Have English, will write for peanuts

The job ad starts promisingly. "Looking for high quality article writers. Must have excellent grasp of English and must produce error-free articles that will pass copyscape. Must meet deadlines and be willing to rewrite articles that do not meet my high standards."

Fair enough, I say. All employers would want these qualities in a writer. However, then comes the kick to the guts. "I pay $2 per 500-word article."

The sad part is that this job ad has several bidders. Why do people accept writing articles at $2 a shot? It only serves to bring the market down. If the employer is asking for assembly-line BMR and SEO articles, then one could just about, at a stretch, accept this. But to demand high quality? Please!

About five years ago, a freelance writer could expect to be paid from $7 to $10 an article. Going back even farther, people would pay as much as $15 to $20 an article. These days, a decent gig would be about $5 an article.

However, we now have an influx of writers from all over the world, many of them whose English writing skills are on par with native speakers. Many of them, also, cannot string two sentences together. Whatever the case, they are willing to write for ever-decreasing prices.

Great for webmasters but not so great for the freelance writing community as a whole.

News writing and print-quality writing that demands solid news angles remain better paid options but that  requires more leg work in terms of building contacts, building reputations and, ultimately, building a viable freelance career.

The cheaper-paid jobs are the ones available en mass on the many websites that ask you to bid for work. However it is you earn your living as a writer, I hope your hard work is not devalued by those who write for peanuts and we can all band together and set certain standards so that our skills are appreciated financially and aesthetically.