RPW? Here’s a Better Idea!

First - a story.

I started as a writer around 9 years back. Matric - no pocket money - used to do poetry.

Someone reached out… and I thought it was a miracle that I was making real money writing words for 0.1 rpw at that time.

Fast forward 8 months, and I very clearly remember I earned 80k+ by working for 0.3 rpw. That’s around 300k words per month - 10k words per day.

I was writing books for KDP publishers who were hard on quality. My speed was around 70 wpm- and I used to work around 6 hours only. (My skills were the same, and my speed and adaptability increased drastically. More on that at the end)

Started an Agency (Cliche Much)

Then I started outsourcing. I was getting 0.3 - and I was paying 0.25. I scaled my projects 6 times and was making the same amount of money in profit as I was by writing myself.

I thought it was fair, but I soon realized it was not scalable. By the time I had enough experience to start charging more. My average pay rate increased to 0.5-0.7.

My writers were getting 0.4-0.6 - but I was brutal when it came to quality.

Fast forward 6 more months and we started working with better publishers - brands - and offshore marketing agencies. Now the pay rates varied: from 0.5 to 10 rpw.

The Fair Solution to RPW

My solution to be fair was - let’s pay 80% to the writer, 10% overhead marketing costs, and 10% flat profit. (Not scalable - but let’s not discuss that today)

The team of writers I had - failed (we’re talking about 25 people here) to meet quality requirements even when I paid them 5-8 rpw. Their hearts were broken, and my business was crashing.

I had to find new writers to offload things from my shoulders then. The pricing structure stayed the same.

Fast forward another 6 months: a team of 40 writers - working in different niches, ranging pay rates from 0.5-10 rpw almost. They started interacting and the 0.5 rpw ones thought I was being unfair.

So I started testing writers based on creativity, skill, language, flexibility to adapt, broadness of niches, research, and some other factors (could do a detailed post on that). The rankings were

? S Rank (5+ rpw)

? A Rank (2-5 rpw)

? B Rank (1-2 rpw)

? C Rank (>1 rpw)

Then we created broadcast channels for each rank and whenever a project came up - we used to forward it up, and whoever was up for it used to take it.

What I realised about Writers and Writing

Throughout this time, I’ve learned a few things:

• The number of years does not define the quality of writing (as we had many C-rank writers with 6+ years of experience and some S ranks who just started working)
• The “quality” of writing needs to be defined by every content mill. Because its quality is arbitrary- you need to have judgment rubrics.
• A writer’s performance is based on many personal factors, a good manager understands this. Writing is more art and less science.
• A writer’s speed should not be judged based on wpm - speed is how fast can you learn, and execute. It should be how many hours per relevant piece.
• A writer should learn the skill of adapting ASAP. It’s your ability to be able to provide varying qualities on demand. Producing junk when you have to - and masterpieces when you have to.
• A fresher with skill would not have the speed or the ability to adapt, and thus low pay rate would pinch.
• As soon as a writer has speed and adaptability they will earn 4x more with the same pay rate - that’s the time to grow the pay rate.
• PPW and PPH suck for both writers and businesses alike but are a necessary evil.
• A good writer has bad days. A bad writer never has good days.
• Skills in formatting and editing are essential for growth.
• People need direction - as everyone who can text - thinks they are a writer.
• Middle men are good for direction but should be gotten rid of asap.

Here’s What We Use at Contwre

We use transparency.

What’s RPW? It’s a method to quantify work - but it’s used to gatekeep by agencies.

Every agency has overhead costs, the need for profits, and more - so a simple percentage between 40-65 should be fair in most instances.

The Takeaway for Writers

Have an RPW and RPH - but ask for transparency. (When working with agencies and content mills)

When working directly with brands and companies in need of content - estimate the percentage of expected profit in 8 months from your content.

Work on your speed and adaptability before trying to increase your pay rate, it would give you a pillow to fall on.

Work on your ability to find, convince, and work directly with people in NEED of your content.

If you can’t do sales - accept your fate as a corporate worker - because whoever is doing sales, would always make more than you.