What: Scripted provides a bridge between businesses that need ghostwriters and the freelancers who can do the work
Expected pay: 5 cents to 10 cents per word
Husl$core: $$
Where: National
Commissions & Fees: NA
Requirements: a computer; some topic expertise; and the ability to write with proper grammar and syntax
Review:
Everyone wants to have a website in the digital age. And web gurus will tell you that if you want that site to show up in Google search, you’ll need to constantly add to it by “blogging.” The challenge for many a professional is that, while they may be brilliant at their day job, they’re not natural writers.
Content mills, such as Scripted, offer an answer. Claiming to provide a bridge between businesses that need ghostwriters and the freelancers, who can do the work, Scripted says it can produce blog posts for $39 to $98 each. The problem for the people writing those posts is there’s an editor and a whole corporate structure (at Scripted) between you and that payment. That means you’re only going to get a fraction of this amount — somewhere in the neighborhood of $20 to $50. That’s not much for a 300-500 word piece that might require research.
It’s rare writer to kick out copy fast enough to make a job like this pay even minimum wage. If you’re using this site to develop your writing skills and a personal clientele, it may make sense to spend whatever time is necessary to create a portfolio good enough to land you better-paying jobs in the future. But using Scripted as a long-term source of income is a ticket to Povertyville.
You can find real writing jobs at ProBlogger and FreelanceWriting.com.
What their writers say:
Some of the most descriptive reviews of working for Scripted came in response to a post called Scripted and the Continuing Death of Good Writing at Stunt and Gimmicks. It’s long, but worth a read, if you’re considering work with a content mill.
“For a standard blog post of 350-500 words, you’ll normally get paid between $22-25, and for a long post, $29/30 typically. As a writer for Scripted, I always put in the same amount of work as I would when writing for newspaper articles with my byline on them. Sometimes I wonder if all the effort is worth it. “
…Same crap pay for killing yourself. It’s a bit like playing the part of Conan on the labor wheel while someone whips at you.”
from Glassdoor:
“Scripted has changed a lot over the last year. They shortened all deadlines without exception by two days, made most jobs invite-only and restricted to a pay rate demanded by the customer (usually half of what I prefer to charge), plus they have way fewer jobs available and their support has gone down the drain. If you hear back from them at all, they are late or can’t help you. Also, the revision requests have become even more unreasonable and bizarre than they used to be, only now there is no way to negotiate about it and Scripted specifically says to just get over it and do what you’re told, even if the revision request will end up hurting the client in the long term. As soon as I can find another job, I’m leaving Scripted for good.”
“I’d been with them over seven years. I had a 98 percent approval rating, over 200 clients had favorites me, and no rejections. I was put on suspension for a supposed client complaint. Would not tell me why or who. After 30 days with no word, I asked and was told they were letting me go. Again, no reason why. I think it was because I was making a lot of money and they could hire newbies.”
“Miscommunication between project managers, clients, and writers can sometimes lead to rewrite requests. Some clients have unreasonable expectations like multiple revision rounds that go on for months for a piece that pays less than $100 and management allows clients this leeway.”
“Very rarely any work. You can usually pick up one or two gigs, but there is very rarely enough to make a living. The work takes a long time for very little pay.”
From the Bitter Baker:
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SAVE YOUR TIME, BUSINESS, AND THE MONEY THEY WILL CHARGE YOU AN EXORBITANT AMOUNT EVEN AFTER YOU CANCEL AND WITHOUT A REFUND. $199/MONTH. RUN!!!! THERE ARE GREAT COPYWRITERS OUT THERE AND BETTER SERVICES AND SITES THAN THIS ONE. UNSCRUPULOUS, AND KIND OF A SCAM.
I used to be very happy with Scripted. The work used to be plentiful, the team responsive and all was good in my world.
However, in mid-July, all that changed. They made some changes to their infrastructure (got rid of Smartmatch jobs) without telling their writers, which had a devastating effect on my income. I went from supporting myself to 2 or 3 jobs in as many months. This left me scrambling to find another platform and other clients to fill that void. I’ve never been successful in getting enough volume of projects with their current platform of “pitching” for jobs.
Their “help” desk is also not helpful to writers unless you are a Gold-rated writer. I was a gold-rated writer until I mysteriously got demoted and no one seemed to be able to tell me why or how I could correct the mysterious problem that got me demoted.
I recently requested help with an impossible deadline. I finished the job the afternoon before and upon waking the next morning I saw that I had a message that left me with 1.5 hours to correct a huge list of unnecessary revisions. I don’t usually get revision requests so it was a complete surprise. I’m imagining it had something to do with my mysterious demotion.
I knew there was no way I could complete all of it in 1.5 hours so I requested an extension. I was refused. Flat-out. I was told to message the client and ask. I explained this was an editorial deadline, not a deadline from the client. I was still refused and told to contact the client. I know from experience there was no way the client would get back to me in the time allotted. So, instead of being able to do an excellent job that was up to my standards, I had to half-ass it, just to get it done.
Another issue is their editors. I am a professional proofreader so I rarely make mistakes. I’m not perfect but errors tend to jump out at me. Sadly, some of the Scripted editors are woefully unqualified to hold the title of editor. I have had many issues where the editor actually created mistakes when “editing” my pieces. These aren’t small mistakes either. They are glaring in-your-face mistakes which the writer ends up being blamed for since we have no way of correcting the created errors once they are sent to the client. Writers are so restricted that they aren’t even allowed to correct the mistakes that the editors make. When you do question it, they kick you off the platform as they did me.
They have also started a practice of buying reviews. They pay their writers with a $20 gift card if they’ll leave a review on one of their selected platforms, i. e. Trustpilot, Yelp, and something else. I find this a very shady practice so I’m leaving this review absolutely free.
I truly wish I had better things to say but in my years with the company, they don’t treat their writers well and the pay is abhorrent. You are better off going with a private company (not a content farm) that needs a writer. That’s what I ended up doing and as a freelancer, I am being paid more than double what Scripted paid me.
No, Scripted, you are not sharing my happy place anymore.