It’s possible, but not necessarily easy to make it as a freelance writer. You need discipline, commitment, skill, dedication, yeah. But what would that all be without valuable opportunities that are worth your time? During my time as a writer, I’ve become a sort of freelance writing marketplace expert. I’ve tried plenty of ’em, and today I’m going to tell you why I’ve decided to hang my hat on Bunny Studio.
Go figure, who’d a thunk that making it on your own was hard? There’s an overabundance of providers, and great gigs are few and far between. Conversely, things are not that easy on the client’s side either, are they? So, so many “writers” out there plying their trade with so little to show. It’s hard to trust that any of the hotshots you’re interviewing have got the goods, much less all of them.
And sure, anyone can get on a freelance writing marketplace and talk big game. But, experience and wherewithal trump any self-aggrandizing pageantry. How can you sort the wheat from the chaff? And writers, how can you sidestep the “race to the bottom” effect, where every client seems like they just want to settle for cheap instead of good?
It’s not simple, and it’s a dog-eat-dog wild world out there. It doesn’t help that many sites don’t really care about establishing a dialogue between service providers and clients. Today, I’ll let you know what freelance writing is about, what it’s not, and why, in my opinion, Bunny Studio rocks.
Ready?
What is a Freelance Writer?
A freelance writer, or content specialist, is a self-employed professional wordsmith. You provide an idea and they write about it in a way that’s clear, engaging, and hopefully keeps your readers interested throughout. They can be hyper-specialized in one area, or they can be jacks-of-all-trades who can adapt their style to go with different needs; thus, they can tackle a variety of projects, styles, ideas, and approaches.
Most freelance writers operate within the bounds of what’s known as copywriting. Now, this has nothing to do with copyright, and many people confuse the two terms. Copywriting is just writing focused on ads, marketing, or business. Now, these days even social media is a part of business, so rather than being a stricture, the copywriting tag is now applicable to more and more styles.
But, regardless of whether you’re trying to write the next Superbowl ad or hiring someone to ghostwrite a book, the process is still similar; you go to a freelance writing marketplace, take your pick among the most worthy candidates, and hope for the best. It’s much like Uber, only instead of a ride home after five margaritas, you’re trusting a complete stranger with your ideas.
It sounds risky, but it’s not so bad, really. Let’s take a deeper look.
The Freelance Writing Marketplace Hiring Process
So, what’s the process, really? Let’s say you go to Upwork, PeoplePerHour, or Freelancer. What then? This is what hiring a pro looks like on a good day:
You create a job posting describing (in as much detail as possible) what you need. This job posting includes information about the maximum amount you expect to pay, the type of experience the job requires, etc.
- Desperate freelancers start approaching your posting like ants to Nutella.
- Before long, you’re awash in a sea of interview requests. Depending on the quality of the job, it could be less than twenty, or over fifty.
- Then, it’s time to see who’s got the goods. This requires an exhaustive interview process where you weed out the bad freelancers and keep the promising ones.
- After, it’s time for even more interviews where writers tell you how much they’re gonna rock your world.
- Using your own discernment and — hopefully — proof of their previous experience, you make a hire.
- What now? You set up an agreement where the pro pro-pro-promises to deliver on a schedule that makes sense to both of you.
- You make the payment, which gets held up in escrow until such time as the pro finishes up with their obligations.
- They deliver, hopefully on time. You review the work, and if everything’s to your liking, the freelance writing marketplace releases the funds.
- If not, there can be revisions (if previously agreed upon), or you can go into a lengthy mediation process.
- But, if you win the mediation process because you didn’t like the pro’s work, or they didn’t fulfill their obligations, you get your money back.
- If they do, and the platform decides you were in the wrong, you have to pay up.
Escrow?
Rocket Mortgage has a rockin’ (heh) definition of what constitutes an escrow.
Escrow is a legal arrangement in which a third party temporarily holds large sums money or property until a particular condition has been met (e.g., the fulfillment of a purchase agreement).
And this is the agreement of the typical freelance writing marketplace. But what’s the point? Well, the idea is to keep your funds safe until the freelancer completes the job according to your requirements. You wouldn’t believe how many people I’ve seen get scammed; when the two parties make gentlemen’s agreements, it’s not unheard of for either the freelancer or the client to take the money and run.
And, indeed, this type of deal protects freelancers from bad-faith clients who would keep the cash even when the results were A-OK. It can be cumbersome, but it normally works well, and it lets everyone see who they’re dealing with in a mostly transparent, safe manner.
But, it ain’t perfect, and going through the whole process can be cumbersome and time-consuming. Moreover, the safeguards that protect both parties aren’t perfect. If things go wrong, a third party — the platform — has to step in and review the whole case. This takes time, and is not necessarily an objective process, because it happens after the fact.
And yes, if you’re thinking “I just wanted some nice writing for my website!” you’re right. It’s not exactly streamlined, although, to be fair, there are rarely such hiccups. That doesn’t mean the process itself isn’t usually rather lengthy and yawn-inducing for everyone involved.
Why Bunny Studio is a Great Freelance Writing Marketplace
Now, Bunny Studio is designed to make things simple — algorithmically so. We know how mind-numbingly boring it is to connect pro and client, and have strived to create something different, simpler, and — dare I say — fun.
If you need to hire a writing pro, there are basically three very easy ways to go about it:
- You submit a Speedy, which typically gets back to you in 24 hours on less, depending on length.
- Or, you can create a Contest, in which three pros send you their submissions. You then pick the best of the bunch (but you only pay for one).
- Alternatively, if a pro’s piqued your interest, you can hire them directly.
But we haven’t only streamlined the hiring process to make it painless. Allow me to spell out the Bunny Studio advantages.
Turnaround
This is an easy win over any other freelance writing marketplace. In others, you typically have to wait over a week for a pro to deliver, and there’s no real way to egg them on. Even if they promise to handle matters sooner, the platform doesn’t consider it a breach of contract if they don’t. They only have to abide by the stipulations of the initial agreement.
But Bunny Studio is dead serious about their clients’ time. Hence, for shorter projects, we typically set a turnaround time that a pro has to agree to. If they can’t deliver on time, we assign the project to another Bunny pro. This way, pros know that they have to be disciplined about keeping time, and the client always knows the maximum amount of time they’ll have to wait until the project is on their desk.
Pros typically complete Speedies and Contests very fast. Even for bespoke projects, we always put a premium on getting things done fast and well.
Quality
When you hire the Bunnies, you hire a team, not just one pro. That means that every part of the project goes through a rigorous review. We’re there every step of the way making sure you don’t receive anything that slips below our quality standards. Even when a pro completes a project, we make sure that everything’s top-notch before sending it your way.
And then, there’s the matter of revisions. Most freelance writers tend to fuss over having to redo parts of their work. At Bunny Studio, that’s already a previously agreed-upon part of the contract. We provide as many revisions as necessary before we call it a day, and that’s the way we like it.
The Money
Satisfaction matters. And yes, I know that can sound corny, or McDonald’s, but there’s no other way to put it, is there? Meaning, the whole point of being in this game is to provide writing you like. That’s why, if a piece of writing passes our professional standards, but it’s not what you like (and it’s not fixable through revisions), you get your money back. All of it, up to the last dime. No harm, no fuss, no hard feelings.
The best part? The pro still gets paid for their work, so in the words of Walter White, everybody wins.
But, we’ll try our darndest to deliver results you adore.
We Vet
No, this is not about pets — though we love our doggos and cats. Rather, it’s about us only hiring pros that have got the goods. We don’t care if they’ve got a million years in the business, or one. What we do expect is that they are able to deliver high-quality work on tight deadlines.
How do we make sure pros put their money where their mouth is? To enter our platform, they have to complete a rigorous testing process. Out of all applicants, less than 2% make the cut. And yes, they can retake the test at a later date, providing we’re taking newcomers.
This makes things easy for everyone. No scammers, no smooth-talkers; just amazing writers, ready to go.
