Should Freelance Writers Write Custom Sample Articles?
I know not all of you are freelance writers, but this is something that is pretty big at the moment and I thought it would be useful to address it.
While searching for writing jobs, I`ve found a lot that ask you to write a sample specifically for them. Is this a good idea? It`s pretty tempting when the job promises a great pay rate and you are being asked to send just one sample to prove your worth.
There are a lot of writers online who will tell you that you should never write without pay, not even samples. I used to disagree with that and I still think there are certain venues where it is beneficial to write for free (article marketing and guest posting, for example), but my thoughts on the whole custom sample has drastically changed.
Now, I realize that writing a custom sample isn`t enough to get you the job all the time, but here`s a recent example of what happened to me. I applied for a job that paid $50 per 500 word article and this is the email I got back:
Hey Genesis,
We have reviewed your resume, it sounds great so far and we are very excited to have such a talented writer with us onboard. We prepared a sample task to see if both sides are comfortable, you with the job description and us with the writing quality. Unfortunately, due instructions from the CFO this is an unpaid test sample. The editors will review the article and after that, if the content is satisfying you will be contacted in regards to signing the independent contractor agreement. After what we have seen so far in your resume you have easily passed the first cover letter/resume filter and I’m this will also should be a piece of cake for you.
Since you are an experienced writer and that is the basic part of the job description, we will not further explain about the specific of the guidelines. The official guidelines will be given to you with initiating the work agreement with us. Here is a title with keywords:
Now, I did send off an article that I wrote using their title and keywords. This was several weeks ago and since then, I`ve heard nothing back. There`s no proof that they used my article and it wasn`t specified that they would contact me if they didn`t like it, but I think that would have been courteous. What did happen though is that I realized I`m totally wasting my time when I write samples like this. Why should I write a 500 word article for free? My time is valuable and I could have spent it writing a 500 word article that would have earned me some real money, rather than simply disappearing into the ether.
These don`t even have to be scams, but really, don`t you have better things to do? If someone can`t judge the quality of writing from the regular samples in your application email, then they probably shouldn`t be looking for writers.
Do you ever write for free? What are your thoughts on this theme?
Genesis,
I agree that writers shouldn’t write free sample articles. There are too many cases where people get a lot of sample articles and use them without paying anyone. The client should be able to tell the quality of your work from samples you have already written. If they need a cusom sample, they should pay for the sample. It makes sense for a business to pay for one article before hiring a writer for many articles, The writer is paid, and the client isn’t locked into an agreement they may not be happy with. But a client expecting custom work without compensation isn’t reasonable.
Of course, it does happen in other businesses as well. When I was in the interior landscape business, it was common for clients to require a proposal indicating the plants to be used in specific locations. We always risked that they would take our design, which was a lot of work, and buy the plants themselves at a discount store. But when there were only three large interior landscape companies in town, and the competition gave a design for free, we had to do it or not get the jobs.
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