Breaking into the industry wasn’t very difficult for me to be honest. I may not be a native english speaker but I was fortunate enough to be accepted in really good schools. The standard that my schools set for written English was very high and it wasn’t just the school that maintained it but the students as well.
To be honest I’m better at writing in English (formal and casual) than I am in Filipino. It’s a bit sad I know but my exposure to Filipino writing was very limited. English is after all the primary medium for instruction in the Philippines and almost every subject is taught using it.
During the first few weeks of my “career” I was doing really low paying jobs though. I knew I could have gotten better jobs with my level of writing (just being objective) but I was new, so I thought it was only right that I pay my dues. The experience I gained was very useful for my later jobs and despite the pay, my employer was kind and understanding.
When I started getting better jobs which payed maybe 4 or 5 times more than my first gig, I was ecstatic. Little did I know that my pay then was still actually really low compared to what western writers get. I started researching how much native English speaking writers are paid and I was impressed by the amount. At that time I was probably being paid a very very small fraction of their rates. I knew my work didn’t lose out to theirs and I was bent on finding employers who will pay me the same rates as native speakers, and I did.
Right now I have 2 employers who pay me the proper amount per project. Whats funny is that I found them in bidding sites. Yes, I found them on sites that are notorious for having employers who pay depressing rates. But like the 2 I found, there are some decent ones from time to time and all it takes is a little perseverance and of course writing skill.
So for anyone who is new to the industry or who has been in it for a while but isn’t being paid a decent amount, don’t give up because things will get better eventually. This presupposes that you have decent writing skill of course and if you don’t then you better work on them. It’s one thing to not get a break because of bad luck but its totally another to not get hired because you don’t qualify. So make sure to properly assess your skills before you start complaining that you’re not getting paid enough.
Here’s a link to another post:
If you’re new to the industry you might be interested in reading it. It has some general tips that might be very useful to you.
