Those are just a few examples of payment.  I am involved with a private client via Elance who pays $10 for 500 word articles about anything Army.  Easy stuff for me!  But not all clients are like that.  I don't know how many jobs I have seen posted on Elance and Freelancer.com that are, like, "I require 100 articles of 300 words per article for $100 total…and don't you dare turn in anything less than excellent!"  GO to hell!  I'd rather deliver pizzas than meet those requirements for bull-poop money

My THREE ending points here are:

1.      Don't be ashamed to write for content engines.  Gnash and develop skills for online article writing and pay attention to feedback.  Don't use a pseudonym.  Remember you're roots and let people know how you worked your ass off for pennies when you first started.  Diversify in many different sites and clients.  When one is slow another is apt to have work.

2.     Do not work for less money than you need to.  If you have to write for less than a penny per word then do it, obviously.  We all have to do what we have to do.  But don't do it just to call yourself a writer.  Put that energy into building a web presence, starting your own brand and getting private clients.  

3.    WE ARE FREELANCE WRITERS.  WE DESERVE EQUAL COMPENSATION JUST LIKE ANY OTHER LABORER.   IF IT WAS EASY CLIENTS WOULD RIGHT THERE OWN CONTENT.

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