I placed another batch of orders on 3/31. Taking my own advice, I stuck with a higher word count and requested source citation. On 4/21 the order status still showed as “Project Assigning – Appointing the best writers in your niche.” In response to an inquiry sent that day, I received an email the following day (4/22) indicating that a time-sensitive topic article would be delivered within 24-48 hours. On 4/27 (5 days later) I actually received the time-sensitive article with the rest of my orders following an hour or so later.

The time-sensitive article was very well done. Sources were clearly cited at the end of the article and the content was top quality for the most part. I did check all sources and only made a slight change which was more based on my interpretation of the source material rather than any real problem with the author’s writing.

At this point, I was quite pleased and anxiously anticipating the others. Well, now I know why TB clients use DOs when they find an author they like. (Not an option with CyberHub.) The rest of the articles were obviously written by someone else and did not contain source citation as requested. The content is ok but will need a lot of checking and editing – not a big time saver for me.

So will I use CyberHub again? Maybe. Thus far I’ve placed orders when the site offered special pricing. The experience and entertainment value exceed what I’ve spent, even if I never use a single word. I may try paying the higher price for speed delivery next time around to see whether the quality is affected. Should I garner more information that might be of interest to others, I will be sure to share it here.
.-= Crystal´s last blog ..New Writing Gig with Demand Studios =-.

I haven’t tried outsourcing articles since my last experience, but I think I’m going to give Textbroker a try next.

First – none of the content received can be used as is. Some of it is actually pretty good but I have to check the facts. For the most part, what I got provides a place to start editing.

Second – were I to do this again, I would include the requirement to cite sources in my instructions. It’s a little unnerving to get a bunch of facts thrown in with no idea where they came from. I don’t think they’re made up because the test orders I placed were on subjects about which I am familiar and the facts seem reasonable based on my prior knowledge and experience but it would be nice to know the source.

Third – there was an interesting wrong word in one of the orders. Instead of polygenic, the word used was polyphonic. Hmm. Big difference.

Fourth – if anyone is considering using the service, place longer orders. My 500-1,000 word orders were far superior to the 300 word orders. I actually got some meat with the higher word count. The short jewelry descriptions that were part of my Textbroker experiment were ok – better than the first round from TB but not as good as the second.

In conclusion, the jury is still out. On the one hand, I have some fairly decent material to use as a starting point but have to spend time checking stated facts. Having the sources cited would have eliminated the bulk of that work but I didn’t think of it ahead of time. On the other hand, with the fact checking combined with editing required, I probably could have written these pieces myself in about the same amount of time.

I can see that buying some content may have its place but I’m not sure exactly what that place is! I so like the idea of delegating but am unsure how to make it work to my advantage. If I go another round with this experiment, I will report back.
.-= Crystal´s last blog ..Hypertension Basics – Who, Why and What? =-.

I opted not to go with the expedited service for two reasons – 1)they had special pricing during Feb, and 2)I wanted to know how long the regular service takes. If I’m happy with the results and I ever do this again, I’m thinking I’ll go the expedited route next time!

I’ll report in again when I finally receive my content.
.-= Crystal´s last blog ..Refocusing My Freelance Writing Efforts =-.