About the Author

Felicia A. Williams is a freelance writer and blogger. She spends her time raising her family and writing. In addition to being the Insurance Feature Writer at Suite 101 and freelancing wherever she can, Felicia spends her time tinkering around with her sites, Tidbits and Stuff (a site full of useless and useful information), BLULOW, (all about living green) and Visit Hudson Valley.

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Earn Money Writing for Textbroker.com

August 25th, 2008 • Related • Filed Under

In an earlier post I mentioned Textbroker.com as a way for newbies to make money. It seems to be a legitimate site whereby upon acceptance, you’re paid for your article. I do have to warn you, however, that the pay scale is rather low.

Here’s how it works. You go to Textbroker.com and sign up for an account. After you agree to their terms and conditions (you have to check the checkbox), they’ll send you an email through which you can activate your account.

After your account is activated, you have to give them a sample of your writing. In my case, they listed 4 topics from which I had to choose one and write an article with a minimum of 120 words. They use the article to grade your writing on a scale of 1 to 5.

I ended up in the middle with a grade of 3. The higher your grade level, the higher the pay scale. I’ve got to admit, unless there is a tremendous jump in payment from a level 3 to a level 5, it’s barely worth it in my opinion.

Here’s a sample of the difference between a grade 2 and 3. I’d love to hear from Textbroker writers who have a higher rating to see if the pay scale increases significantly.

Level 2 Pay Scale

Level 3 Pay Scale

Armed with your rating, you get to choose topics on which to write. They will only display topics for which your rating qualifies. After you select the topic, you follow the instructions and write and submit the article accordingly and wait for approval (or revision if necessary).

Upon approval, your earnings remain in your Textbroker account until they exceed $10. Once your balance exceeds $10 you may request payment. Textbroker pays by PayPal by the 10th of each month. You must put in your request for payment before the 5th of the month. If not, your balance is rolled over to the next month.

Just for grins, I signed up and wrote a 320-word article for a payout of $1.54. Like I said, it was just for grins. I’m still waiting to see if it will be approved.

I don’t think Textbroker is a service that I’ll use, but for newbies looking to get their feet wet and earn a bit of cash, give it a try.

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There Are 154 Responses So Far. »

Comment by Josh on 26 August 2008:

Actually it’s not bad if you commit yourself to gaining a 5 star rating. Everyone starts at level 3, and you go up according to how you are rated over a span of your last 5 articles. 5 star ratings earn 5 cents per word, so a 500 word article shells out $25. 4 of those a day, and you can earn upwards of $500/week… that’s actually incredibly good for a “newbie” wanting to earn extra cash. LOL
Comment by Felicia on 26 August 2008:

Hey Josh,

You’re not kidding about it being a good start for a newbie (or for anyone else looking to earn some money writing). It seems the trick is to get the 5 star rating.

Thanks so much for the info.
Comment by Josh on 26 August 2008:

No problem. I’m pretty impressed with the site so far, and I’m working on my 5 star rating. TextBroker also seems to provide really good support for it’s writers. So far I’ve released 10 articles, worth about $40 in my account… 5 of those have been accepted and paid for already. It will be interesting to see how well the process works at the higher rating.
Comment by MY on 27 August 2008:

It’s rather improper that the service is limited to the U.S. Why don’t they make it open for the world? They may re-consider…
Comment by Josh on 27 August 2008:

Well I may have to amend my earlier comments about it. I’ve run into some road blocks on my test run with TextBroker. For one, the number of available jobs has gone to almost nothing. Second, after getting my first evaluation, regardless of receiving top notch comments and ratings from customers, TextBroker is holding me at 3 stars. I e-mailed them and asked how their system works, and where I could find the “Rating” button they talked about, so I could see a break down of my evaluation. In their reply, they didn’t resolve the issue of the button, but they did inform me that they only have about 5 professional writers who have earned those 5 stars.

To my understanding a professional writer is one who makes his living writing. I’m starting to have trouble with the idea of a service which grades its writers so harshly regardless of how happy the client is with the document.

Anyway, I’m still communicating with them, so we’ll see what happens.
Comment by Felicia on 28 August 2008:

It sounds to me that Textbroker benefits from writers working hard to achieve the difficult to achieve 5 star rating. In the meanwhile writers are writing tons of content for a rather low rate.

I’d be interested to see how your situation works out.
Comment by Josh on 28 August 2008:

That may indeed be the case. They never did resolve my issues with finding a button on their site that had anything to do with a breakdown of my evaluations.

I sincerely hope they aren’t just out to benefit from cheap work. That kind of thing is bad for the freelance industry. It takes advantage of beginners who don’t yet know any better.

I have learned that they are only about 3 weeks old, which is why they don’t yet have a lot of jobs streaming in. They’re still trying to get clients out to the site.

I’ve sent them one final e-mail and I’m working up a full scale review for a buddy of mine. So far the outlook isn’t good for TextBroker, but I’ll give them a chance to reply first.
Comment by Josh on 28 August 2008:

Hello again,

Well everybody, this is strictly my personal opinion, but stay far away from TextBroker. Try as I might I couldn’t find another writer who could get above their rating system, nor could I find anyone who’s had particularly good experiences with them.

They’re a start up business, only less than a month old. So hopefully they won’t survive.

Sorry if that seems harsh but I definitely wouldn’t waste my time with this service.
Comment by Felicia on 28 August 2008:

Hey Josh,

Thanks for your input. They approved my text and gave me a rating of 2. Remembering your comment I didn’t get upset. I realized that this just wasn’t something that I was going to spend my time and effort on.

I can’t thank you enough for sharing your experience with us.

Felicia
Comment by Josh on 28 August 2008:

Hey no problem!

Thank you as well, I like the way you have your blog set up. I think it’s laid out nicely and will prove to be a good source of information for people to look over.

Thanks again for the opportunity to post and share what I learned about the site.

Josh
Comment by Sue Molenda on 29 August 2008:

I just received notification that I was accepted with a rating of 3 on textbroker.com. I didn’t find any orders available at the moment, but I do hope textbroker will survive, because it’s a way to start earning legitimate (if small) income and publication credits as a writer, without having to invest a great deal of time creating a blog that doesn’t pay and hoping to be “discovered” and offered a paid gig someday.

I’m busily working a dead-end job as a receptionist, where I’ve scribed several screenplays, some stage plays, and a plethora of poems and songs, most of which I’ve never bothered to market. The stage plays were requested and produced by non-profits for honoraria so low that I felt guilty cashing the checks, and donated the entire amounts back to the organizations who paid me– except in the case of the half-hour comedy show I wrote and performed on the evening of the first day I’d spent watching my best friend die from a suicide attempt. In that instance, it was weeks before I could drive to the bank to cash a check without weeping uncontrollably.

I’m often told that I should write a novel. I’m told it would be a bestseller. But I feel an urgency to find a better-paying job, and I waste countless hours perusing Craigslist and Monster for a career I won’t hate. Nothing fits the bill. By now, I could have written an entire series of novels, or several series. Perhaps that’s what I should do.

In the meantime, if I’m able to earn five bucks for a few hundred words, I won’t complain. But I might feel underpaid, considering I once won a year’s subscription to Artist’s magazine for a single paragraph, and a $169 soymilk maker for a 200 word essay that just happened to flow out of me in perfectly rhymed couplets of iambic pentameter.
Comment by Felicia on 29 August 2008:

Hi Sue,

Thanks for stopping by and commenting here. It’s obvious that you have writing talent and should be paid a handsome wage for it. There’s got to be better paying markets for your talents.

I’ve never entertained the thought of writing screenplays or novels so I never spent time looking online in that direction. However, after reading your post, I’ll spend a little time looking around to see what’s available. I can’t promise anything, but you’ve got me curious.

In the meanwhile, places like Demand Studio, although they only pay $15 per article, pay higher than Textbroker. The articles should take about 20 to 30 minutes to complete depending on the topic (that’s including uploading them to Demand Studio).

With your writing ability, you should be able to blow through a few Demand Studio articles a day in your spare time while looking for better paying opportunities.

As far as Textbroker goes, use them if they’ll help you, but I really think you can find higher paying gigs elsewhere.
Comment by Josh on 29 August 2008:

Hello again

An update, TextBroker finally got back to me, and this time on a positive note. Due to my frustration and concerns with previous experiences Jan ( who appears to be handling the support end of TextBroker ) wrote me an e-mail explaining that she personally reviewed my latest articles and found no errors or mistakes herself. She made a note of it to the editorial staff and my rating for the last article went to a 4 star. I was informed that if my quality continues in this manner, my rating will keep rising.

So that’s a first positive note about the service. I’ll be a guinea pig and try some more articles to see what happens.

I have nothing better to do at the moment, as I’m on a semi-vacation anyway. lol

I do however agree, Sue, that your writing talent is obvious. Your contribution to this blog was worded well and really flowed. If you haven’t done so already, take a good look at some of the other posts on here. I’ve visited several interesting sites and writing tools that I was unaware of thanks to Felicia and her information.

Best of luck to you in kicking off a new career! You definitely have what it takes to make it in freelance.

Josh
Comment by Alyssa on 2 September 2008:

Hello Felicia,

I have to chime in to the latest comments made by Josh and Sue regarding Textbroker.

I have to question Textbroker’s legitimacy and professionalism. They have placed their credibility on the line with the design of their Web site. After perusing the Web site and registering with them, I was left flabberghasted.

They claim that authors must submit work that is flawless (i.e. free of grammatical and spelling errors) to achieve a high rating. However, just a quick glance at their Web site, such as in the FAQ section and content under each tab (Authors, Clients, etc.), any decent writer would be appalled. The passive voice blared at me, commas were missing so that the sentences fell apart, and the sentence structure was such that I was mentally stumbling over their words.

I find it laughable and ironic that they would make such a demand on writers when they can’t even write engaging, coherent content for their own Web site. I have to wonder, how desperate am I, as a startup freelance writer, to allow them to pass judgement on my writing when they blatantly display mediocre work as a way of enticing writers or clients?

I’ve worked with technical editors and I encouraged their feedback only because these editors were exceptional and superior writers, had the technical skills of a wordsmith, had an ear for writing, understood individual styles of different writers, and made others’ ideas and copy better not worse.

My parting comment is that I hope the editors at Suite 101 are better qualified. From what I can see at Suite 101, when compared to Textbroker, there’s a world of difference. All I can say is, caveat emptor!
Comment by Nick on 2 September 2008:

Hey, I’ve been on Textbroker for a month. I’ve made 48$ thus far. Almost all of my articles got a 3 star rating, but two of them got a 4. To get to a 5 star rating, you have to consistently get 4 star ratings for like 10 articles, then you can advance. I don’t feel safe giving out SSC info..but I’ll have to, if I want to receive payment.
Comment by Felicia on 2 September 2008:

Hi Alyssa,

For some reason, I get the impression that English isn’t the native language for the folks at Textbroker.com. I’m not sure if I’m giving them an excuse or not, but I would think that if English were the native language, their content would be much more engaging.

As far as Suite 101 goes, there are several editors and they are better qualified than Textbroker editors in my opinion. You will, however, find a few that take their job too seriously and get picky about things like “not using up all 170 characters” for the intro paragraph (I used 159 to come up with a compelling intro). Comments like that I ignore.
Comment by Felicia on 2 September 2008:

Hi Nick,

I’m glad you’re having success with Textbroker. I understand what you mean about giving your social security number, but unfortunately, in order to get paid, you’ll have to share those precious numbers. The good thing is that at least you get a chance to earn a few dollars and get a better feel for the company before you share your social security #.

Some organizations require the social security number up front. I usually stay away from those.

Keep us posted with your progress on Textbroker.
Comment by Josh on 3 September 2008:

That’s pretty interesting information all around. If my next article gets accepted it will put me at just over $70 in earnings. They’ve consistently maintained 4 star ratings on my articles since I posted my questions to their admin. We’ll see if that lets me advance to 5 once I have enough 4 star scores.

Alyssa, thank you very much for your contribution. Thanks to everyone, actually. I’m glad I am not the only who feels that there is something a little off about the TextBroker rating system. What we do is creative writing and very few creative writers, even best selling authors, would pass an English term paper with their writing styles.

Grammatically correct English and creative writing just don’t have much in common. This was the concern I posted to TextBroker when I began to suspect that their grading system worked in this manner.

I’m still holding out to see about that 5 star rating, mostly because I’m just curious. I’ll be back to post on it should anything come of that.
Comment by Alyssa on 3 September 2008:

Hello Felicia,

I have an update on Textbroker. I registered with them yesterday and submitted a brief paragraph as a sample of my writing. I received a 4-star rating.

I’ve taken a look at the OpenOrders and the variety of offers available for anything at 4 stars or above are skimpy at best, which is understandable. After reviewing some of the orders for 2 and 3 stars, I have some reservations about doing this. I don’t know where it comes from, but let’s just call it a “gut” feeling. I’d like to know more from you, Josh, Nick on how things went when you submitted your first text for an OpenOrder. The orders seem to originate from overseas.

I also like to add to Nick’s comment that if you don’t want to provide your SSN, you can provide your Employer Identification Number (EIN), which is also known as the Federal Tax Identification Number. It’s probably a good idea to present yourself to the public as a sole proprietor when you’re freelancing. You can apply for one from this IRS Web site: http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=102767,00.html

I think I’m going to do this before I begin asking for payouts. Has anyone done this before?
Comment by Josh on 3 September 2008:

Hey Alyssa,

My first submission for an OpenOrder on TextBroker went smoothly. I’m using the site to help build a portfolio. If nothing else, it’s at least good for that. Many of the clients I’ve written texts for will gladly direct you to the website that your text will be published at. I’m formerly a full time ghostwriter. While the pay is excellent, the bylines are non-existent.

Today when I logged on there were twelve 4 star articles and nothing in the 5 star category. Now at one point I was told this company is only about three to four weeks old and that they are still in the process of getting traffic to their site. So maybe it will pick up, who knows.

I would like to direct you to another resource, if you haven’t already been there.

http://www.online-writing-jobs.com/

You do seem to be a very talented writer and this site is a pretty good director for finding jobs almost on a daily basis. You can look up various ads and apply. Some require extensive background and experience, while others don’t so just browse them and see what fits.

NOTE: There is a ghostwriting section on that site. If you try your hand at it, power to you, but as I said there are no bylines with most of those jobs. You won’t expand or start a portfolio by doing it. However the pay is excellent… if you take on a ghostwriting job, be sure you charge what it’s worth.

I’m waiting for a few more 4 star ratings from TextBroker to see if they advance you to 5. Thanks for the information on applying for sole proprietor, I might consider that too.

Josh
Comment by Alyssa on 5 September 2008:

Hey Josh,

Thanks for the words of encouragement. I also checked out the online-writing-jobs Web site and was impressed by the array of job offerings.

I recently spoke with my accountant who said that filing for the EIN should be painless, and it doesn’t affect the way you file taxes except for an additional schedule. You need to keep in mind that some clients will ask for a 1099 if payment to you exceeds $500. My accountant also mentioned that if I want to switch from an individual filing of an EIN to a corporation or LLC, the $500 benchmark is raised to $600. And as I mentioned, if you filed for an EIN, you won’t need to provide a SSN on the 1099 form.

This strays a bit from the creative side of writing, but I realized that I need to treat my writing like a business, too.

Keep us apprised..
Comment by Nick on 6 September 2008:

Okay, well I requested my 48$ dollars and it was processed and put safely into my paypal account. Success =). That’s only a months work. Textbroker isn’t good for a job, but for extra money, it’s certainly worth it.
Comment by Felicia on 7 September 2008:

Congrats Nick. At least we know for sure that Textbroker is legitimate.
Comment by Amie on 14 September 2008:

I just signed up with Textbroker and had my first article reviewed…I received four stars. But the pay is rather pathetic. They gave me a rate of 1.50 ppw…at first I thought it meant $1.50 per word…then I found out they meant a cent and a half! Some of the text requests for four stars want some serious research done, with statistics, but earning $3.50 or so for a 450 word piece that requires research is really not worth the time it takes!! They also asked for what I do…I own an independent cleaning service…but some of the text requests they sent me wanted me to write about the benefits of franchising!!! I’m independent…I hate franchised cleaning services (actually I love them because I get their business when clients find out they don’t actually clean..but that is another story)…but why would I want to extol the benefits of something I would never do?? I don’t know about this..I also agree that English doesn’t seem to be these folks first language. the site is not user-friendly.
Comment by Damien on 18 September 2008:

I have been on textbroker for a while now. I have had six articles in a row rated excellent by the customer. All of these articles have been rated 4 stars by textbrokers reviewers though. I am hoping to get to the five star level soon but I am not sure what more I can do.

Does anyone know for sure that the five star articles pay .5 per word?
Comment by Nick on 18 September 2008:

I just had a whole batch of reviews rated, 8 of them I believe. They were very happy with all of them, and I was immediately upgraded to 4 stars, which is awesome. I’ve never heard of anyone achieving 5 stars yet, but I do see 5 star assignments on there, so someone has to be doing them.

@Amie- You were expecting $1.50 a word? That’s seems..ridiculous. If I was achieving $1.50 a word, I’d be rich after a few years.
Comment by Jen Brister (27 comments.) on 18 September 2008:

I should be getting a payout of around $40.00 from textbroker this month. I stick to the articles that require very little research. I’m at 4 stars and would love to move to 5.
Comment by Nick on 22 September 2008:

I’ve noticed the more you do articles, the better you’ll get at doing some that you didn’t even know you knew anything about. There’s still two weeks left before payout and I’m already up to $50.
Comment by Damien (2 comments.) on 23 September 2008:

It would be nice if they had more four star and even three star articles though. It seems that most buyers have realized they can get fairly good quality and not pay the higher rates. I don’t even bother with the two star stuff and will only do the three stars if I can crank it right out off the top of my head.
Comment by Nick on 23 September 2008:

Yeah..the majority is 2 star. I’ve done plenty of 3 star and a couple 4 star articles too though. I just recommend doing all sorts of different articles, because then you start getting noticed as well. I’ve been receiving direct orders recently, and 1.50 a word isn’t bad. I’ve been thinking of raising it a bit though, if I keep getting orders
Comment by Josh on 24 September 2008:

I received my payment too, in the amount of $80.54 after just over 20 articles. Tons of 4 star ratings now, with absolutely no indication of getting to a 5 star rating. So I think this company is probably going to go down in flames before long. They have a good idea, just not great execution.

And in reference to $1.50/word, some jobs will pay $1.00 – $1.50/word, believe it or not. But you better have the resume to back up your writing.

Also, try ghostwriting. I’ve mostly done ghostwriting up to this point and it helped me with my house, two cars, all my bills and a couple of nice vacations. You won’t get credit for true ghostwriting jobs, no bylines, no seeing your name on the cover of a book… but you will enjoy some outstanding income.
Comment by Damien (2 comments.) on 25 September 2008:

I agree on the point that a 5 star rating seems to be unattainable. I do however think that it is a nice way to make a few bucks during down time. I would never write anything I had to do research for, but the ones I can just crank out in 10 minutes are worth the short money they offer.

I think they have a great interface though. The ease of use factor is a 10 out of 10. If they just upped the money a tad it would be my favorite online resource. As is you can make a lot more with sites like elance. I am not ready to give up on them yet, I like the concept too much.

Damiens last blog post..Troy Brown Retires
Comment by Nick on 25 September 2008:

Yeah..the site is just so easy. You’re receiving money for almost no work at all..at least that’s what it seems like to me. It’s my only source of online income currently.

@Josh- If you’ve got like, 20 4 star ratings, you may want to ask them about the 5 star rating. It says in the FAQ to do that.
Comment by Lisa on 14 October 2008:

Hi, great site!

I came across it this morning in a search for online jobs for writers.

I have been writing for them for about a week and I like it, but I do admit the pay is low. But it is hard to make money writing, so in one way it is great for writers. I was just wondering if you know of any other companies of this type that hire freelance writers. I would love to write for one more company of this nature.

Thank you,

Lisa
Comment by Felicia on 14 October 2008:

Hi Lisa,

Browse around my blog. I’ve been adding writing sites as I come across them.

Have you tried Demand Studios?
Comment by Lisa (2 comments.) on 14 October 2008:

Yes, I tried Demand Studios months ago but in their email they said they did not have anything for me at the time.

I will have a look around the site, thanks!
Comment by Veronique on 17 October 2008:

Textbroker is a good site for newbies who wish to polish their skills for the craft. I have recently acquired a 5 star rating, since then clients have contacted me for direct orders. I have the opportunity to write sixteen articles for $10.00 each, and this is a wonderful opportunity when other freelancing opportunities slow down a bit.
Comment by Felicia on 17 October 2008:

Congrats Veronique,

For a while there I thought that Textbroker never gave out a 5 star rating.

Good for you!
Comment by Veronique (11 comments.) on 18 October 2008:

Thank you Felicia.

I was feeling the same way for quite some time. I was shocked when they contacted me about the 5 star rating. I believe Textbroker is a great way to gain experience and clients who wish to work with the same writer.
Comment by Lisa (2 comments.) on 21 October 2008:

Hi Veronique,

That is great to hear! Congrats to you. I hope I get to that level soon. I am at level 4 now.

If you do not mind me asking, how long did it take for you to get to that level? I moved from 3 to 4 in about two weeks.

Lisa
Comment by Veronique (11 comments.) on 22 October 2008:

Thank you Lisa.

Of course I don’t mind you asking. We are all here to help each other out.

I registered for my account Sept 8th, submitting a short article. On October 6th they rated me at 5 stars. I was shocked. On the downside, there hasn’t been many 5 star assignments.

The client who sent me a direct order hasn’t contacted me even though the article I wrote for him was accepted. I was so looking forward to the sixteen articles he mentioned. I’m not sure if he is just busy or didn’t like my style of writing. LOL

Good luck to you on Textbroker, I know you will do fine. : )
Comment by Nick on 28 October 2008:

That’s great to hear they give out 5 star ratings. I recently made 90 bucks on textbroker, so I was happy about that. I’ve written 56 articles now, so I expect to advance to 5 stars eventually.
Comment by Alyssa on 29 October 2008:

I’m with Nick, I’ve written only four articles with Textbroker so far, and stand at 4-star rating. However, this did not preclude me from receiving direct orders from the same client.

Like Veronique said, the 4- to 5-star rating articles are slim pickings, so you have to rely on your good writing skills to attract clients who wish to work with the same writer with whom they’ve had a good experience.

The downside to Textbroker is that you’re a ghostwriter, so your byline never appears on your work and you really don’t have a way of knowing where your work will appear. It’s like working in a silo. I think if you had a better understanding of your audience, you’d be able to write focused articles. Textbroker is great for honing your skills but you can’t build a portfolio if you can’t show (prove) that you’ve written the articles and for whom.

That’s why in a different post, I asked whether anyone had experiences with Constant Content, where you get a byline and set the price.

Good luck to all. And Nick and Veronique, keep us posted on your successes with Textbroker.
Comment by Anon on 29 October 2008:

I was bumped to level 4 in less than 10 days, so it is not an impossibility. Higher ratings are definitely slim, and some require more research, but worth it for the higher pay. Level 5 is significantly higher though. Level 4 is $1.40 for every 100 words, while level 5 is $5 for every 100 words. Man, it must be great to be a 5.
Comment by Shannon on 30 October 2008:

Hi everyone,
I have been writing for textbroker for about two months now. My original rating was 3 stars, but after my first 5 articles I was upgraded to a 4. That is where I remain, however I have only completed 15 articles so far.

I haven’t really had too many complaints about the system. Other than the same that Alyssa just mentioned about ghost writing aspect. After I complete a text, I always send the client a message thanking them for the work and asking where the text will be located. About 75% of them will respond and advise of the website where your text is being used.

Recently I received my first set of direct orders from one client. My question to pose to anyone who has experience is what rate have you set for your direct orders? I had never changed anything in my profile on that, so I assume the default is 1.5 cents per word? That was what mine was at.

Being a newbie freelancer, I have no idea of what is normal to charge. I hate to set too low and miss out on extra money, but hate to set too high and never get offered work, you know? Any advice would be most appreciated!

Great blog by the way Felicia! Lots of great info for a stay at home mom looking to make a buck or two!
Comment by Dan on 2 November 2008:

Hello All,

I sincerely hope that you don’t mind me writing on here but I’ve followed this stream of comment with interest and wanted to submit my own view/question…

I am a UK business owner and I came across this site because I am looking for unique copywriting/articles for my website. I Googled “Textbroker review” to see what other people had to say about the service because I thought it looked good from a client point of view.

Does anyone know of any good ways to find unique content (websites/messageboards etc) aside from Textbroker? From my point of view I’d be happy paying good rates for quality, well researched content for my website/commercial blog that matched my own brief. I would need full/exclusive ownership of it though.

Any thoughts/comments would be very welcome.

Thanks
Dan
Comment by Felicia on 2 November 2008:

Hi Dan,

I cautiously approved your comment because I like to share opportunities with my readers.

I’m taking you at your word as one who is willing to pay for quality content. While this is not an offer that I personally am willing to investigate at this point in time, I allowed the comment for my readers to take it at face value and investigate further.

Dan, I have not publishes your email address. How should my readers contact you if they wish to find out more information?

Felicia
Comment by Tricia (1 comments.) on 3 November 2008:

Hi Felicia and Everyone,

This is a great thread, Felicia. I’ve enjoyed reading the comments from fellow Textbroker writers. I, too, began as a 3, went quickly to a 4, and am now a 5-star writer. There is indeed a tremendous pay difference when you hit 5-star, but the downside is the scarcity of assignments on the upper end. Fortunately, I was lucky enough to strike a chord with one client and, through direct orders, I’m writing six to eight articles a week for them now. There are definite opportunities for writers on Textbroker. And adhering to deadlines and word counts, while still being creative and unique, is great for polishing those writing chops. I’m not a newbie writer, and I still find this type of writing very challenging. But I love a good challenge, so I also find it exciting. Good luck to everyone!
Comment by Sam (2 comments.) on 13 November 2008:

I have been a banker and finance professional for the last 20 years and about 5 months ago started blogging for http://www.allbusiness.com. After blogging for several months they asked me to do a weekly podcats for them. Recently they asked me to write 5-600 word articles on a variety of finance topics that were all within my domain expertise. Each one took me about 2 hours to write and proof. They gave me bylines and a link to my business website.

Now I want to hone my writing skills and found Textbroker. I haven’t written anything for them. I guess I have been spoiled on the money I am earning from allbusiness.com. My 3x weekly blog pays a stipend of $250 / mo.

After reading everyone’s posts about Textbroker, I am guessing I should keep asking my current client for more work.

My question for others is about their pay cycle. I understand from reading their agreement that they pay by the 15th of the month following work submission. Is that other’s experiences?
Comment by Sam (2 comments.) on 13 November 2008:

One thing I was thinking about as I read these posts. If you don’t feel comfortable giving out your social security number for the 1099s, then get a federal employer TIN for your writing income. You can get it over the phone from the IRS and protect your SS #.
Comment by Veronique (11 comments.) on 14 November 2008:

Hi Sam,

Textbroker paid me on the 7th of November. I wish they paid twice monthly; that would be great.

Keep working with your current client and start with Textbroker as well. New doors are opened once you start receiving direct orders from clients who love your work. I have been keeping busy with a ghostwriting service, direct orders from Textbroker and “5″ star orders that have peaked my attention.

You start out small with Textbroker, but lovely opportunities are presented. Clients will come to you specifically with director orders because they may like your writing style and feel comfortable with you. Also, be sure to send a short note to clients after they have accepted your articles, letting them know they are dealing with a kind, considerate human being. It breaks the ice and you form a type of “relationship” with the client believe it or not.

Good luck to you.
Comment by Alyssa on 14 November 2008:

Hi Sam,

I agree with Veronique. Stick with your current client, but test the waters with Textbroker.

In my opinion, if you’re rated anything less than a 4 for Textbroker, you are wasting your time. The orders placed for 1 to 3-rated authors are ridiculously underpriced and the requirements are so poorly written and obscure that you can’t comprehend the client’s needs. As Veronique mentioned, your goal is to write your best on an open order that intrigues you. Then, if you’ve produced quality work and the client likes to maintain a business relationship, you’ll receive the direct orders. That’s when you can generate slightly more income and eventually set your rates.

As you mentioned, I obtained my EIN a while ago so that when I was ready to request a payoff from Textbroker, I didn’t have to divulge my SS#. I think it’s best to work this way.

Veronique, I’m curious to know if you have changed the rates for your direct orders or have kept them at the default set by Textbroker. If you have, was the client receptive to the rate change?
Comment by Veronique (11 comments.) on 15 November 2008:

Hi Alyssa,

I changed my rates for the direct orders from $1.50 to $2.00 and the clients that have approached me have no problem with that. The articles may vary from 425 – 500 words. I have eight more articles to complete with one client and I’m hoping he will have many more after that, he has been a real pleasure to work with.

Textbroker is indeed a wonderful site. I’m hoping to see them expand to provide more many making opportunities for those of us who enjoy writing. I wish there were at least ten more sites just like them. : )
Comment by Alyssa on 16 November 2008:

Hi Veronique,

It’s good to hear that your clients haven’t balked at your rates. It’s an indication that there are Textbroker clients who are willing to pay for good work and have serious offers to fill.

I think good writers and professional clients are trying to find each other, and as you mentioned Textbroker is acting as somewhat of a conduit. But I also think they need to be more vigilant about filtering out the garbage and tweaking the rating process. Writers have no idea of the guidelines and criteria they use for rating.

‘Nuff said..
Comment by Veronique (11 comments.) on 17 November 2008:

I totally agree with you about the rating process; it does confuse me to no end. The clients will leave a comment such as “excellent” or “great job” while Textbroker may rate my articles with 4 stars. It is rare when a client ask that I revise an article. I hope that with time, they will indeed tweak the rating process.
Comment by Gabriella on 20 November 2008:

Thanks, Felicia, for this website and for all the great information! I had just started with Textbroker when I found it and all of the comments have been very helpful and reassuring. Thanks to all!!!
Comment by Felicia on 20 November 2008:

Gabriella, I’m glad we were able to help you.

That’s why I keep this blog, to share what I learn and hopefully it helps someone else (and me too).
Comment by Alyssa on 21 November 2008:

Hi Veronique,

I don’t want to belabor the point of Textbroker’s rating process, but I have to question the timing of it. The fact that they’re rating the articles AFTER they’ve been accepted by the client implies that they don’t think much of the client’s professional judgement.

If Textbroker is concerned about the quality of articles, the rating/editorial process should occur before the articles are sent to the client. That does not mean that I would rely on them to edit my article; I’m my own proofreader and editor. It’s easy to become lazy and careless when someone else is doing it.

If I understand their rational for applying the rating process, it would be in their best interest to assign higher ratings as it equates to a higher commission for them. No?

But I’ve said enough…
Comment by Rhonda (1 comments.) on 24 November 2008:

I found Textbroker,and I intend to make over 50.00 each and every day from them. IF there is something to write about on the website,that I can compose intelligent advertising, or whatever they need. Usually it’s advertising or marketing. Makes it easier if I understand the subject.
But the thing is, my rating is 3. So I can only see the number 1-3 requests. If you have the patience, it can be done.

Rhondas last blog post..How to Pay to Play
Comment by Alyssa on 25 November 2008:

If you can earn $50 a day by writing articles rated between 1 and 3, more power to you. Given the price points on these articles, you would have to write lots and lots of them.

The direct orders that I’m receiving require deep research that lends credibility and integrity to the articles. In fact, I am considering a price/rate increase. As it is, the time spent researching and writing is out of balance with my word rates.

I am posing this question to everyone out there; how do you maintain your writing speed while maintaining quality? I see quite a bit of online content that is superficial and without much substance. I have to assume that these are novice writers who are trying to generate residual income at the risk of putting out substandard work. If I’m reading a “How to” article, I’d like to be reassured that the author either researched the content or is an expert in that domain. But I don’t get a sense of this at all, judging from some of the eHow articles. Although, I have seen very good work on Suite 101. I wonder if the difference is active editors who pore over the content beforehand.

Sorry for getting on the soap box (sheepish grin)
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Comment by Ben Banker on 19 December 2008:

I recently started writing for Textbroker to see if I could earn a few extra dollars from my home. The only experience I’ve had writing came from college research papers and that was many years ago. I was accepted at level three and have written ten articles so far. This has been a good refresher course for me because I was downgraded to level two because of some spelling errors,the original sin of composition!

So far, all of my articles have been accepted but the biggest hurdle I have to overcome is figuring out exactly what a client expects. Creative writing has always been fun but informational content requires a lot of research time.

If anyone has any advice for a novice it would be greatly appreciated.
Comment by Felicia on 21 December 2008:

Hi Ben,

Sometimes questions get buried at the end of blog posts. Since I think your request is important, I decided to “Bump” it up and created a blog post.

Sit tight, I know my readers will be able to help you. Check the blog post to see their responses.
Comment by Grandma (4 comments.) on 22 December 2008:

Ben, you can ask your client questions through the Textbroker message function. Yes, sometimes they are not clear and then you get a rewrite back with an explanation.

I started with them in late Aug, have done over 500 articles, and am a 5 rated writer. For the past 3 months I have earned about $800 a month, get paid on time by the 6th of each month to Paypal. I intend to do at least that much monthly. I think they are German, but have an office in Las Vegas. They always answer my questions.

I agree the pay is low at anything below a 5 rating, but since they require no experience, what does one expect? You can write offline in a word processing program and use spell check to avoid errors in spelling. I am very happy with Textbroker, have some regular direct clients and it fits a need for the present.

If you have a lot of life experience, you can cut down the time to do many articles because you already know the material and do not have to do a lot of research. One of the hardest things is doing original work on a topic multiple times without repeating yourself.

Textbroker runs every article through CopyScape for plagerism and copying before it goes to a client. If there is something copied, they will send it to you for corrections and then you get to submit it again. Clients can request rewrites. You can blacklist anyone you do not want to work with for any reason, and they can blacklist you.

The amount of articles available varies, but they are doing well and I hope they continue to do well. You do not have to pay anything; they take a commission from clients above what you get paid.

I try to set a daily amount I need to make the monthly amount I want, and usually have plenty to choose from. Being a 5 is very acceptable paywise, but there are not a lot of 5 articles. You have to watch for them, and jump on them and write quickly to try to get another because they go fast.

Some of the 2 and 3 articles are just easy and fun to do. Of course grammar is important, and spelling is critical and stupid to make mistakes at! I agree some of the client explanations are a bit off, but I know many come from other countries. The UK articles need special attention for phrasing, spelling and word use.

I hope Textbroker grows and grows! Things will get better, and who knows, maybe they will go to a 6 rating system or more in the future.
Comment by Alyssa on 23 December 2008:

Grandma,

Did you start at a 5-star rating? If not, at what point did they assign a 5-star? The 5-star rating seems to be an elusive rating that defies logic.

Despite excellent reviews received from clients and Textbroker, Textbroker does not divulge the steps you can take to attain the 5-star rating. I’m not sure if it’s a function of the number of articles you have written.

Also, I see that there are plenty of articles to choose from at levels below 5, but take for instance the Travelogues or Travel topics that require content on exotic and out-of-the-way places. I imagine that only a very few can write these off the cuff. I checked in this morning and there was a request for content on marketing in Santa Barbara. Unless you’re from Santa Barbara, you will need to do some research.

I am in awe that you have written 500 articles and earning your quota each month. It’s really commendable. Perhaps you should provide some tips here for the rest of who are trying to jumpstart a freelance career.

Thanks for the invaluable advice.
Comment by Ben Banker on 23 December 2008:

I really appreciate your input. I am going to print it for future reference. I can see why you are rated at ‘5′.
Comment by Grandma (4 comments.) on 23 December 2008:

Hello, I was started at a 3 for about 5 articles, then up to a 4. I held the 4 for about two months, and many articles. Just when I was about to email them about bumping me up to a 5, they did it on their own in mid November.

Yes, you do need to do some research on many articles. My point was with age and experience you can realize some short cuts! I did some direct order articles on places I have never been, and with each bunch found I wanted to go visit them…the more I wrote, the better the places sounded. But my traveling days are past. For example, writing a legal piece for somewhere in California means looking up the CA laws. That is not a problem. If something looks too hard or time consuming for the payout, don’t do it.

I have been a writer my entire life, and made a living doing it, plus photography. In radio and tv, I wrote commercials for many products and businesses that were unfamiliar. It was fun and I loved it. Now I am in a situation where this writing not only brings in some extra income, but fits the problems I have with life currently.

I like the variety, and it is fun to do the research. Again, if something looks like more trouble than the money is worth, I skip it. But, I did get going with the 2, 3, and 4 star projects. There are not a lot of 5 star pieces needed – yet. They pay good, the others are pretty low pay. I think some are for student term papers, and for resale under another person’s name. If I cared about that, or felt ripped off, I would not write for them.

There are some other websites I have found mentioned around the internet, like elance, guru, and a couple others, where they connect freelancers with clients.

Good luck in your endeavors. Practice makes perfect typing also, but a good spell checker is still needed, and proofread, proofread, proofread!
Comment by Felicia on 23 December 2008:

Grandma, I can’t thank you enough for your valuable input!
Comment by Grandma (4 comments.) on 24 December 2008:

I should mention a couple more things. I have a large amount of time available but still have to push myself to get the articles out. There are days there is nothing I am interested in writing. Usually they have about 150 to 250 article requests up at any time. I check the list frequently to find the ones I like, since I do have the time to do that throughout the day, and night (light sleeper!)

The other thing is some clients want “spin” articles, where you put in extra words, tags, so they end up with three articles for the price of one. I do not do those because I feel that is a rip off. They can pay for three articles if they need three! Just my opinion!
Comment by Sarah on 31 December 2008:

Hi Felicia.
This site seems to be for US only, do you know any similiar site which accepts international writers? Thanks
Comment by Felicia on 31 December 2008:

Hi Sarah,

I’m not sure if I know of sites similar to Textbroker that are open to international writers. Sites like Suite101.com, Bukisa, Today.com, Brite Hub and Associated Content all accept international writers.

They mainly offer residual income, but there are features with a couple of them where you can earn up front payment. I’ll keep my eyes open to see if I can find sites similar to Textbroker that accept international writers.

If anyone knows of additional sites, please chime in and help Sarah out.

Thanks!
Comment by Felicia on 31 December 2008:

Hey Sarah,

I just came across a site called Worldwide Freelance Writer. They have a database of international writing jobs. I’m not sure if this is what you’re looking for, but its worth taking a look.

They have two memberships. One charges a little over a dollar a month that has a database of 2,200 writing markets, and a free mailing list with 750 writing markets.

I also think that Helium accepts international writers. They seem to offer up front payments for writing articles chosen from their Marketplace.

As I find potential opportunities, I’ll let you know.
Comment by Sarah on 31 December 2008:

Hi again.
Well, I’m already a member of Helium and Associated Content, but Helium doesn’t pay anything unless you get a writing or rating star… and for that people need to vote and etcetera… I’ve only been a member for 2 days but this far only 2 people have voted on my articles, so I don’t really see any bright future there…
On AC, they pay 1 dollar per 1000 page views or something, but they won’t publish my articles! So, I stopped writing there.

I’ve applied for suite101, and I’m awaiting an answer. I really hope I’ll be accepted… Wish me luck!

I’ll try these other sites as well, thanks for links!
Comment by Grandma (4 comments.) on 12 January 2009:

For you writers who want to write, Textbroker today has 571 articles that need to be written…..
Comment by Alyssa on 13 January 2009:

Yes, there was an influx of orders by Textbroker; most stemm from the Education channel. If you’re a good copywriter, this may be your gig. They require a rewrite of course descriptions for the University of Phoenix.

I have only one question; if the descriptions are not written by one or two people, wouldn’t there be a difference of style and voice. If 100 writers submit their work, the client is going to get 100 different descriptions that lack consistency. I’m guessing this doesn’t matter. Otherwise, they would have stipulated guidelines.
Comment by Anne Krist (2 comments.) on 31 January 2009:

What a great site! Thanks, Felicia and everyone, for your input and helpful info.
Comment by Shamrockcon on 26 February 2009:

I am rated a level 4 on Textbroker and though the earnings are not great on some articles, they are much better when you get to this level. At level 4, I have access to many more offers and I get paid 1.4 cents per word. I have also learned how to pick the articles I know I can write quickly. For instance, last night I wrote an article that made me $4.23 dollars in 15 minutes. That’s not bad at all. Also, level 4 writers usually get requests for travel articles which are fun, and as Textbroker is growing, there are many more offers being listed than previously.

Shamrockcons last blog post..Cash Crate Attempt…And Failure
Comment by Alicia on 7 March 2009:

Just curious, what format do you all use when writing your Writer’s Resume? I have asked several people, and only heard back that they don’t have a formal resume, only a writing credits page on a blog.

I am applying for more writing jobs and need to find a method for writing up a nice resume to showcase my different works, but really only have a small number of past online publishings under my belt. I am trying to get started and I am at a loss on how to get this done. Any tips, ideas or advice???

Also, when you do mostly online content publishing, how do you list that on a resume? What I have right now just looks so ugly!!
Comment by Felicia on 8 March 2009:

On some writing gigs I use a formal resume (when requested), otherwise my communications are less formal, usually several links to my online writing.

Back in my tech writing days I had to have a formal resume, so I basically stuck with the same format. Do a Google search for “freelance writer resume format.” You should be able to find a few that might work for you.

If you don’t have a lot of published clips, that’s okay. There are ways to get around that.

In the next few days, I’ll pull up one of my resumes and share my resume format.
Comment by Jeni (1 comments.) on 8 March 2009:

Hi Felicia, your blog is great – this is my 1st time visiting… In less than a month I’m on my way to 5 stars at Textbroker, and I went in w/low expectations to be honest. In less than a month, I’m now averaging 16 dollars per assignment and about to hit the $25 5 star rating. I’m fairly happy with how it’s going, and I really like the flexibility and freedom as well. Cheers.

Jenis last blog post..Happy B-Day Dr. Seuss
Comment by jude on 17 March 2009:

Thanks for your comments so far. However, I would like to get more information on how to improve my writing rate in text broker. Unfortunately, I heard everyone talk about increase in payment rate rages from 3 to 5. While I, was rated 2 stars. Yet after submitting of 20 articles, I still remain 2 stars! Please, any help or suggestion for a better site. I like writing, and have written for so many individuals with reasonable pay, only that, the writing offer is not always available. I was somewhat discourage when I received an email of 2 star rating, despite my 20 article submitted. I received several customers’ rating- excellent, good. Yet nothing from text broker
Comment by Lauren on 19 March 2009:

Jude,

Please don’t take offense, but my guess is that you have failed to go higher than a 2 star rating on Textbroker is because it appears that there are some issues with your grammar. The clarity with which you use grammar plays a huge role in your Textbroker rating. My recommendation is to pick up Elements of Style by Strunk and White. This is a classic book for those who need to brush up on their technical grammar and should be a “Bible” for any writer, regardless of their experience.

Hope this helps.
Comment by lisa (1 comments.) on 24 April 2009:

I’ve just started with Textbroker.com. For my first ad I had to write a creative 225 word “story” using the object of the advertisement in the short plot line.

It took about an hour to craft to my perfection before I released it. I heard back within 30 minutes that it had been accepted. I made just 2.16 but it was pretty simple.

I think this is a wonderful way to not only make some extra cash, but hone up on your writing skills so when you apply for the higher paying gigs you will be ready!
Comment by Felicia on 24 April 2009:

Congrats Lisa!

I haven’t visited Textbroker in quite some time. Maybe I’ll pay them a visit.
Comment by Lisa B. (10 comments.) on 25 April 2009:

Wow! I am so glad I stumbled upon your site. I am currently a single mother looking to make some extra money. Writing has always been a hobby of mine, but recently I thought “why not take it to the next level?” So here I am. I’ve read through the textbroker blog and gotten so much good info. Thank you!
Comment by Felicia on 25 April 2009:

Welcome Lisa,

I hope you find useful information here that can help you. I stopped by your blog and am impressed at your resolve! You can definitely earn money writing on the internet, but it takes time and patience.

Thank you for telling Maya’s story. I’m sure it will help other parents in similar situations. You are an inspiration!
Comment by Lisa B. (10 comments.) on 1 May 2009:

Thank you! I did apply with Textbroker and wrote the sample article they asked for. I received a very quick reply and was rated a 3. So far, so good. All the articles I’ve submitted so far have been accepted without revisions. I’d like to try to apply for Demand Studios or maybe Suite 101 soon. What about “get a freelancer.com”? Has anyone found work there?
Comment by lisa (8 comments.) on 1 May 2009:

Hi Lisa, This is Lisa L. For a moment I thought I wrote your comment, you know same name and almost identical situation. Yes, Textbroker will increase your rate the after they rate it there but the first article accepted takes a while to be rated by them even if the customer rated you excellent. Which is what happened with my first article, BUT I have turned into 3 more since then (after they increased by rating to a 4) and they rated them themselves IMMEDIATELY after they had been accepted by the customers, ALL 4. And they send you little “good job” messages if they liked a certain article and let you know if they made a correction you missed.

I love these guys. I had a question and emailed them and got a reply within the hour.

I am looking into Demand and also have joined Helium. I have written 2 articles the first actually is in first place (beginners luck!) anyway, once you publish a few on Helium you are allowed to go into a certain part of their writers MarketPlace. There you can write articles starting at $32 and up. The only downside is that other people made beat you out with their article, but the trick is to check with how many days the article has left and see if anyone else is writing it (It is indicated by a number). Please don’t judge my writing by this sloppy post, i am in a hurry but I was forwarded your comment by this site and I wanted to let you know to sign up EVERYWHERE. I am unemployed but have always had a talent for writing but never could figure out how the heck to break into it beyond the poetry sites. UNTIL unemployment and the internet, now i can’t stop.

I want to work from home and make a living at this; i truley breathe this stuff. It’s like talking doubletime with no vocals, and I LOVE TO TALK.

have a great day!! Lisa L
Comment by Lisa B. (10 comments.) on 6 May 2009:

Hey thanks! I have yet another question….I have been contacted by someone via Textbroker that wants me to write 10 articles/week at 250 words per article for a monthly stipend. What kind of pay should I expect? I am just a newbie at writing for other people, but I don’t want to sell myself short….Any advice or experience from others in this situation would be helpful.

Lisa B.
Comment by Felicia on 6 May 2009:

Lisa, that’s a tough one.

I always have difficulty determining what rates to charge. I have even more difficulty offering advice on the subject.

Whether you are a newbie or not, your time is valuable. I’ve got to tell you, when I first started writing online, I was ecstatic to be able to write 250 to 300 word articles for a mere $5.00 per article. I wrote them in groups of five and got paid $25.00 per batch.

I eventually earned $6.00 per article and earned $30.00 per batch. I tell you this story because it was my first venture into the online writing arena. After finding out how easy it was to earn $30.00 for five articles, I then started searching the internet for higher rates. My next writing gig paid $10.00 for 250 word articles.

Now when I’m approached to write articles, I take into consideration my years of experience, the subject matter, the amount of time it will take to research the topic, article length and editing time. I no longer hesitate to throw out a figure that will adequately compensate me for my time. But it took me a number of years to get to this point.

Sometimes you have to look at the big picture and then back it down to your current situation. At this point, you don’t want to give a figure that it’s too high to miss out on the opportunity. By the same token, you don’t want to quote a rate that is too low because as I said before, your time is valuable.

Keep in mind however, if after writing a few articles you realize that your rate is too low, you can always go back and request a higher rate of pay. More than likely, your “employer” knows that you didn’t charge enough but won’t say anything unless you do. The worst that can happen is they say no and you decide to find other writing gigs.

I hope my advice helped. If anyone has sound advice to offer Lisa, please feel free to share it.
Comment by lisa (8 comments.) on 6 May 2009:

Hi Lisa B.

I am new writer as well, as far as getting paid for my verbal diatribes go anyway. What I would do is research the internet for advice from some of the writing sites; I have actually downloaded some article advice from “The Article Czar” who sends some pretty good information on what the “newbies” need to know.

My advice would be to maybe request a 25 cents increase per article at first? It’s still reasonable and all they can do is say no. If they say no, find out what they are willing to negotiate.

I am like Felicia was at first, so GLAD someone is willing to pay me at all I will take bubkas for pay.
Comment by Doran (2 comments.) on 9 May 2009:

Hi Felicia,

Great blog…so informative. I was looking for a review on Textbroker and found this blog. Best site I have found for a well-rounded and qualified discussion. While it sounds like the pay may start out low, after reading the comments I may give it a try. Thanks for putting this all together.
Comment by Elbert on 9 May 2009:

Hi,

Is this where most of the textbroker writers visit? I like an opinion about something. I’ve been using textbroker to outsource articles for a while now, mostly level 3, 100-200 words. Everything was great.

However, lately, I’ve been pretty unsatisfied with my articles. Not because of the quality of the writing or the grammar but more like not following my directions. I gave a pretty specific direction on how to write my articles. The writers seem to either choose to ignore my request or just didn’t understand what I want. There were several occasion that I had to ask for a revision.

Here’s what I usually ask for:

I need the writer to gather facts from the vendor pages to write a short summary on what problems the XYZ product solves and how the user will benefit. Write this in a passive, third-person, report-style fashion. Do not set the tone of trying to sell the visitor on this product, just give factual information based off of the vendor’s claims. Make sure the first sentence starts off with the product name.

Then I usually provide the links to the vendor page per each order title to help the writer get started.

I’m just wondering if this is too hard for a level 3 author? The articles I asked for usually require researching.
Comment by Felicia on 10 May 2009:

Welcome Elbert,

It’s been some time since I’ve used Textbroker, but your instructions sound pretty straight forward to me.

I get the sneaking suspicion that you’re going to receive a few responses that satisfy your requirements after submitting your comment. I’ve got a good bunch of writers that read this blog and I’m sure you’ll be able to find someone that can satisfy your writing request. Just a thought…would you be willing to provide ongoing steady work if you found the right freelance writer to satisfy your writing requirements? (I’m not putting you on the spot, it’s just a thought.)

Thank you for posting your dissatisfaction here. I think it’s good for writers to understand both sides of the writing process.
Comment by lisa (8 comments.) on 10 May 2009:

Hi Elbert,

I have only been working through Textbroker.com for about a month but speaking for myself, I strive to accomplish exactly what the client instructions ask for.

So far, there has only been one ocassion when I wasn’t exactly clear on a certain part of the instructions for the article I was writing. I sent an email to the client through Textbroker.com briefly explaining how I was handling that part of their article and asked them to please email me in return if they had something else in mind. I didn’t hear from the client and the article was completed and turned in without any request for revision.

Your sample instructions for the researching of your articles seem pretty clear to me. You may want to check with a contact at Textbroker.com to see if they made clear the problem to the authors when they sent your articles back to them for revision.

As far as being too complicated for a 3 rating author, I personally don’t believe it is but again, I am speaking for myself. Remember also that there are certain types of people in every sector who have no problem ignoring instructions for whatever job they are doing.

I’m not saying that this is the case in your situation. The articles you had to return could have all been written by authors who thought they understood the instructions and thought they were writing it correctly.

I think that there is also a way for the client to check if the author ID# of the person writing his article has written for him before, but again, you’d have to check with Textbroker.com for sure.

If you are really concerned, you can always request that the author rating be changed to a 4 for your articles and hopefully this will take care of any future problems.

I hope this has helped.

Lisa L.
Comment by Lisa B. (10 comments.) on 10 May 2009:

I’m going to have to agree with Lisa L. on this one. If I think the directions are unclear or I’m not sure of the tone of the article, I usually write the client and ask a few questions. I did finish an article yesterday in which I thought I had followed the directions, but later I was asked to revise it. With the revision request, the client had asked me to go to a specific website and write the article in the style of that website. I made a few changes to my text and sent it back. It was accepted at that point. I think what you want isn’t that hard to understand, but if you’re not happy with a level 3 author, by all means request a level 4. We appreciate the work!
Comment by Elbert on 11 May 2009:

Hi,

Thanks for responding, everyone.

Felicia: Sure, I’m willing to provide ongoing steady work when I find the right freelance writer. I usually request like a 20-30, 100-200 words, short summary articles. Like the example I posted above.

Lisa L & Lisa B.: Yeah, that’s what I believe as well. If the directions are unclear they should just PM me. However, for some odd reason the authors that are writing my articles almost seem to deliberately ignore my directions.

Because it is an Open Order, I wonder if these writers are just basically reading the order title and just the skip through the order description.

I don’t think it’s too hard to make sure the first sentence starts off with the XYZ product name, or write it in third-person, report-style. The only thing I think that would be hard is just doing the researching.

There were couple of rated 4 and 5 authors that accepted my rated 3 orders though. Most seem to clearly understand what I asked.(especially the rated 5!)

Again, thanks for responding.

I’m just frustrated with the last couple days with all these writers all of a sudden just blatantly write up a quick 100 words article that seem like nothing to do with what I asked.

If you guys(gals) are interested, I can sent a direct order. Just give me your nickname!;)
Comment by Lisa B. (10 comments.) on 11 May 2009:

I’m interested and don’t mind doing research. My nickname on Textbroker is Lisa B. Hopefully we can work something out!
Thanks!
Comment by apexseorm on 14 May 2009:

After reading all these comments I’m very amused. Hi.. I’m the other half. The client. Allow me to address a few of your gripes.

Q) why don’t they allow international writers?

A) because us clients don’t feel like having to spend half our day sorting through articles rife with grammatical, sensical, end spelling errors, submitted by guys that don’t can hardly speak english, let alone write it. Hint: Our time is valuable too.. and we are the ones with the money.

Q) why isn’t text broker paying me hundreds of dollars for my articles?

A) they wouldn’t have any clients. You might think your super special article is going to be featured in a highly recognized publication and that someone is going to greatly profit off your work. 99 times out of 100 that assumption is wrong. Here is what is going to happen to your text. Its going to become a blog post or be submitted to an article directory, or similar all for the purpose of building up a HUGE collection of niche relevant content for one reason and one reason only. To rank well in google. If all us clients needed was one really well written document that we were going to turn a profit on we’d gladly pay more. That’s not the case. we order content in packs of 50 or 100. Our return on that content is minimal until we’ve acquired literally 1000s of niche specific articles and then.. only then we might gain some rank for our keywords, get some traffic to our site and maybe make a few sales.

Q) how do I justify all this research for such a low price per word?

A) stop trying to cover so many fields. Learn about a few niches and write for those niches. Then you wont have to constantly be googling stuff. It’ll speed up your article creation time and also ensure that you consistently produce HIGHLY informed articles instead of “best guess” content. This will get you TONS of direct orders. Refer back to my bit about niche articles for the purpose of ranking in google. I personally load up my text broker account with several hundred dollars per week and all my article requests are on the exact same niche topic. Food for thought.
Comment by lisa (8 comments.) on 14 May 2009:

Hi Apexseorm,

I am a relatively new author at Textbroker.com and a new article writer period.

Although I am not one of the authors that asked any of those questions, I do thank you for your insightful post. It was most informative.

Sincerely,

Lisa L.
Comment by Kate on 22 May 2009:

Hi, I signed on to be a writer for TextBroker.com this morning and submitted my sample article (which I am actually pretty proud of!) and it said it could take up to one business day to get your rating. I signed on with another SEO site yesterday and have heard nothing back. Do these sites ever actually work and/or am I missing something? Please advise!!
Comment by lisa (8 comments.) on 22 May 2009:

Hi Kate,

I can only speak for Textbroker.com, but they do exactly what they promise to do.

I think I heard back within 3 days at the most for my first rating. I have been paid once so far, on the 10th like they promised, and had the money the next day in PayPal.

I think you will like them!

Lisa L
Comment by Kate on 22 May 2009:

Lisa,

Thank you so much! I’m actually in college right now and my mom was a little worried about the safety of online jobs. This makes me so much more comfortable.
Comment by lisa (8 comments.) on 22 May 2009:

Hi Kate,

You’re welcome!

You can definitely trust Textbroker.com. If you really work at it, and you’re in to and have time to write 4 or 5 articles per day, you can make a couple of hundred or so per month depending on the pay listed.

Lisa L
Comment by Kate on 23 May 2009:

I was just reading this whole thread and I saw something about Demand Studios? I was going to write for them until I realized they ask for your social. I am trying to write for ContentCurrent.com too, but they are extremely slow to get back to you and so I don’t know yet. But there’s no rating which is good. The client can send you back the content for revision. It doesn’t seem like the greatest, though, because they aren’t quick to get back to you!

Also AssociatedContent.com seems all right, but the payment program seemed a little bizarre to me. Same thing with Constant-Content.com. but if you sign on with the latter, make sure you are registering as an author and not a client, which is the default. It isn’t very clear and I had to register twice. Good luck!
Comment by Kate on 23 May 2009:

I just got the activation email and I’m so excited.
Comment by Felicia on 23 May 2009:

Congrats to you Kate!
Comment by Kate on 23 May 2009:

Thanks Felicia!! I actually maxed out and I’m waiting for them to let me write some more.
Comment by Jennifer on 24 May 2009:

As a textbroker author I’d just like to throw in the other side of the coin.

Oftentimes the article requests are VERY ambiguous, and rather than ask for clarification or direction from the source it’s easier to just pick another article.

Or the ones that get me are as follows:
To please write a series of 5 400 word articles on XYZ.

Fair enough, right? However, you only get paid for the maximim word count and as far as I can tell, the requestor says they need a 400 word article so you get paid for 400 words, not 2000.

My third favorite is when the client asks for an article on XYZ for 400 words, then asks you to SPIN the article – oh, and don’t bother submitting it without spinning it. So again, you’re writing 2 articles for the price of 1.

Other than these few bugs, textbroker has (usually, though not so much in the last week) plenty of work.

Jenn
Comment by Kate on 24 May 2009:

Hi Jenn,

You actually get a word count range, usually within 50 words. So say you have a 500-550 word assignment worth 2.95-3.85. It is perfectly okay to give in a 500 word piece (or sometimes even 495) but as you write more and more words, you make more money. It is payment per word (depending on your level, the amount/word could be more or less) until you reach 550. You can go a little over if you need to but you can not make more than 3.85

But I agree that the instructions can be vague and that is so annoying! I usually just pick a new task at that point, too. lol
Comment by Kate on 1 June 2009:

Hi,

Last week I joined TB and submitted five pieces, after which I got the following block message:

Following Errors Have Occurred

Dear Author, you have just submitted your first 5 orders. Before you are able to continue writing, our editorial team will first evaluate your articles and provide some feedback. This may take up to 7 days. Once the articles are rated, the block is removed and you can proceed as normal. We are sorry for the inconvenience and thank you for your understanding.

It’s been up for over a week, and since then I have been unable to write for Textbroker, which seems to be the best writing gig for me. Does this always happen and if so, is it really only ever a week?

Thanks.
Comment by Kate on 1 June 2009:

Felicia, I just wanted to than you so much for all your help; I just got bumped up to four stars on TB and because of all of your great info and discussions, I can now say I have a definite part-time college job! Which is easier said than done in an economy like this!!
Comment by Felicia on 1 June 2009:

Kate, I’m so happy for you!

Congrats!

I think the thanks should go to all of my readers who offered tips and advice. Thanks guys/gals!
Comment by Kelly on 3 June 2009:

I am so glad I found this blog post (#2 in Google Search for Textbroker, btw! Great job!).

I was approved this morning and instantly offended that I had received a 3. I’ve been writing for over ten years. I felt as if I had been slapped!

Now seeing that they start all writers out as a 3, I feel much better. Phew. Not sure what I think about the service at this time, but I’m willing to give it a try.

Speaking of Demand Studios, I just joined their program last week and submitted my first article two days ago. How long does it usually take their copyeditors to review an article?
Comment by Felicia on 3 June 2009:

Hi Kelly,

Glad you feel better about the Textbroker 3. As far as Demand Studios, the review time varies. It could be a couple of hours or a couple of days or as much as a week. I guess it all depends on the editor workload.
Comment by Shamrockcon on 4 June 2009:

Hi Kelly,

The copyeditors are pretty quick to approve (or not approve!) an article, but you won’t get your ratings till the end of the month. No matter how great your writing is, if you make one spellcheck error, then you won’t get rated at a 4. It’s a weird system…

But I like Textbroker so good luck!
Comment by TJ (2 comments.) on 5 June 2009:

Not everyone starts at a level 3. Several people on here have indicated that they started at a 2, while I personally was started at level 4.

Fortunately, it is easy to move up a level with consistent, high quality work.

Also, you can set your direct order rate higher than the rate that your level pays, so you can make more money from direct orders regardless of your level. I no longer take open orders at Textbroker and make over $600/month in direct orders alone.
Comment by Lisa B. (10 comments.) on 5 June 2009:

T.J., that’s great. That’s exactly where I’d like to be in my earnings from textbroker. But how long was it before you got to that point? How many articles did you write for them in the open order section before you just started accepting direct orders? I’ve written around 30 articles so far and I’ve been a level 4 since around my 10th article, so I think I’m doing ok…but I’d like to do better!
Comment by Kelly on 5 June 2009:

Thanks, Shamrock.

I had both my first Textbroker article and Demand article approved yesterday. We’ll see how I feel about both a month or so from now.
Comment by TJ (2 comments.) on 5 June 2009:

Lisa B. – I’ve been working with Textbroker for two full months now. I had my first direct orders within a week of starting, I believe. All together, I’ve submitted about 160 articles for Textbroker and I’d say probably well over 100 of them were direct orders.
Comment by ApexSEORM on 11 June 2009:

Hey there again. Its me your friendly textbroker.com client just wanted to let all you writers out there know there is going to be a ton of orders coming in on the travel section over the next week. I have a huge project. descriptions for 60+ timeshare developers and 1600+ resorts. Im going to set the description range at 150-400 words each. Can’t wait to see what you guys produce!
Comment by Felicia on 11 June 2009:

Thanks for the heads up!
Comment by Lisa B. (10 comments.) on 11 June 2009:

T.J., Thanks for letting me know about your experience with Textbroker. Within a week of asking you that question I received my first direct order! Yay!

ApexSEORM – Excellent, thank you! I’m off to do some writing!
Comment by apexseorm on 11 June 2009:

No problem Felicia. Man you guys are on it today! Crankin these things out faster than I can copy paste! Just put in another 10 orders. Keep up the great work and I’ll keep the money movin
Comment by Tena (5 comments.) on 12 June 2009:

Just wanted to say thank you. As a newbie here I have been reading. I have read here and WPLH. Textbroker accepted my application article and activated my account. Demand Studios sent the test for Title Proofer and I will be taking that.

Gonna keep reading, studying, doing research and growing.

Thanks again!!
Comment by ApexSEORM on 12 June 2009:

Lisa B. you’ve been doing a kick ass job. I’d like to increase your pay by paying you directly and cutting out the middle man. Email me at apexseorm@gmail.com for further information! Thanks felicia for the connect!
Comment by Lisa B. (10 comments.) on 13 June 2009:

What a great way to start off the day! Thanks Apex, and of course, thanks Felicia!
Lisa B.´s last blog ..Am I an ostrich?
Comment by Felicia on 13 June 2009:

Great! I’m glad that this worked out for the both of you!
Comment by E. Kelly on 13 June 2009:

Hi everyone. This is an informative thread.

I’m a magazine writer by trade (I’ve most recently been published in Mental Floss and History Magazine –check for me on your newsstand.)

The lead time between selling a magazine article and when you actually get paid can be several months (sometimes as many as eight!), so I’m looking to supplement that income with an increase in web writing.

Magazine work pays as well as .70 a word, and I consider .05 to be a rock bottom price for me. With that in mind, I’m hoping to get a high rating on Textbroker.

Do you know if they allow you to submit proof of being a professional print writer in order to obtain the designation as a pro, such as payment receipts, clips, resume, etc.?

Here’s hoping my experience somehow shows in my submitted sample!

-Liz
Comment by apexseorm on 13 June 2009:

Liz –

Goodluck getting more than your “rock bottom” price when doing content writing online. I covered this before higher up in this thread. even 5cents is more than most content buyers are going to pay. Online content is NOT the same as magazine content. In a magazine the publisher gets paid for your article over and over and over. You see they sell a subscription or sell the magazine on an individual basis at news stands, grocery stories and convenience stores. Every time someone buys it, they recoup on their investment with you and of course end up turning a profit. Online content is NOT like that. The buyers (like me) really don’t see a return on the content we buy. At least not in the traditional way you are used to working with. We build content to get relevance in the eyes of google. If we have enough niche related content we might be able to rank well for our keyword or keyphrase at which point we can attract customers to sell whatever product or service we are pushing. This process takes months or sometimes even years and required 1000s of niche relevant articles. As a result it doesn’t make sense for us (they buyer) to pay more than 10-15 dollars for an article. The only time I even bother ordering 5 star content from textbroker is if its going to be a press release syndicated out to a ton of news sites. Sorry but this is the reality for most content buyers online.
Comment by Felicia on 13 June 2009:

Apexseorm makes a good point. That’s why I believe it’s so important for online freelance writers to build a base of residual income articles to compensate for the low up front pay.

Even places like Demand Studios is becoming increasingly difficult to write for. In addition to residual income sites, try your hand at your own blog or website too. I found that the combination of residual and up front pay initially helped to pay the bills. Over time, I eventually weaned myself off of up front pay work.
Comment by Kelly on 13 June 2009:

Apex, I’m sorry, but your definition of content websites is downplaying the key factor in why you’re buying content: you’re either making money from ads or you’re selling a product. As it is, your explanation is claiming that you don’t make a return from your website, in which case I’d have to ask why you have a website in the first place.

Now, you say that you pay $10/15 per article, which is pretty fair for online content, but as far as I know, textbrokers is paying beans to writers at $2/3 per article. I took my one and only assignment there, fulfilled my obligation and promptly decided that I wasn’t willing to work for less than minimum wage.

There’s currently a project posted at elance that is paying $3/600 word articles and requiring 50 articles turned around in a week. This is ridiculous. The only way this makes sense is if the writer is making residuals on the work and in the case of both this proposal and textbrokers, the writer is not making residuals, unless I’ve missed something in the fine print.

Liz, Apex is right that you won’t make the amount online that you make for print work. You also, usually, won’t have to do the leg work you do for print work. But don’t sell yourself short by allowing yourself to be taken advantage of by $2/3 articles. The reason why people think they can do this to writers is because writers allow themselves to be treated this way. Don’t do it.

$10/20 is the norm for online articles. As Felicia said, residuals will make you more over the long run if you can’t find upfront work that pays decently. It’s time that writers stopped being taken advantage of and demand better treatment and pay and stop this $2-3 nonsense. If people don’t want to pay, let them write it themselves.
Comment by apexseorm on 13 June 2009:

Kelly, it takes THOUSANDS of articles on one subject to rank for highly competitive keywords. I’m not down playing anything.

Print is the exact opposite of web. in print it takes 1 $100 dollar article to make the publisher $1000+ dollars. on the web it takes a webmaster 1000+ articles before they start pulling in any money at all via organic search.

I recommend spending $10 dollars and picking up a book on SEO. You will see this isn’t something I am just making up. I’ve been doing SEO for a long time.

Now as far as people getting 2-3 dollars for each article that textbroker is collecting $10 for.. that’s simply a flat out fallacy. Text broker does not take 70-80% of the money for each article. They take 25%. That means on a 4 star article 500 words I pay $10 you get $7.50.

Textbroker is taking a cut, but considering they are doing all the bookkeeping AND finding you the work, AND providing a mediation system between you and the client if something goes wrong I’d say it’s a pretty fair deal. If you want to be paid more for your writing do well for a few clients and have them start sending you direct orders. Set your CPW a little higher and you are set.
Comment by Felicia on 14 June 2009:

In attempt to keep the conversations here civil, I’ve edited unnecessary sarcasm and insults. The purpose of this site is to be informative and supportive. As a freelance writing mom, I understand the challenges writers face in finding legitimate writing work, balancing writing and family and making a living with the craft.

Everyone evolves as a freelance writer in their own time. One person may find $2/$3 an article perfectly acceptable for their situation while others may not. Until you walk a mile in the other person’s shoes, you won’t truly understand what makes them tick.

While I personally don’t accept writing gigs for $2/$3 per article, I understand why some freelance writers do. We all are at different stages in our careers. Just like having a traditional job, no one enters a field getting paid top dollar.

The low paying articles serve a purpose for some. As I’ve mentioned here on this blog before, my first dalliance with online freelance writing earned me $5 per 300 words. This for a person who in her 9-5 job was a professional technical writer earning a pretty handsome salary.

I knew I was being underpaid, but it was a stepping stone I felt I had to step on. Without it I wouldn’t be where I am today. Therefore, I do not judge those who are willing to accept $2 per article. I only encourage them to seek additional writing opportunities and to grow as a writer so that they can command a better rate.
Comment by Eve Lopez (5 comments.) on 14 June 2009:

Well said, Felicia. I’m super new to online freelancing, and when I first saw the low wages being offered by some of the clients at textbroker et al, I thought to myself: no way. But after reading your blog, I now understand the way things work. Personally, I’ve found a lot of luck with Demand Studios, but if they went belly-up tomorrow, you bet I’d be writing like mad for textbroker until I could find something decent. I’ve been in the freelance online writing field for less than a month and am truly humbled by the experience.
Eve Lopez´s last blog ..My First Teaching Job Interview – Language Link Russia
Comment by Kelly on 14 June 2009:

Everyone has a different experience. My personal experience insists on writers being paid honorably for their work.

Either way, at first I thought you were saying you had edited my response, but I realize that mine looks unchanged, so you must have meant the response to mine, in which I say “Thank you”. I would have been okay with the insults, but still, thanks for not letting it become that kind of discussion.

In an effort to keep things civil, I’ll bow out from any responses to hopefully keep the commenting on track.
Comment by Felicia on 14 June 2009:

Kelly, no need for anyone to bow out. Healthy bantering is a good thing. If we all had the exact same opinion, life would be extremely boring.
Comment by Yolanda (1 comments.) on 15 June 2009:

I’ve read through the most recent discussions and I must say this has been an interesting discussion.

I registered over at TextBroker a month ago after reading the experience of a fellow freelance writing buddy of mine who makes a substantial income on direct orders alone. Since then I haven’t submitted on article after checking weekly for work that would be worth the pay in order to build up a ‘clientele’ for direct orders. I can’t bring myself to spend 30 minutes crafting an article for 1/3 of minimum wage when my time could be spent making more than that.

While I may not write for $2/$3 an article, I won’t knock the person that does. However, I will say that as a freelance writer don’t allow what a client tells you is out there in terms of willingness to pay for content to cloud your judgment. I can attest to being paid quadruple the rates for writing content for half the word count and tedious demands that TextBroker writing jobs usually consist of.

It’s best that writers start building a platform for themselves so that jobs come their way, instead of relying on places like TB, Demand Studios, Associated Content, Helium etc. Some of these are great places to write for, but if they were to be gone tomorrow or take even longer to review your writing than they already do, you’d be stuck.
Comment by Doran (2 comments.) on 15 June 2009:

I, too, have been following this discussion. It is interesting to note the different viewpoints. After listening to some who have signed up with textbroker, I did register. Like Yolanda, I just cannot bring myself to write an article, especially that may require research, for 2/3 dollars per article. I understand why some do, however, if they did not these companies would not get away with paying what is not even minimum wage. I need the work too, however, if we sell ourselves that cheaply, how will anyone see our work as having value. I guess it is going to come down to just how desperate I get.
Doran´s last blog ..Writing – Copyrights and Trademarks Protect You
Comment by Suze on 16 June 2009:

I like the site for some writing exercises, and for honing my knowledge on a few topics about which I’d like to familiarize myself more. Certainly, many of the requests are for keyword intensive write ups that are not what I would consider writing at all, and some of them want keywords that have absolutely nothing to do with the topic. I can’t quite figure these out, and won’t waste my time trying either.

Just as there are good and bad writers, there are also good and bad clients. It’s pretty evident by the way some of the instructions are presented, and the poor grammar skills used to convey what they are seeking that this type of client has little respect for the written word, and wouldn’t recognize the value of someone who does. If they did, they probably wouldn’t even have the nerve to ask someone to write at such cheap rates.

On the other hand, I think the people who administer the site have good intentions, and I haven’t heard of anyone who hasn’t been paid in the timely fashion as outlined in their payoff model. There is certainly something to be said for that, as I’ve worked for essay sites that do not pay their writers in a timely fashion, and some not at all. Textbroker also has a few interesting clients with some fairly good requests for content. There is probably some good potential for more sophisticated work with better compensation as a writer gets to know the clientele over a period of time.
Comment by Rachel on 17 June 2009:

Hi everyone! I’ve read all your thoughts and have gained some great knowledge of Textbroker now. I have been with them for a few days now and written 5 articles. I started at rating 3 and hope to move up. My question is: How long does it take for the 5 article block to be removed?. 4 of the customers rated excellent and 1 rated very good. After reading all your posts, I know this means nothing to Textbroker. I’m going to try out Demand, but I am having trouble with my resume. I am an extremely new writer. My only experience is getting published on sites like Associated,Ezine and Helium. How can I make a great resume while not having a lot of experience?
Comment by Suze on 17 June 2009:

Hi Rachel,

It took them three days to lift my five article block. I happened to chance upon another delay that will happen to me shortly if I don’t get a W-9 form in soon. I checked out an assignment that was going to put me over the $200 mark, and got a message that stated that I would need to submit a W-9 form to be paid because my earnings would exceed the limit if I took the assignment. I thought it was $600, but I guess they have different rules.
Comment by Kate on 17 June 2009:

Hey, I was wondering because I know that earnings from Demand Studios (which I don’t write for) are taxable; are Textbroker (where I do write) earnings, also?
Comment by Tracey Steele (3 comments.) on 18 June 2009:

I decided to apply at Demand Studios and Textbroker after reading this article and comments. Textbroker came first, and Demand Studios yesterday. I don’t have the client feedback yet for the Textbroker article I wrote. Textbroker accepted my writing sample at four stars, which suprised me after having read all these comments. However, 4 (and 5) star articles are much more scarce than three stars. And the 4 star requests that were there didn’t appeal to me or weren’t within my knowledge base. That was just the first day though, and since I started checking back regularly, I do see more of a variety in the 4 star requests.

I first started writing freelance in March 2009. This is after years of blogging and writing ridiculously long and detailed emails to friends. Finally I figured “I might as well try to get paid for this instead of doing it for nothing” and started applying. Associated Content was my favorite site at first, because it’s got an easy signup process and the payoff of seeing my article in print (and getting paid for it) was very quick. I realize that their pay rate is very low compared to what a professional writer could demand. However, I knew I was not a professional writer and had a lot of learning to do before I would feel comfortable submitting elsewhere. Since then, I’ve had one article purchased at Constant Content (after two editorial rejections!), my residual income at AC is finally starting to roll a little bit, and I’m signed on at DS and Textbroker.

All in all, I’m very happy with the experience I’ve had so far writing content. I’ve found that the sites with stricter editorial guidelines have forced me to improve my writing. Before the raft of rejections I got from Constant Content, I was regularly writing 1,200 word articles that could have been cut down to 600. Wordy is fun, so I still blab at length in emails and comments, but my content writing is much cleaner now.

I think I’m just about ready to start delving into other sources for freelance and will be reading more on this site. Thanks a lot!
Tracey Steele´s last blog ..About Subculture Lifestyle Magazine
Comment by Grandma on 21 June 2009:

It’s been some time since I last posted, and it is very interesting to read the latest posts. It is nice to read some of the client viewpoints.

I am still totally happy with Textbroker, and have been writing steadily for them since late last August. I have several direct order clients, and am rated 5, which can really boost up your total earnings quickly. Still, there are many things I would not even bother with, for some of the reasons writers above mentioned. Right now, there are about 1500 articles listed for grabs, but I just wait for the few that I really want to do. My monthly average is $831, writing part time, and I have completed 1400 articles with only one rejection. Attention to spelling is very important if you want to move up levels.

You can sit and complain about the low pay and make nothing, or take a few moments and make a few bucks. If you have nothing else better to do, why not? It adds up, but sometimes you just have to make yourself go write something, and learn new things. If you enjoy this as a hobby, it is just fine. If you need more money, you should probably go get a job and do this as a second.

If you ever have problems with Textbroker, or need information, contact them or the clients, and you will get good response. They run bonus pay weekends from time to time, and you can earn extra free by reaching the various levels. I have found their payment to writers is done reliably, and timely. I hope they stay active a long, long time!
Comment by Bruce (1 comments.) on 25 June 2009:

Textbroker is a registered LLC in the state of Nevada, but the management is German. I concur with the consensus opinion — the web content bares evidence of a non-native speaker.
Comment by Tracey Steele (3 comments.) on 25 June 2009:

A few things to add as I’ve continued working with Textbroker. They get their orders in batches on regular basis. While the 4 and 5 star articles are definitely fewer than 3 and under, there are usually plenty to choose from on a weekly basis. You just have to be on the ball and be there on the right day. I’ve received emails from them several times notifying me of new batches (and if you follow them on Twitter, they tweet it as well).

It’s not an issue to me if management is non-native English speaking. I’ve seen requests in other languages, and one of the orders I recently completed was for a UK site. Their customer rating for me was “excellent” so obviously I’m biased However, I may have an advantage in that my full-time job is a global group. More than half of the group I work with are either British or Swedish. Because of this, I tend to slip into “Britspeak” in my head as I write emails to colleagues.

My point is there’s enough variety in the orders to enable writers to pick and choose. Having said that, I need to take my advice and have some fun popping out 2 and 3 star orders to build a head of steam. I’ve been accepting 4 stars and then setting them aside until I have time to research and write – this is preventing me from doing other orders.
Tracey Steele´s last blog ..Music: Gogol Bordello
Comment by Courtney (1 comments.) on 29 June 2009:

Not everyone starts out with 3 stars. I got a 4 star rating after describing a pencil sharpener in my sample essay. I have also heard of others starting out with 2 stars.
Comment by busybeeson on 30 June 2009:

I am just starting textbroker. I was rated at the 4 level so the pay is adequate but not great. I figure I will write one article a day and that will probably add up to a little over $100 a month. My problem is that it seems like many of the assignments are vague. Also, it seems that most assignments are available at only the 2 and 3 levels. The 4 level assignments are few and far between.
Comment by Kate on 30 June 2009:

Hi,

I’m in college and just wanted to say that I am really enjoying working for Textbroker and coming into some real money with it, money that isn’t contradicted by a gas tank since my new job is at home!

I have a question, though, because my mom thinks that you can’t use PayPal money “in the real world” and not just online? I was pretty sure you could, especially if I used PayPal dollars to buy an AmEx gift card? I’m not particularly worried about how stupid that would look, but is there a way to turn your PayPal earnings into actual US currency?

Thanks
Comment by Felicia on 30 June 2009:

Tell your mom that PayPal can be used in the real world.

I usually transfer my PayPal money to my bank account. However, you can get a debit card from PayPal and use it just like any other debit card.

The only money I earn is usually paid through my PayPal account. I use it to pay my car note, mortgage, bills, etc. It most definitely is a ‘real world’ currency.
Comment by Lisa B. (10 comments.) on 30 June 2009:

Kate: I have had a PaypPal debit card for months and I love it. And its easy to transfer the money to an existing bank account, as Felicia also pointed out. I have had great luck with Textbroker. Unlike some other writers, I don’t mind taking assignments that need research, because I find that I can almost always incorporate that research into something else at a later date. Textbroker has also given me the confidence to branch out to other online sites, which may or may not pay better but give newbies such as the vital experience that we need.

Lisa B.
Comment by Felicia on 1 July 2009:

I received a rather informative email from Christina Zila the Branch Office Manager at Textbroker.com. She was hesitant to post directly to the blog because she saw the Textbroker post as a place for authors to speak freely and felt it wasn’t appropriate to comment as “Textbroker.”

I later assured her that her comments are welcome. In the meanwhile, she gave me permission to post the following to clear up some of the questions regarding whether or not Textbroker is a native English speaking company:

“I would like to clear a few things up about the company and our staffing. Textbroker was originally founded in 2005 in Germany as textbroker.de. The idea was so successful and the demand for English articles high enough for the founders to start the English version in late 2008. The staff consists of our CEO, our HR manager, and four editors.

Two editors with native English skills reside in Germany, allowing for nearly 24-hour author care and ratings. The other two editors are stateside, based in Las Vegas. We will soon be adding a third US-based editor to keep up with the deluge of work we have coming in.

I joined the company in April as the US Office Manager. I’m sure you received the e-mail with my introduction. I’ve done my best to revise the website and I hope that the changes to the FAQ and Author Payment pages have been noticed. Updating the pages that you and our authors work on has been slowed by new clients and new authors coming in and needing support. I’m very open to suggestions and am happy to correct pages or e-mails where we haven’t converted from engineer-speak.

Really, I’d like you to know that although ownership may be German, your editorial staff are native speakers, and the folks answering your e-mails from 10-6 PST and all your calls are native US citizens.”

From Christina’s comments, it looks like Textbroker is growing and will have plenty of opportunities for writers.
Comment by Tracey Steele (3 comments.) on 1 July 2009:

I third the confirmation of PayPal “real world” currency. I’ve been using the PayPal debit card for a few months now – basically, I signed up for it as soon as I started generating income through PayPal. It’s also accepted as a Mastercard, so anyplace that takes Mastercard will take your PayPal debit card.

I also get 1% cash back through the Preferred Rewards agreement (you have to have a merchant account and agree to enroll in the PayPal Preferred Program and turn on the “Tell Buyers that I prefer PayPal payments” preference). It’s small, but nice.

As a college student, you may be using the Upromise system…so you can also always register the card with Upromise for whatever points you’d earn. I’m not too familiar with Upromise but thought I’d mention it.
Tracey Steele´s last blog ..SCLM News: Blogger Posts Imported

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Earn Money Writing for Textbroker.com

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