How to Hire a Writer [Step-by-Step Tutorial]
Last updated: November 22, 2022
If you are looking for talented writers for your business, then you have probably heard that there are plenty of options out there. Which is good to help you develop a content plan. Here’s how to hire a writer.
Instead of going through the trouble of bringing writers into your office, there are online options that you can use as well. At the same time, you might have a hard time narrowing down this pool of writers to a few (or a single) choice.
I remember that when I was looking for a writer, I had a challenging time going through the various options.
One of the best content writing services that you can use to hire digital content writing services for your business is called Writer Access. Largely seen as the leading option for hiring freelance writers, there are a few steps that you can follow to choose your writer (or group of writers) on Writer Access.
If you are looking to hire content writer on Writer Access, then the good news is that you will not need very many materials.
You will need:
- A computer (desktop, laptop, or tablet)
- A strong internet connection
- A credit card (or other payment method that you can use to pay the writers)
- A general idea of the type of writer that you are looking for
Then, you can head over to Writer Access and find the right writer for your needs!
How to Hire a Writer for Your Business
In order to hire a freelance writer on Writer Access for your business, you will need to:
Step 1: Create an Account on Writer Access
Before you can hire content writing services on Writer Access, you will need to create an account. You can do this by heading to the website writeraccess.com, where you can go through the process of creating an account.
Of note, you will want to create an account as someone looking to hire a writer, not as someone looking to become a writer.
The process is relatively straightforward. You will be prompted to create a username and password. Most people use the business email address they use at work.
Then, you will fill out some general demographic information.
Once this is done, you will be asked to supply a payment method of some sort. Most businesses use a credit card; however, there are other options as well. Once your account is set up, you will have access to a number of options that you can use to hire a writer.
Step 2: Decide Which Type of Writer You Need
Before figuring out which type of writer you need for your writing materials, there are a few points that you need to keep in mind.
While the instructions that you provide to your writer don’t have to be perfect, you need to provide the writer with some general guidelines. Otherwise, your writer is going to have a hard time meeting your needs. Some of the general points that you need to consider include:
- The Type of Writing You Need: Are you looking hire a writer for an essay? Are you looking hire a writer for a book? Are you looking to hire a blog writer? Think about this when you are trying to hire a writer.
- The Audience: Consider the type of audience that is going to be reading your work. Is this for your internal team? Or, is this for your customer base?
- The Tone: Do you want this work to sound like a customer wrote it? Or, do you want this to be a white paper for executives?
- The Point of View: There is a difference between a first-person post and a third-person post. Be sure to specify the point of view for your writer.
As you are finalizing the instructions when hiring a freelance writer, be sure to provide examples as well, if you have them, as this will go a long way toward increasing the success rate of your orders.
Step 3: Post a Casting Call OR Post a Series of Crowd Orders
For this next step, you have two choices.
First, you could create a casting call. If you only have one or two orders, then you might want to find the perfect writer immediately. Take the instructions you developed above and create a “casting call” at Writer Access.
With this option, you will be inviting writers to apply for the assignment. Be sure to specify what are you looking for with your casting call.
Do you want writers to submit a CV? Do you want writers to pitch ideas? Provide the instructions above as well as a deadline by which you will be reviewing the applications.
Then, you can pick the writer and send the order directly to them. This is a great way to hire a specific writer to complete a specific order for you.
On the other hand, if you have a large series of orders that you need to have completed, then you might want to post them to the crowd order section on Writer Access instead.
The crowd order section is a first-come, first serve location. The first writer to click on the order will claim it. Then, he or she will have to submit the order to you by the deadline.
Regardless of whether you choose to post a casting call or send them out to the crowd, you will have writers working on your orders (or a single writer).
Given the quality of the talent at Writer Access, you should expect your writers to submit the orders to you by the deadline.
Step 4: Review the Order Submissions
Once a freelance writer (or a group of writers) picks up the orders, you should get an email letting you know that the orders have been claimed. This is how you know that the writers are working on your orders. Then, you should get another email when the order has been submitted to you for review.
Once you get this email, you will head back to Writer Access and log in to your account. From here, you should navigate to your “open orders” section. There should be a section where you can see all of the orders that are “pending approval” for you. There, you can see what the writers have written.
If you decide that you would like to make some changes to the orders, then there is an “annotation” feature. This is helpful for writers because you can highlight exactly what you would like them to change. Sometimes, this might only be a line or two.
In other cases, this might be an entire paragraph. Then, you can “request revisions” and ask the writer to clean up the assignment to make sure that it is perfect for your needs.
If you decide that you like what the content writer wrote on the first attempt, then that is great also! You can select “approve” and the order is done.
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Step 5: Hire Your Writers for Future Work by Adding Them to the Love List
Finally, in order to complete the process of hiring writers on Writer Access, you can also keep writers for future work. To do this, you can add them to your “love list.” This is a list of all the writers that you like that you can send work to directly.
For example, you might want to take the writers who you like from your casting call and add them to your love list. Or, if you sent out a bunch of orders to the crowd and you like some writers better than others, then you can add these writers to your love list.
That way, when you have future work, you can send work to them directly. This is a great way to increase the success rate on your orders because you know that the writers to whom you are sending work will do a great job for you every time.
See Related: How to Become a Freelance Editor
Step 6: Send Out Solo Orders and Love List Orders
Once you have found the writers that you like, you can send them future freelance writing jobs directly.
First, you could decide to send orders directly to a single writer.
If you have a writer that you like the best, then you can send them something called a “solo” order. In this situation, when you are creating your future orders, you want to find the order “type” and change this from a “crowd” order to a “solo” order.
Then, the order might ask you for the name of the writer or for the ID number of that writer. Fill in this information to make sure the order goes to the right place.
On the other hand, you might decide that you want to send orders to a group of writers, such as your “love list.” Instead of sending out a “crowd” or a “solo” order, you need to change this selection to “love list.” That way, you will post the orders to an entire group of people on your love list.
The first person on your love list to claim these orders will take them; however, these orders are only open to people on your love list.
Following these steps will help you hire the right writers for your orders on Writer Access; however, this is not the only site that you can use to hire writers.
There are a few other options as well.
See Related: Is Writers.work a Legit Training Platform or a Scam?
Alternatives to Writer Access for Freelance Writers
If you are looking for freelance writers for your business, there are a few other sites that you might want to explore as well.
These include:
Textbroker
One other freelance writing site that you might want to explore for your business is called Textbroker. Textbroker is a similar platform to Writer Access; however, there are a few differences to note.
With Writer Access, the administration team is stronger, so you can expect to have more guidance when you are looking for the right writer for your work. The biggest difference between Textbroker and Writer Access is that Textbroker is much more of a “content mill.”
This is a place where you might want to go if you have a ton of orders that you need to have completed in a short amount of time that are relatively similar.
With Textbroker, most orders are going to get turned around in a couple of days. While Writer Access has quick turnaround times as well, Writer Access is more diverse. You can get a much wider variety of high-quality content on Writer Access than on Textbroker.
Furthermore, when you are wondering, “how much does it cost to hire a writer,” Textbroker is also one of the least expensive writing websites. While this might be good for businesses that are looking to control their costs, this also means that the quality of the content is going to suffer as well.
Therefore, while it is possible to get a lot of content turned around quickly on Textbroker, including content that can help your business with SEO purposes, there is a tradeoff when it comes to the quality of the work.
See Related: Upwork Reviews
BKA Content
Another platform in which you might be interested in for your business is called BKA Content. Based out of Utah, BKA Content is still a relatively new platform; however, this is a site that is growing quickly. The structure of BKA Content is a bit different from that of Writer Access.
With BKA Content, you will work directly with the administration team instead of looking for writers yourself. BKA Content is responsible for hiring writers and putting them on different teams.
Then, when you approach BKA Content with content that you need written, BKA Content will help you figure out which team is right for the work that you require. Then, BKA Content will price your work, charge you for it, send it out to their writers, and return it to you when it is finished. Of course, you will set the deadline and get your work back on time.
BKA Content has its own writers and editors that it pays to make sure that your work is completed appropriately. If you are unhappy with your work, you can certainly send it back for revisions, as you still have control; however, the quality of BKA Content’s work is high, leading to a rapidly growing platform.
See Related: Fiverr Reviews
Clear Voice
Finally, another alternative that you should consider is called Clear Voice. Clear Voice is a comprehensive freelance writing platform that can help you connect with trained professionals.
While the price point of Clear Voice is more expensive than the other options on this list, the writers on Clear Voice are also much more experienced.
With Clear Voice, you can take a look at the numerous resumes of talented writers who are going to provide you with a virtual “CV.” They will provide you with samples of all of their prior work. Then, you can take a look at what they have done and find the writer (or writers) that are right for you.
Once you have found the writers that you like, you can work with a strategist at Clear Voice (or handle this yourself) and invite writers to apply to your assignment. Next, you can review the applications and find the writer that is ideal for your project. Then, you select that writer, provide a deadline, set the rate, and wait for the writer to complete the assignment.
With Clear Voice, there is a strategist who is working with you every step of the way to make sure that you and the writer are on the same page. The strategist can also help the writer edit and proofread the work, making sure that what you get back is exactly what you need.
Therefore, while Clear Voice is more expensive, this is a “white glove” service that is with you from start to finish, making sure that you end up with a finished product.
If you decide you like the writer you have found on Clear Voice, you can send future work to him or her directly instead of fielding applications.
However, if you wanted to write your article and not hire a writer, checking on personal websites from freelance writers is a great idea to get you inspired.