Worst Writing Job Ever

by 16 replies
18
If it's not the worst, it sure would make a compelling case.

Worst Writing Job Ever Offering 'Between .009 and .02 Per Word'

The sad part is that there are a lot of similar writing gigs out there. Just check out freelancing websites. The sadder part is that people actually apply because they need the money. But isn't that creating a vicious circle?
#off topic forum #job #worst #writing
  • Yeah it does -- a vicious cycle of people who aren't qualified to write, writing for peanuts. Qualified writers won't be found near offers of that kind.
  • It really is sad. One of the commenters on Gawker mentioned that he would rather write for free than be paid a fraction of a cent per word, and I have to agree. When I started writing two years ago, I took a lot of jobs through vWorker, oDesk, and even Amazon Mechanical Turk for comparable rates. When you are desperate, it's easy to talk yourself into thinking that if you just write more, it will eventually add up to money. It just isn't true.

    Now I'm just trying to follow the advice of the successful writers on this site, and charge what I know I am worth. If a customer wants to pay less than a penny per word, then I hope he enjoys updating his sites with nonsensical word salad.
    • [1] reply
    • If you go on Odesk and vWorker it's easy to start believing that everyone's working for peanuts and to be afraid to ask for more.

      Nonsensical word salad... I like that . Though I do think that they even get some good applicants, people who, like you say, talk themselves into it because they just need some money.
      • [1] reply
  • Math is definitely not my strong suit, but I think they meant between .009 and .002 per word. .02 per word is 2 cents, which would be $10 for a 500 word article. Not great, but not slave labor either. But .002 per word would be $1 for the same article, which is ridiculous.
    • [1] reply
    • Banned
      No, they mean what they said, Larry.

      You can see from the example they calculate: they say that in Portland, where the living hourly wage is $9.42, according to MIT's living wage calculator, that would mean low-end earners would need to write about 1,047 words per hour to keep their head above water.

      They're taking $0.009 as the "low end", exactly as they specify.

      (And $0.02 as the high end: at $0.02 per word, they'd need to write "only" 471 words per hour to make the living hourly wage in Portland).

      $0.02 per word is horrible. But it's a global market, and in some countries, $10 is a full day's pay. This is the market in which low-bracket writers in the Western world are choosing to compete (many of them mistakenly imagining that they have no real alternative).
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  • Don't people usually get more than that just for transcribing?
  • Wow, that is pretty bad. I wonder what percentage of applicants come from first world countries. Like has been said, there are some areas where $10 a day is doing very well.
    • [1] reply
  • Worst writing job ever: Converting the entire book "War and Peace" to spintax.

    So far, I've just got the title done:
    {War|Battle|Fight|Conflict} {And|&|'N) {Peace|Serenity|Tranquility}
    • [2] replies
    • Banned
      Because they aren't qualified to write in the first place, and it's very obvious. So they have to use price as their major selling point. Not sure who started that downward spiral; but somewhere out there is some hack writer who created a messed up market perception for a lot of people.



    • As long as you don't convert "War and Peace" to 'spin doctor' - war wins everytime! :p
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