Finding Good Fitness Writers is hard

[gareth]

Man I am in content creation mode. I have my content strategy mind mapped so it maximizes all the stuff I can make from my articles into books and reports and more.

I am also creating illustrations, obviously I really want to outsource as much as possible.

But its not that easy. My stuff is on fitness & bodybuilding.

I cant hire a western personal trainer to ghost write - they obviously want too much $$ like $80 per hour plus retain intellectual rights.

So I thought I would just stick up an ad at the student employment center here in auckland and get sports science students to do it for nz $15 per article which is a fair rate.

But no they told me today they wont post the job because its contract.

I am not hiring student writers on a non-contract basis.

I tried freelancer.com and got a dozen bids that were in the right price range - but the samples they provided were total garbage - absolutely rubbish.

So I took the ad down.

I need articles that are 750-1000 words written by subject matter experts.

EG: sports science students & people that have worked out for 3 years or more.

I'm prepared to pay up to $20 NZ per article. Which is fair as they take an hour to write.

Next I will try sticking posters up at local gyms, and I will email some sports trainers in offshore places where the hourly rates are dirt cheap.

Finally a joke - the student employment center that turned me down - their website runs adsense with public service ads showing - ha ha haa you know what I am gunna do.

[adamsad]

get into another niche might be a good idea

[CDarklock]

Originally Posted by gareth

I'm prepared to pay up to $20 NZ per article. Which is fair as they take an hour to write.

Gareth, the fact is, if you want a high-quality article... you're not going to be paying much less than the personal trainers want, even WITHOUT the added requirements of sports science schooling or three years in the gym.

Toss those in, and you're pretty quickly up to what they're asking.

[gareth]

It cant be so - wheres theres a will theres a way.

[CDarklock]

Originally Posted by gareth

It cant be so - wheres theres a will theres a way.

How's that working for you?

I mean, look what's been happening. You find someone with the experience, they cost too much. You find someone that will take what you offer, they don't produce a quality result.

Something's got to give. You can't have a Porsche for the price of a Hyundai. You need to either take what you can afford, or pay for what you want.

[Alexa Smith]

Originally Posted by gareth

So I thought I would just stick up an ad at the student employment center here in auckland and get sports science students to do it for nz $15 per article which is a fair rate.

I understand that you're not hiring students on a non-contract basis, and I'd have thought what you tried should be a really good way to try to find someone, myself.

(This is a niche I turn away, myself, because I just don't know enough about it to write high quality articles without doing a lot of research, and at $50 per hour, affiliate marketers aren't going to be inclined to pay my prices per article on that basis).

I'm not surprised the Getafreelancer people all submitted inadequate samples, I have to say.

I do think Caliban has a point, and it may be that it's going to be difficult to find a good writer who knows the niche well enough to churn out $15 articles. But I'm slightly surprised if it's impossible. I wonder if there are other ways (maybe online ways?) of trying to find someone equivalent, who can write? Or "asking round" among the students, if you can't put up a notice? Or finding a "middle-man" who will find you someone suitable for a commission, or something?

Originally Posted by gareth

I will try sticking posters up at local gyms, and I will email some sports trainers in offshore places where the hourly rates are dirt cheap.

Local gyms could produce something. I think you'll need to get very lucky with offshore sports trainers, though, otherwise it'll be like repeating the Getafreelancer experiment. (What's a New Zealand dollar worth, anyway?).

[TimPhelan]

Have you tried Craigslist?

[Michael Motley]

TMG Enterprises. They do excellent research for their articles. Pretty good price too.

[CDarklock]

Originally Posted by Alexa Smith

(This is a niche I turn away, myself, because I just don't know enough about it to write high quality articles without doing a lot of research, and at $50 per hour, affiliate marketers aren't going to be inclined to pay my prices per article on that basis).

I've been a reasonably serious lifter for the past several years, so I don't need to do much research at all in this niche. Nitrogen balance, protein variants, supplement options, nutrient timing, hypertrophy training, soft tissue stressors, pyramid technique, choosing between full-body or split workouts... I'm pretty familiar with the field.

But my rates are right about where yours are. And the NZ dollar is trading at about 75 cents US, so that $20 NZ budget is $15 US. He's not far off from having a short list of decent writers (I know three or four in the $15-$20 US range for this article length, myself), but that list is WAY too short to have any serious chance of providing the experience he wants in this niche.

[HeySal]

Gareth - you have the knoweldge in your niche....and you are in school so I am sure that you have to write papers. Why not write something yourself and get an awesome edit on your mediocre stuff? Editing is always cheaper than writing, and as long as it is good enough to only need edit, you can get it done at that price.........but don't go for the 5 buck article writers then try to get it edited for 15. I got stuck with that trap twice and learned to throw the article back and tell them that whole rewrite prices apply to the hash.

[seasoned]

Originally Posted by gareth

It cant be so - wheres theres a will theres a way.

OK!!!!!!

I REALLY REALLY REALLY want to see new zealand and buy lots of things for NO COST!?!?!?

Can you figure out how!? LET ME KNOW!

Some people here miss the point. If you want to use something, it is supposed to cost MORE! If you want exclusivity, it is supposed to cost MORE! The CLOSER it gets to standing on its own, and the more involved, the MORE it costs! If you want to PATENT something, etc... it costs even MORE! If you came up with a SAFE/EFFECTIVE steroid, legal or not, you could make a LOT of money per dose. The more exercise, supplements, risk it takes/has, they lower the price goes.

People here MUST understand that, because they follow the SAME model! They ridicule others for the type of mindset THEY often have!

If you are SO great and doing SO well, why don't you write it YOURSELF!?!?

NOW, if only that free trip and all to new zealand were as easy to do!

Steve

[Michael Motley]

or an app that makes you stop using caps for every other word.

[Alexa Smith]

Originally Posted by CDarklock

I've been a reasonably serious lifter for the past several years

I heard. But I was much too polite to comment in public, of course.

Originally Posted by CDarklock

Nitrogen balance, protein variants, supplement options, nutrient timing, hypertrophy training, soft tissue stressors, pyramid technique, choosing between full-body or split workouts...

I see you know how to blind a girl with science, too.

[gareth]

I'm just trying to get max bang for my buck as times are tight. Yes I do have 25 yrs training so i can write them but i am a far better artist than i am a writer so my time is better spent illustrating.

These are going to be used in books too and not just as articles.

Anyway secret squirrel has PM'd me and is getting a trial assignment ;-)

PS: you know personal trainers in india get paid $7 us per hour - if they speak english well they can write articles.

I used to have a guilt thing about outsourcing like it was exploitation. But no the cost of food & accommodation is much lower in some places.

[gareth]

Message sent Liz - still waiting to here back from my PMer

also check out this file:

http://www.freefitnessguru.com/Downl...s_template.zip

There are some samples i wrote in there and a template I require be used for exercise specific articles.

I certainly don't consider my sample articles to be worth any more than us $10 each. If somebody offered to pay me that for writing them I would be stoked.

Basically these are not KW seo articles for ezine articles but they will be modified for that. Their real purpose is to be mix and matched into various ebooks, resale rights ebooks and print books along with a great deal of illustrations.

[gareth]

Liz just sent me an excellent sample allthough there was a section copied from bodybuilding.com which must be fixed - apart from that its exactly what I want.

Secret Squirrel sadly lacked the style and background knowledge for this work.

Also may have a sports science student to do some work which I will organize ASAP.

Plus check a couple of URL's here:

India Personal Trainer Salary

fees

This is why I am confident I can find writers in India.