Strange situation with essay company - hardly receiving any projects

Hey, everybody (especially fellow freelance authors).

So I started working for a company in July, let's call it Company X. With Company X, writers are in direct contact with customers. For the first week or two, Company X sent me a pretty steady stream of orders which I completed with no issues. Even got a couple return customers.

In early August, there was a slight snafu on my part--one of my customers asked for a dumbing down of her paper, so that the prof wouldn't suspect anything. This is, of course, against the ToS of all legitimate companies. I didn't really think about it though, just didn't occur to me at the time that I was screwing up by fulfilling that request. Nevertheless, it was my mistake.

The company didn't chastise me for it, but they did email me and say they wouldn't be setting up any more orders for that customer. At the time I didn't think anything of it.

However, since then, Company X has hardly sent me any projects, and when they have, they have conspicuously avoided giving me the customer's email address, requiring me to go through the company reps.

They have provided no explanation despite my requests. I have asked what the deal is/whether I crossed them somehow, and have not gotten a straight answer. One of the reps who's a nice guy said that it was just a slow month, but it has certainly not been any slower than last as far as I can tell, and that certainly doesn't explain me getting cut off of projects and customers. Still, his email was evasive--there's definitely something else going on. It's like they are suspicious of me, which sucks, because I haven't done anything intentional. If they're POed because of that incident, I could understand. What I don't understand is the lack of communication.

I can only assume that the issue is related to that incident, as I honestly cannot fathom what else could have occurred. I am 99% sure I didn't mess up any orders, and certainly never heard anything bad about them.

Has anybody else experienced something like this? Is there is a precedent for this kind of thing? I'm baffled. If it's all over that one incident, I don't know why they wouldn't just be forthright, but I don't want to press them any further.

Maybe I am just expecting too much from an industry that doesn't really give a damn. Writers are disposable, right? :\ Usually, though, this company is quite responsive.

At any rate, please don't mention any specific company names here. While I am disappointed that the company isn't being straightforward with me, I have no wish to slander them or any other company. On the contrary I really want to clear the air and move past this. If you think you could be helpful but want to mention a name, please keep it professional and just email me. Thanks :(

And if I wasn't clear, my question isn't "could they be wary because of that mistake?" Obviously that's a yes, I realize I violated the protocol, even if not maliciously.

My questions are

1) why wouldn't they just be straight up with me, especially when I'm *asking*, so everyone can be clear on future expectations? Is there some kind of unwritten industry code that I just don't understand? :p

2) Is there a precedent for this, if so, what's the deal and how do I fix the situation?

The majority of companies are very small, their customer service reps are probably owners, they probably don't exactly have a PhD in employee relations or in business management. They are probably not the pinnacle of interpersonal communications. They're just trying to get the orders covered, keep themselves in the clear, and make a buck. When the season kicks in and they're covered in orders again, all will be forgotten and they'll probably be asking you to take on more work than you can handle.

Let's hope so. Thanks for the response, sir.

So you care more about getting the customer's email than the order? Maybe they think you may steal their customers.

Yes, were you communicating directly with the customers when you weren't supposed to be? That would make them wary as hell.

Well... you stated what I only alluded to. It seems like they do think that, but I never gave them any reason to think so, hence my confusion. Like most freelancer writers, I am certainly interested in building a private clientele, but that's the complete wrong way to do it. I would never do this, not only because it's unethical and backstabby, but frankly it's also it's a stupid tactic that is sure to backfire sooner rather than later. I want to have these guys as a supply of steady work, and it would be totally against my interests to do something like that. Which leads me to...


Not at all. Only communication was strictly related to the projects. When I got emails in my private account requesting repeat business, I forwarded it straight to the sales staff. Never did anything that could be construed as inappropriate, besides the editing thing I already mentioned.

That all said.. something I hadn't considered. I do have a company and website of my own, mainly used to give me legitimacy when seeking out local clients. I have posted it to EssayChat etc. before, so maybe they got wind of this and it spooked them. That is definitely plausible. I never mentioned this to them, and it's not against their ToS. This wasn't to hide anything from them per se, it just wasn't information that I thought pertinent to offer up on my own. Talk about an awkward conversation--but maybe I should have, anyway. I've been under the impression that a lot of writers have their own operations. Either way, I have nothing to hide and would discuss candidly if they wanted. I have zero intentions to skim customers off of them for the reasons I already stated.

Maybe they will read this and contact me. I think regardless of any misgivigs they have, the sales guys do like working with me because I get stuff done fast and right, and can do some of the harder math/stats stuff.

The only reason I'm making a big deal about it is because they really do have a good supply of work, they are usually pleasant to deal with, and it would be a real loss not restore the relationship. Also, I don't really like being treated with suspicion when I haven't done anything.

I realize at this point there's probably not much you guys can offer. Appreciate the replies nonetheless, nice to just vent once in a while.

Why don't you focus your efforts on finding your own clients (since you already have a writing service website)? Obviously, creating a website is only a first step and advertising is not cheap, but it may be the most viable option in the long term.

Yeah, you're totally right. I am, I'm just also thinking ahead to future summers. :) I like the way you think, though. A businessman for sure!

That bring up another good point about this industry- I think the addressable market is HUGE, much bigger than the current market size, and so competition isn't really zero-sum. Mostly, new entrants (especially legitimate ones) increase the overall market size, rather than only stealing market share from competitors.

Plus, if market share is stolen from crap operations, who even cares. There is enough room in this industry for friendly competition among quality companies.

EXACTLY. This is how I operate and it's why I maintain friendly relationships with other writers. I hope they get more work, not less.

Just to provide an update, I emailed the company again, and this is the situation:


So the reason I'm not getting projects is because everything has to be done through the CS reps now, which is obviously inconvenient.

While I am disappointed, I guess I can't really fault them for this. It just lights a fire under my seat to promote my own business, I suppose.

How do you plan to promote your business? Many freelancers have tried and most of them failed :|.

Every private freelancer I know, which is several, stays too busy to even pour a bowl of Corn Flakes during the high season and turns down work regularly. Maybe a lot fail, too, but the ones I know are doing pretty well.

My city has a very large state university.

My plan is to network and target the frats/sororities.


Yeah... I think if you're persistent, reasonably smart about adapting your strategy as needed, and do decent work, it shouldn't be too difficult. I could be wrong. /shrug. We'll see.

They probably failed to mention they work for low rates competing with foreign writers on sites like elance or freelancer. They are super busy because they have to write a lot of pages to meet their bottom lines ;).


... and on your advertising leaflets you'll mention some illegal cr@p like "Go party and I'll do your homework!" Hopefully not.. :

Major, not the case, because I more or less know their rates, and each page is buying them a night out for two at the movies, with some left for snacks and drinks.

where else do people advertise outside of essaychat/essayscam?

don't tell him, or he will flood the market with his cheap kenyan essay offers written for 0.20 USD per page. You may advertise here and only here, scummy Bubba.

you're not getting a raise

I know this thread is pretty old to be resurrected but I just want to share my information regarding other places where people can advertise outside of this forum. While Google does not allow the promotion of essay writing companies anymore, other search engines such as Bing still allows for such promotion and is, as my friends tell me, a proven alternative to Google ad promotions. However, not all the students take the time to do search engine research these days as social media is now the promotional trend of the time. So paying for a Facebook ad push, as well as getting a Twitter account are considered a must for most upcoming independent writers. These 3 updated promotional means should help you push the visibility of your business without stepping on any academic toes. It isn't illegal to promote your business, just don't make it too obvious that you offer essay writing services directly. I said that because sometimes, masking your actual intentions works best to get around the algorithm systems that may be looking for red flag words which could bury your advertisement.

I am a firm believer in social media for marketing. I know a lot of us don't like the hassles of keeping up with so many different platforms, but there are awesome tools to help (HootSuite for one). You can add up to 3 social networks on their free plan and schedule posts, etc. Of course, you can now schedule directly with Facebook so you may want to save the 3 freebie for a blog or other platform. In my experience, Facebook ads have been good for bringing more likes but not so much with bringing actual orders, and by this I mean actually clicking on the "buy" button or web link and ordering. @Smiley73, I'd love your input/recommendation on that. ;) Then again, I've never spent large sums on ads, so that is a factor, I'm sure. Twitter is a fave and when linked to your Facebook kills two birds with one stone. Instagram has become a major platform for college-age users so that's a market we don't want to overlook. Some are using SnapChat, but that's just not my cup of tea or that a few (and I mean like 1 time a month or less) snaps to my family or friends.

Which SM does everyone else use and what do you think are the pros/cons? Recommendations/tips?

I guess it depends. In general, people / students who regularly participate on social media platforms aren't in a buying mode (those are spending time on commercial sites like Amazon). If anything, they may expect free stuff / free help from others or offer pennies, like $5 per homework or per page. Or offer a Like or a hug. That may be one of the reasons why the foreign freelance writers or foreign essay services may be active on social media platforms; a student (buyer) thinks he/she doesn't risk much when he/she has a 'custom paper' written (or plagiarized) by a 'writer,' but there is much more to it than just losing money.

On the other hand, I believe that social media ads may work well to build / boost brand awareness, but - considering the fact that these days students have a very short attention span - it would require a lot of money and time before it brings respectable financial results. Watching a commercial on TV vs. watching yet another commercial video online is still much more powerful and probably much more expensive overall.

Based on my experience and the experience of my colleagues who are also using Facebook for this purpose, we found that by directing the student to leave FB in order to go to our individual websites directly often encourages them to click on the "Order" button. Once they are at the website, they can see samples of previously completed work, consider the service prices, and contact the writer via Skype or FB messenger for further inquiries directly.

I found that while they discuss their concerns with me and I make them feel at ease with my service offerings and we negotiate the final deal, they end up clicking on the order button by the end of the conversation. You need to get them out of FB and talking with you in order to close the deal. FB does allow for external links to other sites so you need to write some blogs or sales pitches that you can insert a direct link to your website to in FB. Only when they are out of FB will they consider buying your services. FB is good for pushing your advertising but the final push, comes when they visit the website that emanated from their interest in your FB page.

Using a blog type of social media site is one way of recruiting new clients. Focus on writing tips and adding links that encourage students to inquire about your services always helps. Cross promoting said blog within Instagram or FB does have benefits, provided you pay for advertising so that your links comes out at the top of the pile also helps. Wordpress doesn't offer as much promotional opportunity as Blogspot does but it will do in a pinch. Just remember to deliver information in bits and pieces. No long teaching blogs. Keep it animated, use a meme, whatever you do, just keep it fun and interesting so encourage the client to reach out to you.

"Fun and interesting" is the absolute last thing I'd call your posts here. Maybe your blog is like night and day. Can we get a link?

Not receiving any projects from essay writing companies or being unable to bid, due to lack of orders, is more the norm than the exception these days. The clients for human writers is fast dwindling and we are helpless to stop it. The companies are doing their best to recruit new clients or keep the existing client base but technology is just proving to be a formidable opponent. The student mindset has to change. They have to realize that human writers are still their best option. Once that happens, maybe we will see an uptick in the company based orders for original essays.

This part is confusing, because essay companies don't typically share customer info with writers, in the first place.