So, there's another writing opportunity out there for freelancers. It's called DotWriter.com. You craft unique and useful articles, and you get paid. At least this is the idea. Let's take a closer look at how DotWriter works, and find out whether or not this article sale site is worth your time and effort as a writer.
As a writer, you can sign up for a free account. According to DotWriter.com, you submit an original article, and the site/editor has to approve the article so it can be posted on the website for sale. This way potential buyers can view the article and see if they want to purchase it.
What about the pay? Well, you can sell your articles for one cent per word. Therefore if you write a 750-word article, it will by listed on DotWriter.com for $7.50. The buyers are never charged any additional fees. However, the writer has to pay DotWriter 20% of each sale. In other words, you only get $6 for that 750-word article. Hmm...
It's wise to do the math before you get involved with a web content dealer like DotWriter.com. How much is your time and expertise worth? Can you really imagine writing a 1,000-word article, and only making $8. That's absurd! As far as I can tell, DotWriter is another content mill that plans to make all the money, while you do all of the work. No thanks!
If you have the expertise, it makes more sense to sell your articles and blog posts to clients that pay real wages. Market yourself on writer forums, Linkedin, and freelance writing websites. If you prefer to sell articles that you already have written, try a website like ArticleSale.com, so you can dictate the price, and you make all of the profit.
Realistically you're never going to make much money through websites like DotWriter. These sites only devalue your skill set and leave you broke and frustrated. Furthermore, if you by chance acquire long-term clients via dotwriter.com, they will expect you to write for them at the absurd rate of one cent per word.
As a writer, you can sign up for a free account. According to DotWriter.com, you submit an original article, and the site/editor has to approve the article so it can be posted on the website for sale. This way potential buyers can view the article and see if they want to purchase it.
What about the pay? Well, you can sell your articles for one cent per word. Therefore if you write a 750-word article, it will by listed on DotWriter.com for $7.50. The buyers are never charged any additional fees. However, the writer has to pay DotWriter 20% of each sale. In other words, you only get $6 for that 750-word article. Hmm...
It's wise to do the math before you get involved with a web content dealer like DotWriter.com. How much is your time and expertise worth? Can you really imagine writing a 1,000-word article, and only making $8. That's absurd! As far as I can tell, DotWriter is another content mill that plans to make all the money, while you do all of the work. No thanks!
If you have the expertise, it makes more sense to sell your articles and blog posts to clients that pay real wages. Market yourself on writer forums, Linkedin, and freelance writing websites. If you prefer to sell articles that you already have written, try a website like ArticleSale.com, so you can dictate the price, and you make all of the profit.
Realistically you're never going to make much money through websites like DotWriter. These sites only devalue your skill set and leave you broke and frustrated. Furthermore, if you by chance acquire long-term clients via dotwriter.com, they will expect you to write for them at the absurd rate of one cent per word.
32 comments:
Hello,
This is Peter from DotWriter.
The info you gave regarding the amount you earn is incorrect. There's 3 different writer levels, you can earn 1 , 2 or 3 cents/word and more for private and custom hire projects.
1 cent is just for new Standard writers. Once you wrote 10 articles you get upgraded to the next level.
Regards
Thanks for the reply, Peter. I appreciate the information on DotWriter.com.
While it's nice to see that there are three different writer levels, the pay is still on the low side. Let's say I'm an experienced writer with a BA in English or Journalism, as well as 10 years of experience. Why should I sell my work at one cent per word? Or even three cents per word? That's very low.
If my only education is a high school degree, and I don't have experience with content writing, blogging, and creating copy for clients to help them with SEO, then 1-3 cents may be suitable.
You must keep in mind that many businesses pay 5-15 cents per word for original articles and well-written blog posts. It's important to consider the value of these articles and how much money they are going to earn the buyer for years to come.
Lastly, I've found through personal experience that it's unwise to sell your services for dramatically low rates to hook a client. It's better to be upfront about the fee. Some will pay a real wage and the others will want to pay pennies. It's important as a writer not to devalue yourself and the services you provide. You must also consider, would other professionals sell there services at such a low rate? For instance, would a mechanic fix your car for this low rate? Probably not.
Hi,
You are right to state that there's no right price. And absolutely, for someone charging 15 cents/word our pricing might seem insufficient, BUT think about this for a moment: how much MORE time, MORE effort and MORE research you have to put into a writing task that pays 15 cents/word and how much into one that pays 3 cents/word? That select client you mention about would ask you for 3-4 edits if not more and have extremely specific requirements. You may spend a couple hours to write a 1000 words article. How many other less restrictive articles could you have written in that same amount of time?
On DotWriter we try to give both small and big writers and buyers a fair chance of buying/selling content at a fair remuneration, given the industry average. We are aware this may not be perfect for everyone and there's no right number to be true.
Maybe we will tweak the prices in the close future and we appreciate your opinion, but for the time being we need to prove buyers that the content deserves that 15 cents price.
Sincerely
Peter
Thanks for the feedback, Peter. It's true that businesses and clients asking for high quality content are often very particular. These articles and blog posts can take a significant amount of time to complete.
I spoke with a freelance writer who creates 500-word articles for clients on Fiverr, and he sells them for $5 each. This sounds dramatically low to me, but he said he only spends 10 minutes writing one. So, knowing that the article only takes 10 minutes to complete, I suppose $5 is sufficient.
You are correct that different clients seek out different levels of content for their websites and blogs. I will take another look at DotWriter.com, and thanks again for the feedback.
Hi,
Dotwriter.com is by far one of the best marketplace for writers who can write top-notch articles. I joined the site in January and have managed to sell over 20 articles. Clients can also hire writers on the site at pretty fair and acceptable rates.
I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this site to experienced and skilled writers out there.
Thanks Peter Corman for this great platform.
Alphan Maina
Thanks for the feedback, Alphan. I like the fact that dotwriter doubled their rates, which allows writers to earn more.
Not sure I agree with Alphan. Dotwriter.com is a pretty typical article sale website. Not much money to be made there. Kind of like ArticleSale.com, but Dotwriter takes 20% of every article you sell. :( When you factor in the typical sale of an article being about $10, you are only making $8. Even then, you have to bring your account total up to $10 before you can withdraw your earnings. Really not that great. Just my two cents.
Steve
Hi Steve, thanks for the feedback on Dotwriter.com. A lot just comes down to what you want to earn as a freelance writer and what skill set/education you have. While some writers will see dotwriter as a good opportunity to supplement their income, others will see it as a waste of time. I know some freelance writers that make $100 for an hour of their time, so this type of website is not appealing to them at all. However, there are other writers looking for a little extra income on the side, and dotwriter may help with this.
This is not a good opportunity in my opinion. I've messed around with these types of writing websites in the past, and I have to say, they get you nowhere. The reality is you can write 50 articles and put them on dotwriter, and only a couple of them might sell, if any. This is just the reality of it all. Carol
Thanks for the feedback, Carol!
This website is not very good. You can basically pay a fee to become a "gold class" writer. This means you will be paid 6 cents per word for each article you sell. BUT, it doesn't mean you're actually a good writer. It just means you're paying someone so you can ear more money from your work. Kind of weird, really.
Carl
Hi Carl, thanks for the info. I wasn't aware of the 6 cents per word upgrade. Interesting.
Not sure why people feel the need to comment as Anonymous. Anyway..
Our rates have doubled:
Standard writers earn 2 cents/word
Premium writers earn 4 cents/word
Gold writers earn 6 cents/word
Some people will surely say this is still not enough. Sure, some would want to earn $300 for a 500 words article. Unfortunately for them, this are not our market buyers and unless you write and work directly with a big magazine publication you are NEVER going to see such rates.
Others seem to be little upset that us, DotWriter, take 20% from the article price. I would like to ask any of these people how they found our platform? 99% of them find us through ads, ads which cost a lot! The same ads bring the buyers who end up purchasing the articles. There's no magic wand that sells your articles. It's advertising and marketing which we do for YOU. After all that's why writers use platform as DotWriter, because they cannot sell/find enough buyers their own, isn't it?
Best,
Peter
DotWriter.com
Thanks for the information, Peter! Advertising is certainly important and it does cost money. Good points!
As for anonymous posting online, this is pretty much the way of the Internet. I don't think it will be changing anytime soon.
Anonymous?? Really? Is this Peter guy joking? I looked at dotwriter.com and the entire website is anonymous. For instance, who owns dotwriter? There is no contact address or telephone number. There is not even a bio on the owner. I assume it's this Peter guy, but who the heck is Peter? It's a very common name. Is dotwriter an American business? Just my observation. Anyway, my name is Brian if that means anything.
Good info, I'm looking for some writing opportunities online, but don't want to get ripped off.
DotWriter refuses to pay some writers when you try to withdraw. I am a victim. I withdrew 20.79 USD from their platform on 2nd of June 2017 and on 9th June 2017 they have blocked my account without any explanation. I did not break any rules since I did not write anything was just withdrawing an amount that I earned from the sale of articles I put in their marketplace last year.
Ever since they changed their management they have become somewhat incompetent claiming that after withdrawal you should wait for at least 5 working days before you receive your money. I was among the few writers who joined Dotwriter back in 2015 when the site was new but now it has become a letdown.
Right now I would not tell anybody to join them after this peculiar ordeal that they are putting me through.
Hi John,
There was some misunderstanding that has been cleared up by dotWriter's support team; as per our communication, you have been provided a clarification on your account status and been paid 20.79 USD within the payout time as mentioned in our updated terms and conditions - that has been followed since 2016 to protect both buyers and writers.
We have never refused payments to anyone, but have a billing cycle that we have been following to ensure payments are received and processed in a timely manner. We apologize for any inconvenience and have outlined such queries in the FAQs section on the site.
With this issue resolved, should you have any queries, please feel free to address it to the support team at dotWriter, who will be glad to help you. :)
Regards,
Diel
Team dotWriter
I have written almost fifteen articles on dotwriter with three approved articles placed on the market. This is within a span of a week and a half. How long does it take for an article to sell on dotwriter? I am really frustrated with the waiting.
There is no benefit of writing for dotWriter as they pick up work from the Content Desk and get it done by their own writers. How my client approves so many articles daily, while nothing is ever visible in the Content Desk section. Learn some manners before stepping in the world of business.
How fast your article sells really just depends on whether or not someone wants/needs it for their website or blog. Truth is, it may never sell, or it could sell tomorrow. There's no way of knowing.
How long does it take for an article to be approved? I submitted 2 articles, and been waiting for a week now, for their response.
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Following up on Bhawika Jethwani's comment: What's the timeline for approving an article so that it can be posted for sale on dotWriter?
I have sold an article on dotWriter and have been paid. It's a legit site. I just have 2 issues with the site:
1. It usually takes a week before my article gets approved. Though recently it's taking the editors more than a week to approve and send feedback. The wait can be agonizing.
2. The payment was sent to me 15 days after my request for funds. I wish they'd pay right after a sale.
Overall, I'm still thankful for sites like DW. Their rates are reasonable and their editors are not as acerbic as those in ContentGather and Constant-Content.
Yeah, been freelance writing since 2004, and have to say Dotwriter.com is not a very good opportunity. Nor is Constant-Content.com. You'll do much better if you seek out jobs working for specific companies who need copywriters and contract workers to build content for their websites and blogs. The pay is much more reasonable. Some pay more than $20 for an hour's work. Just saying. It pays to apply for actual freelance writing and copywriting jobs posted.
Glad I found your blog post on dotwriter.com. I kind of figured it was a content mill, so to speak. Pretty much every online writing service I've found so far is. I suppose it's no surprise that dotwriter is not any different. I'm after writing gigs that pay a real wage. You know, like a JOB. I want $20-$50 bucks for a researched article. It's almost 2020, folks. This minimum wage crap has to go. We've all got degrees!!
Okay, just read through all these comments on Dotwriter.com, and from the sounds of it, this freelance writer platform does not pay well, at least not if you live in the USA.
I noticed Alphan Maina from Kenya posted that he likes it. Uh, no offense, but the cost of living in Kenya is like 50-60 percent lower than in the United States. Definitely something to consider. If I lived in Kenya or Mexico, I'm sure the pay from Dotwriter would sound great, but I don't. In the US, you need to pull in at least 50 grand USD a year just to skate by. And that won't get you much. Just saying
Very good points, Doug. It's always good to keep in mind where people live and what cost of living their dealing with. So while Dotwriter.com may be good for some freelance writers, it may not be the best opportunity for others. It all just depends on what you're looking for and how much you wish to earn.
Realistic review of dotwriter.com. The truth is you ain't gonna make a living with this writing website. I don't care what some dude from Kenya says. Doug made some valid points. The sad reality is the world we live in today is filled with awful employment opportunities. Companies and employers try to get away with paying almost nothing, so be sure to give almost nothing. The day they start paying a living wage again is the day they can have good employees back. Must always remember you get what you pay for, so if you're willing to spend $5 or $10 on an article, you'll get an article that took about 30 minutes or less to complete. After all, that's what you PAID for.
Thanks for your insight, Joseph. A decline in pay is a sad reality of the freelance writing world. I've also noticed that so many new writers are coming into the fold, which means more competition. While the is normal and should be expected in most fields, it makes things more challenging, because many new people are willing to settle for less money. This is sadly why many people can't afford to live a basic lifestyle these days. They end up staying with their parents.
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