Monday 29 October 2012

How to Choose a Genuine Writing Company to Write for

There are very many writing companies out there and for this reason, writers are often faced with the challenge of deciding which company to sign up with. While some companies are well known and are household names in the academic writing circles depending on one's country, some writing companies are unknown. For example, in Kenya, Uvocorp, Essaywriters.net, writers.ph, asiawriters, researcheden, writerbay, and academia-research are well known, mainly because they employ ESL writers.

Oftentimes, when a writer accidentally comes across a writing company through a search engine search, the first thing is usually to look up reviews on the writing company in question. A search of reviews yields a wide range of information depending on the popularity of the writing company in question. It is important as a writer to be careful when reading such reviews.

To begin with, some companies hire people to write reviews for them and for others the reviews are written by their own staff. Obviously, you do not expect such  reviews to be negative and so if as an academic writer you rely on such reviews as the basis for deciding whether or not to work for a given company, chances are, later you may regret.

In other cases the reviews are written by competitors. Such reviews are negative and are meant to discredit the writing company in question. Again, an academic writer should be careful when reading such reviews as what is written on the writing company in question may not necessarily be true.

 Lastly there are the genuine reviews. Such reviews are usually written by writers based on their interactions with the company in question. The reviews could be positive or negative. Again, it is important to exercise caution when reading such reviews because people differ in their writing capabilities and consequently their experiences with writing companies differ. For example, if a writer plagiarizes and is fined heavily, such a writer is bound to paint the company in question in a bad light despite the fault lying with the writer. Another writer may work for the same company and never be fined for plagiarism simply because he or she never submits plagiarized papers. If such a writer were to write a review on the company in question, he or she would write a positive review which would contradict the other writer's review.

Bottom line? Read reviews on writing companies but do not rely on them as the sole basis for making a decision on whether or not to sign up with them. Try to talk to friends and other writers who you know to hear out their experiences with the writing company of interest. It helps to dig deeper such as to ask for details on why exactly a writer was fined or fired.You may have a great experience working for a company that many people have dismissed as a scam.

Over, the years I have worked for companies whose former writers have painted in very bad light but personally I have never had bad experiences with the companies. Generally, it boils down to individual capabilities. If you can write high quality papers that the clients are happy with, most likely the company would have no reason to fine or fire you. The writing companies are nothing without their writers and so a wise human resource official would think twice before slapping a good writer with unjustified fines.

Do not forget to trust your gut feelings and to take the pay ranges on their websites with a pinch of salt. Some companies say that they pay a minimum of $6 and a maximum of $30 per page. On being accepted as a writer you realize that the pay can go for as low as $1.5 per page and $30 is just but an illusion. Yes, for some companies offering you $2 to write a high quality PhD paper is not a farfetched idea.

Advantages of Being a Freelance Writer


Being a freelance writer is one of the most rewarding and fulfilling career paths that one can ever take. Freelance writers are usually contracted by clients to write articles of different types depending on the niche that a writer has specialized in. For example, some people write SEO and web content articles while others specialize in academic articles. Whatever one's specialization is, there are several advantages of being a freelance writer:

Unlike being employed whereby one's monthly earnings are capped, for freelancer writers the  earnings are uncapped; you can earn as much as you want depending on the effort you put into  writing. Some people put in about 21 hours per week into writing while others put in more than 64   hours each week into writing. In most cases, the exact number of hours that one puts into writing depends on whether writing is the sole or major source of one's income. If writing is your sole source of income, you would want to put in more hours into it.

A freelance writer also gets to set the preferred rates. At the beginning one may find it hard to set high rates but once one has become an established writer, he or she can set the preferred rates and not worry about being pricey. After all, some clients are usually after quality and do not mind paying more for high quality articles. This freedom to set one's preferred rates does not apply for freelance writers who write through some of the writing companies as such companies set the pay rates and so a writer has to decide whether to work at the given rate or leave it.

Another good thing about being a freelance writer is that one gets to decide where to work from. It is not uncommon for freelance writers to work from coffee lounges or from the comfort of their homes. The best thing about being able to work from home is that one does not have to commute and this translates into savings on fare. For stay-at-home-moms, this means being able to look after children, do household chores and still be able to work. Being able to work from any location also means that one does not have to put off visiting friends and relatives for extended periods of time as one can still work while there provided that one has a PC and Internet connection.

Being able to work at any time is also another thing that makes freelance writing quite appealing. Freelance writers get to choose when to work. This means that there is no need to wake up at 5a.m. or 6 a.m. so as to make it to the office by 8 a.m or whatever time is stipulated as the reporting time. Some people find it better to write at night while others find it better to write during the day-it all boils down to individual preferences. The best thing about this freedom is that you can attend to your personal issues whenever you want to without asking anyone for permission.

Being a freelance writer also has its disadvantages. First and foremost, freelance writing is not for those without self-discipline. This is because without someone to boss them around some writers find themselves spending a considerable amount of their time doing nothing and this translates into lower than optimal earnings. Another thing is that with freelance writing there is no sick pay, no paid leave, and no guaranteed paycheck. However, if one is dedicated, freelance writing is far much better than being an employee.