Experience as Independent Essay writers?

I wrote papers here and there for people during college. Now that I'm done with school, I've been thinking about getting back in to ghostwriting for a while. I've been researching the industry, and from the outset, it appears that almost everybody writes for companies. Does anyone have any experience writing independently? Is it simply too hard to find clients without working for a site?

No. Most of my clients at the moment are all direct clients. I still hold membership in a number of sites, but I rarely take any orders from them. Once you've built a strong reputation as an excellent writer, orders will come to you.

Once you've built a strong reputation as a liar and fraudster . . . .

... you end up becoming WB, a creature that's all bark! bark! and no bite! bite!

ROFLMAO!

I've been reading posts and articles about people who claim to write 20+ pages a day of quality work. I won't deny the plausibility of such admissions. It's just that if someone asked me to write a paper on anything biology/neuroscience related, my fields of specialty, I would be able to produce a 10-15 pg. paper for them within 24 hours. It would be hard, but compensation of 15-20 bucks a page would be more than commensurate with my effort. I can't do two term papers in a day. But I can do one really well.

I guess my question is, how did you independent writers begin? And how quickly did you get better?

When I started doing this, the idea of having more than 1 paper due in a day or a longer paper due in less than a day was something that made me nervous. I remember the first time my account showed 3 whole papers on it. Back then, each paper took several drafts and I printed it out to proof, ideally after not seeing the draft for a few hours or overnight. Now, I sit down and just write it out, spell check, read it over once, and it's better than the product of all those drafts and revisions. Then I'll do that several more times most days.

Now, it is totally routine for me to have 5 or 6 short papers (2-6 pages each) due within the next 12 hours, another 3-4 scheduled for the next afternoon, and more than a paper a day already listed on my calendar for the next week. I may grab 4-6 papers during the day due in the next 24-36 and the whole time I'm writing, I'm also watching the boards for new papers and taking them for the next 24-48 hours and answering emails about papers in negotiation with new potential clients. Many times, I'm already working on one due in 5-6 hours when a new rush order comes in due even sooner that I take, complete in 1-2 hours, and then finish the one I was halfway through in time for the original deadline. I wouldn't say that I do 20+ pages a day regularly, but it's not rare either. I would not say I do it "easily" although I have just sat down and banged out 10-12 page papers in a sitting on stuff I can just free write. A single 20-25 pages is about my maximum in a day, but if it's 3-4 smaller papers totaling the same # of pages, that's usually easier and I do that much more often.

People who see it on my end think it's amazing but that's how I look at someone who can take apart and put a car engine back together in a day and I'm sure good mechanics rip apart and fix several cars a day pretty regularly. I'd feel like I accomplished something impressive if I changed one oil pan in a day and did it right. That's really the only way to make a decent fulltime living doing this. If you're hoping to finish 1-2 papers a day and not mutli-task, not change topics on a dime, and not work like that about 25+ days every month, this is a way to make some spending money but you're going to need a fulltime job to just supplement with your writing.

As far as private work goes, I usually have about a dozen or two dozen people who need me pretty regularly in a few-month period...some people get their degrees and you don't hear from them again for a while but new people are always just starting to give me work. Most of time, if I do 1 paper for someone I end up doing a half a dozen, or dozens. I've had some people use me regularly for as long as 3-4 years. People refer you to their friends too and we get a lot of those also. From 2008-2010, I had one group of 4 nurses who were all friends from 1 referral and each of them were giving me 4-5 papers per week at times.

It's a very good description indeed. You have explained everything with great simplicity and precision.

Writing papers for nurses ? I dread to think the implications for their patients if they handed in the work as their own

Yeah, because knowing how to draw blood, choose and administer medications, and provide other elements of nursing care is directly related to writing ability....

All those things are indeed practical but then there is theoretical element of course which is linked to writing.

First, the theoretical part still isn't linked to writing ability--reading and research, yes; writing, not really. Second, a lot of nursing theory (like a lot of theory in a lot of disciplines) is little more the hooey that keeps the grant money flowing.

Maybe but I am certain there is coursework which counts towards your degree classification meaning that it is critical to the study of nursing

I had to take a course in statistics to earn an English degree. More to the point, I had to take a class about nineteenth century novels in order to earn my degree with an emphasis on Renaissance drama. Not everything they make you take in college is actually necessary.

You are lying, freaky fool!

Never through it was true!

Did you jut randomly quote me to call me a liar? Is that all you have left?

It does get a lot easier to write more papers after doing this for a few years, since many of them are so similar, but it starts to get boring after a while.

Lol, you said it on that one. Nursing papers have given me so much amusement. So much about 'leadership' and the role of nurses as leaders in the community and such.

Apparently they do more than assist doctors now. I think. It's not really clear what they do from the theoretical papers and academic journals, which seem to operate on the assumption that doctors don't exist. Although since the 'advanced practice' nurses apparently get doctoral degrees now, I really have to wonder why these people don't just go to medical school.

great post

You have no understanding of what nursing is at all, apparently.


You have also apparently not read many theoretical papers and journal articles about nursing.


Again, you clearly know nothing about nursing.


No it wasn't, but yours was worse.

I think it would always bee better to write independently if possible rather than for any of the companies that are being discussed on here. They are not all outright frauds or scams, but many of them are, and even the better ones have certain defects. An independent writer gets to keep 100%, instead of letting one of these companies take 50-60%, which always left me with the feeling of being ripped off. Others make the writers bid on orders instead of simply selecting them, so one never knows from one day to the next how many orders you might get--if any. Some sites pay very well, especially in the UK, but if their prices are too high they don't have many orders. ManuscriptServices in the UK was like that, since their rates of pay were always quite high, but it's hard to get more that 2-3 orders a month because there just aren't that many. On the plus side, they always pay on time and the exact amount that you earn instead of scamming the writers, playing all kinds of fun and games with "fines" and all that.

I have had a great deal of experience with various companies over the years, and there are some that I would tell you to avoid completely as outright frauds, such as Academic Knowledge and essaywriters.net[DND*] under its various names. I have also been a member of Researchwritingcenter, but the pay was so low that I never even bothered to take an order, not to mention the problems various writers have had getting paid. On the whole, I just avoid the companies paying $3-8 per page because the writers end up doing a lot of work for very little money.

So overall, it would be better to work independently, but then you would have to take on the entire hassle of dealing with customers directly, trying to collect payments from them, including those who are just trying to scam you to get a free paper. It goes on all the time. After doing this type of work for years, I would say that the best thing about it is to freedom to set your own hours, and not to having to show up in an office every day wearing a suit and tie, but it also has its share of drawbacks.

Thanks for coming along and answering NickPas' question at such length, th63. I'm sure the amount of advice you presented will be incredibly useful to him now, even though he hasn't been to the forum in seven months and was already answered by someone more trustworthy and knowledgable than you. Chances are he's been sitting next to his computer wasting away, waiting for you to come along and provide very little advice, but to carefully detail your own experience and identity as a writer in this industry. I can't think of any other reason you would post in this thread with such self-promotional material other than a real intent to help this guy make a living now that he's been stuck for more than half a year.

What are you talking about, Pheelyks? You just posted something on here about nursing theory, which I'm sure NickPas found very helpful. LOL.

By the way, do you live on this website? You're always here, even during the busy season.

My post about nursing theory cam as the direct result of someone else's post--it was an ongoing discussion that took place with relatively close temporal proximity. Your post, not so much.


Gee....no.


Untrue and absurd.

3,823 posts and counting, at least under the name "Pheelyks", versus about 90 for me.

I'm not the one promoting myself since I have never taken a single order as a result of posting anything on this site. In fact, I am burned out on writing essays and will probably be slacking off on it quite a bit. After 5-6 years of doing this, it gets very old.

Over a period of 1217 days, and I've been regularly active.


Most of which have come in the last few weeks.

You're not really good at math, are you?


Then agan: what is the point of dragging up posts that are months old? You are not helping anyone.

Honestly clients always found me. Writing for sites two or three at a time always turned into supplemental income while dealing directly with clients who found me through word of mouth paid immediate bills and needs, because it was cash in hand. I never once went without work.

th63
"I am burned out on writing essays and will probably be slacking off on it quite a bit. After 5-6 years of doing this, it gets very old."

I agree with you 100%, which is why I go into content writing. I found I could make more revenue from content writing over time and I regretted not doing it before.

Some people wont change

If you have the time and patience to market yourself as a writer, then you should be able to find a niche for yourself in the independent writing business. Finding your spot, securing it, and growing it will take an immense amount of time, effort, and investment in yourself though. Due to the nature of the business these days, the competition is so cut throat that some independent writers often do one of two things. (1) partner up with writing companies for a regular flow of work or (2) diversify into a different, but related field of work such as online editing or ghost writing. Personally, I believe that if you find it difficult to grow your client base, then maybe, moving into option 2 would be best. At least you would still be earning 100 percent for yourself. If you partner up with a company, you will be extremely luck to earn a full 30 percent of the actual cost of the paper. That is because the company-writer relationship, often keeps more of the income for the company and, if you are unlucky enough to get together with a scam writing company, you will lose all 30 percent to fines and penalties every payment period.

Developing a client base is a bit more difficult these days with the advent of social media, which most writers, both legitimate and questionable, use to promote their services. The name of the game these days has changed from "give me quality work and I'll pay for it." to "Give me quality work at the lowest price." So while the clients may exist, the writers may not be receptive to the amount that they wish to pay directly. There is no such thing as "low cost quality work" which is what the clients seem to want these days. That is why hooking up with a writing company sometimes sounds more enticing than trying to make a go of an independent writing career.

It is difficult to start getting clients as fully independent writer right off the bat, but it not impossible. It will be an uphill climb for you since the market is over-saturated with both academic writing companies and independent writers. That means you need to be better than just acceptable, you have to be above average as a writer and be able to prove it through your own advertising methods. Setting up a website without having any actual capital to get you started is not the best way to kick off your business. I would suggest using social media to create your online presence, then you have to be willing to submit an electronically protected copy of your college work to any student who shows interest in hiring you. That would be the best way to sell yourself without going into overhead expenses right from the start. If you get lucky, you will get a few jobs, some word of mouth recommendation, then you will be well on your way in the business. It will just take time and a boatload of patience to reach that point when you start from scratch and without any academic company writing experience.

Breaking into independent essay writing is tough if I were really honest about it. For anyone who's considering entering into this business, I would opt that you join a company first before going into freelance/independent work. Obviously, don't just jump into if you are uncertain about the field. Competition is high. As with any independent work, self-management and self-control are all vital parts to be successful in the field. You have to be consider so much. If you have the financial capacity to do it, then I would suggest plunging into it. Build a profile. Create a portfolio website. Do pitches for blog posts even if they're for free. It may take weeks if not months to even get your name noticed. But this way, you can control rates (especially because a lot of these companies or aggregate sites take away so much of your income) and set your own schedule. Getting the word out is truly the hardest part of it all.

This isn't one of those things you can just get into because you wrote a few essays in high school that got A+.

Anybody with the talent and skill to write can be an independent freelance writer. The network to create a client base should not be difficult for recently graduated students. You can still go back to the student pool of your old university and ask them to spread the word that you are now available to help them with their academic paper needs. Keep it on the down low. Don't advertise it blatantly. You still don't want to get yourself or the students into trouble. It's an open secret at the universities anyway so just find your middleman, make a deal regarding his cut of the profits, and watch the orders start to come in. If you were a frat or sorority member, it should be even simpler to get your client base into place.