Successful Freelance Writers Keep an Eye on the Competition
July 11, 2007 by J.C. Hewitt
The world of freelancing is filled with competition. Some of them will be better than you and some will be worse. Some will charge more and some will charge less. To be successful, you don’t have to be the best, you just have to be good enough to get what you want.
Successful freelance writers scope out the competition. They want to know where they are on the food chain and what the other freelancers around them are doing. Luckily, the nature of writing is the sharing of information, so freelance writers are a relatively easy group to keep track of. They’ll tell you how they deal with bad clients, they’ll tell you when they are out of work, they’ll even tell you what they charge. There are few industries as open to discussion as freelance writing.
If you want to keep an eye on your competition, use Google to monitor keywords such as freelance. Check it out here. You can even turn it into an news feed.
You should also take a look at Elance.com. On Elance you get to see what writers are bidding for projects and how much people are willing to offer. Be warned though, this competitive marketplace is open to all and some of the people looking for work are willing to charge next to nothing. It can be a little scary.
Check out the writing/editing/translation section on Craigslist.org. Here is one for Orange County. Notice how many of your rival freelancers are taking advantage of this free service. Are they all making money, I doubt it, but they are putting themselves on the market.
Finally, you might want to join mediabistro.com. This is a gathering place for all sorts of writers, including tons of freelancers who openly discuss freelance issues.
Good luck! Spy well!
Comments
10 Responses to “Successful Freelance Writers Keep an Eye on the Competition”
Job Categories
Subscription Options
John, good points. Keeping an eye on the competition makes sense… as long as writers don’t panic and fear to charge what they’re worth… it’s always a balancing act.
Anne
http://www.thegoldenpencil.com
Hi Anne,
The problem with people undercharging is becoming a serious issue, and it’s one that won’t be going away. With the influx of international competition and the number of people who are simply desperate to make it, there is always going to be a pool of people who charge less than they should. Freelancing is a global sport now, and that is going to make it harder to succeed, but I still rest easy because most freelance writers are absolutely terrible.
Hi Anne,
Global competition is certainly making it challenging for writers to set their rates. Even so, there are still people who prefer working with freelancers in a timezone similar to theirs or who speak certain languages, so many North American writers are still in demand. If you are a technical writer, you might want to consider checking out oDesk. Buyers can search for providers in specific time zones or who are fluent in specific languages. Payment is guaranteed and you can browse what others are charging for their work.
Best,
Michelle
Thank you for your input Michelle. I’ll take a look at oDesk.
Great topic. Just yesterday, I was browsing a few freelance bidding sites — ifreelance, getafreelancer, writerlance — more out of curiosity than out of desire to bid on the projects. I’m always astonished at the low rates writers are willing to work for. I can understand writers from India being willing to work for $3 per article, but there are plenty of writers from the US, Canada, Australia, etc, also willing to work as cheaply, probably to keep up with the competition. It saddens me, but it also makes me grateful to have some steady clients who are willing to pay me decent wages.
As a side note, I’ve been considering joining mediabistro, so I’m glad to see a good mention of it here.
Hi Amy,
Yes, the desperation out there is so widespread that it can be sad at times. That is the problem with looking for positions that require you to bid against other writers. The best gigs are the ones that you are the only one pitching.
John, I agree. The whole concept of job bidding seems a little bid ridiculous to me. If I want a quality writer, I’d want to hire the best person for the job, not award the job to the lowest bidder. I’ll admit, I’m not all that certain how these bidding sites work, but it doesn’t seem like the best way to hire someone.
To be fair, a client of these services has the right to pick anyone. They don’t have to go with the lowest bidder.Sure, most of them will go with the lowest bidder, but a few might be smart enough to look for talent first.
I honestly thought the project was automatically awarded to the lowest bidder — like buying something on Ebay. If the employer is able to choose, that makes me feel a little better. Honestly though, I don’t entirely see the point of using such a service if it isn’t to find someone to do cheap work. Perhaps I’m just dense. To each his own, I suppose.
There’s no doubt that getting the work done cheaply is their primary goal, but no one wants to be forced to go with a really bad writer just because their bid was lowest. Even on those job boards, anyone with a brain will look at the low bidders and try to pick the one they think can handle the work.