Email from Interact Media Re: the Marketplace

[anng]

I don't write for Interact Media, but I did want to share a conversation I had recently with a foreign client. He was saying that he's shocked at the number of U.S. writers who will work for so little pay or offer free "samples" without any protection in place. It actually turned him off because he figured if a writer doesn't respect their writing enough to get a decent wage, he's not convinced their heart is really in it. When I told him that many companies in the U.S. require fresh samples before hiring a writer and that many companies in the U.S. don't pay more than 1 cent per word, he said that was really sad. He's happier reading a few blog posts or articles - anything with a byline - to get a feel for the writer's style.

A few months ago, there was a post shared from Black Hat Forum where a guy bragged about using the customized free samples he requested to fill his website with professional content without paying a dime. Those people do exist and it's a main reason I don't recommend writing a free sample for anyone.

[pricetheory]

It makes sense for a company like Interact Media to ask for a sample when writers first join. That allows them to rate the writer, show clients the writer's style, etc. But it's not reasonable to expect writers to provide free samples again and again. I won't be writing for Interact Media under those terms.

[mommy2onelittleboy]

I won't write free samples, unless the job has seems very promising to me. I personally feel that a client should be satisfied with the samples I send. I have a variety from more conversational pieces to academia, so it's not like I'm a one-trick-pony when it comes to my style.

Originally Posted by anng

I don't write for Interact Media, but I did want to share a conversation I had recently with a foreign client. He was saying that he's shocked at the number of U.S. writers who will work for so little pay or offer free "samples" without any protection in place. It actually turned him off because he figured if a writer doesn't respect their writing enough to get a decent wage, he's not convinced their heart is really in it. When I told him that many companies in the U.S. require fresh samples before hiring a writer and that many companies in the U.S. don't pay more than 1 cent per word, he said that was really sad. He's happier reading a few blog posts or articles - anything with a byline - to get a feel for the writer's style.

A few months ago, there was a post shared from Black Hat Forum where a guy bragged about using the customized free samples he requested to fill his website with professional content without paying a dime. Those people do exist and it's a main reason I don't recommend writing a free sample for anyone.

[mommy2onelittleboy]

Thank you for clarifying everything. I'm not a huge fan of the client being able to reject work the first time around, but you did make a valid point. Some clients are very vague and don't really give a reason why you they rejected your work, so it just makes me screen the jobs I take a little better. I end up reposting whatever the client rejects anyways, unless it is too specific.

Originally Posted by Beth Hrusch

Jessica - I understand your point. There’s room for debate when it comes to how to handle situations where the buyer is not happy with the writer’s initial work. We have experimented with different procedures and are still open-minded.

In our experience, we have found that if a buyer really doesn’t like a writer’s first piece of work, forcing the buyer to request further revisions will most often end up causing the writer to spend more valuable time working on a piece that the buyer will most likely ultimately reject anyway, so the writer has wasted even more time. We feel that if the buyer is not happy with the writer’s work, it is better to let the writer know ASAP so the writer knows not to spend any more time trying to earn that buyer’s business.

Keep in mind that over 85% of jobs in our system eventually get approved (some after no revisions, others mostly after 1 or 2 revisions).

We try to educate our writers to not worry too much if one buyer doesn’t buy a piece they wrote, because there’s not much money in one piece anyway. Instead, it’s all about taking lots of jobs from the job board to show buyers what you can do, and hope that some of them will add you to their favorites so they will become long term clients and assign you hundreds of jobs in the future. If a buyer rejects a piece of your work, and you believe it is unfair, you can always go and rate that client and leave a comment about your experience so that other writers can see what happened.

Beanandbumpkin – once again, we absolutely do NOT expect any writers to ever work for free! Buyers in our system do NOT get to sample any writer’s work for free.

[beanandpumpkin]

Originally Posted by mommy2onelittleboy

I won't write free samples, unless the job has seems very promising to me. I personally feel that a client should be satisfied with the samples I send. I have a variety from more conversational pieces to academia, so it's not like I'm a one-trick-pony when it comes to my style.

Exactly. If a client wants to see more samples, then I am happy to refer him to my portfolio page or link him to other work I've done. I do not write customized free samples. Also, the statement that 85% of work eventually gets approved is concerning to me. How could any company that screens its writers reject a full 15% of the work submitted? That's not even counting rewrites; that 15% is made up of rejected, unpaid work! No thanks!

[mommy2onelittleboy]

I made the mistake of writing that one sample about medical holidays. I spent a ton of time on it and it was very specific, yet the client didn't choose me. From what a lot of other people said on here, the client didn't choose them either. Then, they were advertising again and used a different ad, so I responded to the ad and they tried to get me to write the same sample again. It reminded me why I don't write free samples… I like working for Interact Media. I'm a 4-star writer there, so I do have a variety of clients who post work that I have my choice of. I've had several clients rate my work 5 stars and put me on their favorite writer list; however, I've also had some clients who rejected my work for no good reason. It just made me look at the clients statistics page prior to accepting a job.

Originally Posted by beanandpumpkin

Exactly. If a client wants to see more samples, then I am happy to refer him to my portfolio page or link him to other work I've done. I do not write customized free samples. Also, the statement that 85% of work eventually gets approved is concerning to me. How could any company that screens its writers reject a full 15% of the work submitted? That's not even counting rewrites; that 15% is made up of rejected, unpaid work! No thanks!

[prosperg]

Originally Posted by Beth Hrusch

Hi Everyone— this is Beth Hrusch, Senior Editor here at Interact Media.

I apologize for any misunderstanding here. I will try to clarify what we mean in that newsletter we sent out. We certainly are NOT asking or expecting any of our writers to ever work for free!

What we meant to do was to make it clear that buyers use the writer job board to try out new writers, in an attempt to find writers they like. If the buyer likes your first piece, they will accept it and PAY YOU FOR IT! Once buyers find writers they like, they add the writers to their Favorite Writers list, and can then assign them more work over time. So, we wanted to explain that the FIRST piece you take from the job board for a new buyer is your chance to show them your work, and prove your abilities to them. However, if the buyer does not think your writing is a fit for them, they may reject it, in which case you would not be paid for it. So, we tell new writers to think of that first piece you write for a new buyer as a sample of your work (even though you will be paid for the sample if they like it).

Also, it's important to realize that the vast majority of content submitted by writers is eventually approved by the buyers.

I hope this clarifies what we meant. We will reword this email newsletter to make it more clear in the future.

Thank you to all of you who are making our content marketplace such a success. We appreciate your efforts and are committed to making the writer experience a positive one for you. Please continue to give us your valuable feedback!

Hi Beth I am a writer with interactmedia. First, I want to state that I have had very good experiences with interactmedia. But there is room for improvement.
-The editors take too long to check articles. They have up to 10 days, and so do clients. It is much too long for writers to "wait and see" and then possibly not get paid until a month after writing their article.
- It is very, very, difficult to get assignments. Once you get to the job board they are all gone. The system where writers select the jobs is much better all-the-way-round.
- As far as rejections go, writers should have an opportunity to redeem themselves. A client should be obliged to give a writer at least one revision, however, the writer should be allowed to reject or do the revision. It is not so easy "always" getting it right on the first time, not only with writing but life in general.

[Beth Hrusch]

Hi prosperg--Yes, there will always be room for improvement, and we are constantly updating our system and adding features in response to the needs of both writers and buyers.

The issue of editing times has been an ongoing one. It's true, both editors and buyers have up to 10 days to act; however, the vast majority of them don't take nearly this long. These are time limits imposed to safeguard writers against editors/buyers who go AWOL, and this only represents a very small percentage of them. The average review time is 1-4 business days.

I tell writers that if a job is in editor review for 5 days, they should contact the editor/buyer via their message board. If the job is in Editor Review for over 10 days with no response from the editor, please let us know. We can move the project along.

Regarding job availability--our system is built around expert areas, which gives buyers the ability to filter writers to find the ones who have specific knowledge of their topics. We do encourage buyers to open up their jobs to all writers, and many of them do. Sometimes, job availability is a matter of when you check the board and how many buyers have opened up their jobs.

Your thought regarding requiring revisions is also one that we have considered. However, keep in mind that requiring editors and buyers to request revisions will probably result in them ultimately rejecting the content anyway. If they don't like your writing style, or your content doesn't work for them, they probably won't approve the revised version. We don't want writers to waste their time on revisions that won't be approved.