Making a full-time living writing model papers -how realistic is that?

Well, I guess a "reasonable price" is in the eye of the beholder. But yes, I'll agree with you; I find that my clients simply are not shopping based on price. They don't want to get gouged, but that's more a matter of principle than of not being able to afford it. They want a quality paper, on time, and they don't want to have to think about it any more. I don't position myself as a bargain provider, but as a value provider. If they want a cheaper paper, most assuredly they can find one. They never do. Other writers may have different experiences depending on their particular client base. I'm like you as far as going the extra mile. Word gets around fast.

Absolutely there is always someone out there cheaper but definitely their work will not be better.

Companies are there to make profit, but while doing so they should ensure that they are not unfair to the writers as well.

Well I guess if you are making $15 per page and writing about 15 pages a day, it is about $225. Assuming that you are working around 20 days a month, it can easily be $4500 a month and $40,000 annually. But the biggest issue is whether you are being consistent or not. Once you have few regular clients, it shouldn't be that difficult. But the first couple of years will always be difficult for most of the starters.

For most, I think the workload over the year is a laittle more variable than that, but it's probably a fair average. Do you think that amount of work would typically be available, though?

The consistent flow of orders is going to be an issue for sure. But I think if you can get yourself affiliated with one or two larger firms then that part will be covered significantly. They usually invest a lot in promoting their services and thus secures a whole lot of orders from potential clients. So you wont have to worry about getting out looking for clients that often. However, I would say it is safer to have some personal clients on your list as well. But in terms of academic writing, securing a benchmark amount like the one I have mentioned above is going to be quite a challenge. May be you just need to work extra hard during the pick seasons to cover that part.

Some people have gotten rich selling Avon and Amway. It just depends on how hard to want to work.

Depends on the skills of the individual. I am new to to freelance myself. I am technically sound. ie, I have been an in house writer for a website. So I have all the tools which the average writer doesn't. I am very good at my work & professionally know how plagiarism detectors like turnitin works. My research on academic writing is really very good. I am a professor & the research our site has done on academic writing is unparalleled. With most humility, not many know about the work as much as we do. We have done so much homework. But though I am good this way, I am oblivious of the genuine well paying sites in this industry. This is a real pain in the rear end. I am really unsure if this can be taken as a full time option. Is it viable? Writers plz advice.

I would recommend that you target the ESL market where your work will be most appreciated. You will have a hard time making a decent living at this until your English is not recognizable as coming from a foreign speaker.

Ha. Okay, I'm impressed. And I'd probably take that kind of workload if I could get it (though it'd kill me soon enough, I'm sure). Expanding a clientele base seems to be key, as Free says. I've had 2 private clients over the past 2 years who've supplied me with steady work, but our connections were rather serendipitous. Anyone have advice on how to make yourself more visible to possible clients?

ESL is indeed where the money is at. A lot of countries are spamming American schools with students who are barely functional English speakers. Many of the ESL's I work with are taking advanced-level academic courses in liberal arts and are incapable of having basic conversations in English. It's really sad.

One thing that the pandemic proved to everyone is that this particular field of work is recession proof. While schools may have been closed for a while, online learning helped create a new venue for the academic writer. Allowing him to continue to make a full-time living, even as the the price of everything around us succumbed to inflation, the income of the academic writer managed to adjust to the cost of living. Sure it meant working longer hours, but because of the mode of work, the longer hours were equivalent to commensurate earnings. So, as far as I am concerned, this is the only job that can help the worker have realistic income based on his financial needs.

This is no longer true. Writing companies have been releasing their writers at a faster pace as the holidays approach. Most of these companies have also freeze their hiring until further notice.

When I ask why this is so, they respond that there are not enough clients to go around anymore and the direct hiring sites have affected their bottomline. The business has also seen a decline in inquiries since the emergence of the writing apps.

It appears that the financial pinch has also affected the spending power of the regular clients. We can only hope that things improve next year for everyone (with the exception of @a1writer and I) concerned.

I've been doing this work as my only real source of income ever since I left my government writing job in 2007. It's been a while since I checked the FedGov pay scale, but I think I earn more doing this than I would be, now, in government, as a GS-1082-12. Either way, working 5 days a week downtown left me very little spare time and it was hard enough just getting my workouts in; there's absolutely no way I'd ever have been able to start playing hockey again, pretty much as often I want to. In fact, I just got home from the rink. If I were still working at 26 Fed Plaza, I'd be leaving work right about now and dreading another 4 days of getting up at 6:00 AM and scrambling just to get to bed before midnight for a measly 6 hours of sleep, and then sleeping half the day on Saturday, just to catch up on all the sleep I didn't get during the week.