For people with the right skills, trying to get paid to write college essays can work out well. The demand in this area is considerable and there are many different places that will actively pay you to create essays.
You don’t even have to be an expert. Instead, many of these essays are for the first year or two of college. As such, you don’t need a degree of your own to write them. And, if you do have some college education, well, there is even more money to be made.
- What Writing College Essays Really Means
- The Skills And Knowledge You Will Need
- Working Through A Company
- Advantages Of Going Through A Company
- The Disadvantages
- Freelancing As An Essay Writer
What Writing College Essays Really Means
Writing college essays is exactly what the name implies – you’re creating essays for college students. In most cases, these will be based off specific instructions, typically the ones that the students themselves are given.
There are various explanations provided for this type of service. For example, some sites offer ‘sample’ essays for students, with the idea that customers will use the essay to understand what is expected and then will write their own assignment.
But, that idea is just whitewashing. In practice, most students who buy essays will turn them in as their own work. Many of those students won’t edit it first and some won’t even read it. In effect, you’re helping them cheat.
Of course, you have no control over what they do with the assignment and no way of knowing why they are asking for it. This makes it a gray area legally and morally. And, you might be completely fine with the idea. If so, there is certainly some income to be made.
The Skills And Knowledge You Will Need
As a general rule, a college essay needs to be appropriate for the level of the student and the assignment. After all, expectations differ dramatically between first-year college students and ones who are working on their Masters or Ph.D. dissertations. There is also variation between different courses and institutions as well.
Likewise, you’ll need the relevant skills and knowledge, along with the ability to learn anything that you don’t know. For example, many academic essays need to be referenced, often in the APA or MLA style. If you’re writing at this level, you would need to know the basics of how to reference and be able to follow the appropriate style.
In most cases, you’ll also need to know at least the basics of the field. This is particularly true as you get into higher academic levels and also with complex topic areas. For example, it might be possible to bluff a sociology or a history paper, simply by researching online. But, you may not do as well with philosophy or physics, as the concepts are harder to grasp.
This means you have to carefully think about what you can and cannot write before you start. Still, there are many options and you’re bound to be good at a few subjects.
Working Through A Company
The best way to get started with college essays is to work through an online company. You’re looking for sites that offer essay writing services to students, like Studybay. These can be found easily by simply searching ‘essay writing services’ or something similar.
There is no shortage of sites to choose from, with more popping up all the time. These sites will often have easy-to-find information about how to apply as a writer. It may take some time to find one that will accept you but there is no shortage of opportunities.
In some cases, sites will let you communicate directly with the student you’re writing for, while others will have an intermediary system instead. A handful of sites don’t even let you communicate with the student at all, which can create some problems for confusing assignments.
Advantages Of Going Through A Company
Websites like Studybay are a method of connecting writers and clients with one another. This means that you don’t have to actively seek out clients, or try to maintain them. Instead, the company will do all of that. If the company is popular enough, you should be able to get a steady stream of work.
Additionally, the company will be making sure that people actually pay. This is a huge advantage because clients can sometimes be tricky to manage, especially when they’re students. As a result, you just have to focus on your writing and you will get consistently paid.
Sites like this are also great for learning the industry. They can show you exactly what you can expect and where the challenges are. Many sites will also give you feedback about your work – especially if you do something wrong.
The Disadvantages
Needless to say, there are some considerable disadvantages with online companies too. One is income. As a writer, you’re only ever earning a piece of what the company gets paid. Often, the percentage won’t be particularly high either.
Instead, the company wants to make profit for itself. There may also be other people to pay. For example, many such sites have an editing process. So, the essay you produce is edited at least once by someone else, who needs to get paid as well.
You’ll also be getting paid based on the assignment (either by word count or a set fee). This doesn’t completely allow for the time involved.
If an essay is straightforward, you may be able to make a decent income for the time you put in. But, if it is complex and involves a considerable amount of research and revision, you could actually be earning very little. As you’re working for a company, there isn’t much you can do about this.
Companies will try to be realistic in their fees. But, this is difficult to get right, especially as many difficult assignments will seem simple when you first look at them.
Most companies also tend to put the customer first. This can sometimes put you at a disadvantage.
For example, if the customer wasn’t clear in their instructions (or their professor wasn’t) and the student fails because of what you wrote – they’re likely to be upset. In some cases, the company will take their side and refund them, meaning that you basically don’t get paid. This can happen even if you did everything right.
After all, essays are assigned on the assumption that the person writing is actually in the class. As an essay writer, you won’t be, so you may be missing key pieces of information.
Finally, the role can be stressful.
Actually… essay writing is fairly stressful in general. After all, there are often significant requirements. Many projects will also end up being much more difficult than they seem and you might be missing key pieces of information.
There is also a time factor. Most assignments will come with a deadline – often a tight one. At the extreme end, you might only have 24 hours to write an assignment, or even less. On the plus side, you normally get paid more when the deadline is that tight. But, that doesn’t stop it from being stressful, especially if the task is harder than you first expected.
Freelancing As An Essay Writer
The main alternative is to make money freelancing instead. Freelancing lets you deal with customers directly and means you can set your own fees. In theory, this can mean you earn more money for the work that you do. But first, you have to find clients.
One option is sites like UpWork, where customers post jobs. And, there are many essay writing tasks up there. However, do be wary, as companies often use such listings to recruit new writers.
For most writing tasks, freelancing sites are effective. But, the idea isn’t well-suited to essay writing. After all, your main clients will be students and most of them won’t even know about this type of site.
What about advertising to them directly?
I’ve seen some people use Craiglist to do so, or even local newspapers and business cards. If you can find a few clients and make them happy, then word of mouth may do much of your advertising for you.
To be successful, you need to manage your clients well. For one thing, you need to make sure expectations are reasonable. After all, you can’t control how an essay will get graded. This means that you shouldn’t ever guarantee grades.
You’ll also need to create consistent approaches, such as what payment you expect and when, along with what revisions you offer. If you’re not careful, you could end up having to do dozens of revisions on a single document, just because a client is difficult to please.
All of this is achievable and you will probably work out good approaches are you go along.
Nevertheless, managing clients is one of the most challenging parts of freelancing. This is even more significant for essay writing – as you’re dealing with students, who will often be emotional about the outcomes.
If nothing else, it’s best to start off working for an essay writing site. That way, you get a grasp of exactly what is involved and you can learn more about the various challenges. This will give you a considerable advantage if you do start looking for your own clients later on.
You could even do both, if you wanted to. You might get most of your clients through a site and look for a few others on your own. That way, your income isn’t completely dependent on your clients until you are ready for it to be.
As a writer, you have an in-demand talent that can be used to earn you TONS of money online. You can earn money freelance writing, for sure, but it’s still just trading dollars for hours. Personally, I recommend starting your own website! Information is the currency of the internet, so why not leverage your talents to build yourself a serious online income! Learn how to create your own blog-style website and make money through advertising.
What’s up ladies and dudes! Great to finally meet you, and I hope you enjoyed this post. Sign up for my #1 recommended training course and learn how to start your business for FREE!