Fewer academic paper orders this year?

Has anyone noticed the similar trend? Any ideas what is going on?

Yes, the trend is there. There could be many reasons, but the greatest one may be the declining economy (students don't have as much money as they used to). Or maybe it's the nice weather ;).

I'd have expected much more of an economic impact on this industry right around the 2008 real estate market implosion and the subsequent effects on the economy. In fact, I was surprised that it didn't really affect this business that much. Right now, most of my work comes from about a dozen regular clients who typically order a couple of short and medium-length projects every week or every other week or every month, and a couple of bigger long-term projects. Is it possible that a lot of our business from 2008-2015 was a function of all the people who needed to go back to school to change careers and with our help, now, many of them have just made it into those new careers?

I tend to get business from some new inquiries too, but not as many as in previous years around this time. Inquiries are becoming new clients and new clients are becoming regular clients at the same rates as usual, but the number of new inquiries is down. That's why I decided to pay for a little advertising at the top right of the screen.

I have noticed a similar decline only recently - 2 to 3 months, maybe - which is a little unanticipated/surprising. None the less, regular clients are there. Yet, there is an important point to make. My homework (research + a bit of eavesdropping on social media) suggests that some companies continue to get business as usual due mainly to their marketing 'tactics'. Would it be safe to infer that the traffic is moving to a different direction such as toward the companies with fancier websites, seemingly 'committed' customer care, and most of all, ethical + unethical marketing strategies.

In addition, I am sure the customer is very much present and active; the number may have fallen down, but I am not really sure about it. The correlation between the declining economy and the purchasing power of the client in the niche is hard to establish. I recently went through a few research articles (latest) that boast of a much stronger U.S. economy that is creating many more jobs now. EU is not behind.

The liberal economy is what it is, ie. steady decline. 8-12 years of the same and US/UK writers could be on the same earnings level as Kenyan or Indian writers. 'Leveling of the playing field' is related to the world economy (not to the local/US/UK only); the field will be leveled once a writer from NYC or London makes about the same as a writer from Nairobi or New Delhi. The only reasonable solution is to move to a (still) cheap country and do freelancing from there.

Same situation here, guess we're all in the same puddle. . The decline is not as steep, but I do get fewer orders. Compared to last year, I'd say 15% drop, maybe a bit more. It's not that damaging, but I wouldn't suggest moving :D, it's not dandy anywhere you go.

I fear we are entering another recession...My orders are down roughly by 30% or so compared to 2013 and 2014.

Is it high time that freelance writers started thinking about diversifying?

It seems like it's about this time every year that a bunch of wannabes without any good company connects or steady clients start talking about how the sky is falling. It's a sure sign that busy season is already underway.

Major, there is one hole in your theory of equalized pay-scales-- there is still going to be a major difference in quality between writers in developing countries and those who were educated in the West. While ESL writers educated in developing countries may work hard, they are often reduced to learning a second language second- or third-hand, without any experience immersed in its living idiom. As brilliant (or as utterly devoid of charm) as it may be, their writing does not often match the pattern professors in Western universities demand.

ESL writers are not the only ones who live in 'cheap' countries; more and more native speakers of English and/or English teachers move to those countries as well (in the hope for cheaper and better alternatives). You're right that the quality is not yet equal, but it's getting closer and closer. Anyway, the point was that overall / worldwide the earnings in the 'first-world countries' are stagnant and in time the other countries may catch up. That's why, living and working from Thailand, Vietnam, China, India, etc. is not a bad idea for an educated (and adventurous ;) freelance writer.

not all students need dashing eloquence, especially if it costs more compared to cheap ESL. I had some ridiculous inquiries to write for peanuts, and these inquiries seem to increase. As Major said, the demand is down, and when times are tough students tend to either write stuff themselves, or use cheap and crappy writers.

@major: Sorry; I'll need to see some statistics on that info. Otherwise, it would seem that you're pulling it out of thin air.

@doodle: Speak for yourself, ace.

Your hostility signals some deep insecurities, which is not surprising. It is easier to be in denial than to face the reality of the current state of our industry.

If I may ask, doodle, where are you from, and for whom are you writing, that your reality is currently so miserable?

I guess that counts as "nowhere."

Now to eat some of my words. This season is weird-- order requests seem to be down at most of the major companies. I am getting by on repeat clients, but don't ever remember it being this sparse this far into October. Does anyone know what's going on?

Maybe there are less students in college (high tuition costs and it may be harder to get a loan)? What about the 'pre-written' paper sales - proportionally down too?

What if the majority of students have a college degree - in that case those who want careers should aim for a graduate degree instead ;)

Maybe, but as long as people want careers, college should be pretty steady. Pre-written papers have been virtually worthless for years, so they're not an accurate barometer of much.

It appears that this trend continues. I know we have two peak seasons, but it looks like our droughts are becoming longer and more severe. Anyone else has been noticing the same? If the global economy is in trouble, it sure will have at least some effect on essay writing industry.

I'm sure students have less money to spend on example research services than during the boom years (2000-2012); still, the number of global students is probably on the same or on the higher level, so overall the negative effect shouldn't be very drastic. Maybe some students have decided to choose quantity over quality and they hire average writers from foreign countries (and spend more time on fixing the papers to meet their needs)..

Professor Verb:

Research Papers
Notary Public
Custom Stapling Service
Personalized Poetry
Flats Fixed
Fresh Produce
Live Bait

I'm actually relieved in some way, not to make light of everyone else's misfortune, that I'm not the only one whose orders have declined significantly of late. I had convinced myself that I wasn't advertising myself well enough or that I was missing something that other writers were doing. I'm currently looking for an alternative means of making a living, because I'm not convinced that this is a viable option for the future. I'm anxious more of the time than I ever was before and I just can't deal with it any longer. Financial security is definitely the direction in which I'm heading.

The simple (but ugly) answer might be that there are just more freelance academic writers now than there were a few years ago. This is not to say there are more good writers now, only that there may be far more of us.

Personally I think the Ukrainian companies have been so aggressive in their SEO efforts, they're sucking up all the orders. Rather than finding, say, EssayChat, a potential customer finds a Ukrainian company if they do a Google search. If you want steady business, you have to get it through word of mouth or other non-Google means.

The essay industry has come a long way since we could only advertise in Rolling Stone but at least then we could describe precisely what we offer instead of trying to couch our services in sufficiently vague terms to pass Google muster.

I'm not even going to pretend to understand the current state of SEO, with my only experience being trying to optimize a Web site 10 years ago or so with little success. I'm wondering what the Ukrainians are doing that Western sites are not. I understand that Google penalizes sites for deceptive SEO tactics so it would seem to me that Ukrainian sites that didn't play by the rules would soon fall by the wayside. Clearly, this is not happening, though, which begs the question, "How can legitimate essay sites ramp up their SEO efforts to compete more effectively?"

The Ukrainians are engaging in blatantly illegal "SEO" practices, including but not limited to hacking literally millions of Web sites in order to insert malicious code that either automatically inserts hyperlinks to their "throw-away" sites and/or redirects the victimized site to an "ordering" page on one of their "throw-away" sites. If they were physically located in the US, they would be arrested and convicted of multiple felonies. They would likely never see the light of day again.

I suppose the Ukrainian government has more pressing issues what with Putin rattling his sabers and all, but based on what you're saying above, it seems that there is nothing short of engaging in the same type of illegal practices that can help legitimate sites compete more effectively, but I'd hate to think that's the case. We should, at least, go down fighting.

This is probably true, which is, of course, a shame in so many ways. Not only do legitimate writers get less work, but students are faced with an even more difficult task. Sorting the wheat from the chaff, so to speak.


I should probably start doing the same. I've given it a try, but I don't think it has been successful at all. It could be worth hiring a professional to take a look and see what they can do. Have you guys noticed a marked difference between your sites, if you have them, before and after application of SEO?


From my experience with Google, I'd guess that they would be on this pretty quickly. Out of curiosity, aside from aggressive and/or illegal SEO practices, are the Ukrainian companies, on the whole, known to be scammers or otherwise?

I've just done a quick search (after disabling personal search results to make sure the set is as accurate as it can be for a typical student). I typed in two keywords: best essay and received the following results in Google:

PAID ADS:

essay cash
the best essays help

ORGANIC:

best essays-writer
best essay education
best essays world blogspot
get-essay
buy essays
grade miners
uk best essay
australian essay
essay company

-----

100% of these results are foreign. There are zero results from a legitimate US/UK writing service. While it appears Google has got rid of their main spamming website, a few new ones have popped up to replace it (or to redirect to the main site). The good news is that in time Google may finally figure out they feature the fraudulent and black-hat sites, but it may take more time - months, or maybe years, who knows.

Until then, students who don't want to get scammed have one choice - to rely on forums like this or to try to dig deeper and determine if the site that stays high on Google has actually any honest reputation (not built by spam links but by real references, real reviews, or citations).

Good grief, this is an alarming trend because most students probably do what I do when I perform a Google search and just review the top matches (I thought Google was refusing paid ads for academic research and writing services). I'm wondering if rebranding our services as educational consultation or some such would be in our best interests at this point.

I don't think it's about rebranding - it appears Google has just 'banned' several obvious keywords, like: buy essay, buy term paper, order academic paper, etc. (they don't show up as ads), but hundreds of related keywords or phrases are free to go. Here are some example titles of paid ads I found:

Homework Help from $14. Any subject, any Deadline
Writing Help. Send your Task to our Nerds Now
Get your Writing Help - #1 Choice for Quality Essay Help
Write Custom Essay - Cheap Essay Consultation Service
PhD Dissertation Database - Instant Access to Millions of Dissertations
Get Research Paper - We Will Help With Your Thesis
Research Paper Consultant
Research Papers for You - We Will Help with Your Theses
Expert Writing Service
Paper Writing - Hire Top Paper Writers

Besides, the foreign tricksters tend to use disposable domains in their ads (which may sometimes only cost $0.99 a year or be free when ordered with a web hosting service), so EVEN IF they are banned from advertising, they have 10 new ones working the next day.

Jeez, it's like somebody died and made Google king. Where did we go wrong?

Building an internet-based business on only one source of traffic is never a good idea. A lot of essay companies are finding that out the hard way.

I tried to "Ask Jeeves," but that didn't work. Billboards are probably out (although I've seriously considered them) and even cable television and radio are probably prohibitively expensive assuming you could find one that would accept advertising from our industry. Likewise, even Rolling Stone magazine is probably unavailable for this type of advertising now and the Goodyear blimp of course is right out.

Maybe a block party ...

A freelance writer can rely a lot on word of mouth, as you well know. As far as I know, a lot of essay companies are highly dependent on Google search.

You're right about that for sure. Probably one-third of my business over the years has come from referrals. Even here, though, many clients may be reluctant to divulge the fact that they have relied on these services and word-of-mouth only works with the closest and most trusted friends and colleagues, further limiting the potential pool of clients. Clearly, the industry is between a rock and a hard place on this one.

I also generally just take something from the first page of search results, which clearly isn't the way forward.

I don't completely disagree that re-branding would be a good idea, but I think the wording used would have to be that which a student would find to be synonymous with the activity involved. Unfortunately that activity is best described by the sorts of search terms prohibited by Google, as mentioned by Major. It seems that terminology indicating assistance with work will fly, whereas words indicating the undertaking of work will not.

Out of curiosity, does anyone write anything other than academic work on a paid basis? This was my original intention when i graduated journalism school, but it became apparent very quickly that to make it in the world of journalism generally involves doing a lot of work for free before anyone is willing to take you on. Even if you want to carve out a career as a freelance journalist means building up a huge portfolio of work, usually completed for free. At the age of 32, I've been considering my options, and I've applied for and been accepted onto a masters degree in public policy. Getting funding for that will prove difficult seeing as I already have two degrees and received funding for both, so funding the degree privately may be my only option. So, all I have to do is save. Oh wait, I need some orders for that. And we've gone full circle.

Academicians are faced with this very same problem in their publish-or-perish climate. For-profit journals benefit from their free work year after year while the authors accept this unfair situation in hopes of accumulating a sufficient portfolio to allow them to charge for their work at some unknown point in the future. Except perhaps for show business and fashion modeling, few other professions require this type of sacrifice.

Over the past 20 years, I've reviewed countless books, Web sites and articles about how to make money as a freelance writer, and the rates paid by most customers in these cases are abysmally low, too low in fact to justify doing the work unless you're trying to build a customer base -- but who wants a base of low-paying customers? In other words, the non-academic work is out there, but 99% of it is on the level of Mechanical Turk.

p.s. re:


I have problems older than that...

Yeah, in desperate times I've taken on product reviews and the like, which pay a couple of £ per review. If I squeezed enough into a day, it just about made it worth the effort. If it was just one or two on offer, it was pointless.

You can't draw accurate conclusions that way. There are plenty of non-academic freelance writers out there making a good living.

I responded to a post several years ago about this same issue. At the time, my research indicated that a minuscule percentage (maybe 5%) of non-academic freelance writers were able to earn a living. Granted, that means there are in fact still "plenty" of non-academic freelance writers making a good living, but there are far, far more who are struggling.

It depends on what your denominator is. All people who would kinda like to be freelance writers? People who have actually tried it? People who are in some way at least remotely qualified?

People can make a good living* if they are:

-Qualified for the work (the specifics here depend on exactly what kind of freelance work you want to do -- journalistic vs. corporate vs. technical writing vs. etc.)

-Willing to work hard.
-Willing and able to market themselves.

For people with these attributes, the chances of success are high. For those without them, the chances are probably closer to the 5 percent figure you mentioned -- perhaps lower.

*(This also depends on your definition of "good" -- it's going to be hard to exceed six figures with most types of freelance writing.)