Ask HN: Where can I find high quality writing services?
I'm looking for someone to write high quality article/blog post (about NYC). There are tons of companies I could go with, but I'm completely unfamiliar with this whole area. Any recommendations? My budget is 100-300$ per article. I'd recommend checking out https://scripted.com/ and https://www.textbroker.com/ - I've heard good things about both. We're also launching a content delivery service over at http://www.camayak.com/, but it's new so you'd be an early customer for a beta service. I have a close friend who is in your price range, depending on the length of the article. He's written for Business Insider, Cosmo, and Brooklyn Daily Eagle (from NYC). Contact me at smt88hn@gmail.com and I'll forward his info. Check these out, You have to be kidding. And I mean full John McEnroe "You cannot be serious." First of all $150 for a 750-word article would be a good payment. Assuming you aren't asking for more words than that ("blog post" suggests no), you can have your pick of people. Second, evaluating writers is the simplest damned task in the world. Read their frigging code. Third, average reading speed is 200 words a minute, so you could read an entire submission in less than five minutes. Practically speaking, you would probably need less. Elance and Odesk merged and are now called Upwork. If you posted the job (number of articles, average length) and asked them to send you sample pieces and an online portfolio, you would be overwhelmed. Even if you insisted that they have a verified business address within 50 miles of Manhattan, you'd still have a fire hose to drink from. I wouldn't entirely recommend Craigslist, but you can find a lot of people there-- some of whom are very good and still struggling to make ends meet-- if you don't mind swatting away the 8-balls who will apply (CL gives you a custom email for replies, so you won't deal with them forever.) Writers tend not to hang out there, but Behance or Dribble do have some. Let me close by restating my opening. Some questions that get posted here are difficult to answer; others have expectations are ridiculous. But the thing every freelance writer wants most is a steady stream of assignments that lets them make a pretty good income per sale. Four posts a week at $150 would be $600, which is $15 an hour-- enough to pay bills. Your request is comparable to posting "I'm a supermodel who really enjoys having sex with men with small penises and no social skills. Can anyone on HN help me?" Your big problem would be people thinking you must be a scam, because your request sounds too good to be true. UPDATE: There are, by and large, two broad types of writers: extroverts who promote themselves capably, but might or might not have equally good skills, and introverts who lock themselves away and aren't great at self-promotion. The first group is pretty easy to find, but often not worth the price. The second group takes some hunting but can give you better results for less. Well. I'm not kidding at all. I read a bunch of reviews as for the Elance/Odesk/Upwork/Etc. Most of what I heard is "stay away from them if you are looking for something really good". I also found a couple companies that do (as per reviews) a relatively good job. But the prices are crazy ($300-500 per article). Some other companies say "30$ for 1000 words article". So I was a bit confused about all of these costs. What do you mean by "really good"? Spelt right and mildly engaging, or the next EB White's "This is New York"? First you'll find on Upwork or Textbroker no problem. Latter will be a long search for a great writer who creates exactly the work you want. Writing is like most other unregulated professional services in that costs vary wildly, as does quality, and the two are not necessarily correlated. Get samples, ask friends for recommendations, find blog posts you like and e-mail the authors, give small easily completed sample tasks that grow into big assignments and build a solid relationship with one vendor over time. Elance and Odesk merged to become Upwork. What you heard about those sites is incorrect-- or, more precisely, incomplete. It's like my saying "A lot of the people on GitHub couldn't build a program to display 'Hello World!'" Many of the writers on Upwork who bid on jobs are worthless-- people who have trouble writing a coherent sentence. Others are fronts for offshore content mills. You will also find (1) copywriters who got thrown out of work when their ad/PR agency folded, (2) reporters who have been laid off as their papers shrunk, (3) staff writers for magazines who quit to have kids (or, if they're men) raise a child, (4) retirees who need cash, (5) people with disabilities who need to work from home or (6) someone working 40 hours, but looking to moonlight to make extra cash. Unlike (say) database administration, where you can't judge competence from a resume, you can evaluate a writer's ability in 30 seconds-- ask for a writing submission and read what they write. The $300-500 places price for one job-- that assumes they do it, you go away and they never see you again. Part of the cost is the research time they need to become knowledgeable. For people who can provide a steady income stream, they charge a lot less. I think it's simpler to find one of the many people who need work-- and would kill for a chance to make $100-$300 a piece-- but it's up to you. $150 for a 750 word article? are you mad? If they are working full-time and only pumping out 4 posts a week... well... I think you need to look for another writer. I have hired teams of writers before and they should be pumping out at least 2 750 word articles a day. > UPDATE: There are, by and large, two broad types of writers: extroverts who promote themselves capably, but might or might not have equally good skills, and introverts who lock themselves away and aren't great at self-promotion. That in itself is a broad swath of a statement, and not necessarily true. Why does being an extrovert have to be correlated with being and impostor, and introvert just simply these poor humble victims whose talents are overlooked? What I saying is, if you're looking for work - applying for jobs is never the time to be humble. And if you are already confident, being humble won't help you. 1. What part of the phrase "might or might not" wasn't clear to you? 2. Where in "introverts who lock themselves away and aren't great at self-promotion" do you see any assertion about talent? What you're saying is a word salad, primed by not reading what I wrote carefully. I'm the founder of CoNorth.co (thanks for the recommendation, vigneshrams!). We work with many startups and our rates start from $150. We also offer a money back guarantee. If you have any questions or would like further info, you are more than welcome to email me directly: chris@conorth.co I dunno if it is within budget but checkout https://scripted.com/ I remember it was considered one of the highest quality services out there (never used it personally, though). Check these out, I've been a writer and editor for six years, but I'm currently also a grad student, so I'm always looking for work. My email address is in my profile. I posted something here, then deleted it to protect my privacy. I do freelance work. You can email me for a copy of what I posted earlier. Best of luck.