Have you ever managed a team of writers?

8 replies
Hi Warriors,

I'm seeking advice from anybody who's managed a team of writers, either for an article writing service or for their own projects.

If you ran it as a service, how did you ensure decent profit margins without having to devote tons of your own time to management?

What kinds of management tools did you/do you use? A job board, assignment desk, etc. Please be specific as I'm looking to at least implement this with my own projects.

Thanks!
Vic
#managed #team #writers
  • Profile picture of the author RAMarketing
    I use Basecamp to manage projects so that I know every project goes through an editor; also it lets the client keep an eye on progress. As time goes on, I'll probably have a custom system made. I also use Time Doctor and the Action Machine (PLR program, you can find it anywhere) to make sure people aren't taking WAY longer than they need to. PM me if you have any other questions :-D
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    • Profile picture of the author vtotheyouknow
      Originally Posted by RAMarketing View Post

      I use Basecamp to manage projects so that I know every project goes through an editor; also it lets the client keep an eye on progress. As time goes on, I'll probably have a custom system made. I also use Time Doctor and the Action Machine (PLR program, you can find it anywhere) to make sure people aren't taking WAY longer than they need to. PM me if you have any other questions :-D

      Thanks! I'm going to look into those programs and take you up on that PM if need be.
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      • Profile picture of the author asciscopecunia
        Hey there,

        I have some experience in coordinating a team of writers before. For me the most time consuming part ps of the process would definitely have to be in missed datelines and QC.

        I'm am pretty sure that most of the writers that you will be working with are freelancers, who most likely have other obligations. Missing datelines would be quite an regular occurance and troublesome. To buffer yourself against missed datelines, delegate the job among a few writers and set an earlier dateline for the them, maybe a couple of days earlier than the actual dateline.

        The most time consuming part would definitely be in monitoring the quality of the articles submitted. From my experience, editing an article can sometimes take as much time as writing it. The solution? To hire a good and reliable editor to do that for you. On your part, you can check the quality by randomly reviewing a couple of the articles.



        Hope this helps. All the best in your endeavors!
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  • Profile picture of the author Matt Kaey
    I have not tried managing a large group, but did manage a small 2-5 group. Since it was small, I did not worry too much about software. Just basic project management software will do. When I outgrew this, I used GetArticlesDone - Article Writing Service to handle it. Good Luck!
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    • Profile picture of the author Dracilla Dalton
      I've done online free lance writing and writers don't so much like being managed but they do need good, clear, concise communication with their clients. Try to eliminate as much vagueness as possible so the writer can hone in accurately on what your want and are expecting.
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  • Profile picture of the author Kael41
    At my peak for large corporate projects, Article Authors had 125 active writers on one account. Try managing that My backend was primarily vbulletin and I had backend invoicing software to manage billing. Also turned several of my copyeditors into project managers as well to manage the q/c for the projects. Works rather nicely.

    One of the biggest variables you need to be careful about is managing deadlines and following up with the writers. Always make sure you have a Plan B or a goto set of writers that you can depend on if stuff falls apart.
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  • Profile picture of the author jasmin94gs
    Till now i didnt managed a team but i would like to do it soon.

    onlinejobtutor.com
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