I only split payment for orders over 15-20 pgs. Anything that can be done in one sitting should be done in one sitting. That's why I always tell my first timers to order a small part - page or two - first.

First, that's not necessarily true, since many writers working for companies have neither the will nor the ability to work for themselves. From what I've seen, maybe about 30% of all those writing in this field ever try to go solo, and even fewer actually make it without having to work for a company.

Second, no company has the right to impose restrictions on its contractors since we all work on a case-to-case basis and are not employed by the company. There may be variations but I have yet to encounter a company that would offer me a fixed salary and benefits.

If anything, I can attest to the exact opposite. Over the last two years I have had about 20% yearly increase in both customers and orders. Also, the companies I sometimes write for have had mixed results. While one company increased its traffic, two experienced the opposite effect.

Some of us, here on this forum and elsewhere, have been arguing that exact point as the only real method of finding legitimate services. Sadly, very few listen and get scammed or receive awful papers as a result.

Well, the cases are off but kudos for the effort :)

Night bird as well. I can't remember when I slept through an entire night without waking up. But you get used to it. Unlike you, I've managed to balance it out quite nicely, I soundproofed my room. Also, I am such a deep sleeper that no amount of ringing or banging on the door can wake me up.

I actually took the opposite route. I started off on my own and slowly built up my business. Only after I was established did I join a company, sort of as a trial run to see how it goes. Since then I've written regularly for quite a few companies and I still do for a few of them whenever I have extra time on my hands.

Most of the companies I know or work for pay either in bulk at the end of the month or on a per-order basis (1 guess as to which I prefer?). Those that pay per month always pay in the following month, so nothing strange there, it's to be expected.

Who might that be? ;-)

Thanks PV, a high praise coming from you.
And yes, I think that, for those of us who are *khm khm* geographically challenged, being honest about location is the first step towards a career in this field. In my experience, those who lie about where they're from tend to be found out rather quickly. I truly think that my clients appreciate my service all the more BECAUSE they know where I'm from.

@vickie
I'm not an ENL writer and I do just fine. The point here is not where you're from, but whether you can communicate in the English level at a sufficient level. If you can't, and most ESL writers can't (from what I've seen), then they're not qualified. End of story. Keep your idiotic remarks to yourself. White supremacy? Give me a break.

While I don't agree with the way WB worded the argument (since I'm not so mean), it's essentially true. The number of ESL writers that are willing to actually come forward with their origin is so minute it is statistically irrelevant. Apart from myself and (very) few others, the VAST majority of scams and hacks in this industry claims that they are NANCY, DREW, JOE or PETER from Columbia when they're in fact from Nigeria, Kenya, Ukraine, Pakistan or India (to name a few).

Nothing happens without coffee. Not a god damn thing.

@FreelanceWriter
Thank you for the clarification

That's why I originally made my own FAQ, to inform clients about what they will get from me, what they can do with the work. Essentially, my TOS is that once the work leaves my computer I am in no way liable for what it's done with it. I didn't go so far as to say what customers cannot do with the work though. You're a lawyer, is that sufficient?

Smiley, after you decided to bring this thread from its grave, you should've at least checked if it was still pertinent. As far as I know, the main actors of this thread DO have a TOS. That includes most writers/companies.

TOS is a good thing to have, necessary even. It tells the customer you understand the process and know where they are coming from. It's also a good way to avoid litigation, isn't it?

As I said, drafts are a waste of time, and they bring nothing to the writer or the student.

I have never heard of a company that would do such a thing. Sometimes you or the company have clients that are terrified of the entire experience and they want to see half of the work before paying the full amount, and that can be arranged with 50:50 payment (rarely but happens). However, writing drafts is not time-efficient. Maybe there are some writers out there that actually write drafts for their papers, but I don't see how they keep up with the workload, since they're doing twice the work for the same amount of money.

Most of the new analysis you provided after my critique is accurate, although still overly generalized. However, there will never be a time when Universities and other institutions accept this line of work, never.

I was right, then, that you've had bad experiences. Most of us had, but you need to make sure to separate those from the evidence, since there are many companies that actually provide good services, and have nothing to do with scams. They should not fall prey to your or anyone else's generalizations!

Finally, not all private writers are to be trusted, but if someone has a proven resume and a bunch of orders on their back (which they can prove, of course) than they're a pretty safe bet. There's a whole bunch of people who claim to be writers but are not, nor will they ever be.

So you agree that all companies are scams? Or that this type of service is completely off base and we are all here just to scam people? If so, what are you doing here? Also, from personal experience, the number of orders and the quality of product varies heavily. So putting everybody in the same basket based on (presumably) poor individual experience - which I assume this dude has had - is NOT a viable argument. Not to mention it's completely wrong, but that's a different point entirely, isn't it?

@Smiley73
You have no idea what the hell you're talking about. How about you actually do some work in this industry before going all high and mighty. From everything you've written, you sound like a bitter "writer wannabe" (who needs serious work on his grammar by the way) and not an expert as you portray yourself. Anyone who has been in this line of work for longer than a week can recognize your clear lack of knowledge about it, so I suggest that you try to understand what it is you're talking about before opening your trap.

I wouldn't use any free software. Grammarly and ProWritingAid have good plagiarism software (I use the latter) so you could try one of them

The industry standard for US based writers working for companies - as far as I know - is between $12 and $20 per page. In most cases the higher end of the scale is reserved for a few top writers and/or the most urgent orders. Almost all of these writers have advanced degrees.

Private orders are anywhere between $20 on the low end (for new and ESL writers) to $40+ for the most experienced writers. $10-15 per page is definitely well below the market at the moment, so good luck with that.

Finally, working for $5 per page is not worth the time, especially if you live in the US or any modestly developed country, since you'd have to write about 40 pages every day to make the median salary, which is absurd.

So, either you live in your parent's basement and have no expenses or taxes, or you have no math skills whatsoever to understand the costs of life and doing business. If you did, you'd lay off anything below $20 (if you're as good as you say) after a month or two in this industry.

This means one of two things - a) you're completely new and never written a paper for money before or b) you're not new but you're tired of writing for nothing but don't know how to set off on your own.

You are missing a critical point - colleges don't condone self-plagiarism because 99.9% of whatever students write is reiterated from other sources and has no intrinsic value as a scientific paper. But even the most cited scholars will mention that they draw ideas from their previous work, albeit they're not required to do so.

The type of garbage uttered by this roby character is precisely what you need to avoid bek. There are many people with no scruples and no other way of drawing customers but lying in this industry. Not to mention breaking the forum rules.

Sorry to hear that. But you probably should have done a cursory search on this site beforehand. That would have saved you money and nerves.

Absolutely nothing, but the guy who posted the number claims to be from the US and provides a Kenyan number. Why lie? I live in Croatia and I've never hid that. Yet, here I am. If you know what you're doing, you can succeed in this industry regardless of where you are. I detest people who lie their way through life and sadly the vast majority of all such people who try to weasel their way to clients in this particular industry are from Kenya.

I think all full time writers (including myself) have at least a couple of 30+ days every season. But doing that on a regular basis is a one way ticket to the asylum

Good luck finding the sorry sob who's going to write 50 pages every day for any period longer than a week. That's an instant burnout recipe. I imagine that was more of a caricature than an actual workload example, but still, any writer who's been doing this for any period of time knows there are actual limits to what a human being can produce in a day. Makes your ad look a bit pompous and will likely put some people off (just a suggestion, it's your ad).

As for looking up writers, I suggest you take up Major's advice and look up those who took the time to register their profile. Best of luck

And that is why you never work without getting paid first. Especially on a 3000 word paper for someone you don't know....

@SGD Seems deactivated

@Gracious FW is absolutely right, that copy is abhorrent. As for you, I suggest you get some dirt under your nails before you go after established writers, especially with arguments such as "oh no he hurt their feelings". Nobody cares.

@FreelanceWriter If you remember, when we met you thought I did the same thing with my email, though I did not know you at the time, so it could be unintentional on his part (can't argue either way). But yeah, I can imagine it confuses clients and costs you a lot. That sucks, especially given the current situation.

If I recall correctly, there was a similar event with a writer who used a similar (or same) handle. You might want to use the search function on the site and see what happened.

He said the first deadline was April 27 and the writer did not respond. He's worried (rightly so if this is true) about the other stuff that's been paid for in advance.

har har, you're as corny as PV it seems :)

Looking for recommendations on a good ergonomic chair

I'm on the market for a new office chair. I figure, if anyone will know a good, sturdy, comfy and durable chair, it will be some of you guys. So feel free to recommend something that you've used, seen or heard of. I need something with excellent lumbar support and able to withstand heavy use.

Thanks

@ProfessorVerb
Well, I regularly drink my coffee in a small bar located on a square that is about 2500 years old (some say even more).

• 
  zadarforumzadar.jp.jpg
  

Yeah, it's nice. The five shields and the checkers in the center go back 1300 years or so (well some of them anyway).

I've lived through one change, from ex Yugoslavian flag to the now Croatian flag. Followed by a war and all that crap. Can't say I enjoyed it much, but I'd never consider lying about where I'm from - that's the worst part of this industry, almost everybody is lying about their location........

1 page of text written in TNR 12 double spaced cannot be less than 290 words. In most cases it goes around 290 to 310 words, depending on the formatting. I've tried countless formats, even tried to shorten the text by using 3 line paragraphs (would be absurd to even try and submit such a paper). Anything less than 290 words is just theft. On a 10 page paper you steal 1 page from the client.

Still haven't changed the flag, huh? I wonder if mods are on collective vacation :D