We received a tip about TextBroker.com on our freelance writing jobs directory page. Halina, who had signed up for TextBroker after reading the comment, has offered to share her experiences since joining the program. Here they are.
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I’ve been writing freelance for two years now, starting with Helium, then moving on to Associated Content, Constant Content, and lately, Textbroker.com. I’ve also written articles for my company and even submitted a few pieces to local Madison newspapers. The pay has been decent but nothing for which I would quit my day job. At this moment, I’ve made over $1400 on Associated Content, about $400 on Constant Content, and exactly $10.87 since joining Textbroker two days ago.
I initially discovered Textbroker because of a comment about it on www.ivetriedthat.com. I decided to give the site a try and signed up. Textbroker requires that you submit a writing sample in order to be assigned an author star rating of 2-5, with 2 stars being considered average, 3 stars good, and 4 stars being excellent writing ability. The 5 star rating is reserved for professional writers, and I’m not yet sure how one obtains that qualification.
Within the same day, I received my author rating of 4 stars. This allowed me to claim and submit articles that requested a writing quality of 2-4 stars. The higher one’s star rating, the more one is paid per word, so it pays to submit your best writing sample. Currently, my pay is 1.5 cents per word.
My first submission was accepted within 12 hours of submission and paid me $4.90 for about 400 words. The next day, I submitted another article, which was also quickly accepted and paid $5.88. I then received two DirectOrders, which is when clients request that you write for them specifically. I have since submitted one DirectOrder, which was then returned to me for editing. I re-submitted the article today. Should I have the latest article accepted, I will make up to $6.00 (the article is 400 words).
Textbroker will also evaluate your accepted articles and assign them a rating. The better your articles, the higher your rating and payment per word.
That I like most about Textbroker is that you do not have to write long articles. Many client requests are for 150-250 word articles. Coupled with the higher than average payment per word, that means I can easily turn out 2-3 articles in one evening and make a quick $15 or so. What I don’t like about Textbroker is that you need to wait a long time for payout; the site pays everyone only once a month, on the 10th of the month (update: as of now, Textbroker pays out weekly. Thanks Jennifer!).
This post was written by Halina. When not hunting out money-making opportunities online, Halina can be found making money on Associated Content at the following site: Associated Content.
Thank you for posting your comment, Jennifer! I haven’t been on Textbroker for some time now (~4 years) so I’m glad to hear that the payout is weekly. I recall having to wait a long time for my deposit.
I write for Textbroker. Everything the original author said was correct except that payout is weekly, not monthly. Just thought I would clear that up.
Hello Krusyos,
Thank you for your comment. Wow, this entire post is certainly a blast from the past for me. You see, I started out by writing on content mill sites like Textbroker. However, at this point in time, I steer clear of them for several reasons.
If I were starting all over again as a writer and just wanted to make a few bucks, then yeah, I’d try out Textbroker. However, because of the many limitations of Textbroker, I’d also try a few other things, like guest posting on paid blogs, starting my own blog, and even pitching to young adult magazines.
You see, Textbroker might give you experience in writing as well as a little money, but you won’t get the clips that writers depend on when pitching real world clients for real world writing rates. So I’m on the fence about whether Textbroker is the best way to spend your time.
If you’d like to know more, just let me know- and good luck to you!
Hello Halina,
I came across this thread while researching Textbroker. I am a 40 year old man with a passion for writing, no portfolio, and a zillion ideas. I realize I must build some sort of portfolio via grinding out piecework or by blogging in order to make people aware of my work and style. What steps can you suggest to make my efforts count?
Thanks so much. CM
I’m a teenager who wants to be a freelance/online writer for a career when I graduate from high school. Do you think that TextBroker is a good starting point where I can hone my writing skills, get experience in the field, and make a few bucks on the side for coffee and music? Would you recommend another site instead? I’m a homeschooled student, and due to my flexible schedule, I can probably be writing all day.
In my opinion, Constant Content, Yahoo!Voices and Skyword have very little in common with Textbroker. I’ve worked with Textbroker for five years, first as a writer and now as an editor outsourcing the writing. I like Textbroker because it’s very easy to use as both a writer and an editor. There’s always work at Textbroker, even if it’s just a few bucks. It keeps you busy, anyway.
I find that Skyword is good if you can make it a priority. The nice thing about Textbroker is that if you start a piece and realize you can’t make the deadline, you just put it back. No harm, no foul. With Skyword, you have an editor to answer to.
I was accepted to write for Purina through Skyword, but when I read the style guide, I had to back out. They had ridiculous requirements like not referring to pets as if they were human. In my mind, treating my cat as well as I treat my kids is half the joy in ownership. Without the emotional connection in the writing, it would have been too boring to write.
On another Skyword client, I found a similar restriction. They wanted me to write about depression and drug abuse without mentioning medications. That’s silly. Psychiatric treatment for these disorders is a vital part of the conversation and that requires talking about medications. Anyway, that’s why I don’t write for Skyword, although they do pay well compared to others. I also received strong support from my editor and understand that the client controls the restrictions, not Skyword. Their assignments just didn’t work for me.
Constant Content takes way too big a cut (35% commission) and requires a strong sense of what will sell if you want to succeed there. I’m still struggling to figure out why some of my posts get thousands of readers and others get a handful. I just don’t have the intuition needed to make a strong living there.
Yahoo!Voices pays too little. I get a few dollars a month for the 44 pieces I wrote for them when they were Associated Content, although admittedly, I was paid upfront for a small number of them (something like $6 each). I like that Yahoo! has stayed true to AC’s original format. But there are a limited number of topics available.
As far as other sites to write for, here’s the list that I started out with: http://www.killfive.com/extra-buck-or-two/(sorry the site’s been languishing. I’m too busy writing). Now I work exclusively with my own clients and use Textbroker to outsource the writing when needed.
My advice for success: Try everything.
I just kept trying different writing sites until I found my stride. If you throw enough different things at a wall, eventually one of them sticks!
Eventually, I found my own client base, a little at a time. Sometimes, they see your writing somewhere and contact you. Other times, you find job ads on sites like Guru or Craigslist (be cautious with that one). I answered one ad and after 4 or 5 months, I figured it was a no-go. They just contacted me for a gig at my full standard rate. So, you just never know.
Expect a full year before you can do this full time and still pay the bills. Good luck!
Hi Frank,
Thanks for your comment. Sites similar to Textbroker include Constant-Content.com and Yahoo! Voices. These were the other sites I wrote for before quitting and taking on private clients. I’ve also heard that Skyword pays a pretty decent rate for content. I hope this helps!
I am interested in Textbroker, but I would also like to know what “other” sites some of the commenters here are talking about that are “so much better” than Textbroker. Or are there any?
What grammar tips can you give for writing for Textbroker? I am comfortable with AP style, which is what we use at the Yahoo! Contributor Network, and I have learned a bit of the Chicago style while preparing for credential tests for Cloud Crowd. TB states that they want AP, which for me is encouraging, but the post above that talks about a distain for dashes, and more recent comments about grammar concerns makes me wonder what I am going to need to avoid, or to use. I’ll appreciate any guidance. Thanks – Jacquelyn
I totally agree. Grammar is a moving target. I just researched this recently and came across several grammar books that all agree less is more. http://www.killfive.com/5-killer-grammar-books-bore-death/
Some rules are just outdated. They should be using the American Heritage application of grammar, not the Oxford, which is better for stuffy research papers, not the web!
I started on text brokers in late July and have made close to $400. I get excellent reviews from the clients. I have been dropped from a level 4 to a level 3 for alleged grammatical errors. I was a newspaper reporter for 16 years and PR director of a trade group for 22 years. I do make errors. However, I find some of their “corrections” to be very arbitrary. I am going to stay with them for a while. I try to write at least one story a day, but the topics that are sometimes offered are not my style. I do not bother with stories that are going to pay less than $5. When I was level 4, my threshold was $7. Good grammar is a necessity, but good content is also necessary. I do not believe any credit is given to content. Furthermore, they do not understand research. I have paraphrased copy from websites while giving the web address and been accused of plagiarism. The staff is not very encouraging. By, the way, I use a grammar checker called White Smoke and will run the copy through the program several times, but Textbroker always finds something, thus proving that the application of the rules of grammar involves some subjectivity.
I am a 3 star writer for TB, and I make $30-$55 a day. The hint I want to give out to the new writers is don’t except any project that you can’t understand! If the instructions given are 2-3 paragraphs long for a 200 word article, don’t wast your time. Set a goal for how many articles or how much money you want to make and stick to it. You have to see this kind of work in a business mindset, meaning if you understand the assignment take it rather you like it or not! Good Luck!!! (;
Hi Amy. I’s stick with the level 3 rating for now and write a few articles for Textbroker clients that were of superior quality. Assuming your editors would rate you at Level 4 or better, you could then write Textbroker and ask for a re-evaluation. That’s how I initially got into being a Level 5 writer. Hope this helps!
I have recently registered with textbroker, but I must confess I find the website a bit of a maze. I have been given a rating of 3 which took a really long time to receive and I must confess I am disappointed. My ‘audition’ article was well written and I worked very hard to make sure it was technically perfect. I have now discovered that all assignments available require a level 4 rating or higher which has left me rather useless. I have tried to add a writing sample or two in the hope that this might improve my rating but I am not sure if the site is even accepting them: The text has just gone faint and I keep seeing ‘textbroker verifies’ on the left hand side. Does anyone have any hints how I might proceed?
I tried Textbroker and wrote 21 articles. The rating system is obscure and tardy. Good luck getting a prompt rating of your work. I’ve written professionally for over 20 years and was rated at only 2 stars. Without current and timely feedback, it is impossible improve ones rankings.
On a positive note, all my customers were happy with my efforts and some requested my services for additional assignments.
If you are looking for a paying hobby, there are other sites such as Interact Media snf The Content Authority to name a couple.
I do not recommend Textbroker due to their inability to provide realtime rankings and feedback.
Hi Lynal, Thanks for your comment. Funny coincidence- I was just looking at Textbroker over this weekend and marveling at how much work and research the clients wanted for the amount of pay (although you can adjust your personal rates). You’re right; for what is required, you’re better off getting your own clients. At least that way you get clips.
The low pay isn’t really worth selling your own words, time searching, and hard. It’s ok for a person thats just beginning freelancing work.
Hi Eric, Thanks much for your comments. I’ve been writing professionally for several years now and never took a writing course in my life. My degrees are in genetics and microbiology, not English. With that said, I do brush up on my writing and grammar skills almost daily. If I don’t know how a certain grammar rule works, I look it up. Having done this on an almost daily basis now, I get really riled up when I hear statements like “15 items or less” or “this data shows”. Heh!
Formal writing education isn’t a bad idea; however, I don’t feel that you need to pay for it at this point. There is a lot of good information out on the Web now and many free e-courses, e-books, etc. If you plan on writing long-term and picking up high-pay assignments, you could take some free writing courses to improve your writing and give you some confidence.
You can also check out other freelance writing blogs like The Renegade Writer and Make A Living Writing. I hope this helps!
Hi:
Thanks for responding. You won’t believe this, but I am also a proud owner of Stylewriter. I used it briefly to assist me in college with writing term papers. Stylewriter was my best friend in college :-) It had to be the best invention for independent freelance writers who do not have an editor to assist.
Thank you for the encouraging words. I agree that it does take self descipline to meet the deadlines of all writing material. I have been fortunate to accept independent projects to help colleagues of mine that have time constraints that I have successfully completed before the deadline. I have never been the type of person to be counterproductive; I think writing would be an excellent opportunity.
I always thought becoming a professional writer would require me to go back to college to earn a degree in English. One classmate advised me that wiriting is one of those fields where ongoing learning is endless. Words to the English language are still being added. I guess you can say that I have always wanted to be that person who they say who has a way with words :-) I have been told that before, but I know that there is still so much more to learn about writing. It is a fortunate industry that a person can enter a writing career without knowing everything about the role.
I have hopes of starting to receive small writing gigs so that I can develop my writing career portfolio/samples.
Again, I appreciate your kind words and I hope that I can continue to visit your website for suggestions and advise in writing :-)
Best Regards,
Eric
Yes, you absolutely should! Take it from a woman whose former employer publicly announced that she wrote like a “retarded monkey.” There were sour grapes behind it, but after a year or two of success, I wasn’t about to let it bug me. In total, I’ve been at this almost 5 years. I haven’t had to look for a client in 3 years… they find me.
Use the web to help you answer those pesky grammar questions. I learned to kick passive voice in the butt by using Stylewriter. It’s expensive, but really did the trick to kill a rotten habit that is very bad for your writing career. Here are the most important things you need to learn to succeed:
Use active voice, in clear, easy to grasp language. (Up to three instances of passive voice in an article is okay. Sometimes it’s unavoidable.)
Keep paragraphs a maximum of four sentences.
Avoid run-on sentences.
Use a header in bold to break up every paragraph or two, making the article scannable.
Check your facts.
Use information sources anyone would trust. When in doubt, don’t use it.
Finally, use the spelling and grammar checker in Word, setting options to look for passive voice and other grammar problems that plague you. Then use another spell checker, and then a third. Unless you use a proofreader / editor, it’s the only way to avoid mistakes.
I use Word, then After the Deadline, then http://www.microspell.com. After all that, I let articles sit for an hour and then go back in to read them with fresh eyes before sending them to the clients. Spelling and grammar errors are embarrassing for a professional writer, and we writing on the web don’t have the luxury of on-staff editors.
For the first year or two, you should not make this your full-time job. You’ll write for pennies in the beginning. It takes a good year or two before you can develop a strong portfolio and command better pay.
I really hope you decide to give it a go. Writing has given me the freedom to be a mom first and a worker second. I set my own hours and work from a recliner.
One word of caution… If you are bad at motivating yourself to get things done without a boss looking over your shoulder, this job is not for you. It’s too easy to blow off a day to do what you want. Unless you care deeply about your clients and getting them what they need on time, you won’t succeed.
Good luck to you!
Hi Hilana:
Reading your post has encouraged me to pursue freelance writing online as second source of income. Before I get into that, I want to ask you a question–should a person like me who considers themselves to be a “non-professional writer” enter the profession? I don’t consider myself a writer simply because I think that there is still alot about writing that I do not know and that I need to conquer. Even as a college graduate, I feel the need to take a writer’s course to enhance my writing abilities. What advise could you give to a rookie writer like me who wants to enter the field of writing, but one who is still not quite content and comfortable in their writing abilities?
Sometimes I second guess myself with word usage and punctuation–“Should I place a semi-colon here? Should I add more to this sentence because it appears to be a fragment? Am I writing to the level of the audience that may be reading my literature? Am I writing at a level too low that the audience may feel that I am imcompetent? Am I saying too much? Am I saying too little?”–these are the questions that are going through my mind while writing.
I was speaking with a colleague of mind and asked if it would be a good investment for myself to take a writing course. She sincerely responded with an answer indicating that a writing class may not improve my ability because I have my own unique writing style and it may not be beneficial for me.
I wanted to get advise from a professional writer in the field who may be able to guide me in right direction.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Sincerely and Best Regards,
Eric
Hi Gracey, I certainly understand where you’re coming from with respect to writing on the cheap. To be fair, after I started writing for Textbroker I did move up rather quickly to the 5-Star Author status where one is paid 5 cents/word. This made my writing more worthwhile. I also had a few private clients find me through my work at Textbroker. However, the assignments that go through Textbroker are seen only by the site’s clients. Once you submit a piece, it’s gone and only the client knows that it was ghost written. Furthermore, you can raise your per word rate with Textbroker if you’re not happy with the rate that the site assigns to you. Lately, Textbroker has been opening up its orders to higher paying clients; I’ve even seen some Team Orders command as much as 30 cents/word or higher. The site is full of possibility and a great way to get started as a freelance writer.
Don’t whore yourself by writing for a penny a word. No legitimate editor will respect you or give you real work if they find out you write for outfits like this. Get a job on a weekly newspaper–and work your way up.
Textbroker is basically where I got my start in freelance writing. They have some issues now … I know that many people believe it’s no longer a great option, but at the time I started writing there doing so gave me the confidence to branch out into other things.
In response to RC, I was sent the same email requesting a copy of my d/l or passport. I’m not sure how far a photocopy of either will get them, but I am still debating. I guess they really want to avoid using non-US citizens. If I find anything out I will post again.
What are all of these other sites besides Textbroker?
I recently sign up because a friend of mind recommended the website (we send job opportunies to each other). I sign up, sent my sample article and they gave me 3 stars and said I could start. However, I’m weary of filling out personal information on a W9 form to send them, as I’ve almost been the victim of scammers before. But after reading the stuff here and other such sites, I feel comfortable enough to give them a chance. Thanks everyone :)
I am a new applicant at Textbroker.com and I recently received an email stating that my article sample was approved and I can already start browsing for opportunities. When I browsed I was brought to a page of different challenges which when I tried clicking on every subject it said “your blog is not qualified for this.” I am also confused because I reside in the Philippines and somebody mentioned here that the site is only for the Americans.
Please enlighten me on these things. Thanks
I was also interested signing up for textbroker.com, and upon scrolling down ready to register I saw in Step 1 that you have to verify your US citizenship, which clearly am not a US citizen. I hope we Filipinos can have a chance to register here and earn writing great content.
One thing of note is i wrote a 1500 word article on bonsai in about a hour and a half. Got 21 dollars coming for that one… Pretty decent for a side job. Better than mcd’s.
I just would like to put my two cents into this convo that has been going for over 3 years. Firstly I just started with text broker, but I am a college graduate in IT I write in my spare time as I wait in my office for clients to come in and when I’m done with my work.
I started out at 4 stars because of my sample, but while it was good written, i believe my use of TM after the product name I was reviewing was what made me a 4 star writer, don’t get me wrong, I did a few journalism classes to fill in credits in college (always wanted to interview stars, but my real passion is computers and network security, so i went for that.) While it doesn’t pay as much as a virus removal, which i can remove even the worst root kit spyware mafia type infections on average about 15 minutes, that adds up to 140 a hour for basic viruses. Which doesn’t compare one bit.
But I’ve been on TB for 3 days and managed to wrack up 50 dollars that I will be paid on Friday for. I do about 20 minutes research if I don’t know the topic, and take about 20 minutes to write the article, depending on the size. So as far as being worth it, heck yea. I say so. No direct orders yet, but i’m just now getting my first 5 article review which is taking a long time… I’ve become addicted to writing, and tb brought that out of me.
As far as identity theft, come on, don’t you think that they make enough money, there are literally thousands of articles to write… I also write for content authority, and you wanna talk about crappy keyword you can’t fit in a normal sentence that place if full of them.. And they pay less.
Could anyone point me in the right direction to find a better freelance writing job?
Has anyone had to submit a copy of their driver’s license or passport to Textbroker. They sent me an email saying that they couldn’t verify my citizenship and needed a copy of one of these documents. This sounds a little fishy, any experience with this?
My take on Textbroker – it’s an ok way to bring in extra cash if you suddenly have a cash flow problem. With all of the options available on the Web and in the marketplace, a writer should only use it as filler.
In addition, a writer should never stress out if he/she receives a 3 or 4 star ranking. I’m a published researcher and writer with more than a decade of writing experience in several industries. Some of my work is referenced nationally and internationally in college libraries and vocational departments. Textbroker’s idea of what qualifies as “professional writing” is ridiculous.
As for the pros and cons of using this service:
Pros: Weekly payout; easy assignments – if you only do short product descriptions and titles
Cons: Clients who expect perfect writing for a penny a word or less (if you rank at a 3 or 2); not much better if you rank at a 4
Clients who rate your work extremely low if you don’t give them 110% at a penny/word.
Clients who rate your work extremely low when you follow their instructions to the letter, but the result isn’t what they “intended” it should be. Why? Because they left out certain expectations in their instructions that the writer is not made aware of until the rewrite.
Textbroker rating writers low for using dashes.
Textbroker rating a writer low even though the writer followed the client’s request and the client was happy with the result, but it didn’t follow the hidden Textbroker rules about dashes.
Textbroker rates a writer low if the client requests keyword stuffing or an odd keyword structure that makes the content sound off, or a presentation method for a keyword phrase that makes sentence structure awkward.
Textbroker is much more concerned with pleasing themselves than they are with making clients happy.
Some comments concerning textbroker are outdated and/or incorrect.
Over the past year I’ve written over 200 articles for TB. I write for similar sites but prefer textbroker for “instant” money and simple assignments.
1. Regarding pay schedule: TB pays every Friday through PayPal. Request needs to be submitted by midnight Thursday. Must have at least $10 in account.
2. Regarding content: The writer chooses a title. If you don’t want to research on a given topic, don’t take that title. If you receive a direct order including an article or two you’d rather not write, ask the client to remove the titles or simply click the Do not want to write this article tab.
3. Regarding rating: Your 4 most recent articles are accessed with the average listed as your rating. An occasional 3 isn’t going to adversely impact your rating. If it does, it will change as soon as you submit better articles. As a former English teacher, I find critiques to be fair and consistent.
4. Regarding pay rate: You can negotiate price for direct order clients. More importantly, TB now offers writing teams. Over 160 clients have writing teams. Some teams require writing samples, other’s request simple applications. Team members have exclusive access to the client’s titles. When you apply for the team, you know the amount paid per word. Don’t apply for teams paying the lowest rate of 1.37. For example, I belong to an interior design team. The pay is 2.6 cents a word and articles are 400-500 words. I know I’ll get about $13 per article. It’s fairly easy to write two articles in an hour. Even if I only write one an hour, I don’t object to the pay because I have no expense involved, don’t have to leave home and I enjoy the content. In addition, clients pay bonus for quick turnaround time or will increase rates.
5. Regarding research: Many titles require nothing more than the ability to express information in an organized manner. SEO is a factor for most writing websites. If I do need to do research, I restrict titles to items of interest. I’ve learned about places I’d like to visit and discovered interesting information due to the light research required. If I find it is taking too long, I cancel the title and it goes back to the board.
6. Regarding convenience: With TB I can easily earn $250 a week working less than 20 hours. I can go on vacation and ignore TB as long as I’d like. Compared to Helium, it’s much easier. Helium requires writers to rate the work of peers. The ratings are subjective to say the least. If you don’t have at least one rating star, you cannot collect pay for writing. Helium’s new policy also claims rights to your articles for a year. You cannot use anything you write for Helium on any other site for a year.
Constant Content is never a sure thing. Clients chose articles according to their preference. Ten people can write to the same title and the client chooses one article. If your article isn’t chosen, you don’t get paid. The article stays in your inventory.
It appears those complaining about ratings probably need to improve skills. Many writers with a 2 rating can stay busy at TB because some clients request articles written at that pay rate and level of expertise.
I’m not saying the pay is great. I’m just saying all these site have pros and cons. Based on my experience, TB is very straightforward. You know exactly what to expect. You write to titles YOU chose at a given rate and get paid weekly.
I don’t take the time to revise enough to keep a 5 rating on TB. Hardly any clients request that level. I have a 4 rating, I write many articles with little or no research and I ain’t no genius–but I can write a complete sentence in the appropriate tone and format for a given audience.
My comments are based on my current experience. I responded because I find many comments I read about TB to be false.
PJ Yusten
(EJ Young pen name)
Totally agree with Yolanda too! MUCH better sites out there to write for than textb!
Totally agree with Yolanda!
I just wanted to point a couple of recent changes.
1- TB pays weekly now. Every Friday.
2- They have opened it up internationally. I’m not sure how or what countries, etc, but it’s worth checking out for the international writers now.
From the comments here, I feel reassured they’re not trying to get your social security number off the W-9, or something drastic like that. However, as a newcomer to this kind of thing, I frankly think the pay is zilch! One would need to put a lot of thought into a 300 word article, do research on the topic, and edit until it looks professional. This would take an hour or two. All that for a measly 3 bucks, good for a cup of coffee at Starbucks. I love to write, but unfortunately, writing is probably the lowest paid profession in the history of mankind. Also, they have no examples on their webpage, the assignments sound so vague. If you don’t know who you are writing for, you would have no idea how to write it. If I got into it, it would just be a kind of creative writing exercise to kill time during the downtime at my office. It doesn’t sound a bit lucrative. At least, they’re not promising hundreds of dollars for working at home! John Forrest
Textbroker takes an exceptionally high cut for themselves. They are one of the lowest paying content mills out there. Plus, as some people have already posted here, their rating system is absolutely senseless. I will add to what Barbara Wagner said above: one editor can arbitrarily decide to rate a few articles with three stars and a good four star writer gets sent back to three star land, with no appeal and no second opinion.
They did this to a high number of their four star writers a few days before Christmas 2011, and my roommate and l were two of them. We had both written for them for almost three years, and were four star writers almost since the beginning. We both had steady direct order clients and an overwhelmingly positive response from the open order clients about our work from day one. Then we got a batch of ratings back. l got 102, she got 90-some, and the editors gave all our articles four star ratings until the very end, then rated the last four of our articles with three stars, resulting in demotion which is really firing us, because they have not had three star work for months.
A writer’s rating at Textbroker depends on the average rating of his or her most recent 5 articles, however it only takes 3 out of the 5 to lower the average. So in my case, l wrote 98 perfect articles, but they picked apart the last four for petty mistakes that had no bearing on the quality of the article whatsoever and for this reason l’m essentially fired after three years of an outstanding record. Insanity. And please don’t anyone say there’s more to the story than that b/c there IS NOT.
They PRIDE themselves on this rating system. When l asked about the rationale behind allowing three or four articles to wipe out a person’s entire history with textbroker l was told outright by a staff member that “there is no such thing as a track record at Textbroker”, and that they will “not take a writer’s body of work into consideration because what matters is your most recent 3/5 articles.” How on EARTH is that a fair and balanced rating system? No one gets fired for having one bad day, but at textbroker you will. It’s also a crazy rating system when you think of it the other way around: A person writes 97 articles that have minor mistakes so they are all rated three stars, but on the tail end he manages to turn out three articles without mistakes, he is suddenly a four star writer and can access four star articles. Huh? Is HE more qualified than the person who turned out 97 error-free articles and had one bad day where he wrote three that were less than perfect???? l think if the clients were asked, they would prefer to have the writer who had 97 good articles and 3 that were less than perfect than the writer whose statistics were the other way around. That system does not benefit the client, the writer or the company. There’s so many more places that pay higher and treat you better. l would have voluntarily left TB a long time ago but l have direct order clients who count on me and l feel like l owe them something. Thank goodness their unreasonable rating system and narrow-minded approach to the whole thing can’t interfere with the direct orders. They are a legitimate company and they do pay their writers, but don’t ever count on them as your only source of income!
Wouldn’t touch them with a 10 foot pole. I started writing for them with a 3 star rating. After only 5 articles I was put ‘on hold’ and couldn’t write any more until TB evaluated my articles. A week later, I’m still waiting.
And how much have I made at this pathetic site? $17 for five articles. Pathetic payrate doesn’t even begin to describe it.
If you want to be paid as a professional writer, and at acceptable rates, give Textbroker a wide berth. They’re making tons of money off their writers, while paying them peanuts. Scumbags.
I have been writing for TB for a couple months, and I love it. Are there any other sites that are like it that pay as well? I use Constant Content a little, but I don’t like that several people can submit articles at the same time for one job. Thanks!
How long does it take TB to review you first five articles? I submitted my fifth one this morning and I got the message I have to wait for them to review them and provide feedback. Thanks.
i love TB…no problems…I have my good days and bad. Sometimes I feel like writing, sometimes I don’t. I have favorite clients that I can trust to like what I write. Some articles have simple instructions, and some I don’t need to research at all! I pass on the ridiculous instructions that take longer to understand than time needed to write the article. A GREAT way to earn extra money!!
I signed up with Textbroker about a year ago when I first started writing. They were the first content company I got on with with was very easy for a writer with no samples, no resume, and no experience. I was rated a three and once I got over the initial fear I actually started submitting articles I made a couple hundred dollars. The fact that the pay is low is probably the worst thing about it all but it’s money and even $20 here and there is better than $0!
I was outsourced a level five Textbroker article from a person that is rated a five with them. I wrote it, she submitted it and they accepted it in about half an hour. From that experience I cannot help but wonder why they have yet to move me up to a higher level but then again, because I make more with Quality Gal, I do not write for Textbroker often. I typically take more Textbroker articles when there is nothing to do at Quality Gal.
Quality Gal does not have levels. When you get on with them you write articles which start at $12 – $15. The articles range from 700 + words and sometimes there is quite a bit of hyperlinks involved but either way I would rather make $12 than I would $4. On average I can make and have made $50 + a week with them when the work is available and depending on how fast and often I work.
Quality Gal pays more but their articles involve a higher word count and a lot of links. If you have a question or concern about anything though, shoot them an email and someone is very quick to answer which is something I love. You submit an invoice on Thursday and money is in your Paypal Friday….every week. Textbroker doesn’t pay as well for the lower levels but there is usually always something to do on the level three pay scale. Everything has always been accepted and I have never had to rewrite anything with them. I also get paid when I cash out and you can do that twice a month. From personal experience both of these companies are great to work for.
When you’re just starting out definitely sign on with Textbroker because they are easy to get on with and it will help you gain confidence in your writing. Then start working your way into other companies to make sure you always have something to do. It’s better to have income from multiple streams rather than just one. I’m happy with both companies and any income is better than no income. :)
Crystal
I signed up with Textbroker last month. In the 2 weeks that I wrote before the pay period ended, I made $89. I sent my w-9, linked my PayPal to my account and voila, the money arrived as promised. For a stay at home mom of three kids, who does not have many hours to write, I was more than pleased! I only choose articles that I am interested in. I choose articles about subjects that I’m actually interested in learning about. It’s a lot of fun and I’m very thankful for Textbroker. All the interactions I’ve had with Textbroker and clients have been very nice ones.
You’ll make more money collecting cans than you will writing for Textbroker. If you’re serious about making some money as a freelance writer I would stick to forums or contacting people you know. There are a lot of companies out there that need content written for legit purposes other than SEO and are willing to pay a hundred times more than what Textbroker pays.
I am not sure why visitor Mat, who commented above, had such a bad experience on Textbroker but I can say that I’ve been writing for them for about four months and absolutely love it. My initial writing sample was given a rating of 4, and I do consider myself to be a fairly good writer, adept in many areas. Since I have a college degree in multiple subjects and have continued my education in many areas since graduating, I have found that I often have to do very little research on most articles I write. I was recently upgraded to a rating of 5 because I had consistently scored fours on all of my articles for quite some time. The most I have made in a single month (two payouts) is about $600. I am a stay-at-home mom with a working husband, so this is a pretty decent flow of supplemental income for my family. I will continue writing for Textbroker and have not even bothered branching into other sites. I only have time to do this about 2 hours a day, so making an extra $400 on average a month for such little time spent working is right up my alley. I highly recommend Textbroker and urge those interested to just keep working at it. Your writing and your confidence will improve. Also, since being bumped up to a 5, I have received tons of direct orders, which pay quite a bit more. I just got one today, for example, that will pay me $18 for only 400 words. Not shabby, in my opinion.
Now they pay twice a month, on the 5th and 20th. I highly recommend Textbroker for a beginner looking to break into the freelance writing field