As an iGaming content creator, I’m often asked to write casino reviews. Naturally, a big part of that focuses on signup bonuses. And there’s something I see all the time that does my head in. It really needs to stop.

Casino Welcome Bonuses

It’s quite normal for a welcome offer to feature multiple deposit match bonuses. In that case, the headline might mention a specific figure, but in reality, it’s three smaller values combined.

Now, I don’t have a problem with that. If the welcome package is three different $1,000 deposit match bonuses, the overall value is $3,000. By all means tell prospective customers that they’ll receive a $3,000 welcome bonus. It’s fundamentally true, if a tiny bit misleading.

However, when they lie about the percentages, it grinds my gears.

Not How Percentages Work

Take a look at this egregious example.

The headline is 300% up to €1,500 but that’s simply not true. Look at the breakdown.

• 1st deposit – 150% up to €750
• 2nd deposit – 100% up to €500
• 3rd deposit – 50% up to €250

Let’s say I register, then credit my account with €100 on each of my first three deposits. That’s a total deposit of €300.

My deposit bonuses will be as follows:

• €150 (150%)
• €100 (100%)
• €50 (50%)

That’s a total of €300 in welcome bonuses.

Okay, so stick with me here as I do the incredibly complicated maths…

• Deposits: €300
• Bonuses: €300

That’s a 100% bonus guys. Where is the 300% figure coming from?

You can’t simply add 150%, 100% and 50% to get 300%. That is absolutely not how percentages work. Go back to school.

Stop Misleading Players

This iGaming writer has had enough. I’m going to start including the actual percentages in all of my casino reviews moving forward.

If you’re writing 300% in the above example, then you’re very stupid at best.

But we all know why it’s really happening. It’s deceitful. Stop it.

As promised, I’m following up on my Authory free trial experience. I’ve used this new portfolio management tool for a little over a week now, so I want to share what else I’ve learned.

Problems With Authory

Let’s start with the negatives and get them out of the way.

1- Importing Content That’s Not Mine

When I wrote my last post about Authory, the auto-importer was still working to put my portfolio together.

But as soon as it had it finished, I immediately spotted my first problem.

Authory had imported a bunch of Vietnamese language articles which I definitely didn’t write – tôi không nói tiếng việt.

It seems like Natural8 – a popular online poker client all across Asia – has taken many of my English-language Poker School blog posts and translated them for different markets. Because they’ve left my name on the article, my portfolio is now full of weird articles that I don’t want the credit for.

Now, in fairness, to Authory, this isn’t a technical fault on their side. The software is designed to scan the site and import anything with your byline. It’s done that.

The Natural8 team has obviously decided to give me the credit since I wrote the original. I can’t fault that decision, nor can I fault Authory for not understanding this situation. However, it’s still a problem for me as the end user, so I have to deal with it.

Luckily, you can at least manually remove them all. But damned if I can be bothered individually deleting every single one – there are several dozen of them in Vietnamese and I even found a few in Chinese.

Perhaps they could add some kind of language filter when importing, to prevent this type of thing?

2- Image Importing

When an article has finished importing, the portfolio features a headline, snippet, date and thumbnail image.

However, for some reason, not all of my articles have the image. That gives everything an ugly, lop-sided appearance. What’s more, people don’t want to see walls of text without things like pictures to break it up.

Missing those colourful images doesn’t display my portfolio in its full glory.

This only appears to have affected my SlotJava.com slot reviews, so perhaps it’s something technical on their side, rather than the fault of Authory.

But, like the last problem, I don’t really care. This is meant to make the user’s life easier, but so far, I’m just seeing problems.

3- Incorrect Dates

If you look at the last image, you’ll notice something else. The Banana Town slot review is listed with a publication date of November 16th. That’s incorrect, as I stopped writing for that site several months ago.

When you auto-import, you have to provide Authory with an initial link to start the process. For my SlotJava.com reviews, I used the Banana Town piece. So I think what’s happened is, it’s used the date on which I told it to start importing, but only for that article. Every other slot review that I wrote displays correctly.

This is replicated across every section that I set up – PokerScout, CardPlayer, Natural8, Techopedia – everything. The first article always has the wrong date.

Now, this is hardly the end of the world. But it still looks like a bug and it’s annoying to people like me who are sticklers for detail. If it turns out to be user error on my part, then the auto-import process obviously isn’t intuitive enough.

Features

Okay, the negatives are out of the way. What about the features that I hadn’t been able to try until now?

Social Media Stats

Authory displays statistics regarding how often your work has been shared to the major social media platform. It also details engagement, including the number of shares and reactions.

Honestly, I don’t care about this. I get paid by the client whether my content performs well or not (though I’m reliably informed it does well!)

In addition, as far as I know anyway, hardly any of my clients share their content on social media anyway. So, even if I cared, I have no use for this.

It would be interesting to track how many people actually read the article directly. But I don’t see how that’s even possible to implement such a feature in the future. And for me personally, these would simply be vanity metrics.

Newsletter Creation and Reporting

This feels like a very useful tool that might make the subscription fee worth it, but I don’t have a newsletter myself.

I do compile a weekly LinkedIn post featuring job opportunities, so perhaps I could turn that into a newsletter. However, I’m not really interested in trying to monetise it.

Like a lot of my Linkedin content, it’s just aimed at giving people the type of advice and assistance I didn’t have when I started as a new iGaming writer. Ultimately, I don’t really care how many people it reaches or how much engagement it gets.

Still, I can definitely see the value in this for a lot of people.

New Publication Notifications

I’ve read that Authory will notify you when a client publishes one of your articles. However, I’ve not experienced this yet.

I did have a nosey around the settings to try and see if it was something I had to switch on manually, but I couldn’t see anything. There was nothing in the FAQs either.

It’s pretty likely that none of my clients published anything in the past week. That’s fairly common, where a bunch of articles are edited and published all at the same time. I write for a lot of gambling affiliates that involve big organisations with lots of moving parts. Sometimes, things don’t get published for weeks after I submit.

Still, I’m not sure how much use I’d get from this particular tool anyway.

Final Thoughts – Is Authory Worth Paying For?

Not for me, Clive.

Look, I don’t hate it, and I really like the idea. There are people out there complaining about their existing portfolio situation.

However, I’ve seen nothing in my free trial period that enables me to justify spending $144 a year on this product.

Pros and Cons

Here are my key takeaways from the free Authory trial.

• Automatic updates. Manually replacing content in my WordPress portfolio is a pain in the arse, and this removes a lot of that problem. However, I have also spent plenty of time messing around in Authory, reordering articles and manually removing content that’s not even mine. Swings and roundabouts.
• Aesthetics. Authory definitely looks prettier than my crappy blog, if you’re willing to overlook the broken and inconsistent thumbnails, that is. But I could easily pay a designer to fix my blog. Anyway, as I’ve said before, nobody actually cares about an ugly portfolio anyway. I’m a gambling writer. I’m not being hired as a graphic designer.
• Newsletter. This looks like a genuinely good idea and will undoubtedly be a really useful tool for someone. However, I don’t have a newsletter and I don’t plan to start one. I can’t offer any insight into how well Authory compares to similar management tools, as I’ve no experience at all.

This week, I discovered Authory, a new portfolio creation and management tool. I thought I’d give it a try and see whether or not it’s worth it.

Come with me on the journey!

I’ve recently written about how it’s better to have an ugly portfolio than nothing at all. I stand by that, but I’m at a point where I can look at ways to improve my own. So, when I heard about Authory, I figured I’d give it a go.

What is Authory?

Authory is an automated portfolio management tool. Here’s what it allows you to do:

• Bulk import all of your content from a single site
• Automatically add future work to the portfolio
• Track the performance of your existing content
• Create automated backups of your work
• Receive notifications whenever your content is published

That all seems very interesting, especially the automation element. Every now and then, I do have to manually update my website portfolio. It is a bit of a pain in the arse, to be honest.

But Authory claims to automatically scan whatever sites you tell it to, uploading whatever new work that features your byline. Sounds good!

Pricing and Free Trial

So, what does Authory cost? It’s priced at $144 per year, so $12 a month.

At first glance, to me at least, that feels a little too much. It costs nothing but time to update my existing portfolio, and I rarely have to add much to it. I work on it two or three times a year max.

If you’re happy with a basic portfolio, then, this tool may not be worth it. But if you want a more professional look and the perks that go with it, $12 a month doesn’t seem like a huge amount

Backups

I’m guessing the real value of this tool is the backups. On more than one occasion, I’ve checked my own portfolio and realised a client has deleted an article.

It does leave you wondering how long your site has been displaying broken links to prospective clients, making you look careless and lazy, through no fault of your own.

It would be nice to be able to keep copies of those non-existent pieces of work, as well as automatically stripping them from the site.

14 Days Free

I’m sceptical about the price, but I can see the benefits, so I’m giving it a try. Luckily, you get a 14 day free trial to test things out, so that’s exactly what I’m doing.

We immediately get off to a great start. I can easily register with my Google account, without needing to fill out any forms.

Better still, I’m taken straight to the portfolio creation tool, with no need to enter any payment details.

As you can see, I have the option of adding my payment details later to retail access. But at no point have be been bullied into adding them. I appreciate that.

Setting Up My Authory Portfolio

Okay, so how do you get started with Authory? I have to say, it’s incredibly simple.

The portfolio creation page is a WYSIWYG editor, where you just click on the elements you want to change. It’s really intuitive and it reminds me a bit of Canva in that regard.

My name and photograph were added automatically upon registration, as I linked my Google account.

I added the “Freelance iGaming Writer” subheading, then tapped the small blue + sign next to the search bar marked “Add Collection”. Here, you can add new sections to the portfolio.

As you can see from the image, I’ve decided to set up a new tab for each client. I wonder if it might be better to divide these into Casino, Poker and Sports Betting tabs, rather than individual clients, but we’ll see how it goes.

After creating the new section, you can click the “Add work samples to this collection” button to begin importing.

The process is ridiculously straightforward, to the point where a child can quickly figure it out.

Importing Content

As a writer, I’m obviously tapping “Articles” at this point. You can upload all kinds of file formats, or automatically import them if they’re already published online. That’s the feature I’m most interested in.

It turns out you only need to have one published link ready. After entering it into the relevant field and pressing “Continue”, it will publish that particular link, then spend the coming hours automatically scouring the site for other content featuring your byline.

I was warned that this could take up to 48 hours. My first two collections were ready within 24, but I’m still waiting on the rest, so that claim seems pretty accurate.

First Impressions of Authory

Well, I have to say, my first impressions of Authory are really good.

The editor is so simple that an idiot like me can use it. And the finished product looks decent, as you can see below.

However, I’m still wary of the price.

Is Authory Worth the Price?

I know that $12 isn’t a huge amount of money for someone like me, especially if you’re spending hours on your portfolio or website.

But, the way I see it… I might be doing this for the next ten years. If that’s the case, it’s not $144 at all. It’s $1,440.

And honestly, I don’t want to spend that on a portfolio. As I’ve already said before, anything at all – no matter how ugly or basic – will do.

Then, of course, you have the fact that $12 a month actually *is* a good chunk of money for some people.

Automation and Tracking

I guess it really comes down to how much you value the automatic updates and the backups that Authory offers.

Personally, I don’t care about the latter, as I always retain a copy of the original document anyway. So, even if the client deletes it, I can at least point to the original Google Doc, which is better than nothing.

I can definitely see the value in the automation though. Then you have the tracking, which I haven’t had time to investigate yet.

I’ll continue with the trial and report back once it’s finished importing all of my content.

Watch this space…

UPDATE: 23rd November 2024

Read part two of my Authory free trial review to learn more about the features and problems I encountered.

When hiring an iGaming writer, it’s vital that you find someone with prior industry experience.

I’ve seen people debating this in discussion forums. Many writers claim that you don’t need a specialist. I understand where they’re coming from, but only to a point.

Let me explain why they’re wrong, and why you actually need an experienced professional.

Why Does iGaming Experience Matter?

A genuinely skilled writer will be just as good at research as they are putting ideas into words. Probably even better, actually. And for many simple topics, a surface-level knowledge is enough.

But for iGaming content, you need much more.

There are certain aspects where a generalist cannot compete. Someone with gambling industry experience is going to deliver much better quality, much more quickly. Plus, there are other perks for clients, as you’re about to learn.

Technical Writing

First of all, there’s a lot of surprisingly technical stuff to cover when writing about gambling.

Although pretty much anyone could write a basic 1,000 word casino review, not everyone can produce a compelling slot review of the same size.

Surely they can play a free demo and write about their experience? Of course. But what does a generalist know about other recent releases from this developer, or similar games?

There are dozens of Irish and St Patrick’s Day slots released every year, for instance. How many have they heard of, let alone played?

How does this particular title compare? Is it just a reskinned version of an older game? Does it introduce a new feature? Does the writer know the difference between a cascade and an avalanche? How do Infinity Reels work? Or Gigablox? Or xNudges?

The same is true of poker strategy guides.

You don’t need to be Phil Hellmuth to explain the ABC of SNG strategy. But if you want to drill down into 3-bet ranges from the cut-off in a 6-max game, can you really trust a guy who’s last gig was writing about hotels in Ayia Napa? Or “marketing hacks”?

Responsible Gambling

This is another vital area for gambling companies and affiliates, especially in heavily-regulated markets like the UK and US.

You can’t just write a sales article, promoting a casino, sportsbook or poker room. It’s not allowed to be misleading in any way, and that is a term that’s open to interpretation.

Modern gambling content definitely can’t be seen to promote reckless spending, either. Or use imagery that might appeal to younger people.

Those from outside of the gambling industry just don’t get it. How can they?

They’ve never been on the end of a visit from UK Gambling Commission enforcement before. They’ve never had to demonstrate a responsible gambling system to PAGCOR. They don’t know exactly what’s at stake. But I do, because I have.

You need an industry expert that can explain the difference between a loss limit and a deposit limit, or a self-exclusion and an account closure.

Black, Grey and Regulated Markets

Regulations seem to change every week. In countries like the United States, which is currently undergoing a massive evolution, every state has its own rules. And within each jurisdiction, there are further complexities.

Some allow land-based casinos, but not online. Some permit poker, but not sports betting. Things are extremely fluid, changing on a regular basis.

By hiring an experienced writer, your iGaming content will always be accurate and up-to-date.

What’s more, if you’re venturing into grey, or even black markets, you need to tread extremely carefully. For instance, there’s a knack to creating sweepstakes casino content. This is a fast-moving area which isn’t fully regulated yet.

Many people see it as a way to skirt around existing laws. But a skilled iGaming writer can explain things properly and put readers’ minds at ease.

E-E-A-T

Gambling industry affiliates can also benefit from an experienced iGaming professional in another important way.

SEO types will already know exactly what E-E-A-T means: Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. If you want your content to rank, you’ll need to excel in this area.

A good trick is to have your writer create a short profile, complete with links to their website, portfolio, LinkedIn and other related socials. That way, search engines can see that your content was created by a genuinely experienced professional, with demonstrable expertise.

In turn, this boosts your E-E-A-T score.

My 13 Year Gambling Industry Career

Before I became a freelance writer, I worked in the gambling industry for 13 years. I started out at the very bottom, as a cashier in a William Hill LBO. But there’s not much I didn’t learn as I climbed the ladder.

I was an odds compiler, before moving into product development, then to product management. At EDITEC – Africa’s largest retail sportsbook operator, I launched their first ever betting websites.

Later, I moved to the Philippines, Kenya and back to SE Asia, launching retail and online products in various territories along the way.

This experience gave me the perfect platform from which to start my freelance writing career, when I decided to quit operations management.

You can read more about my background on my LinkedIn profile.

Benefit From My Vast Gambling Industry Experience

If you’re on the lookout for a gambling writer, you won’t find any with more experience than me.

In addition to an all-encompassing 13-year career on three continents, I’ve #been producing compelling content on a full-time basis since early 2021.

Whether it’s a slot review, a casino guide or poker strategy, I’m your man. Drop me a line and let’s see how I can help.

I’m going to move these updates over to my blog for now. But you can still expect a weekly dose of opportunities for iGaming writers.

Here’s what I encountered last week.

1. Content Lab is hiring! They need freelance gambling writers in multiple languages: Dutch, German, French, Polish, Hungarian, Arabic, Portuguese and Spanish. Email [email protected] with samples, rates etc.
2. As always, ClickOut Media are recruiting. This week, they want a French-speaking SEO content writer for an iGaming project.
3. Web International Services Ltd posted on LinkedIn about a number of positions, including:
   • 2x English Sports Betting Content Writers (UK Market)
   • Casino Content Writer (German Speaking)
   • 2x Sports Content Writers (German Speaking)
4. Annie Mercer posted about several roles at Van Kaizen. This included an on-site iGaming content writer in Cape Town, South Africa. Contact [email protected] for more information.
5. Statsbay need an iGaming sports writer based in India. Email [email protected] for more.
6. Jitendra Mali is seeking a freelance sports content writer with at least two years worth of experience. Drop him a line on LinkedIn.

Good luck if you’re applying! But remember, I’m just a gambling writer myself – I’m not hiring. Don’t send applications to me!

I’d never heard anyone use the term “fractional services” until earlier this year. But I’ve actually offered fractional content management – without even realising it – since late 2021.

Let’s talk about it.

Fractional Services Explained

A fractional service provider is essentially a consultant, but more hands-on.

You can recruit experienced professionals on a temporary basis, with no need to commit to expensive, long-term contracts. They do the job as usual, but you can work with them for just a few days, weeks or months at a time.

This gives you better control over your spending and removes a lot of HR-related pain.

There all all kinds of fractional services available. A fractional CMO, for instance, is just like any other Chief Marketing Officer. The only difference is the temporary nature of the arrangement.

What is a Fractional Content Manager?

As you can now guess quite easily, a fractional content manager is a temporary hire that handles your content needs.

They work closely with senior management to plan, create and deliver an overall content strategy. Unlike a freelancer, they are available on-demand, giving you greater flexibility. But you don’t have to pay a salary, or worry about performance reviews and pensions, as you would a full-time employee.

Advantages of Fractional Content

There are many reasons to consider fractional content services, including:

• Managing costs. Hiring a fractional content manager allows you to pay as and when required. Why make a full-time hire if you only need assistance for four months?
• Better quality. Regular content agencies outsource to lower-paid, lower-skilled freelancers. You have no control over who’s working on your project.
• Easy access. Unlike a standard freelancer, you have on-demand access to a fractional content manager. Need something changed urgently? No problem.
• Outsourcing admin. A fractional content manager assembles their own team, if required. That saves you the time and effort of recruiting a bunch of freelancers.

So, What About Me?

In September 2021, about six months after I turned freelance, I started working with Casino.Zone. I was initially tasked with optimising existing content. But I also wrote a bunch of iGaming content, including information about casino software developers and regulatory authorities.

By the end of the year, I was managing most of the content production for Casino.Zone, including slot reviews, live casino game reviews and informational articles. I did this for over a year, before the project was parked, delivering 25-40 pieces a month.

Although I wrote a lot myself, some of it was outsourced to a team of trusted gambling writers. I worked hard to shape them, imposing my own very high standards. All of their content was edited and published by me, so I took full responsibility for everything:

• Planning a content calendar
• Keyword and competitor research
• Creation and distribution of briefs
• Recruitment and management of writers
• Proofreading and editing
• Writing iGaming content
• Sourcing of images
• Publishing in the CMS

Early in 2024, I offered a similar service to the Slot Java team, where I produced 30 slot reviews per month.

Need a Fractional iGaming Content Manager?

It turns out that I’ve been offering fractional content services for years, without even realising it had a name.

And I can do the same for you.

If you needing help creating and implementing an iGaming content plan, contact me for a free discussion. Let’s see how I can make your life easier.

In August, I posted on LinkedIn about the about the price of iGaming content, or in other words, how much a gambling writer can earn. Now, I want to follow up on that with an update.

My Pricing History

If you didn’t see the original LinkedIn post, here’s a recap:

The Beginning

When I started writing gambling content, inspired by a 2008 trip to Dublin, I was paid $5 for a 300 word Premier League match report.

I quickly found regular work as a casino writer with a client that paid $0.05 per word. We worked together for around four years.

Part Two

In early 2013, I dropped that side hustle, as my gambling industry career had really taken off. I wouldn’t take any more paid work as an iGaming writer until 2020, when COVID-19 made me reassess my life.

The aim was to start writing again with a comically low rate and build a fresh portfolio, securing reviews that I could use to gain more work. If I got back to $0.05 per word, I’d be happy.

Here’s a timeline of how my rates progressed:

• July 2020 – $0.01 p/w
• January 2021 – $0.03 p/w
• July 2021 – $0.05 p/w

Mission accomplished in just one year. I was back to square one and in a position to quit my job and pivot to freelance writing.

Growing My iGaming Writing Business

I had no idea what other gambling writers were charging at this point. I was just happy to have met my short-term goals.

The next challenge was to grow the business of writing casino, sportsbook and poker content, and really make it pay.

Here’s how it panned out over the next three years:

• July 2022 – $0.08 p/w
• July 2023 – $0.10 p/w
• July 2024 – $0.12 p/w

My first six months of freelancing were surprisingly easy. You know when you think it’s all going too well and it’s bound to come crashing down? Yeah, that.

Regardless, I kept inching my rates up, but the clients kept coming, no matter what the cost. I was starting to believe that I was very good – why else did the work feel easy and the five-star reviews keep rolling in?

That gave me the confidence to keep increasing. Every time a project wrapped up, I’d put a penny on the rate of my Fiverr and Upwork gigs.

Reaching a Plateau

I kept doing this until 2023. By July of that year, I’d plateaued at $0.12 per word.

I experimented with $0.14 a few times, but couldn’t get any bites. The closest I got was by accident – an existing $0.12 client added a penny on himself to secure priority work.

October 2024 – a Breakthrough

Having realised that I haven’t increased my prices at all for 18 months – coupled with the rising costs of literally everything – I figured it was time for another crack at $0.14 per word.

There’s one client in particular that supplies me with a lot of work. It’s an agency and they have plenty of resources behind them. I’ve had nothing but glowing feedback from them for the six months we’ve worked together, so I chanced my arm and asked for a raise. I got it.

With the new benchmark secured, I’ve also increased my rates on freelancing platforms accordingly – though in fairness, I’ve almost completely moved away from them now. I get the odd bits and pieces through Fiverr, while Upwork can go fuck itself.

So, How Much Can a Gambling Writer Make?

It remains to be seen whether this particular gambling writer can consistently maintain $0.14 per word.

Obviously, I’d like to think I can. I know I’m one of the best around, as I’m constantly told so. But I have to imagine this is pretty close to the ceiling for this kind of content.

Regardless, by sharing my own pricing journey, I hope to help aspiring betting, poker and casino writers. It certainly can’t hurt to have a clear idea of what you should be getting paid.

I wish I’d had this information to hand earlier in my freelancing journey. If I had, there’s no doubt in my mind that I’d have earned better rates much more quickly than I did.

My disdain for Upwork is hardly a secret. Even though I’d prefer people not to use that money-grabbing platform, I know some people still do.

Well, if you’re going to use it, make sure you know the tricks to reduce expenditure.

Today, I’ll share a top tip of mine to help you out. You need to become an Upwork detective.

Check the Client Feedback

The tip is simple. Before bidding, take the time to scour the client’s feedback. More often than not, an unwitting freelancer will have saved you money.

Take this recent Upwork posting, for instance.

The client is looking for an iGaming writer like me, so naturally, it caught my eye. But if you think I’m paying 19 connects, you can funk all the way off.

Instead, I went trawling through the 214 reviews, panning for gold. Which I found pretty quickly:

Thanks Sabbir!

Now What?

All I have to do now is Google “Paradise Media” and look for their website. You’re always likely to find something like an email address or contact form, if not an entire page full of freelance and full-time opportunities.

No joy? Then look for pages that talk about the company’s employees. There’s always something like an “About Us” or “Meet the Team”.

You’re sure to find someone from HR, talent acquisition or the marketing department. Look up them up on LinkedIn and hey presto, a free application opportunity.

You don’t even have to mention that you found the listing on Upwork. Just send a cold, “speculative” pitch that just happens to be tailored to exactly what they asked for in the original post.

Thank me later. And screw Upwork.

When I decided to ditch my job in the gambling industry and turn freelance, Upwork unquestionably played a key role in the transition.

Once I’d picked up my first few gigs as a gambling writer, earning five-star reviews, there was no turning back.

However, in the past few years, the site has become an utter clown show. It’s nothing but price gouging and underhand tactics, carefully designed to drain every last penny out of us freelancers – the very people who make the site its money.

Penny Pinching Upwork

Three years ago, I was fully aboard the bandwagon, happily telling anyone who’d listen that Upwork was better than Fiverr, for example. But I noticed it starting to go downhill sometime in 2022.

Here’s a few of the things that upset me, causing me to move away from that money-grabbing platform and work to build my own brand.

Commission Structure

The first change that upset me was a move away from tiered commission. Upwork used to charge 20% when first working with a client, but it was quickly reduced to 10%. Eventually, it fell to just 5% for long-term clients.

Basically, you were incentivised to be good at your job. Provide excellent service and win repeat business and you’ll be rewarded with low commission.

When they chose to make it a flat 10%, it sent a clear message that people like me were no longer appreciated. Instead, they were encouraging newbies to chase a dream, prioritising newcomers over their longest-serving freelancers.

They tried to sell this as a good thing. And for some, it probably was. But given that all of my Upwork clients fell into the 5% bracket at that point, this “benefit” was actually a pay cut for me.

To then tell me it’s a good thing was a massive insult to my intelligence and began to turn me off.

Minimum Connect Fees

Soon after, I started to notice that prices were increasing. I’d never seen a job require more than 16 connects to bid before. Suddenly it was costing almost 30 to apply to work with clients that needed iGaming content.

Today, you can regularly see jobs that require more than 30. It’s too much when you only get 10 free connects per month.

Bidding System

Next up, they introduced the bidding system, designed to pit all of us against each other. My understanding is that this actually used to be the case at Upwork in the past, but this system was removed. You have to ask why they did that, and why they chose to bring it back.

Not content with directly increasing the ceiling on the number of connects, they could now massively inflate prices even more. Desperate freelancers throw every cent they have at jobs, inflating prices on Upwork’s behalf.

Even worse, they openly admitted to using phantom bids to kickstart auctions, as well as “placebo jobs”, where you waste your time applying, only to then be told it’s not a real job.

Admin Fees

General admin fees, such as the contract initiation fee, have skyrocketed in recent years. The most egregious example of this is when they sneakily brought in a fee for accepting contracts from clients approaching you directly.

In the past, if a potential client reached out to the freelancer (as opposed to bidding for the job) then it wouldn’t cost anything to start working together. Now it’s $4.99 to play.

Only, they kept this change quiet, and many freelancers continued to accept work, have their fingers burned and wonder why. The forums were full of complaints.

It’s particularly disgusting to see how they happily exploit people in developing countries. See my LinkedIn post about someone I know in the Philippines. They were charged $5.49 for a $5 Upwork job.

When people say you should give 110%, it’s not meant to be taken literally.

What’s the Solution?

Nobody cares about moaning and whining. That’s why I decided to take action.

I no longer accept jobs from Upwork and I’d encourage others to adopt a similar stance. I’ll tell anyone who wants to listen about how crappy the platform is.

If you have to use it, perhaps because you’re just starting out, take full advantage and don’t be afraid to be as unscrupulous as they are. Win a few clients, talk to them off-platform and arrange private payments.

Build Your Own Brand

Put together a portfolio, take Upwork for everything you can and build your personal brand in the meantime.

The aim should be to get off as quickly as possible, using platforms like LinkedIn and your own website.

Upwork doesn’t care about you. There’s no need for you to care about them and their rules. Treat the platform the same way they treat us. Shabbily.

Psst. AI checkers don’t work. Pass it on.

These bloody things were briefly the bane of my life, but I’ve cut them out entirely for a more stress-free existence as a freelance writer.

Ahead of the AI Curve

At the start of the ChatGPT-fuelled AI hype, I figured I’d better get ahead of the curve. After all, as a freelance iGaming writer, editor and translator, this could be a threat to my livelihood.

What could I do? I figured it would be smart to offer an AI editing service. So I did.

If people want to save money by mass-producing crappy AI-spun content, don’t fight them. Instead, I could offer to improve it for them, adding the humour, nuance or empathy that a robot simply can’t.

Plus, I could also offer to fact check it, since LLMs are always wrong about literally everything, and rewrite it to beat the newly-emerging AI checking tools.

Sounds good, right? LOL.

How it Started

In fairness, this worked pretty well for a few weeks. But then I took on a client who was using Originality.AI, the most egregious of the AI checking pseudoscientists. He asked me to rewrite 2,500 words of content created with ChatGPT. No problem, I thought. Should take about three hours.

I edited, quite literally, every single sentence. After submitting, the client said that Originality was still showing a very high percentage of AI-generated content (I forget the exact figure). Okay, fine. I’ll have another crack.

After rewriting every single sentence a second time, he told me that it was still only 59% human, according to the AI checker.

Strict Conditions

At that point, I decided I would only continue with this service if we set some clear expectations. Firstly, I would never work with Originality.AI again. End of discussion.

Then, I would ask what the client’s expectations were. If they told me they wanted more than 80% human, regardless of the AI checker, I wouldn’t take the job as it would no longer be worth my time.

After one further bad experience, I pulled the plug on my gigs. In short, AI checkers are complete and utter garbage.

Even OpenAI Admits It

Interestingly, OpenAI themselves discontinued their own AI checker, because it doesn’t work, which is pretty revealing.

I’ve also heard many horror stories from other writers going to insane lengths to prove to clients that their content is genuine.

Filming themselves writing, running 8-year old copy through the AI checker and having it come up as AI-generated, all kinds of bullshit.

Well, fuck that. I haven’t got time for it. I simply won’t work with any client who insists on using these trash tools, and I feel much better for it.

Just Say “No”

It’s important that we all, collectively, as a community of writers, push back against this nonsense. It is hurting our reputations and costing us work.

I would encourage my fellow writers to do the same as me.

Your blood pressure will thank you for it.

Dominic Field is a freelance creator of AI-free iGaming content.