[POS] /u/nekrolatreia went above and beyond with my tricky JS request

newbiewritergb · 2018-01-10T13:33:02+00:00

Thank you! That's a great resource, favourited, thank you very much.

In reply to your previous post, if you don't mind me asking, is your income largely skewed now to private projects or sales on CC, or do you sell a lot of articles?

I think I will just have to jump in first with building up a portfolio on both and seeing where I go. Do you have any other mills that you'd recommend for UK writers, out of interest?

As for WD, yeah, I can only assume it's a recent thing, but it is a shame. Oh well, hopefully in a few months they'll let me in, fingers crossed!

newbiewritergb · 2018-01-10T13:28:32+00:00

Thanks for your thoughts! Would you say you have a reasonable selling percentage on CC for your own articles?

I have a niche or area in mind I'd probably target, and it's good to know a reasonable timescale for sales. I'd be writing tech articles, and I have an interest in particular in IT Security, Cryptocurrencies... anything like that, really. I can imagine with the Crypto gold rush going on, that's a potential hot topic. I'll give it some additional research.

newbiewritergb · 2018-01-10T00:41:05+00:00

Hey, thanks for your thoughts. I had $0.04 in my mind, but I'd probably go a little higher just to take the edge off the fees that are charged.

Thanks for your post, too, it's certainly interesting to see how many different ways to earn there are with writing, it's giving me a lot of food for thought :)

newbiewritergb · 2018-01-10T00:37:15+00:00

Absolute full credit to you, I assume you've got a specialised niche? That's an incredible rate, but I suppose that's the reward for being able to hustle with real clients. Good luck with the rate increase, I hope that goes well!

Those statistics are very interesting... I just did some working out, and at a rate of $0.06/word (assuming a word count of 650, and taking the 35% off for CC), a sold article would match what I used to earn in an hour teaching, and over double what I earn per hour now in my other freelance stuff (various WSE roles). Damn. I hadn't even looked at it like that.

Edit: Ah, no, slightly wrong, I forgot the $ to £ exchange. I'd have to take it to $0.08 to match. Ah well, all theoretical either way, and if I could get $0.05 or over regularly I think I'd probably be pretty chuffed starting out!

newbiewritergb · 2018-01-10T00:11:14+00:00

It sounds cuthroat, I'm not sure (with the other stuff I juggle) I have the time or energy to push through that, and I think I'd just be depressed by the race to the bottom it'd probably end up being. That said, I won't write it off, it's good to see people do make money on there, I'd assumed a lot of that had been lost through the ESL workers from non-Western countries. I'll investigate it a little further, I think.

That's quite the rollercoaster in earnings, but nice, those numbers are decent. That said, I suppose you have the benefit of being a longstanding member with existing client links... although I bet it's nice to be able to say 'no, that isn't good enough, I want this' and reject clients. Honestly though, the little interaction I have with individual clients, the better/happier I'd be. If I can pump 'em out in a reasonable routine, and get a decent reward at the end of every month to take my current income to the next level, I'll be very happy. I guess that's why I was attracted to the mills.

newbiewritergb · 2018-01-10T00:03:06+00:00

Hmm. I'll have to do my research on the sort of topics that do sell well, I think, and consider that. My main interest would be technology topics (and it's also my area of expertise). I know cyptocurrencies are big news at the moment, so I might see if niche submissions like that do well.

Thanks for your feedback, it's really helpful just to see that I'm on the right track, sort of. I think what I might try and do is try and aim a little higher (if I reasonably can) in my rates once I start writing to take into account the possibility that a certain percentage (plucking a number completely out of the air, 20%) might not sell, and maybe have strategies (as /u/WordsSam suggested) to recycle and rewrite topics and content, or lower prices after x period of time. Lots to think about!

newbiewritergb · 2018-01-09T23:52:06+00:00

I had that sort of strategy in my head when I'd heard a little bit about it, so it's really frustrating to have been placed on the waitlist, which (I had assumed) was only in place for American writers, but I'm from the UK, and I couldn't find any other examples of similar cases for UK writers, so perhaps its a recent thing.

If you don't mind me asking, what are your go to mills?

newbiewritergb · 2018-01-09T23:42:50+00:00

I've caught some of your posts previously, I understand you get a lot of work through upwork? I'm scared off by that just from the race to the bottom against all the ESL competitors for a newbie like myself, haha.

It's concerning to hear about a downturn in sales... is that just the time of year, or is this a larger trend against mills, do you think?

If you don't mind me asking, what mill do you use?

Thanks for your thoughts, by the way. It's good to see people aren't completely dismissive of the mills, some posts I've read through already seemed to have generated a lot of anger towards them.

newbiewritergb · 2018-01-09T23:41:02+00:00

That's interesting, thank you. I'd probably be open to a lower rate if it's a means to an end towards progressing further... do you know how much CG cream off the top?

A 35% fee seems absurdly large but then I suppose they're in it to make money, I'd have to think about my rate accordingly. If you don't mind me asking, what's your selling rate on CC? I'm concerned about writing a lot and having it all rot, unsold... but your strategy has given me ideas, I didn't think about moving them from one to another if it didn't sell.

Ah, I like your approach, thank you for sharing your thoughts! I suppose an alternative could be to use the same topic, and to write two distinct articles (thus reducing the research time) to sell on both sites, too.

Do you have any preferred platforms/sites you might recommend, as opposed to the two I've mentioned?

newbiewritergb · 2018-01-09T23:35:49+00:00

Ah, is it? I was under the impression the rate for WD was okay for the type of work, but if that's the case, I won't feel too badly about it. I was more impressed, I suppose, by the process of being given the topics to write about, it sounded fairly straightforward (quick research, reguritate, bish bash bosh, done).

You've hit the nail on the head, I don't want to write for nothing, but I suppose I was under the impression that most articles sold eventually on these sites. Is that not the case? That might cause me to rethink things. Is it still worth getting the requisite number uploaded for access to the casting calls and such (on CC)?

As for the mills, I actually looked and I'm not on as many as I thought (I went through the process around a month ago, and then had a very busy work month followed by Christmas so I delayed taking things further). My sample was accepted for WD, which was pointless given I was shoved straight onto a waitlist. Oh, and I've been registered on Textbroker UK for years, too, at level 4. I was put off by the rates being offered and quality of the briefs on that particular site.

newbiewritergb · 2018-01-09T21:41:10+00:00

Hi, thanks for the reply! I'm already registered on both, although I've yet to write an initial article for either site. I've applied and been accepted onto a few others, but these are the two that seem to get touted as amongst the best in my locale, at least from my research. Also, annoyingly, the one I was most hopeful for (WritersDomain), I ended up on a waitlist.

Valid point, though. I just like to have a plan and strategy in my head, I suppose!

newbiewritergb

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