Low balling articles

[Halina]

I am wondering about a given client who currently has submitted numerous requests for content and listed $10-$20 per article payout. I wrote one article for him, had the article accepted, and then had the client low-ball me at $7! I rejected his offer but it steamed me just the same. Playing Devil's Advocate, I thought that maybe my content was of lower quality than he was used to receiving. However, when I checked on CC's recently sold content, I found out that he had low-balled at least four other authors, all of which accepted his $7 offer! I am just bewildered that any author would accept a $7 bid on content, especially since CC takes 1/3 of that amount. At that rate, the gross payout for that article is a meager $4.62- and that's still not accounting for taxes. At that rate, one is working below minimum wage! Why would any writer even agree to work for such low wages? And why is this client still being allowed to post false payment terms?

[MicheleH]

It's a shame you answered his request at all. When I saw so many requests with specific titles and no additional information, I smelled a rat. He reminded me of the people on many of the webmaster forums who think a dollar or two is 'good pay' for a 400-500 word article.

With the strict grammar requirements around here, I just don't understand why so many writers are willing to work for peanuts. I don't blame the rat for giving it a go as much as I blame great writers giving their words away for practically nothing.

[carpenjoyce]

Absolutely right, Michele H. When writers finally wise up and just say no, we'll all get better pay. Unless you're really desperate (in which case you get a pass), please think about holding out for a better rate. Articles often sell for $30-50 here, and highly technical things might bring up to $200. How will you ever know if you could be getting $50 an article if you sell to the first person who offers $7.00?

[melissajmurphy]

This client has sent me several "offers" (if you can even call them that) and I sent him a nice note telling him that I rarely accept less than x amount for full rights. He has since lost interest in my articles and I no longer have to send him refusals. I encourage all writers to let him know your boundaries. Writing is an esteemed profession and good writers are not cheap.

[Goalsethigh]

There is something here on CC for everyone, even low-ballers. I have sold several articles for $7. That is not what I had originally listed them for, but they had sat there for over a year and $4 buys me a pack of cheap diapers. I would just as well get those old articles out of there. They didn't take that long to write, anyway. They kind of demoralize me when they don't sell. And, frankly, a pack of diapers is more valuable to me than some old article just sitting there doing nothing. This person has a small budget or is a bargain hunter. They are not shopping in your price-point, so just think of it as a dollar store buyer versus a Neiman Marcus shopper. Sure, brand name stuff ends up at the dollar store from time to time, but the dollar store isn't poaching sales from Neiman Marcus. They have totally different price-points.

There will always be buyers willing to pay more for quality work from dependable writers.

[carpenjoyce]

There is a problem with this idea, imo. Think of content buyers who want top quality articles on gardening. They want to fill up a new website, so they're not too fussy about the exact topic. They come here, fully prepared to pay $20-30 an article. But they see articles listed at $7-8 and buy those instead. Not only do you hurt other writers, you shoot yourself in the foot--because the buyer buys your $8 article instead of your $20 one. Keep in mind, too, that articles can sell for higher prices even after more than a year has gone by. Several posters have reported this.

It shouldn't be demoralizing when articles don't sell--it's merely a matter of hitting the right tone and subject with the right buyer. If your writing wasn't decent, it wouldn't be here. If you want to ditch an article, it makes more sense to sell it to Associated Content for an upfront $3-4. If it's here it may not find a buyer anyway, so why not try for a better price?

Another way to sell your losers is to write another article on the same general topic. New articles get more traffic than old ones. When people see your new article, they may want to investigate what else you've written and decide to buy the older articles as well. Often there's nothing wrong with an article except that it hits the web at the wrong time and gets buried. Try rereading your article to see if a few tweaks might make it appealing to a wider audience. When you reduce the price, do it a little at a time. If you've been asking $40, drop it to $30, not to $7. If enough people start selling for $7 or $8, it will definitely hurt the prices on this site. If it hurts them enough, the best writers will leave. The end result will be the destruction of the best market web writers have. Don't let it happen.

[Oxymoronica]

I'm still a noob here, but I want to throw in my input for two reasons: 1, because I think I may have observed something unexpected and interesting, and 2, because HOLY CRAP I JUST SOLD MY FIRST ARTICLE! CELEBRATE WITH ME!

I don't know if this is the case or if I just got lucky, but I just sold my first article about two hours after I INCREASED all of my article prices... I had been poking about in the forums trying to decide on whether my article prices were decent or not. Actually, I had been concerned I was pricing them too high because I had a decent number of hits on each of my six articles but so far no sales. After a while reading about avoiding setting the prices too low, I double checked my article prices compared to the recommended chart and realized they were actually a bit lower than the suggested ranges.

So I scratched my head for a sec and then decided to take the plunge. I figured if I lower my prices, I risk making less money than I would have if I had waited, but it doesn't cost me a bit to raise the price and test out how long they will sit there. So up the prices went.

Imagine my surprise when my phone beeped after dinner and informed me that I had just sold a full rights article for $80.

So, after reading this thread, I'm beginning to think I do believe in a previous poster's analogy dealing with the dollar store versus Neiman Marcus, but in a different light. My family always jokes that Neiman Marcus's real name is "Needless Markup," because sometimes they appear to sell seemingly average stuff at ridiculously high prices. Maybe by increasing my price I am sort of conveying the message to the customer that my article is worth the extra money simply because it does have a high price tag...? I know this is waaay premature of me to draw a conclusion on one measly article sale, but the idea just sort of popped into my head after reading this thread (sadly, this is the kind of thing I regularly think about, being a psych major) and I wanted to see if anyone else has had similar or different experiences.

[Celeste Stewart]

Awesome - congrats!

Your Neiman Marcus story reminded me of my mom's search for a new ski jacket. She called up the ski shop and asked, "Do you have any ski jackets in the $500 price range?" and we all joked that the clerk probably wanted to say, "We do now."

[carpenjoyce]

Congratulations, Oxymoronica! Increasing your prices may very well have helped. Think about it. If you want to hire a writer, you want a pro who will make your site look good. What pro in his or her right mind would write for a couple dollars an hour? Makes you think they can't be much good.

Personally, I haven't noticed my prices having a whole lot of effect one way or the other. When you give someone what they want, they're usually willing to pay a fair price. I have several articles that have sold for $150 each and others I've sold at much lower prices because the topic is less technical or in less demand. I'm glad I had the confidence to price some of my things higher. If I'd priced them at $20-30, I probably never would have realized I could do better.

[jellygator]

I've priced mine slightly above the going rate, and if I need to reduce, I'll drop it slightly. But there's no way I'd consider setting a precedent that tells people I'll work for ten bucks an hour. (Much less the $2 some sites expect authors to accept!)