CEO World Magazine aka Writer Sweatshop

Freelance writing has opened up so many opportunities for bloggers, content writers, SEO/SEM specialists, in fact, a global cottage industry has sprung up to feed the hungry beast of the World Wide Web.

My week has been dominated by a Herculanean effort to drum up more business and especially jump a few rungs up the ladder of the wordsmith hierarchy. Rejection is the name of the game as you sift through tons of base ore looking for the rare earth containing the mother lode and so it is with me.

Out of the blue comes a glittering pearl of an email asking for my contribution to CEO World Magazine and how my experience and resume fit so well with what they are seeking to achieve – resources for CEO’s, business insight and pearls of wisdom from the boardroom; while writing for the key decision makers in industry and commerce I’m thinking commensurate compensation will follow.

In light of the Chrysler meltdown perhaps I have got it wrong and am over valuing the added-value of a CEO – CEO World offered the staggering sum of $2 for 300 words, though I initially thought it’s a typo as it said “2$” so wrote back with:

“Am I reading you right – $2 per article?”

The very blunt answer returned a simple, unadulterated – “Yes“.

Earning a suitable response:

“Not for me”

Just what planet are these “publishers” living on – a great idea with an audience full of high net worths and influencers yet they feel they can capture their attention with the business insight of a 3rd World keybasher whose only exposure to the global economy will be the Coke they drink with a Big Mac!

Winning or Whining

Freelance writing is about rejection – remember that those thinking of getting into this game – it is about being told in variously polite ways to go forth and multiply; no; what don’t you understand idiot; go away; nothing today try tomorrow; ad infinitum.

Most rejections are polite; a certain type of client is looking for the services of a writer and most are professional, I’ll even go so far as to say many are apologetic at the moment probably as a sign of the times with work being so thin on the ground right now.

I’ll put work into perspective for you; yesterday I spent over 12 hours at my computer looking for and making email pitches with some follow up telephone calls – the haul for today is $250 of work as a direct result of that trawling but for tomorrow’s workload – we’ll just have to see what else comes through today!

Bluntly, work is very thin on the ground – clients I could count on for 20 articles are now giving me half that; clients I could count on for a decent technical assignment worth $3-4,000 have now outsourced the research to India and are writing in-house.  

It is harsh and competitive with a stack of writer wannabe’s chasing a greatly reduced workload.

Fortunately, the competition is not that stiff; most “freelance writers” are nothing of the kind being stay-at-home mom’s eager to publish some poetry or a puff piece in the local rag, a pidgeon English speaking and writing Indian or Philippino writing for 1 cent an hour or the professionally unemployed masquerading as Hemmingway in pj’s.  

There is plenty of work around still but I’m finding I really have to dig for it and after writing for several years as my primary source of income, this economic desert is forcing me to consider pitching for work I previously felt was above my station, hence the magazine pitches – necessity is the mother of invention but maybe this way something profitable comes

To succeed as a freelance keybasher one thing you need in spades is motivation to keep going – if you have fantastic grammar, superb visualisation and characterization, a dulcet turn of phrase, then bully for you, but if you haven’t got the desire to write and the hunger to virtually and literally get off your butt and go find work, you will never succeed at making freelance writing pay.

Quit whining and start winning!

 Big Ridge Media – SEO Copy writing and Content