Can You Afford a Professional? Do You Really Need One?
This post started as a rant. Maybe it’s still one, a little one. I realized that the people who triggered my rant didn’t actually mean to piss me off. They were just living in La-La Land. That isn’t their fault. They were misled.
Let me give you some background.
I write professionally. I write a lot. I write very quickly.
That gives me many advantages in this profession. I can meet crazy deadlines. I can, and do, price my services on the lower end of normal.
Sometimes, I even give them away when I believe in what a company is doing.
Don’t hate me, you other writers. My output has to go somewhere.
.
Two things happened last Monday. They happened one right after the other, literally.
First, a prospective client whom I’ll call, “Bob,” called to ask if there was a typo on my proposal. It seems that the proposal was ten times higher than another “professional’s” proposal.
Okay. I’m not the cheapest writer out there, but c’mon, 10 times??
What It Should Cost
Original content should cost between U$0.50 and U$1.00 a finished word. Big Name writers can command a lot more. Much depends on the job at hand and the obligations of both sides.
I have clients that I write occasional pieces for. I have others that have contracted for a set number of pieces over a year.
Annual contracts help my clients budget more easily. They help me budget more easily too. So, they get a break in pricing. I also ignore extra charges for emergency jobs that just pop up.
It all averages out over time.
.
Back to it...
I had quoted “Bob” a rate of $0.50, so, my “competitor” quoted $0.05 a word. Wow. $40.00 for an 800-word post is ridiculous. Either she writes a lot more stuff, a lot faster than I do, or something is up.
Something was up.
Bob sent me an email as I was writing this post. It was a signed agreement.
That confused me, so I called him.
The woman he hired submitted the first three posts in the series. Quick work, I thought. That didn't explain his change of heart.
It’s important to note that Bob has been following me for some time on LinkedIn.
She had no way of knowing that.
She sent him the first three posts in my Location Marketing series. Worse, she sent them verbatim. She even included my header images. She also included her invoice.
That explains much.
I wonder how many times she sold my stuff?
.
The Second Thing That Happened
Someone emailed me the “opportunity” to write for them for free. The idea was that I would write for the exposure.
Oy vé!
I know professionals who get angry when this happens. I don’t. I just politely refuse and get on with my life.
This particular guy didn’t accept my refusal.
He responded to my email refusal with yet another email. This one had WordPress login details. Why? What part of “Thanks, but no thanks,” is tough to understand?
He went on to explain how I had “misunderstood the significance of his valuable offer.” That’s a direct quote.
He explained how he gets up to 100,000 monthly impressions on Twitter. His blog gets “thousands” of views.
Here’s the thing…
My personal tweets get just under 500,000 monthly impressions. It sounds like a lot but it isn’t. He would be better off sendingme his posts for the exposure.
I'll consider writing for free for Forbes, Entrepreneur, Inc, Huff Post, etc.
Okay, you got me. I'll do more than just "consider" it.
If they ask, I'll accept immediately.
For anyone else, forget about it. That exposure means little to us.
It’s OK to try, but don’t be insistent.
.
It’s only Natural to Want to Keep Costs Down
I get it. Why not cut costs if you can? That’s Business 101.
Just be careful about it. There are better ways.
Original content costs one thing. Cleaning up, or editing, your content costs another. You can easily cut 20-30% off your writing cost by just writing the first draft yourself.
Most writers will cut you some slack if you get the first draft done.
It's only common sense. If you get the first draft done, then we don't have to. We spend less time on your project. You spend less dollars.
Writing is a business, just like yours. It's all about using your resources the best possible way.
.
Writing this stuff is like therapy
I feel much better now. I feel the resentment just flowing away. I’m not the slightest bit pissed off anymore.
I recognize that there is a real need for quality content. I also recognize that not everyone wants, or can afford, to hire a professional. Many can’t even afford editing costs.
All is not lost.
There’s always the DIY option.
Doing it yourself often costs as much, or more, than having it done by a pro. Still, it’s the most common solution.
I wrote a How I Write series on LinkedIn. I’ll renew it for publication on beBee. I’ll publish the posts one by one, then I’ll assemble them into an index post.
That will make them easier to follow.
Anne Handley says, “Everyone Writes.” That's true. Some just write better than others.
Let’s try to make you one of those.
Until then, thanks for "listening."
.
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Comments
Kevin Pashuk
7 years ago #11
Paul "Pablo" Croubalian
7 years ago #10
Hey @Dawna Bate! Welcome to beBee! I just became your first follower. Requests to increase engagement are fine, but whose? Someone who asks we to write an exclusive for his, smaller network, and then refuses to accept no for an answer is something else entirely. I've read your stuff, Dawna. I bet you've already been plagiarized.
Paul "Pablo" Croubalian
7 years ago #9
Mafia? Probably. Certainly biker gangs. My stuff gets swiped with some regularity. Scoop people, you can search any passage in Google.
Louise Smith
7 years ago #8
Paul "Pablo" Croubalian
7 years ago #7
Thanks, Franci Hoffman
Paul "Pablo" Croubalian
7 years ago #6
Thanks, Donna-Luisa Eversley but a lot of my day-to-day stuff just isn't printable ;-)
Paul "Pablo" Croubalian
7 years ago #5
Yes it is, Javier C\u00e1mara Rica.
Paul "Pablo" Croubalian
7 years ago #4
Thanks, Kevin Pashuk, nobody hates a "Too Long, Didn't Read" more than me. Where's the squirrel, where? LOL
Kevin Pashuk
7 years ago #3
Kevin Pashuk
7 years ago #2
Javier Cámara-Rica 🐝🇪🇸
7 years ago #1