As a freelance writer, I’m almost always looking for new opportunities and gigs. As a fairly responsible adult, I don’t expect to be RICH doing what I love. I DO expect to be paid a living wage. (insert maniacal laughter here)

It’s bad enough that most people don’t get that writing is WORK. It’s HARD. It takes TIME, SKILL and EFFORT — especially to do it well. There’s always been a mindset that if you work from home, that if you’re a writer, you don’t actually DO anything, therefore you’re either available for any little thing, or they don’t have to pay you.

Case in point – this “job opportunity” that came up today…

I’m in need of a great freelancer who can handle at least 10 SEO articles a day. Your writing must be coherent, readable and feature the keywords I will provide at least twice per 500 word article.

I will pay a flat rate of $50 via PayPal for every 20 articles you produce.

I need a reliable writer, pay may go up dependent on how well you write the first batch of articles.

What’s wrong with this picture??? 10 SEO articles @ 500 words A DAY = 5000 words a day – for $25/day. How many topics? How much research is involved? On a VERY good day, I can do 5000 words in about 4 – 6 hours. On an average day, I’ll be lucky to get in 5000 in 8-10 hours. That’s IF I know and care about the topics. We’re looking at less than $5/hour. You can make more than that waiting tables.

Oh, and 10 articles a day? How many days a week? All 7? 5? What? Because, dude, no matter how much we might want to be — writers are NOT robots. We have lives, families, commitments, and maybe (just maybe) a great desire to eat regularly and not live in a box. We’re freaky like that.

I understand supply and demand and crappy economies. But I don’t really want to have to work 20 hours a day in order to make a living. Just saying. And for those looking for the supply? At some point you might want to consider the reason you’re not getting quality you’re looking for is that those you’re demanding from — the better writers are laughing at you.

It’s all about “You get what you pay for”. I, for one, am inexpensive, but I’m NOT CHEAP.