Freelance writers vs. essay companies - strengths and weaknesses

I think starting a new thread "Freelance writers vs. essay companies - strengths and weaknesses" won't be a bad idea now.

This thread can help the freelance writers and the essay companies to brainstorm their strengths and weaknesses to see where the two stand. This will not only benefit us as parties in the same industry, it will also give a better idea to the potential customers about who to look to in certain situations.

From whose point of view? Writer, client, or company?

If it were up to me, from the point of view of any writers who admit to being writers, any clients who admit to being clients, and any company reps or owners or investors or employees who admit to being company reps or owners or investors or employees. I'll start: I'm a writer who has worked for essay companies since 2003 but who now does much more freelance work than essay-company work.

You?

Freelance writers who use an email address only - worth considering provided they charge considerably less than legitimate essay services because more risks are involved.

Essay companies - worth considering provided they are legitimate / reputable.

Both should share their specific strengths and weaknesses. I will soon share my viewpoint once I find a little more time.

How are there more risks involved using a writer than a company? The payment methods are the same, the likelihood of being lied to is the same, the likelihood of receiving a bad/good paper is the same (sort of...)

The only real difference I see is that companies have more resources to give customers the run-around: "sorry you didn't like your paper; we can get another writer if you can wait a week," "the person that handles complaints isn't available, but I will forward your message," "that writer is no longer with us," etc, etc. An individual writer can still scam people, but they have a lot less bull they can run through before the customer figures out they're being "handled."

Legitimate companies have some sort of a hiring process. They won't work with a contractor who cannot write a coherent sentence or whose writing samples, resume, or personal messages contain blatant errors. On the other hand, anyone can set up a new email account under a fake name, for example: dr.paul.steward@gmail and claim to be Dr. Paul Steward.

It's in the company's best interests to work with contractors who don't misrepresent their skills, location, or credentials. When working with a random freelance writer, a client misses this important verification step. And even if the writer fails, the company manages the payments and you can get a refund or have your order reassigned without fighting the system.

This can be one reason. But it's not the only reason to hire a freelance writer.


Major has answered his own point. The entire issue is with the companies being 'legit and reputable' vs. 'the ones that misrepresent facts'. We know very well that by the hour more and more scam companies are being established on the Internet. It leaves the legit ones under extreme pressure to compete.

Above all, the most challenging part is 'how can a client reach a 100% legit company?' Google? No way! Lethal SEO methods are perhaps giving an edge to those companies that are probably 'not legit'. There is one famous company that flaunts on its website a case it won against a misrepresenting company. My question is what guarantees are there that legit companies (only a very few in number) attract more global clients (to earn more profits) than those that are not 'legit'? No one probably even knows how many of the two kinds exist over the WWW.

This leaves us with more of less the same ambiguity that the clients may confront while dealing with a writer or a company for the first time.


Which legit companies? I do not want to know. It is the clients that must understand that 'these legit companies' have 'some sort of a hiring process'. Unfortunately, the legit ones seem not to be doing a great job in assuring the global clients of their legitimacy.

This forum has not provided the support that was perhaps envisioned while it was being developed. It ended up becoming a marketplace in itself. No one should forget the legal actions, revenge, scathe, and bloodshed that took place in the recent history here and in its neighborhood.

More and more posts about company reviews (negative and positive) leave the global customers in more gray.


This is a valid point. A disposable email never guarantees who's actually who. What about the claims on a company's website (legit or not) "We employe PhDs to handle your order...., and so on"?

In both the cases, it is the client's ICTs skills that must be put to work. If so, then legit or illegitimate companies, scam or honest writers sail the same boat.


True. Legit companies don't 'probably' do so. They should go out and tell their potential clients about it. Can they do so? Yes they can. But it seems the pendulum is swinging the other way more.

With their physical address in place, along with other legit details, they ARE NOT 100% transparent about (i) the qualification of their writers and (ii) their quality standards.

A scam freelance writer is a tiny bit as scamming as a BIG company. The former may take away a small chunk; while the latter can cause the client a huge earthquake.

The problem seems to be getting worse by the day, isn't it?

My personal experience as an ESL freelance writer.

It has always been my professional curiosity to learn, when a client approaches me for some work, that why he/she is willing to hire me rather than go to a legit company.

I would list some of the reasons:

1) Communication barriers, delays, and semantic noise. "They don't really understand what I am trying to say".

2) Paying the whole amount upfront. I don't know about other freelance writers, but to me getting paid in installments is not an issue.

I remember a client. He was well aware of which companies were legit and which were not. He had a PhD thesis to go. I asked him the same question. He told me that to hire a company he would have to sell his apartment or he would never be able to pay them in one go.

The amount he paid me for per page compensation was almost similar to what that company would have charged him. I won the project because I was willing to work in bits and pieces that assured him an effective monitoring of my work as well. I beat the giant here!

As my clients have my necessary contact details with them, I am there to assist them in sheer ABSENCE of a company rep. relaying messages back and forth. They find it quite satisfactory to discuss 'matters' directly with their writer - in OUR CASE.

3) Too many of these companies. Don't know where to go.

Too many of the writers may also be a case here. But there is a difference. There are writers with virtual connections and reputation, and maybe relatively better skilled (ESL/Native) vs. those that lack in this area.

The clients are living human beings. They may employ some effective strategies to pin down a legit freelance writer (I won't discuss what strategies - or you would think I am advertising my services here). It is quite obvious to understand that a sensible client who faces the issues mentioned above can conveniently tell after initial communication if it is THE writer with the SKILLS that he/she wants for their work.

The same is probably not possible with a company since all they can tell them is 'they are legit'.

--

That said. Major has time and again shown his contempt to the "disposable email".

With an honest freelance writer, this 'disposable email' is their real strength. It is their trade mark. To them it is no more disposable. It may be disposable with the scamming writers. So the same goes for a domain name when it comes to a scam company.

Thus, it would be appropriate to suggest that these are two different niche markets with specific strengths and weaknesses.

Sure, but it's no easier to tell a legitimate company from a scam company as a legitimate freelancer from a scammer. Harder, actually, I would say.


I think we both know this is not always the case, even with legitimate companies.

If a student presses hard enough, he/she might be put in touch with a decent company writer (even "scam companies" work with some decent freelance writers).


Of course it's not always the case.

Yes...your point definitely speaks in favor of companies..."you MIGHT get a good writer if you press hard enough"

It is actually up to the client to choose either a freelance writer or a company.

All crows are black. Freelance writers are no different from essay-writing companies. This is just the culture of the whole industry.

Actually, it's better to place order with essay-writing companies because you at least get your essay before considering whether its quality is good or bad although occasionally there will be a delay in the delivery.

Since you know nothing about individual writers, there's always a risk that the writers will disappear after receiving the money. And there's no way to prevent this. It's very easy for individual writers to change their contact details like phone number or email address so that customers will never find them.

Although individual writers have started to give free sample like a free paragraph or the first 200 words for free before receiving payment, it's always possible that the work they eventually deliver does not live up to the standard of the free sample provided. For example, they can give a free sample of the first paragraph, which is genuinely a 2.1 standard to attract payment, but the rest of the essay is like a crap.

The only possible solution for customers is to make payment after they have received the completed essay. However, those 'writers' will always argue that this does not protect their rights because it's very likely that writers won't receive payment after delivering the papers to customers. lol

From the student's point of view, it's better to writer essays by yourself. You should only think of placing an order with those so-called "competent" essay-writing companies and individual writers when you've got just two hours to complete your assignment before the deadline before even the professors can't even produce a 2.1 or above essay within 2 hours. You can pay hundreds of pounds to let those people do the "copy and paste" for you. lol

When you need to do so, you should seriously think about what makes you become this kind of person.

i think companies will cost more but are more secure and able to be more professional.

It's a bad idea, just like you're a bad writer.
You know, it's never anything 'good' for a student dealing with an incompetent, unqualified hack like you. It's even much worse for a student to use services from a shadowy company hiring goons like you.

Granted, your writing ability has slightly improved, though still not sufficient to allow you w*0re yourself as a writer.
Your attempt to elicit a debate about a worthless subject is just comical and sad.
You can, however, start a debate, informing potential clients that you're a hack from Islamabad with no writing experience or skills and that you rely solely on WB's idiotic endorsements to win few orders from clueless students.

From the look of things there is a general tilt towards the Freelance writers, the facts speak for themas above.

The only "fact" that you have brought to light is your inability to capitalize and punctuate properly.

By the way, you are a freelance writer. I commend your completely unbiased, selfless stance in favor of freelance writers.

Major: Here's what people seem to miss when they are promoting companies as the best (or only real) option. A lot of customers do want to know their writer and be almost like "friends." It's true that they might not want to be friends on Facebook, because of the privacy issues you mentioned. But they want to be able to reach the writer immediately and discuss things in a detailed way if necessary. It's a trust element that isn't adequately captured with discussions of the BBB and security certificates.

There have been times when I couldn't take something on, and my only choice was to refer the customer to someone else. The customer often says: "I want an individual writer, not a company. Do you know anyone good?" I guarantee that those customers would not be impressed if I put them in contact with a company and promised that it had X, Y and Z security protocols and was a member of the BBB, because that's not they want.

On the other hand, I'm sure there are also students of the opposite variety, who only want to deal with established companies. But those aren't the types I've tended to deal with -- they don't get in touch with me in the first place.

What I think would be useful is to get involved with the messaging apps that college students tend to use. Then you can be available and in touch in a way that's relevant to them, and they can maintain privacy.

There is a psychological aspect to it. A student asks you to refer another good freelance writer, thinking: "Maybe he'll get me someone good and inexpensive; if not, I may get back to him and tell him it didn't work, and maybe then he'll feel obligated to find me another writer or will try to do it himself." So you (willingly or not) act as a customer service person to this student -- and it works in a similar way to working with an example research service would. Indirectly, the student has a backup in you; that's why, he doesn't want you to refer him/her to a company.

I actually don't offer the customers a psychological evaluation or Freudian deconstruction.

That said, pretty cool how it all works, isn't it? If a writer goes the extra mile on customer service, he or she will have a stable of loyal clients who keep him/her in the money year-round.

I offer these services, but I charge extra for them.

I think freelance writers would favor their niche to be a better option for potential clients, and those attached to companies will do the same for their niche. It's like an eternal debate.

However, it's 100% true that with all or any down sides freelance writers continue to exist and even thrive. Keeping aside the scammers, the legit ones continue to work - proving their legitimacy and effectiveness: personal communication is one of these.

Scammers know this too, and use it heavily to their advantage. You wouldn't believe the number of stories I heard involving "excellent customer service" and tears - all jumbled up in a single sentence.

I agree with Meo though, those of us who actually put in the work and have the "wiring" for this kind of stuff, do well. Most, however, don't.

I lose potential clients all the time because I just don't have the time or patience for the customer service that some of them require. Scammers have all the time in the world to answer endless questions and to provide reassurance after reassurance, mainly, because "customer service" is 100% of their job. Once they have your money, their job is done and they just can move right on to their next victims. Those of us who are busy actually writing the projects we book have a limited amount of time available for reassuring skittish clients, especially when it involves answering questions already detailed in our website FAQ sections. If they have plenty of time before their deadline, I offer to schedule just a small prepaid section before they pay for the whole thing; but if they don't contact me until two days before their 20-pg project is due, I tell them that there's really nothing I can do to reassure them and they just didn't leave themselves enough time to try out any new writer with a small project before trusting someone with a large prepaid project, as I've suggested here many times.

The clients I let go the quickest are those who approach me with very small and easy projects of a few pages but continue requesting more and more assurances after I've responded in no uncertain terms that I can do the project for their deadline with a very high level of confidence. Same goes for those who think this is going to be a highly-interactive collaborative process and request continual updates or "input" while their project is pending on my calendar. Sometimes, they start off that way and I explain how I do and don't do business; then they adjust their expectations and give me the benefit of the doubt and we have no problems after that.

About once a week, I have to tell a new prospective client that we've already reached or exceeded the amount of emailing that I can afford to do for a particular project and that I'm more than happy to write it, but not if the email pattern they've established is going to continue. Some of them take the plunge and are very relieved when they receive their work on or before their due dates and others disappear and (I assume) continue their search for a reliable essay provider. Others ask me to "match" the lower price of someone else's quote and then email me frantically a week or two later asking whether I can still do the project because they got ripped off by someone else or received back useless and/or plagiarized junk from the provider whose price I refused to "match." At least a half a dozen times, people have ended up passing on my quote, paying someone else to do it, and then paying me more than I quoted originally to redo their project, but in a rush.

At this point in my "career" (such as it is), I'm able to let clients go if their initial email pattern is just out of synch with the pattern with which I'm more comfortable. My favorite clients are those who take the time to read my FAQs carefully, provide the exact information requested for me to be able to quote a price in my very first response, and then just pay for work so that I can add it to my calendar and get back to work. If you're a good writer new to this business, the "high-maintenance" prospective clients that I lose fairly regularly might be your niche for the time being.

Freelance writers are way much better than essay writing companies. Reason being that, freelance writers charge lesser than this companies. And they are always striving hard to satisfy clients needs.

The above, my friends, is why we have jobs.

+1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000

Sorry but, based on my knowledge, I don't think they charge any less than the essay companies do, neither do I. It could be a little less than that charged by essay firms, but that's only occasionally. These are two different niches, and the CRM dynamics are quite different in the two.

The strength of a freelance writer? The ability to keep the full earnings for yourself. The possibility of creating your own permanent client base. The opportunity to spin off your business into various avenues, without having to consider any TOS when connected to a writing company. Disadvantage of being a freelance writer? Difficulty in finding clients. Networking to build your client base creates a problem when you tend to network with fellow writers, thus creating frenemies in the process. Not having a regular flow of orders that would assure a steady income stream at the start.

Advantages of working with a writing company? Regular income stream, not having to look for your own client base. Creating a sizeable income stream through the client base created for the company. Disadvantages: Having to share the income with the company in an unfair percentage representation, not having total freedom to grow your career based in diverging interests, being the scapegoat for the company when they want to keep the client happy, among other disadvantages.

Ai has changed the game for essay writing companies and individual writers. There are no longer any strengths or weaknesses regarding each since both have been losing out to AI when it comes to academic essay writing. Sure, nothing will beat the work of a human writer, but nothing will beat the cost of an AI written paper either. The battle now is 3 way: Company v independent writer v AI. It will take some time before we learn who the winner of this competition will be.

I believe the main way that AI has changed things is that it's now only that much harder for customers to protect themselves from getting ripped off. The availability of AI programs has now made it even easier (and much more likely) for totally unqualified writers -- whether they're independent or working for essay companies -- to take on projects far beyond their ability to produce at the level expected by customers paying a premium for their services. Previously, customers only had to worry about plagiarism; now they also have to worry about writers providing AI-generated content, which customers could obviously produce themselves for free, if they really thought that AI-generated projects were reliable for academic projects, which they aren't.

Yes and no, to answer 'noted.' The companies or writers naturally guarantee its AI-free, and there are reports from GPT Zero that you can procure to show this to the customer.

I LOVE working at mills, personally. I prefer the constant revolving door of customers and work knowing that when one flap of the door closes, another one abruptly opens. The issue I have now - and I'm talking about recently, for about a month - is very low work at one mill I work at, and almost no work at another one.

I have to agree with @freelancewriter on this one. AI has made it possible for even the worst academic writer to come up with a research paper and then charge for it. The client will not know until it is too late that the paper is actually devoid of any usable content and that the paper was developed by an AI. This is where his advice of asking for small sample papers comes in handy. The only way to know if the writer is any good is by testing his writing skills.

Exactly.