Experience of freelance websites?

[chitofftheshovel]

I know i am not being unreasonable to ask, but posting here for traffic, really.
I am currently self employed, my main work is personal assistant/career/companion but I also have a few cleaning jobs. I have a degree in journalism but have never really used it for one reason or another.
My main client has had to reduce my hours drastically because she has had cuts in the financial assistance she receives. So I need to find something quick to tide me over.

I'm a single mum to two DC, 9 and 11 with pretty much no support so need something relatively flexible (eldest's school had to close last week, I had to collect etc).
So, it has got me thinking about home based work. Has anyone had any experience of this that they can share with me? I've had a look at the "people per hour" website and feel I would be capable of carrying out some of the requests. What other sites are there and how do you rate them? Or any other ideas as to how to get home based freelance (copywriting
/proofreading etc) work.

I'd love to hear your experience's.

You don't necessarily need a qualification to be a proofreader. I don't have one and I have worked as a copy editor on a well-known magazine and a stone sub on a national newspaper. (Admittedly, that was a long time ago, when that sort of work was fairly easy to get and very well-paid.)

The trouble with a lot of these freelancer websites is that people don't want to pay a decent rate, especially to newcomers, and some don't want to pay at all, so you will spend a lot of time chasing money and not getting it.

SGB - You don't necessarily need a qualification to be a proofreader. I don't have one and I have worked as a copy editor on a well-known magazine and a stone sub on a national newspaper. (Admittedly, that was a long time ago, when that sort of work was fairly easy to get and very well-paid.)

I think things have changed. Hundreds of newbies are joining SfEP every month, from many different backgrounds. Editing/proofing work may be easy to come by, but it's not as well paid now (if it ever was), depending on genre, due to publishers making cutbacks, etc. Now, to show you are qualified and committed to your career, I think it's essential to be trained.

A lot of these PPH websites are just a race to the bottom, with people from developing countries/newbies pricing experienced proofreaders/editors out, just because they want the gig. Unfortunately, the people posting the jobs often have no idea what makes a qualified proofreader, so they end up hiring the cheapest and being disappointed.

And: Plastic - It's not just spelling and grammar, it's knowing where to hyphen a word over a line break and whether perfume names should be in italics or not. It's a lot more specialised than it looks.

And you've barely scraped the surface there. Look at www.sfep.org.uk/about/faqs/what-is-copy-editing/ for a definition of copy-editing.

It really gets my goat when people think they can spell and so they can be a proofreader. It's like me saying 'well, I can put on a plaster and give a tablet so I'll be a GP'!!

I wasn't too keen on PPH. Just too many writers from around the world and rates were too low. I made some extra cash from Copify, Wait.co.uk and Great Content. It can be disheartening though. Clients want so much for so little money.

Gumtree sometimes has remote writing jobs too. Look under the editorial category of the jobs board.

The trouble with a lot of these freelancer websites is that people don't want to pay a decent rate, especially to newcomers, and some don't want to pay at all, so you will spend a lot of time chasing money and not getting it

Not true with People Per Hour at least. I've been on there for about 5 years, I rarely bid for work any more as I have a few clients I work with regularly and who approach me with work. I have built up a good relationship with them and there is a level of trust there. On PPH you can have money paid upfront. This is then held in escrow by the site and when the job is complete, you send the invoice and the money is released. I have only ever had one client go rogue on me - work was done by me and uploaded as promised, he completely vanished and wouldn't respond to emails or messages and ignores invoiced. It took about a month, but because I'd asked for payment up front, I got my cash.

It's also true that there are a lot of crappy sellers and crappy buyers too. If you see an advert stating "You right me good content" you just scroll on by as it's clear the buyer isn't serious. It's not hard to work out which clients are serious - they give you a proper brief and set a realistic budget. All of the clients I work with are UK based - they want another UK based person to work with, someone who knows the local market, can write in British and not US English, and who has shit hot spelling and grammar. They are willing to pay more for quality. I will not work for buyers from the Indian subcontinent, the Caribbean or Africa - they are used to writers who charge $2 or less for 500 words and expect that sort of pricing. Quantity over quality.

Having said all that, all of these freelancing websites are about reputation. I have 5 years worth of positive feedback from other clients for people to look through. They know when they are looking at my profile that I will do what I say and deliver on time, and they have hundreds of testimonials saying just that. If you're new, getting that first job or two is the hardest part and yes I do think it's worth bidding very low on a couple of small projects to get that feedback and reputation. It's a strategy which worked for me.

Earnings can vary hugely on PPH but it depends what you want out of it. I want to work 8 to 10 hours per week as a maximum and at a time which suits me, and the freelancing sites allow me to do that.

I'm afraid I would have to agree with Constance. You would need to spend some money upskilling before you even thought about registering on on of these sites. I'm not saying you couldn't do it; but you have basic grammar errors endemic in your writing that need correcting and there is such a level of competition. I know it's hard. Are there other skills you could offer? Do you have any hobbies you could potentially turn into income?

Still no advice about the name and anonymity issue? :(

I'm surprised by the drubbing the OP is getting. I know someone who's been an editor for about 15 years and who does not apply her work standards to informal text she writes on social media, especially from a tablet or phone. Never mind some barely-GCSE-standard online posts I've seen by professional writers with postgrads from prestigious universities. It's a register more similar to speech than to a formal document.

I have to say that the anonymity doesn't bother me. I use my real first name and initial of my first name, so along the lines of Jane A. I also have my real photo and use a real email address. I think in my experience clients want to know they are dealing with a bona fide UK person - not someone from Bangladesh or Nigeria who is claiming their name is Keith or Brenda. I suppose that if there are privacy issues then you could call yourself something completely different, and with PPH you're paid directly into your account, not through Paypal.

One thing to remember with PPH is the commission - you pay 15% on everything you earn up to £175 per month, and then 2% on everything after that. You're not allowed to suggest clients pay you direct to avoid fees.

I suppose that if there are privacy issues then you could call yourself something completely different, and with PPH you're paid directly into your account, not through Paypal.

I remember having to upload proof of address and possibly a bank account number on a letterhead for PPH to pay me (signed up fairly recently) - this would prevent the above, no?

For what it's worth, I use my real first name, initial and location for PPH, but not my photo.

I'm not bothered by the OP's standard of spag. As I said upthread I'd be more concerned that she might think that's all copy-editing is about, when there's a whole lot more to it than that.

place marking just on my way out but will reply when I get back :)

itsmecathee I was trying not to be mean, but I think the OP's issues have nothing to do with the informality of her post. Writing I would love to hear your experience's indicates the OP doesn't know the proper use of possessives. An editor would NEVER make a mistake like that, either in formal or informal writing.

This is really interesting - I considered joining PPH a year ago but just thought it would be impossible to get clients when starting from zero feedback. How long did people take to get first sale? I am a full-time copywriter / proofreader / editor - just words and making myself blind with small print but would like to build up some new clients

User I remember starting out and panicking because it took me quite a few bids to get a job. And then it was a really small one, in fact the first few were really small. But then it got better, possibly because I had feedback but I think what was really key was that I learned how to make my bids more attractive. I learned what worked.

As I said I don't use PPH as much, mainly due to having a lot of regular clients and I use Bark.com much more and find it much more UK oriented. I also use networking events too as it's often easier to build a client relationship in person. I always try to speak to clients over the phone or via Skype/Facetime at least as it's truly important if you want a long client relationship to get on the clients wavelength.

The key is not to get depressed/panick about getting that first job, it will come.

I'm a qualified journalist (NOT for the Daily Mail or any newspapers - don't beat me! I never trawl MN for info, not that kind of journo/writer) and tend to write for the same band of clients - 4 or 5 of them - most specialised websites as I have another specialist qualification that I can write about in depth.
I've used Upwork and PPH - not for ongoing jobs but an odd one here and there that has then lead to more work from the same people.

I would agree with everyone who has said that proofreading is competitive and has many facets - in many cases, as well as knowing the ins and outs of grammar, pull quotes, hyphenating etc, you also need to be familiar with the shorthand system that many companies/publications use.

I'm not saying give up by any means, if you're determined you can definitely make it work for you, but you may need to work on your CV with a course minimum before you start applying.

Good luck!

Thanks Sportinguista - most of my clients are from my previous job and I was very determined to make freelance work for me so I didn't push in terms of money. However I have a decent salary although want to start off with a couple of newer clients at higher rates - will look at the sites mentioned thanks

Also I agree with the comments about proofreading being competitive - even if you already have a knack for it you need to have something on cv to get a start. What have you studied previously? Most of the people I work with have done undergrad and postgrad in English literature or some type of media and then some have done short courses specifically after that. Depends who you want to work for as well - in literary publishing you really do need an English lit background, corporate copywriting not so much. Also corporate is more money generally if you can get it. Except not such a regular turnover of work.

sporting you've spurred me on to sign up to Bark. Looks good!

user I had the same concerns with PPH. I signed up on the 10th of October (so barely a month ago). My first job came via a bit of luck, I think. I hadn't had any clients but I had uploaded a few images of previous work I'd done - I'm a CV writer and I added photos of a few particularly eye-catching designs. About a week after I'd signed up, with no feedback on the site, someone invited me to bid for an urgent job.

At that moment I was standing outside the BFI waiting to go into the cinema, so I quickly typed a proposal and more or less pulled a quote out my bum - £180. To my astonishment, they accepted . I delivered that job and got a 5-star review. Most of my work is unfortunately at a lower price point, but things have gone well from there and I'm seeing more and more clients contacting me directly before I even bid for work.

If you're on the fence, I'd suggest you sign up and give it a go. I think very few people do it full-time, but you can certainly use it to supplement your income.

Hope it works for you Hummus. I certainly found it reasonably easy. I've found it is better in terms of being more UK and locally focused so the quality of the jobs and pay is somewhat better.