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.
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.
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 excellent writing ability. The 5 star rating is reserved for professional writers, and I’m not 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 asking for 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 monthly, on the 10th of the month.
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.
Ready to make real and legitimate money online? Click here to discover the top recommendation I give to everyone who asks.
64 Responses
I began the sign-up process for this site, however I found that the terms of service seems to take away all rights to your work after you submit it to them. This is different from what I’ve seen on other sites, where you allow them to alter/modify/distribute your work but you still retain authorship. It seems as though on this site they can take your work and claim it as their own. ‘sole and exclusive rights’ is how it is expressed by them. If I am in error and this is how all sites handle written submissions, please let me know.
It is only for those within the U.S.Joe,please give us something international
I’ve signed up with Textbroker too. In 2 days, I wrote 5 articles on law topics and was paid $11.50 for them. Its easy freelance writing if you have a talent for writing. I hope to up my ratings and get direct orders from customers.
I wanted to leave an update on Textbroker since writing about this site a few weeks ago. I am coming up on my first payout and will have close to $85 going into my Paypal account. I have written 15 articles by now, some as small as 200 words and some over 800 words. My pay rate has been 1.4 cents per word. I have not had a single article rejected or not paid for, though I did have to revise two articles with some minor changes.
I’ve had several Direct Orders (as opposed to Open Orders, which are available to all writers for writing) come to me through my Textbroker Inbox, and I’ve also been recently contacted by a Webmaster to be the copy editor for his site. He asked me to set my own rate for a 500 word article, which allowed me to increase my pay rate dramatically (I asked for 2 cents per word). This was all due to my writing articles for Textbroker.
It is true that with Textbroker, you are selling all rights to what you write. Depending on the nature of your article, then, you may not wish to sell it on Textbroker. However, the pay rate on this site is higher than many online freelance sites (like Associated Content), and the acceptance rate is also better (as opposed to Constant Content).
I will keep you all posted on new developments with this site.
I wanted to post a correction to the position I was offered recently, thanks to Textbroker.com…it is for copyright editor.
[...] gave us an update on Textbroker.com (click the link to read the whole thing): I wanted to leave an update on Textbroker since writing [...]
Update! Today I received my entire month’s payment from Textbroker- a whopping $77.63! I have some additional money in that account that did not carry over, because it was under $10 when the 5th of the month came (which is the cutoff for payouts for a given month). I am very happy.
Another nice thing: Textbroker pays through Paypal, and Paypal does not charge a fee for the Textbroker funds transfer (unlike when you have money paid via Ebay- who owns Paypal, of all things!). So, I received every last penny of the money I had earned. In this respect, Textbroker is much like Associated Content and Constant Content: all the money you earn comes to you without a kickback going to Paypal.
It’s month #2 since I began writing articles for Textbroker, and my payout was $138.81 this time! Which is nice, since it covered my recent commencement into the Niche Blitzkrieg system of Michael Brown.
I’ve used it too, but I found it retarded. Anyone else? The article assignments are something like, “Write 250 words about bumblebees. Make sure you use the word bumblebees 12 times.” And I keep thinking, what about bumblebees? Who is reading this? Where is it being published and for what purpose? But none of this is ever explained.
Hi, everyone, well, one thing that makes me bitter on their service is so-called editing rate! I can’t fully understand that “tricks” Imagine, I have written for so many companies, and individuals. And none had paid me less that 0.02 cent per word. Whereas in text broker, after my application text, I was rated 2 stars! I continued and wrote more 15 articles, then sulk back to 1 stars! For that reason, I gave them a quite!
I would like to know the seceret of sucess in textbroker, though
Bobby,
I believe that you’ve been rated two stars and then only one star because, judging solely from your above post, your level of grammar is lacking. If you’d like to be successful on Textbroker you will need to work on your writing skills. If you’re serious about getting a higher score (and therefore are open to genuine advice without hostility) consider purchasing Strunk and White’s Elements of Style, a book of grammar and solid writing techniques considered to be the Writer’s Bible for decades.
As of two days ago, I am now marked as a professional writer by Textbroker. This means that I can claim articles spcified as 5-stars. Payout on 5 star articles is 5 cents a word- not bad! The only problem? I can not find these 5-star articles in the least. Most of Textbroker’s clients ask for 2, 3, and 4 star authors only. However, I’ll keep on looking.
I’ve been using textbroker for a few months. I don’t know of another site where you can just pick an article and write it. However, I’m curious to know how much textbroker makes off my writing.
Usually, assignments are just a few dollars each, so I only use it when there is nothing else going on. I get paid a lot better from freelance bidding sites. I did, however, stumble across an assignment for multiple articles that won me about $100 for a day’s work. That was a really nice day!
I would not recommend textbroker as a sole source of income, but it is a great tool for freelancers who may need to supplement their work flow stream.
Dear killfive:
Textbroker makes a 25% commission on top of the fee charged by you to the client. You can see this when you look up individual clients on the site, or go to the clients’ area of the web site. It’s not much, compared to places like Constant Content (who cut off a third of your earnings for their commission, and have you charge more as a result- which of course leads to fewer sales for you).
The nice thing about Textbroker is that, once you achieve 5 star author status, you start getting direct clients with whom you can haggle for better money and unique assignments. For example, I am currently involved with an IT company and rewriting their web pages, and I’m trying to see if they will pay me an up-front fee to do search engine and keyword optimization too.
I just started writing for them last week, and specifically searched for a forum like this to see others’ experiences. Because I’m so new with them, I don’t have much to offer, but I’m glad to see everyone was paid, and Hally’s info was interesting and encouraging.
The first article I submitted was rated excellent by the client, and was accepted almost immediately, though not assigned a rating by Textbroker. I proceeded to write four more articles. To date, I have no feedback for the other four.
When I submitted the fifth article, a message popped up that I would not be allowed to submit more until Textbroker rated my submitted articles, and that could take up to a week. I remain in a limbo state until they get around to rating them, I guess. I’m sure they’re inundated, but I wish they would eliminate writers exhibiting poor skills because I think reviewing their work is very time consuming for Textbroker, and it slows the production process for their clients and for their good writers. (I don’t wish to be rude, so I won’t name names, but there’s a comment herein for which I have not a clue to the commentator’s meaning because the comment is little more than gibberish.)
As the site becomes better known, a potential problem I see is that if there are more poor writers than good writers, the client base will not only shrink, but the dissatisfied clients will not have paid for work that was unsatisfactorily completed. Textbroker can afford to pay because their clients pay them. If too much sub-standard writing is submitted, there’s going to be a gap in the flow of income to Textbroker, and the ability to make timely payments to their good writers might be affected.
I joined Textbroker a couple of months ago and have really enjoyed it so far. The first month I only made about $11.00, but the second month I cashed out $209.16. I figure if I’m having fun with something and getting paid for it at the same time, it’s definitely an added bonus. I’m pretty new to the online writing world and although my confidence in my own writing skills is lacking, I am happy that I was recently upgraded from three star status to four stars. I was a little intimidated at first about writing four star articles, but it has ended up working pretty well and the thing I like about Textbroker is that if there is anything they don’t like about an article you write, you get a chance to edit it and still get paid. Textbroker has boosted the confidence I have in my writing abilities and added some extra money to my pocket as well. I now hope to start making even more money online through Textbroker and other sources such as eHow and blogging. We’ll see how that goes!
Nice article, as i write for textbroker and just wrote an artice for 12.00 tonight, it took some time but i gotitdone!!!!!
I also write for accoiated content and enjoy them as much as you seem to.
I also have just started with textbroker. Actually, about 3 days ago and have made 12 dollars. I like textbroker. I write for Associated Content as well and enjoy their site. I am not as concerned with republishing the content else where, I can do that with AC. I believe, if I read the TOA correctly, that the client has the right to refuse the article, and at this point textbroker will pick it up. Also if an author’s work falls below a 2 rating, textbroker will end the contract with author.
I started writing for textbroker a few months ago. I was directly assigned 4 stars and started writing the 4 star-required articles. I have stopped writing for them now because of the following:
- the pay is, simply put, ridiculous. A decent writer who actually cares about writing can not work 2 hours for an article that gets paid $3.45. Most of the articles require serious research and can not be done in 10 minutes, if you do quality work. The clients pay so low and yet dare to be so demanding. Just ridiculous.
- most of articles are for search engine optimization. So most of the times, all you`re asked is to repeat a keyword 50 times in an article. About Montreal real estate agencies. About Connecticut Bankruptcy Lawyers. The content almost does not matter. Your article can be like shit, it`s no problem as long as the keyword is there the required number of times. So if you imagine you`re going to write a well-researched, poetic article you can pass.
- of course, you lose all copyrights on your article. And don`t know where/how it will show up.
Globally, i would say that any decent and quality writer who has a little bit of self-esteem for himself and his work can not accept to write for 1.4 cent a word. Don`t get excited about the 5-star rates, there are almost no articles for that category and it still barely pays like 5 cent a word. Why would a client even pay 5 cent a word when there is an army of 4-star writers begging to write for 1.4 cent a word ? Then again, if you`re ok to copy/paste keywords and fool yourself pretending you`re writing, and all of this for $20-50 a month on articles about Delaware vacation rentals, it`s another story.
I can never figure out how to get Constant-Content to work. Currently I work for TB and the pay is normally so much better at Constant-Content; I would like to do a little of both (and work less for more money!!) But every time I get an email that there’s a new Constant Content request, I write an article in about an hour’s time and by then the case is closed!
Going into the school year being able to work a little less and make the same money would help me so much, but it seems as though you have to race against everyone else to get your article to Constant Content! Could someone please advise on how I can use it regularly?! Thanks
I can’t get signed up with PayPal and therefore no money from Textbroker. Every article I wrote weas accepted but I can’t hassle with PayPal anymore and Textbroker is no help, so I’m just screwed.
I was wondering where you all get your expertise on the assignments? Do you all happen to have an expertise on the subjects, or do you research them on the net then put the article into your own words? I submitted my article, but it was too close to what was already on another website. I certainly don’t want to copy someone else’s work, but I’m not sure how to gather information on a subject.
Hi all,
First to Julie. You are allowed to research the internet to write your articles – sometimes the client will even give you the website they wish you to use. What i do is pull 2 or 3 different webpages, (depending on how informative the article needs to be), read them, take the info i need to bring my article to together – then put it in my own words from there.
As far as expertise goes, you don’t need it. Case in point – I had to write an article on Dirty Armpits – Who in the world would claim expertise on that? lol – (although I did receive an “excellent” rating from the client so I guess that would be me). But my point is – you definitely don’t have to be an expert when you pick your subject article – but you might end up an expert, albeit involuntarily, by the time you’re done writing it.
I like TB a lot. They pay on time, they answer questions, they’re fair and they’re accessible. No – TB is NOT a place for professional freelance writers searching to make the big bucks, but if you’re looking to hone up on writing skills, needing some extra mullah, or just like figuring out what kind of people want to know about dirty armpits – then it’s definitely for you!
Just as an FYI, I just looked up textbroker on the Nevada Better Business Bureau and they have textbroker at a rating of “F”. The reason they site is that they do not have enough information about them to determine if they are legitimate. They could not locate a business license. Their recommendation was to use them at your own risk. That said, not having info. on them isn’t the same as if they found that they were doing something criminal or shady.
Because of where my husband works, he sees a lot of identity theft. He was concerned about me giving our personal information to some place that we know nothing about. My thought was that even though they are paying out doesn’t mean that they couldn’t be using people’s identity for things.
This is why I looked them up on BBB. The good news, is that I found about 3 or 4 websites like this that have good things to say about them.
I got my first article submitted and was very excited about that. I really want to use them, but I’m not sure about it. I have an e-mail to the Chamber of Commerce about them. I’ll let you know if I find anything out.
I think the bbb lacks info on Textbroker because it’s a German based company that just has its US headquarters in Nevada. You could find out how it ranks in in Germany.
Good point ell. Nevada has really business friendly tax laws and so, many companies form their LLCs in the state.
I have been writing for TB for about 5 months now and being a SAHM, I use it as my sole source of income. I set my goal for about $15-$20 (about 4 hours of work) each day, which comes out to be $550 a month. What I like about TB is that it’s straightforward, no uploading pictures or videos, or wondering what you’re going to write about.
However, the pay is ridiculously low, and at times, insulting. Although I am a level 4, most of the work available is at level 2 or 3. Perhaps worse off is that many clients have a long list of instructions and criteria that only adds confusion and frustration to writing the article. Not always worth it for a few dollars.
My tactic – I focus on the clients I like, and I know ahead of time what I’m getting paid. So those clients who want to pay you $2.10 for an article can’t expect too much. Yet while I have my gripes, it’s offered me a paycheck that I can’t complain about.
I signed up with Textbroker a few days ago, and all has gone well. I am wondering, though, how darned long does it take for them to rate my first five articles? I’m stuck at a standstill until they get that done, so the money I could be making is flying right out the window. Do I have to endure this process each and every time I have submitted five articles? I was under the impression that people who write for Textbroker bang them out, one right after the other. Being a struggling college student, I’d be glad to do that, were it not for having to wait for my rating…
They do get behind on rating sometimes. It might be because you are new. I used to bang them out one after the other, but I’ve moved on to making more money. I’d have to be in pretty bad shape to write there again…
In the mean time, you should go over eCopywriters to see if you can sign on there. They pay a little better than Textbroker. Sign up is super quick, but it sometimes takes them FOREVER to approve an article. I have a few still waiting from months ago.
You can also go to Associated Content to see if you can get some upfront payment articles. You can also try Helium Marketplace.
The best job board is at http://www.guru.com. I think you can bid on a few jobs free there.
Finally, you can try selling some articles on http://www.constant-content.com. Pick topics that sell well. These include electronics comparisons, anything about the iPhone or Google, and anything about Internet marketing. Health topics should do well there too, but I’ve had more luck with these other topics. I sell articles for about $60 and get $39 out of it after the commission. It would take forever to make that much off Textbroker. OF course you could write it not make a sale. That happens sometimes.
If you want to know more or hunt down some good telecommute writing jobs, come see me at killfive.
Good Luck!
Nope, it does not take “forever” to make $60 or so on Textbroker and I usually make between $50 and $100 per day. The amount that they transferred into my Paypal account on 01/06/2010 was over $1,200. I guess it just depends on how much time you want to spend writing =)
I guess $50 – $100 isn’t bad, but writing one or two articles for $80 beats working at textbroker all day for the same money. I find textbroker a bit of a grind for the level of work needed versus the pay. I think the most I ever made in a day there was $90. Also, I live in an expensive area. I couldn’t survive on less than $150 per day.
I just found out about TB a few days ago. I have only submitted one article which was rated 3 stars. I feel it’s a good site for freelance writers seeking another avenue to earn a quick buck; however, I think I’ll pass on it. I can already tell that the majority of work is for the low rating pay. Plus, by the time I get through researching and writing some of these articles, I might as well keep it for myself and retain my rights to it.
I buy articles on textbroker every week. Once someone like me finds a good writer we give them tons of work. My average article cost $10.00 and I get 4 or 5 at a time. So my favorite writer makes a couple hundred a month from me.
Couple hints. Don’t put anything about your kids or family in article. Some of the writers just don’t get it. I, knorr my readers want to hear about your kids.
Lists. Argg the dreaded lists always pop up with amateur writers. Paragraphs are where its at.
Do a little keyword research. Tell the customer that you did it. Takes 2 seconds and you will have a customer forever.
Only write about what you know. People can tell that you did research and basically re-purposed another’s work. I for one know everything about my niches and have read most of the others sites in my niches.
Just thought these tips might help those new to TB. Good writers can do well their.
I’ve used TextBroker for a month or so now, and only do it on a casual basis. I’m a level 4, and try to write only 4-star articles for the higher money, although I will take a 2 or 3-star sometimes (but my work is always rated 4-star). One of my problems is that some of the instructions are really lacking, because there is no basic direction (like “Atlanta camera shops”), and I don’t want to spend a good deal of time writing an article only to have it rejected because they wanted it on a different aspect of the topic (reviews? where they are? customer service? what products they sell?). The other big problem is that most of the articles are on topics that I would have to research before writing, and when you add the time spent researching to the time spent writing, it often works out to taking an hour (in between caring for my kids) to write a $2 article, which isn’t much. Since I’m doing it on a casual basis, I look at it as $2 is better than nothing, but I’ve decided to be more picky if I can. Some articles are a dream and a breeze for me to write, like “Frugal Valentine’s Day Gift Ideas” — right up my alley, and took just a short time. Others, like “Arizona colleges,” took more. And some (native French speaker??) were not worth looking at. Oh, but that reminds me of another thing — several of the articles I looked at require UK spelling and words. However, it’s usually not mentioned in the title, which requires you to click on the title, read the instructions and hope you spot it.
You need to give up your rights to the articles. Clients are paying for content that they can own, not content that you write for them, get paid for, and then redistribute or publish elsewhere. Especially on the web, nobody wants their content duplicated and/or published anyone else but on their own website.
Do you have to have a business license or something from your state for tax purposes if you work as an independent contractor for TB? If anyone has any info on how this pans out at tax time, I’d appreciate it.
I’ve been writing for TB for a few weeks now. The trick is to scroll through the article list and find the ones you know the most about. If you have to do a lot of research, it isn’t worth the time it takes.
The pay is low but if clients accept the article (and they must if you haven’t heard back in three days), you’re paid (there is a wait for PayPal transfers). You might have to wait up to a week for TB to rate your batch of articles. But they do give feedback and they have a blog now that has a lot of helpful advice.
I’m not a first-time freelancer so the low pay makes it a grind for me, but I can work at home until I find higher-paying work, so I appreciate that it’s available during this recession. I’m going to try out some of the other sites mentioned here in the comments–thanks for those suggestions, everyone.
Pluses: positive feedback for good writers. Reliable pay. Clear instructions about the entire process.
Minuses: very low pay (though higher than some). Sometimes a wait for email answers about administrative questions (I’ve never had to wait more than a day for answers to questions regarding an article I’m writing).
I haven’t gotten a payout yet, but that is only because I have not submitted my W9. I am a little upset that they require a W9 for every single author, even if you do not make any money, so I am going to wait a while before submitting it. It is true that some articles take 20 minutes while others take an hour. I try to pick topics I know something about, or those that require the least research for the buck. Unfortunately that means some of my time is spent searching, but that seems to be the way with freelancing anyway. At least with Textbroker, I feel like I am earning money and not just searching and bidding. Despite many articles being for SEO, there will be actual people reading many of them at some point. Also, I pick press releases and content written for business Web sites because I believe they are usually more legitimate requests than some of the purely seo rewrites of PC World or NY Times articles. I am still working out my rewrite ethics, but for right now, I would say that summarizing and citing is OK, while rewriting an entire magazine article for reuse on a Web site is not.
I’ve made okay money writing for Textbroker, but it can be a bit of a pain. The guy that was talking about bumblebees being a keyword and wanting 400 words on it kind of hit the nail on the head. For the most part, the clients do is take a keyword that they want to rank highly for on whatever site and ask you to write about it.
Does anyone know of a place better than Textbroker for doing this type of work? Maybe one that monitors what their clients post to make sure the requests make sense?
I’ve been using Textbroker for a few weeks now and I’ve had no problems or major complaints. My initial article was rated quickly and so were majority of my subsequent articles. Higher up on the page there were complaints about there not being many requests above level 3, but that’s not always the case. I write articles in computers, technology, programming, etc. and I’ve seen a decent number of level 4 and level 5 requests. In fact, there are mostly level 5 articles in the business, computer, fashion, hobbies, sport, and technology categories right now. Some of them even have hundreds. In the children category, there are ONLY level 5 articles.
It’s true that there are a lot of SEO requests, but I’ve found plenty of other topics that I know enough about. Also, the miscellaneous category has yielded good results since requests are sometimes categorized incorrectly by the client.
My favorite aspect of the site is the fact that I can freely choose my requests. Sometimes there’s even flexibility within a single request. In the programming category, for example, I wrote a “how to” article about C++ and was able to choose my focus.
Another aspect that I like is being able to change your mind about writing an article without being penalized for it. It comes in handy when a client becomes too demanding or your realize that the requested word count is a little too ambitious.
If you don’t write a lot of articles in a relatively short period of time, you probably won’t make a decent amount of money unless you’re a level 5 writer. After you submit your writing sample in order to be ranked by the Textbroker staff, the highest level you can qualify for is level 4. In order to reach level 5, you have to request reclassification after you’ve written 5-10 level 4 articles (according to the FAQ).
One thing to be cautious about are clients who want more than one article in a single request. I contacted support about the way a request was worded after contacting the client for clarification. One client wanted two 200 word articles written, but the total minimum word count of the request was only 200 words instead of 400 words. If this was allowed, the client would be receiving two articles for the price of one.
One last thing: Textbroker sets the price, not the client, unless it’s a direct order.
One problem that I ran into early on is running afoul of secret rules.
I read up on the company here, and after writing and submitting one article, I took Bill’s advice (“Do a little keyword research. Tell the customer that you did it. Takes 2 seconds and you will have a customer forever.”)
I offered a friendly message, through the Textbroker messaging system, to the requester that I tried to include a synonym keyword and maybe he should consider using it more often since it goes with his site and from everything I’ve seen, read and know from personal experience with a similar website, it gets better results.
Hours later I received a message, apparently from Textbroker, telling me that _any_ contact with the client is a violation of the terms of use and subject to legal action.
If the message really was from Textbroker, then its customers need to know TB reads and possibly censors messages going to the customer. If the message was from a middleman that’s using TB to get content for the end-client, then TB needs to be aware that third parties are threatening legal action against authors on their behalf.
I responded by saying I don’t think I did anything bad by contacting the client, through the procedure established for contacting the client, to suggest something that means more business for everyone involved and now I’m not sure whether or not I want to continue with TB.
It’s one thing knowing I’m writing disposable SEO on random concepts like the “best lawn tractor umbrellas in Wichita”, but it’s another to think that the company is acting like Big Brother by looking over every communication that’s made and threatening litigation. The pay just isn’t enough to really deal with this kind of drama.
I have been writing for TB for about two years, and have had no problems. My highest pay was over $3550 this past month, lowest bout $360 in Jan this year. I have been averaging about $700 a month since the beginning. I put together an ebook about writing for Textbroker that contains all I have learned and some short cuts. There also is a lot of information about TB and other writing websites on an interesting blog at No Job For Mom.
The company is responsive, they pay on time and in full. Clients are mostly very nice and the direct order clients are extra nice. You can set your direct order price at whatever you want above 1.5 cents per word. 5 cents per word would equal what clients pay for the category 5 articles.
I seems most comments on this blog about TB are negative. At No Job For Mom, people tell about much better experiences. Maybe the problem is that not everyone can do this type of work, even though they think they can. It is not that easy but if you can do it well, you can make money.
I signed up for textbroker a few days ago but haven’t written an article yet because I just feel a little strange about sending all of my personal information (full name, birth date, social security #) to Nevada (I’m in Pennsylvania).
Based on the comments on this site, it seems obvious that textbroker is legitimate insofar as people are getting paid; however, does anyone who has used the site for a year or more and regularly checks his or her credit rating have any insight as to whether this is a company that can be trusted with your personal information?
Having read all the pros and cons, I plan to sign-up for TB soon. Any advice on applying and writing that initial sample for consideration. I enjoy re-writing web site copy to enhance appeal and optimize keywords (SEO). What kind of sample writing are they looking for? Thank you.
I just started writing for Text Broker, and although the pay is piddly at times and some of the topics are pointless, I have had no other major problems yet.
They pay bi-weekly – on the 6th and the 20th. Both payments came in on time, the first was almost $300.
I’m happy with them, and I’ll keep using them until I can find something better.
Regarding complaints about poor money, TB has the rights, you can write crap as long as there are keywords, etc. Are you kidding?
Yes, I am a real writer. No, TB doesn’t pay real money. HOWEVER, the titles are wide open, simple to write to and can be fun. Any research is minimal. A decent writer does not need to invest the same amount of time required for a professional article. I am rated a level 4 writer and earn about $250 a week by choice. My last direct order for 30 articles netted $298, took a total of 14 hours, required two minor revisions and viola! money in PayPal. As a teacher I earned more than that in one day but also endured more stress, completed much more paperwork, fought traffic and parents on a regular basis, took classes, corrected paper . . . all about bumblebees sounds berry berry good to me:-)
No, I can’t write to such titles fulltime but I can do it for a couple days a week to help pay bills. Then I can spend more time focused on REALwriting (in other words unpublished works in progress for zero dollars). If people think they are above writing for such lowly wages, then don’t. We all knew the rates paid when we signed up. Get over yourselves people! Walk away; no one’s making you stay!
Try writing for a site like Helium where you basically need at least 100 articles to get paid more than pennies-literally. In order to get 4 stars at Helium you need a minimum of 300 articles. They are all about quanity vs. quality. I enjoy the sense of community with a few writing groups at Helium but the money doesn’t exist for beginners. If you stick with Helium for a number of year, you’ll make pennies on every article you have ever written. Those people with 1000 articles make real money. If you are looking for a place that will publish whatever you write, Helium is your baby. In my opinion (yes, I am a peon) too many people declare themselves writers and think it’s all about the easy money. Many of these “types” wouldn’t know the difference between a dangling participle and a certain part of the human body much less the parts of speech or grammar rules. Duh.
I do like to rant.
EJ Young
I share the same concerns as Mo – did anyone have any problems with submitting their personal information to TB? Please let me know your thoughts. Thanks!
I found text broker to be capricious in their ratings. I signed on as a 4. Much to my suprise after a couple of 4 articles. I got a 3. There were no
punctuation, spelling or grammar problems. BUT THE EDITORS evaluate on STYLE and CONTENT. The article in question was rated excellent by the client and the client’s comment was “outstanding”. It was rated a 3. Christine at Textbrokers stonewalled on the reason claiming “style and content”. If the client found it outstanding what was the problem?
I found some of the instructions regarding articles to be a bit bizarre.
One set of instructions was totally inappropriate to the order…….. I did not take that one.
I havent figured it out as yet nor will I waste time trying but I think this up and down with the ratings must benefit Textbroker financially. Just a thought
THERE ARE BETTER WRITING OPPORTUNITIES OUT THERE.
Personally, there are other on line opportunities for free lance writing that pay much better.
I have been writing for Textbroker for over 9 months with absolutely no problems from sending my personal info to them. All payments have been made on time and in full. Yes, the level 5 articles can be a bit skimpy at times, but there are also days like today when there are over 1,300 from which to choose. The editors have always responded to emails and been very helpful. Just in case there are those who are not aware of the site, Demand Media (www.demandstudios.com) publishes the eHow, Livestrong, and many other sites and always has thousands of articles, most at $15 each.
If there’s a better site for writers I haven’t found it.
Don’t bother me with Assc Con, Helium ConCon, any revenue sharing, any write first sell later, any guest blogging. I’m talking about turning on your computer, picking an article, writing it and getting paid in 2 weeks.
No time in traffic, brainstorming, high-concepts, querying, no time in interviews, no time spent billing or emailing or messaging or sitting in slushpiles, no bidding, no contests, no “send me a custom sample even though you already posted a link to 200 of your articles”, no “opportunities” at $.45 for 1000 words, no snarky editorial hoop jumping, no monitor-spying or participation minimums, no academic cheating, no vanishing webmasters, no BS just sit down and write and get paid to feed your mouth, TB is the best.
The rates are low but when you count the money saved by not spending time doing all those other things? It’s a powerful writing tool and I have yet to find anything online that even comes close to this level of no BS get-down-to-work-and-get-paid-writing-because your-ass-is-broke writing for actual money you can put in your hand and buy a hamburger with before you die of exposure.
If there is a more constant and better paying, more time-efficient site, please post the URL. Meantime, keep your AC’s and Heliums, I’ve done ‘em all and I’m at TB, cause I want to write for money every minute possible, not hurry up and slow down and find my way through the corn.
Slow and steady wins the race. TB’s humble ROI is a lot more when you factor in what you don’t have to spend just to stay in business. The worst part? Wife won’t let you watch online movies cause she knows you could be pecking that corn.
There is a question that no one seemed to respond to: TB only takes in people from the US. This means if you are not from the US, then all the good things we are reading here about TB may only sound good and that is all for those not in the US. So I repeat the what Umar asked; apart from TB,do you guys know of any website that allows writers from elsewhere in the world?
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
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.
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 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.
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 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!!
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 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!
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.
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!
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
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.
Totally agree with Yolanda!