3 Difficulties I’ve Faced When Hiring Freelance Writers

December 08, 2011

As easy as you might think it would be to work with writers — there seems to a copious amount of us willing to take on new work! — it brought back memories of when I tried to outsource work a year or two ago and simply put, it was nothing short of a nightmare.

Actually finding writers wasn’t a problem — it was finding writers who could deliver the work that was the issue.

Looking at the problems I’ve encountered both in recent times and in the past, the following three points are all problems I’ve faced when hiring freelance writers.

1. No rate card

I never had a rate for years. Either clients would come to me saying “Can you create this for this amount of money?” or I’d make a figure up on the spot when asked how much I’d charge for a certain project. Sometimes I’d charge too much, others too little and sometimes I’d get it right. It wasn’t ideal by any means, but it worked.

When I started to take freelance writing seriously as a career, I realised that I needed to have a more structured way of pricing projects and so while I still don’t have a set rate card that I adhere to 100%, I do have several figures in mind per word and per hour that I like to work around.

One of the most annoying points for me when hiring writers was that many couldn’t give definite answers as to how much they’d charge or whether they’d work for the fee I suggested. I don’t mind if you say no and you want more money or you give me range of prices depending on, for instance, the number of words offered, but don’t just say “oh, about $50 a piece”. What’s a piece? 250 words? 2,500 words? A blog post? A press release?

I may not have had a pricing structure in place for several years, but I’ve always been able to tell a potential client how much I’d charge for a project.

2. Deadlines that can’t be met

This is my number one pet hate. Period.

I’m not a fantastic time keeper outside of work. I very rarely say “I’ll meet you at 7pm” — it’s always “I’ll meet you at around 7pm”. There are occasions when I — or anyone — need to be at a certain place at a certain time, but I’m a relaxed guy and if I don’t get out of a meeting until 5.30pm, I’m not going to rush home to get showered and changed so I can be at a bar for 7pm — being 15 minutes late isn’t going to harm anyone.

When it comes to work, though, I’ve always stuck by one principle — I don’t mind if you’re going to be a day or two over your expected delivery time, but please just tell me sooner than 4.55pm on the day the work was due. If nothing else it’s courteous.

If I have notice, I can plan and prepare. If I don’t have notice, I can’t do anything.

If you can’t deliver 5,000 words in a week, that’s fine, but don’t tell me that you can.

3. Ignoring guidelines

In most pieces of work I’ve requested, I haven’t asked for much. For example, it might be a set amount of words, a broad style requirement (i.e., formal, not conversational) and the occasional link to a source.

So why do several writers seem to think these requirements are optional?

If I said “between 400 and 600 words”, I’m pretty sure you would all agree that it could be taken two separate ways — produce a piece that’s between 400 and 600 words long or produce a piece that uses at least 4oo to 600 words minimum.

I’m also pretty sure you’d all agree it doesn’t mean “try and use between 400 and 600 words, but if you only manage 350, that’s fine”.

I also understand that people could interpret ‘formal, not conversational’ in different ways, but whichever way you take it, you don’t want to be including colloquialisms or internet speak (i.e., LOL).

This piece isn’t meant as a dig at any freelance writer in particular or even freelance writers in general — remember, I am still a freelance writer!

I’ve just provided these difficulties for everyone to hopefully learn from, as I honestly believe there are hundreds of high quality writers out there who can produce the required content, but they just need a little polishing when it comes to their business skills.