Is Guru.com Worth It For Freelance Writers
One of the questions that I get asked a lot is whether a site like guru.com is worthwhile for freelance writers and other professional writers. Whether or not a site is worth it depends, of course, on your definition of worth it. For my purposes, I figure that if I’m going to take the time and effort to apply for something and handle the process of getting the gig, writing the product, and then getting paid for the job, it has to pay a certain amount of money. How much money that is depends upon the freelancer involved.
So, to see if a job site like guru.com is good for freelancers, I setup a quick profile and then did a search. For my search, I chose the entire Writing / Editing / Translation category. Then, I chose to filter out results that require on-site work (what it takes to get me to work on-site is different than what it takes to get me to work remotely.) Lastly, I eliminated all of the jobs listed in the very lowest paying categories. That is, everything that pays less than $250 and everything that pays less than $15 per hour. Those are not high numbers by any stretch of the imagination. Lastly, I eliminated any jobs that did not say how much they wanted to pay, or chose "Don’t Know."
Trust me, when I tell you that anyone who doesn’t know what they want to pay, wants to pay something that is too low. I have never, ever, ever, encountered a prospective client who talked to me about their project and when they heard how much it would cost said, "Oh, that’s way lower than what I thought." If someone doesn’t have any idea whatsoever what a project should/would cost, they are either just testing the waters and there might not end up being any job, or they are hoping that they can get a really low price and don’t even want to think about what it might cost them in reality.
Lastly, I left the default parameter to only include projects posted in the last 45 days. That is pretty ridiculous in itself. Unless we are talking about a project that goes through a full RFP process, after 30 days, most projects are already sourced.
The results?
14 projects. That’s right, 14. I think that is pretty much your answer right there. It is not worth a freelance writer’s time to be an active member of a site that will generate a whopping 14 projects that do not pay the bottom rate or require you to be onsite.
So, no, it is not worth it for a professional freelance writer to use guru.com
How Much Does a Freelance Writer Get Paid
If you hang around the universe of professional writers for very long, you will inevitably come across both the questions and the answers to freelance writer pay. Some of these will have a specific focus, for example, what bloggers get paid, while others will be more general. Professional writers should make X.
Either way, there are sometimes a couple of assumptions that may not lend themselves to you setting your rates where you need to you. Let’s take a look.
The Pay Calculations for Writers
Most writers end up reading an article that goes something like this: If you want to make $100,000 per year as a writer, then you have to make $2,000 per week (50 working weeks per year). $2,000 per week works out to $50 per hour, assuming a 40 hour work week. So, your goal then is to make $50 per hour.
Later, most writers end up reading an article about what they are worth. This second article will highlight that nobody understands how valuable writers are so the pay rates out there are too low. And, then, that this is true because writers work for too little money. The solution then, is to never accept jobs that pay below X.
The Flaws in the Group-Think Math
There are a couple of flaws in this method of calculating rates. These flaws tend to stay hidden because most everyone already believes in the paradigm, so they don’t bother thinking it through. Anyone who questions the paradigm is cast as an inexperienced and naive writer, and they are the reason that writing rates are not higher, because they “just don’t understand.”
So, let’s do this together and we’ll see where we come out.
The $100,000 Myth
Do you make $100,000 per year at the job you are working right now? Did you make $100,000 per year at your last job? At any job you have every worked? Then why would you use math that assumes you should be making $100,000 as a freelance writer?
Sure, everyone should have a goal, but it takes years to achieve that level of income in virtually every profession. Even people working in the “high paying” professions don’t necessarily star there. Sure, the top grads from the Top 10 Law Schools make six-figures right out of the gate, but the vast majority of law grads start closer to $60K to $80K, and those guys do not work 40 hour work weeks. In fact, most law grads spend their first three or four years working 80 hour weeks. Break it down, and they make the same hourly rate as someone making $40K for a 40 hour work week.
In fact, almost no profession out there pays six-figures for a 40 hour work week, so you might want to rework that math as well.
To get a more realistic number we should probably do the math with something like $60,000 and see where it comes out. How about $75,000?
By the way, if you are going to use the 50 week work year, then all you have to do is double an hourly rate and multiply by 1,000 to get the annual rate.
$50 x 2 = 100 X 1,000 = $100,000
Or in reverse, the annual salary divided by 1,000 and then half of that gets you the accompanying hourly rate.
$80,000 per year = 80,000 /1000 = 80 / 2 = $40 per hour
For those of you not super great in math (Hello? Writers, remember?) you can think of it as half and drop the zeros, or double and add the zeros (three of them).
Reality Check Salaries for Freelance Writers
$40,000 per year = $20 per hour
$60,000 per year = $30 per hour
$80,000 per year = $40 per hour
$100,000 per year = $50 per hour
Next up, the “Worth” Myth
-
-
Top Commentators
- Zoe (1)