Is $5 enough for him to claim authorship of articles I wrote?
By jeeyah
@jeeyah (1092)
Philippines
April 29, 2010 10:37am CST
Please read my whole post before responding. Thanks 
I'm a writer, and so far, the highest rate that has been offered to me is $5 per article because foreign employers tend to offer low rates to writers in my country. Anyway..
So now, I'm working as a writer for someone, and he pays me $5 per 500-word article, and $10 for every article I prepare for "spinning".
Here's the thing: he uses my articles for his own blog and submits them to a lot of article directories. As expected, he is acknowledged as the author of those articles. When he hired me, we never really talked about this. All that was agreed upon was that I write articles for him at $0.01 per word. There were no terms or whatsoever since I'm just a freelancer.
Is he paying me enough for him to claim authorship of my articles? I may not be an American writer, but I do believe that my writing skills are somewhat better than his (LOL) 
.
NOTE: It's okay for me if I don't get acknowledged as the author of those articles, but it's different when another person's name is written as the author of my articles, since I'm not really compensated with a high rate. It would have been better for me if the author would just be listed as "anonymous", instead of another person taking credit of my work. :/
I understand that for some article directories, the owner of the account is automatically listed as the author. So yea. The real issue is this:
[b]Is $5 enough for him to indicate himself as the author of articles that I wrote? Or do I deserve a higher rate?
Is $5 enough for him to claim authorship of my articles?[/b]
Please let me know your honest thoughts and insights about this. 
I'm a writer, and so far, the highest rate that has been offered to me is $5 per article because foreign employers tend to offer low rates to writers in my country. Anyway..
So now, I'm working as a writer for someone, and he pays me $5 per 500-word article, and $10 for every article I prepare for "spinning".
Here's the thing: he uses my articles for his own blog and submits them to a lot of article directories. As expected, he is acknowledged as the author of those articles. When he hired me, we never really talked about this. All that was agreed upon was that I write articles for him at $0.01 per word. There were no terms or whatsoever since I'm just a freelancer.
Is he paying me enough for him to claim authorship of my articles? I may not be an American writer, but I do believe that my writing skills are somewhat better than his (LOL) .
NOTE: It's okay for me if I don't get acknowledged as the author of those articles, but it's different when another person's name is written as the author of my articles, since I'm not really compensated with a high rate. It would have been better for me if the author would just be listed as "anonymous", instead of another person taking credit of my work. :/
I understand that for some article directories, the owner of the account is automatically listed as the author. So yea. The real issue is this:
[b]Is $5 enough for him to indicate himself as the author of articles that I wrote? Or do I deserve a higher rate?
Is $5 enough for him to claim authorship of my articles?[/b]
Please let me know your honest thoughts and insights about this. 3 people like this
13 responses
@Hatley (163776)
• Garden Grove, California
30 Apr 10
jeeyah I am no expert but to me with him claiming authorship to these articles he should pay you a lot more. Five dollars is pathetic look up what writers get paid for articles and short stories in your country as I am sure its more than 5 dollars. I feel he is using you, too bad you could not get your writing copyrighted then he would be forced to acknowledge you as the author. I realize a writing job in the hand is worth more than just hoping by submitting work to magazines but it seem to me very low pay for a lot of work. Did you ever try submitting articles to Readers Digest? it might be worth trying anyway.
2 people like this
@jeeyah (1092)
• Philippines
1 May 10
I also think that $5 isn't enough, but here in my country, employers usually offer ghostwriters a rate ranging from $1-$3 per 500-word article, which I believe is not right. So if I compare the pay I get to other writers here in my country, it's higher, but still not quite enough. And if I compare my rate to writers from my employer's country (US), it really is suuuupeeeer low. Lol. Oh well, I really think that he is using me, lol. I don't know, because $5 wouldn't have been bad if he weren't too meticulous. There was a time that he lectured me about using "And" at the beginning of a sentence, which I think is acceptable in some cases. He then proceeded to tell me that it's wrong and it will affect the image of the author (who appears to be him). Can you believe that!? And he's only paying me $5. 
Oh, and I saw your other post about Writer's Digest. I'm going to check it out, it sounds really interesting. Thank you so much for that idea, Hatley!
Oh, and I saw your other post about Writer's Digest. I'm going to check it out, it sounds really interesting. Thank you so much for that idea, Hatley! 
@ronaldinu (12422)
• Malta
30 Apr 10
I have submitted some of my articles on mylot Tasks. I always wandered how the person involved is going to gain back the money he spends on commissioning such articles. It seems that they manage to have a revenue otherwise they are not going to spend any money commissioning such articles. To answer your question, I don't think that $5 is enough to relinquish your rights. but once your article is submitted he can claim authorship of such writings. I stand to be corrected.
2 people like this
@jeeyah (1092)
• Philippines
30 Apr 10
I seemed to have read somewhere that the copyright and the authorship of articles were two different issues, but I'm not really sure since I don't know any of those legal stuff. So yeah. Well it's okay if he claims authorship of my articles, it's just that I don't know if $5 is really enough. Thank you for your response, ronaldinu.
1 person likes this
@consultrainer (4991)
• India
29 Apr 10
jeeyah. you asked it. You asked for honest thoughts and insights. But, before I tell you my feelings. Let me tell you I am from INDIA. and i know what it is like to be USED .
Even then, .. dear friend, you have agreed to the price of 0.01 per word. and, what you need to do is increase the rate. and, the person who hired you will switch over to another writer from the third world.
Just now, i have seen a topic with something like: God created the world, ... and the rest is MADE IN CHINA. see the impact?
i am sorry that you are unhappy. But, .. THIS is exploitation. REMEMBER the Industrial revolution of EUROPE? from History? the coal mines, etc? ...
goodluck to you always.
@consultrainer (4991)
• India
29 Apr 10
My pleasure dear. Wish you more work, and more money. May I invite you for friendship/
@jeeyah (1092)
• Philippines
29 Apr 10
I know what you mean! My thoughts exactly. It just seems that people from other countries always tend to look down on us people from third-world countries.
And that's why I didn't really dare ask for a higher rate. I know that if I demand for a higher rate, there are a lot of other writers who would allow themselves to be paid at a very low rate, thus my boss could replace me immediately.
I guess you should start a different discussion about this third-world issue, I think a lot of people need to read about it. :)
Thank you so much for sharing your insights! I really appreciate it.
And that's why I didn't really dare ask for a higher rate. I know that if I demand for a higher rate, there are a lot of other writers who would allow themselves to be paid at a very low rate, thus my boss could replace me immediately.
I guess you should start a different discussion about this third-world issue, I think a lot of people need to read about it. :)
Thank you so much for sharing your insights! I really appreciate it. 1 person likes this
@salonga (27775)
• Philippines
30 Apr 10
I feel for you dear. It is a big blow on one's part to see his own handmade article published but credited to another author. And worse he was just paid a small amount of $5. My dear, this is the reason why I am not entertaining writing jobs when I could not claim authorship. I think the 5 dollars is not worth it. If I were you I will stop working for him. Why enrich that man who can't even write by himself. You should find ways by which you can publish and get credited with your own writings.
2 people like this
@jeeyah (1092)
• Philippines
30 Apr 10
Thank you for being able to relate to how I'm feeling. It's just that before, I didn't really think about the authorship terms of the articles. Those copyright things and whatsoevers weren't really any of my concern, I just knew that I had to write, so yeah.
Then now, my present employer makes me submit the articles to article directories, so I know where my articles are going and I am able to see them published. And when I saw my articles posted online under a different author's name, that's when it hit me. It somehow hurts me to see that "The Name of My Article" was claimed to be written by "The Name of My Employer". And when I thought about the $5 he gave me for that, I don't know.. It's like he's paying me $5 for me to boost his image or something. :|
I would really want to find ways by which I can get credited with my own writings, but I don't really know how.
1 person likes this
@strawberrychocodahi (4818)
• Philippines
30 Apr 10
You deserve a higher rate my friend. If you don't agree to what your employer is giving you, then just speak to him regarding this specially your demand to put the author's name as unanimous.
But it is still up to you, you can continue to write stories but not under him. You can work on your own if you think that you can do post your articles too just like what your employer is doing. But if you cannot do that because it needs to pay such, then ask for a higher rating. You can decide for yourself which is better.
1 person likes this
@jeeyah (1092)
• Philippines
30 Apr 10
I'm really not sure how I'm going to talk to him about this. I'm kind of shy (LOL), and I'm afraid that he might think that I'm demanding for too much, or that it's not my right, or that I'm too emotional or whatsoever. 
Could you give me any tips? I feel like I need a lawyer for this.
Could you give me any tips? I feel like I need a lawyer for this. 
@nangisha (3496)
• Indonesia
1 May 10
Its absolutely not enough is he claims your writing as his own. I think you deserve a better rate. Why they tend to pay a non American writer so low, its not pair because most of us non American who search job in the internet have good English and education too. Its just not fair...
@jeeyah (1092)
• Philippines
1 May 10
You're right. Employers should base their rates on the experience, skills, and capabilities of each writer. Just because a writer isn't American doesn't mean that he/she can't write as well as a native American writer. In fact, a lot of Non-American writers can even write better than some American writers.
@Hatley (163776)
• Garden Grove, California
30 Apr 10
hi just a suggest buy a copy of Writers Digest or find one in your library as it gives you information about selling articles in it. hope it helps.
@benhilo (871)
• Tripoli, Libya
29 Apr 10
You need to renegotiate your contract. I get paid about the same for a web site but they will tell you up front that the client will claim the article as theirs. The articles I write are normally between 350 to 500 words. In some case they will include my name with the article. However, my rates go up substantially for writing longer articles or doing research. Even higher for legal documents.
@jeeyah (1092)
• Philippines
30 Apr 10
What if we don't really have a contract? I'm just a freelancer, so I really don't know if I should talk to my employer about it. He might think that I'm asking for too much or being too emotional or whatsoever. Would it be okay if I ask what website you're talking about? They seem to value their writers a lot, considering that they even increase the rates for articles that require research.
Would it be okay if I ask what website you're talking about? They seem to value their writers a lot, considering that they even increase the rates for articles that require research.
@scheng1 (24649)
• Singapore
29 Apr 10
Hi Jeeyah, your English is certainly better than many of us.
I think you should build up a portfolio for yourself and try to get better paid freelance writing jobs.
If you want to sell the articles at higher rate, you can check out Constant-Content and Dailyarticle. Both are marketplace for writers to post the articles and set an attractive price. The buyers can check the preview and decide on the purchase.
Bear in mind that Constant-Content demands perfect English. A single mistake, such as a missing comma, can get you disqualified.
The average rate for 500 words article is $100.
For the 1 cent per word writing job, I can only tell you that, that is the market rate for low quality article. If you take up that rate, you are expected to produce content good enough for article directories.
All my articles submitted to Ezinarticles are accepted, even though I never run spell check, and do not really care about grammar. I take an average of ten minutes to finish one article of 350 to 400 words.
I think the webmaster is not looking for good quality. He is just looking at traffic and backlinks.
So cut your research time, and just write fast for that 1 cent per word writing job. Dont waste time.
@jeeyah (1092)
• Philippines
29 Apr 10
Hi Scheng, thanks but I guess my English is just average.
Anyway, I shall check those sites out, they sound really neat. Thank you for sharing them with me! By the way, $100 (USD) for a 500-word article? Wheeere? In those sites? :D Haha
All my articles also get accepted to all the article directories he submits it to. I usually take 1-2 hours to write a 500-word article. :/
Oh and no, my employer wants it to be perfect. There was a time when I made one small mistake (using "And" at the beginning of a sentence), and he kind of lectured me about it and told me that it could affect the image of the author. So do you think $5 is enough for him to demand so much? Lol.
Anyway, I shall check those sites out, they sound really neat. Thank you for sharing them with me! By the way, $100 (USD) for a 500-word article? Wheeere? In those sites? :D Haha
All my articles also get accepted to all the article directories he submits it to. I usually take 1-2 hours to write a 500-word article. :/
Oh and no, my employer wants it to be perfect. There was a time when I made one small mistake (using "And" at the beginning of a sentence), and he kind of lectured me about it and told me that it could affect the image of the author. So do you think $5 is enough for him to demand so much? Lol.@scheng1 (24649)
• Singapore
29 Apr 10
Hi Jeeyah, not worth to work for him at 1 cent per word.
You will have no problem finding employer at Guru, Elance or Getafreelancer. I do not know if you have a portfolio of articles for display.
You can build up a content stock by writing to different writing sites.
Constant-Content is the ultimate marketplace for writers. The recommended rate is really $100 for a 500-words article. The commission is 33%. And the buyers demand perfection.
Most webmasters do not even check the articles. They just use copyscape to make sure it is unique, and use keyword density calculator to check if you follow the instruction.
I think one hour is way too long to produce a 500-words article. For the purpose of submitting to Ezinearticles and other article directories, you should keep it to 20 minutes of writing.
@maanrodriguez (604)
• Philippines
29 Apr 10
It's hard because the rates are really low and he's the one reaping all the benefits of your well-written articles. maybe you can write a couple more then ask him for a raise.
1 person likes this
@jeeyah (1092)
• Philippines
29 Apr 10
Do you know where I can find an employer who's willing to pay me that much? Because it seems that most companies/employers are looking for third world country writers who are willing to work with $0.50-$5 rates, 
and honestly, I think I deserve more than that.
and honestly, I think I deserve more than that. 
@setsuna26 (2751)
• Philippines
29 Apr 10
First i think when you agree with the terms and conditions of the trade then its his already and not yours at least technically because he bought it from you .If you think you can make good use of your own writings instead of selling it cheaper to these kinds of people why dont you just use those articles of yours to make some more money? i mean decent amount than than of hes paying you.Try it for yourself who knows you will be amazed with the results in the end.
@jeeyah (1092)
• Philippines
29 Apr 10
Hi setsuna! Well, based on my little knowledge about copyrights, writings, articles and such (lol), he already owns my articles and may use it in anyway and post it wherever he wants, but I don't think it's the same issue with claiming authorship of my articles. However, we didn't really agree upon any terms and conditions, so I don't know. Lol.
And I have no idea how to make money from my articles aside from selling them. Lol. Oh well. Thank you so much for responding!
@nsj947 (284)
• India
15 May 10
I don't know how good you write ( as I haven't read your articles ) , but I would suggest you to sell your articles on bukisia.com, it pays you $5-$25 per article and you don't even have to loose your ownership, you can publish your article there as an author not a freelancer.
