TextBroker Review

Writing Content as An Author on TextBroker

This is an overview and review of TextBroker. TextBroker.com is a site to purchase content or respond to requests for content.

Overview

You can visit this site as a client if you are in need of content for your site or blog. The site allows clients to place orders specifying the piece of writing they need. Writers (or authors) can pick these up. Clients can also contact writers they like and do “Direct Orders.” This is targeted towards a specific author on the site.

If you want to write for this site as an author, you need to first submit an application.

Application Process for Potential Authors

The application includes, among general information, a photo of your state or government issued picture identification, a photo of you holding this piece of identification, and a writing sample of about 500 words.

The process takes about a few weeks for approval. Sometimes less. Sometimes more.

The initial sample you submit is rated on their 5 star scale.

Star Scale

Initial Score

There is a 5 Star scale on here which impacts how much authors get paid, as well as what orders they can pick up.

If, based on the writing sample you submit with your application, you are initially ranked a 3, you can pick orders to write in the 1-3 star categories. On the other hand, with an initial 2 star rating, an author can only choose from articles listed in the 1 or 2 star categories. Yet, the authors that start out ranked as a 4 can choose from 1-4 star orders.

From what I have read, you will initially be ranked between 2-4.

First 5 Articles

Note that while your initial author rating is based on the writing sample you submit with your application, once you are accepted and complete 5 articles, then your account is put on hold. During this time you cannot submit additional articles. At least one of these articles will be rated by TextBroker editors. For me, this took about a week.

This is now your new rating. Write these first five articles well. The rating system (and the timing for your next rating) is unpredictable. It can take 100 or so articles to get this rating changed. Also, follow APA standards. This differs in some ways from Oxford which I believe is more common.

Pay attention to commas.

Payment Rate

Below is the rate for each star per word

• 2 Stars = 0.7 cents/word
• 3 Stars = 1 cent/word
• 4 Stars = 1.4 cents/word
• 5 Stars = 5 cents/word

Note: if you pick up a 1 star article, you will get paid that rate. It doesn’t matter if you are rated a 4 or 5. If you are rated a 4 or 5 though, you can pick up orders at those levels.

You cannot pick up orders at levels above your current rating.

5 Star Rating – How to Become a 5 Star Author

First I am assuming you need to write a number of high quality articles.

Second, you need to pass a proofreading test. It has 10 questions and you need a 90%. If you fail, you have to wait 3 months in order to retake it.

Other Ways to Make Money – Direct Orders and Team Orders

In addition to picking up Open Orders and getting paid as laid out above, you can (1) get Direct Orders from clients; and (2) join Teams. Both tend to pay at a better rate.

To be honest, I do not have tips on obtaining Direct Orders. Write a lot and well and perhaps you will get contacted.

Note that the rate per word for Direct Orders is set automatically by TextBroker. It is higher than the star rating rate per word. You can change it if you wish. I left mine.

For joining teams, some require short writing samples or descriptions on why you would be a good fit. Some also require a certain star rating (most popular is 4).

Note how many orders are available when you join a team. If you join 100 that all have 0, you may not get any orders this way.

Teams say the rate per word up front. Again, if they have no orders though, this is pretty irrelevant. It is possible they are building but just be weary.

Client Reviews/Acceptance/Request for Revisions

After submitting an order, clients have about 3-4 days typically to reject, accept or request a revision. If they do nothing, then the order is accepted and the payout is added to your overall payout balance.

Requests for revisions. Authors usually have 24 hours to respond to these.

Reviews/Ratings by Clients. This is optional and not frequent. It also does not impact your author rating.

Payout

First you need to submit a hand signed tax form.

Once accepted, you can request payout via PayPal every Thursday so long as you have a balance of at least $10 in your account. Authors must request payment by midnight Thursday to receive a payment that week. Payments hit PayPal accounts that Friday.

Gripes/My Review

My issues:

• The rating system is sporadic. As such, an author can get stuck at a certain rating for a while. My experience is 3 star articles are frustrating because they pay low and list the same topic a huge amount of times. So it takes a while to find one.
• a lot of clients expect quite a lot. They may want a lot of research. Also, keywords. Keywords can be frustrating to include because you have to stay within the suggested amount (so you can’t go over – which is hard if a second keyword builds off another but just adds on one word). Also, there are sometimes awkwardly worded phrases or misspellings.
• Clients can request revisions for as many times as they want.
• Summarizing anything can have the auto-plagiarism tool flag you. I’ve also had this happen and it site another article and pieces of that article that were not remotely close to what I wrote. Problem? Delays process. Also, you may have to reword to something the client doesn’t like.
• Help. The help feature for authors I’m sorry but just flat out sucks.

Tips:

• Be weary of burn out.
• Pick articles you know about the subject matter already to minimize research time.
• Figure out some time of day or other system that works best for you and your schedule and writing style.
• Feeling like you have writers block? Come back later. It won’t help.
• See it as a side job.
• Remember: There are other fish in the sea. This site is nice because you can usually find some articles to write no matter the time. But there are other content mills and also other means to make money writing. I’d suggest exploring a few options or you may go insane. Just my opinion. You may get lucky and one that’s perfect for you too immediately. In which case I hate you ☺. Keep options open.

Other Options

Here are a few other options to consider:

• Other content mill type sites. I’m not an expert but this is a good post: https://www.makealivingwriting.com/write-content-mills-writers-true-stories/.
• Guest blog posts. There are tons of articles on sites that accept these but id suggest searching guest post or guest article on [insert whatever topic you know about or like].
• Blogging. (See my post for a good podcast on blogging)
• Write an eBook. (See this blog – great inspiration ☺  )
• Look at job boards for writing jobs.
• Check out my post with Freelance apps and sites. 
• Other good resources worth checking out:

– 70+ Work From Home Writing Jobs

– Get Paid to Write Reviews: 27 Sites That Pay You (With Cash & Free Stuff!)

– 20 Ways to Find Freelance Writing Jobs (As a Beginner)

Mood

Winter Is Here – Ramin Djawadi

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