I just saw a job posting at Elance that offered a project with a budget of “over $100,000.”
No, it wasn’t for writing 10 million articles. It was for writing some study materials (textbook-esque materials) for a nurses’ exam. I was very inspired by this. Not inspired enough to sign back up for Elance (I’m lapsed) and bid on the project. But I was inspired that Elance appears to be offering more than just bargain basement offers by Internet guys trying to buy a bunch of writing cheaply.
The reason I don’t like those pitches for “write an ebook, 200 pages, for $200, need by Thursday” is not just because they don’t pay well. Perhaps in some markets they pay well enough. Perhaps for some writers they pay enough. But the real reason I don’t like them is that competent, experienced writers can command more money. This means that a lot of people bidding on bargain work really are saying, “Hey, it’s just an ebook! It’s just some articles! They don’t have to be good.”
And they can’t be good. This is a true story. Years ago I was getting some work through Elance (which is a fine thing to do, I think) and I stumbled upon a guy who wanted to write a book on how a person might reduce his need for sleep dramatically. He said he wanted to claim that a person could be perfectly fit and functional and fresh with just 2-3 hours of sleep a night. I bid on the project. I bid quite high–much higher than my competitors–because I learned a long time ago that you should ask for what you want, even if you don’t get it.
To my surprise, the person who wanted the 2-3 hours of sleep book responded and we had quite a lively conversation. He was quite willing to pay my fee and we negotiated some of the other details, and then I asked the question. It derailed the whole project.
The question was simple. “How does this work?” I wanted to know what his secret method was, how he could reduce a person’s need for sleep without compromising health or well-being or alertness.
He said, “That’s your job! You figure it out!”
That turned me off Elance for a long while, although it was not the fault of Elance. I just realized that a lot of customers shopping for writing figured that writers were not only stupid enough to work for peanuts, we were also magicians who could figure out how to defy the laws of health and nature.
This current job offer on Elance to the tune of $100,000 plus may not be what it seems– I have yet to explore it. But it may mark the point at which bona fide organizations with real projects and real budgets start to use Elance to find real writers. That would be so awesome. I might even renew my Elance subscription.
