RE: Am I Off the Wall?????

Subject: RE: Am I Off the Wall?????
From: "Connie Giordano" <connie -at- therightwordz -dot- com>
To: <dvora -at- tech-challenged -dot- com>, "'TECHWR-L'" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Date: Fri, 10 Jul 2009 22:40:41 -0400

Deborah,

These projects are why I urge anyone considering going totally freelance to
think very carefully, decent-paying freelance work is VERY hard to find
right now. I see an increasing number of these kinds of projects on elance
and guru, and frequently the poster asks why my bids are so high. Between
the economy, the fact that these sites are global, so you're bidding against
people for whom $250 is six months' salary, and the "everyone can tweet and
facebook, so everyone can write" mentality, it is a bad time to be a
professional freelance writer. The good companies who want quality work have
put a lot of good projects on hold to keep a rein on their budgets. The
small businesses often don't know any better, but get bids that lowball, so
they're wondering why somebody bids $1000 when everybody else bids $250. In
this case, the poster probably believes it's easier to write "simple and
easy-to-read," and is genuinely flabbergasted to find out that writing
"simple" is a lot harder than it looks.

I'm appalled by the hundreds of projects posted where they want 50 500-word
articles and they'll pay you $50. And oh yeah, you need to rewrite it so it
can pass copyscape... in other words, take somebody else's work, change
enough words to pass the copyscape test, and post it on my website or blog,
and maybe I'll pay you. It's crap, the people who are making a living doing
it know it's crap, and the people who are expecting the articles also know
it's crap, nobody cares. How do they make a living? They probably have their
MS Word thesaurus open all day, and have figured out just how much they need
to change.

These companies (often one-person businesses, who think they'll make a
million in an internet business) want cheap and fast, but good is merely an
afterthought. I keep telling myself "this too shall pass," some companies
know they can get cheap now, but probably not a year or 18 months from now.
And, there are lots of unemployed folks living in a fantasy that maybe they
can be a freelancer while they're unemployed, and maybe they can get away
with not reporting the income... they're in for a rude awakening at the end
of the year.

My answer tends to be "why is your budget so low, when you're asking for
this kind of work. If you can get someone to do the work at that price, more
power to you, but chances are you'll be posting a rewrite project within a
month or two." Just remind yourself that somebody who thinks a good 70-page
ebook can be produced for $250 is not someone you really want on your client
list.

Most of the projects that have potential for the kind of professionals who
belong to Techwr-l tend to be listed on both guru and elance... so look for
it on elance... they have an option that allows you to see average, minimum
and maximum bids, and that has proven very useful for me to gauge if I'm
being underbid by the desperate.

You're not off the wall, but you are caught between a rock and a hard
place--forgive the cliché, I do feel your pain!


Connie P. Giordano
The Right Words, LLC
Communications & Information Design

http://www.therightwords.com
http://www.cowbellchallenge.org
http://www.uscup.net
connie -at- therightwords -dot- com
 
(704) 540-9985 (office)
(704) 957-8450 (mobile)
 
"It's kind of fun to do the impossible." - Walt Disney



-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+connie=therightwordz -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
[mailto:techwr-l-bounces+connie=therightwordz -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On
Behalf Of Deborah Hemstreet
Sent: Friday, July 10, 2009 8:55 PM
To: TECHWR-L
Subject: Am I Off the Wall?????

Hi All,

All joking aside, I bid on a project (details listed below). Based on
the fact that I would be responsible for research as well as writing, I
told the bidder I could do this in probably 4 hours per page of work,
possibly less. I gave a top bid based on 280 hours of work. It seems
they want 70 pages of writing done, and do not want to pay more than
$250. Even if, by some miracle I could get 70 pages written in 100
hours, I don't think I could do the project for $250.

Now here is the killer, I cannot figure this out: He wrote back and
asked why my bid was so high? Of 5 people bidding for the project, 4
gave a bid for less than $250.

Could any of you do the project as listed below for $250? I checked, all
the bidders are based in the US, Cananda, or Australia. I don't <seem>
to be bidding against overseas contractors here.

Have I missed something?

Or is it just Friday and I have missed something!!!

Thanks!

Deborah


*Description: * *Project Description*:
Complete guide to all necessary basic requirements all car owners should
know and follow. To be written in simple easy to read format for all
reader audiences. To include all the simple basics from how to put fuel
in the car, how to check tire pressure, check oil and fluid levels, etc.
Will provide outline for all topics to be covered, want writer to
research for accuracy of content and we will also proofread for
accuracy. Will intially want to use this book in e-book format and may
at a later date use in print version.

*Target Audience*:
car owners

*Document Length*:
approximately 65-75 pages

*I need the following*:
Editing, Proofreading, Research, Writing

*I will provide the following to the professional*:
Concept, Outline

*The professional must provide the following*:
Draft, Research, Supporting Text

*Desired File Format*:
e format

*Project Start Date*:
asap

*Project Completion Date*:
8/17/2009

*I want to receive project drafts via*:
CD/DVD/Optical Media, Server Upload


^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Free Software Documentation Project Web Cast: Covers developing Table of
Contents, Context IDs, and Index, as well as Doc-To-Help
2009 tips, tricks, and best practices.
http://www.doctohelp.com/SuperPages/Webcasts/

Help & Manual 5: The complete help authoring tool for individual
authors and teams. Professional power, intuitive interface. Write
once, publish to 8 formats. Multi-user authoring and version control!
http://www.helpandmanual.com/

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^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Free Software Documentation Project Web Cast: Covers developing Table of
Contents, Context IDs, and Index, as well as Doc-To-Help
2009 tips, tricks, and best practices.
http://www.doctohelp.com/SuperPages/Webcasts/

Help & Manual 5: The complete help authoring tool for individual
authors and teams. Professional power, intuitive interface. Write
once, publish to 8 formats. Multi-user authoring and version control! http://www.helpandmanual.com/

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References:
Am I Off the Wall?????: From: Deborah Hemstreet

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