The Golden Pencil: The Freelance Writer’s Resource

The $4 Article Writer

by Anne Wayman on October 31st, 2006

A couple of days ago I wrote The $4 Article Buyer which linked to Carson Brackney’s interview with a fellow in India who buys articles for four bucks or less. Mike Sieber commented, admitting he writes for this rate, more or less. I emailed him and he agreed to an email interview. Btw, Mike has a decent website and a blog and he is a pretty good writer.

Q: How long have you been writing for pay? Or how long have you been a professional writer?

A: I’ve been doing paid assignments for about 5 years. I?ve been doing it part-time while I work a regular job.

Q: How did you get started writing articles for $4 or less?

A: I went through a divorce that left me in a bad financial position so I needed to get a second job. I’d always been a fair writer and even had a fiction piece published in the now defunct Midnight Zoo, so I decided to try my hand at non-fiction.

I ran across an ad on the web for freelance writers that I believe advertised writing jobs for $10 an hour. How it worked was, you?d be given a topic and then find information on the web to re-work into an original article. The pitch was that it should only take about a half hour to write 1 article, (which paid $5) then you should be able to do 2 articles an hour to get your $10 an hour.

Q: Is this kind of writing mostly search engine optimized articles?

A: Yes. All of this writing is SEO and keyword related.

Q: Why do you charge so little for your writing?

A: Actually, I charge $50 an hour for my writing services, but so far, no one has hired me to write for them, so I’m stuck taking what I can get. And right now, that seems to be the low-paying writing jobs you find on Guru or Elance.

Q: What’s the best part of writing these articles? And the worst?

A: I’d say the best part of writing these is that it’s easy work. It’s not really like your creating something from scratch. You’re pretty much taking information and re-wording it into something new.

The worst part is that it’s fairly boring work. As a writer, you’re pretty much reduced to a machine because in order to make any money, you have to pump out a lot of articles. I find myself not really caring about what I write and just wanting to get this article done so I can go on to the next. I mean, I try to be professional and I check for spelling and grammar, but when you’re busting through ten articles in an evening, it’s really hard to be enthused about what you’re doing. And lastly, the pay is terrible.

Q: Can you make a living writing these $4 articles?

A: Depends on where and how you live. I understand that people in India regard the pay as decent money. However, here in America, I’d say you’d be hard pressed to make a living doing these and really, who’d want to?

Q: What prevents you from charging more?

A: Well, I think the market dictates what people will pay for this type of work. If you look on Elance, you might get $10 per article, but that’s rare. Most businesses recognize this work for what it is and that’s just rehashing some information or someone else’s work. Then again, maybe I’m looking in the wrong place for work.

Q: Where do you want your writing business to be this time next year? In five years?

A: I hope that by this time next year I’ll have some good, regular clients that provide me with enough work so I can be freelancing full-time. In five years I would like to have at least one book published (about what I’m not sure) and be as successful as someone like Peter Bowerman or Steve Slaunwhite.

Q: What else would you like to tell us about writing this kind of article?

As a writer who wants to make a living doing something I really enjoy, I realize that these types of projects tends to de-value us and the work we do. On the other hand, when someone like me doesn’t have a strong writing background to draw from, with samples, to show potential clients, it’s the only way I know to get some “work” under my belt and make a little money along the way.

My comments: He didn’t ask my advice, but what the heck…

I think Mike’s right – he’s looking in the wrong place… Elance has probably done more to drive writing prices down than any other single site on the web; Guru seems headed in the same direction. Unless the $4 he collects is really important I’d suggest he stop using those sources. Obviously I’d like to see him join the ranks of the writers who have gotten gigs from my thrice weekly job posts. He can also use Where I Search for some other places to look.

Mike is also aware of Peter Bowerman’s book, The Well Fed Writer – he might want to do at least some of the things Peter suggests.

Oh, and if he wants support as he moves into better paying writing gigs, our forum would be a good place for him to hang out.

Meanwhile, thanks Mike for helping us understand this end of the freelance writing business.

Write well and often,

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POSTED IN: Business of Freelance Writing