Followup Review: Authorr.com

Typically I space out my followup reviews a bit more, but a lot has happened with Authorr.com since my Authorr.com review went live about a month ago, none of it good. Here’s what I’ve experienced after just walking through the steps to get my screenshots for the review – bear in mind that I never even submitted my (extremely specific, free) sample.

October 10th Email

Happy Friday, Authors!

Just when you thought we wouldn’t make any more changes, we did.

This week we updated our system to remove the bidding process.

That’s right, we no longer ask for a bid or take bids into account when we calculate your overall score.  

From here on out, the focus is on quality.

So go forth, Authors, and make us proud!

Thanks for all of your hard work,

– The Team at Authorr

 

Okay…so…no more bids. A step in the right direction? I guess?

 

October 16th Email

Hello Authors!

Hopefully you remember us.  At some point in time, you submitted a sample for our value article writing type but for some reason, it cancelled and you weren’t able to complete it.

I’m here with really good news.

We recently made a bunch of changes in Authorr and would like for you to drop in and give that sample submission a second shot.

Before you submit your second sample assignment, we encourage you to watch our webinar and review our guidelines.  If you weren’t sure what our expectations were before, you will definitely know now.

Both were created in the last couple of weeks, so there’s plenty of fresh tips and tricks about how to be successful on Authorr.

• Webinar:  [URL removed]
• Guidelines: [URL removed]

Thanks so much and happy writing!

– The Team at Authorr

Okay, well, I never submitted in the first place, but I can understand them wanting to maybe call back some folks that wandered away. This tells me they’re hurting for quality writers though, it has a slightly-too-eager tone to it in my opinion.

(Another?) October 16th Email

Hey Authors,

As we mentioned on our webinar a few weeks ago, we are now re-opening the Premium Article assignment type.  These pay out $30 for a 500 word article and 6 cents per word after that, so $60 for a 1,000 word article.

To opt-in for the Premium Article type just log in to Authorr, and click Assignment Types under the Account tab.

If you have not yet watched our Webinar, you MUST watch the webinar before opting into Premium Article.  There is very critical information in the webinar that you’ll need to know to get your samples accepted.  The webinar is here:

View Webinar [URL removed]

Then opt in here. [URL removed]

Best,

Kevin and Bobby from Authorr

 

Alright, now they’ve crept slightly over the line of being a little too eager. Two emails in the same day, to the same person that didn’t even submit a sample, encouraging them to apply for premium level? What kind of hurried talent is that going to snag you, guys? Premium isn’t something you should be casting about for from the untested pool, this email should only go out to established writers.

(Another??) October 16th Email

Hey Delany Martinez,

This E-Mail is to let you know that we have work available for you on Authorr. There are currently 1 assignments available to you that you can work on.

Assignments on Authorr are first-come, first-served, but we do expect that if you accept an assignment that you will complete it without delay.

If you’re ready to do some writing, please sign in and accept the assignment.

To get started, just log in here:

https://app.authorr.com/ [URL Removed]

Best,
The Authorr Team

P.S. Getting too many of these emails?  You can set a maximum frequncy for them in your Settings.  Just log in and go to the Account tab and click “Change Settings.”

Know what that one assignment was? My unpaid sample piece they’re apparently VERY EAGER for me to start/finish. That’s all I have access to, that one 500 word SEO specific-theme-and-audience timed assignment that it looks like they get the rights to and I get zilch for. See where it says I can adjust “frequncy” at the bottom? Apparently the default setting is FOUR EMAILS A DAY because I’ve been getting “reminders” about that sample piece assignment every six hours for the last three days. This is now almost a month after I dabbled on their site and poked around – nearly 4 weeks since I touched anything or logged in the site, and suddenly – bam – four emails a day, every day, out of the blue.

Some of my readers here on the Freelance Writer Guide were quick to speak up on their own negative issues on the site, too – email neediness aside.

From Bianca:

I wish I had read this article before I had signed up with Authorr. I’m new to freelance writing, and also learned of it through Freedom with Writing. I’ve had issues with Authott at an alarming rate. Twice this week their timer on their site has had errors, and timed out long before the six hour deadline. That issue resulted in projects that I had put time into being lost and marked as failed. One of them errored out while I was submitting it.

I’ve reported the issues, they acknowledged that it was a bug on their end, but I highly doubt I’m ever going to get paid the $7 that I feel I am owed. After all, I did the work. I’m getting a bad feeling about the site, personally.

 

And here, from Laura:

You are completely right. We need to “vet” companies to avoid getting robbed blind. The webinar put together by the company (on the blog post) said they were looking for “premium” writers, and this would be by “invitation only”. I did not expect them to invite me, but I got an email yesterday to submit an 500-word sample. My hopes were up, ran it through PaperRater, Ginger, checked AP guide, etc. Within hours I got an email:
Unfortunately, your submission for #7218 (Independent Contractors vs Employees) on Authorr fell short of our standards.

We will not allow you to access further assignments in this type.

Feel free to resubmit a new sample assignment in a different assignment type.

So, they must have checked me out, as I have already had a fallout with editors, asking them straight whether or not they read the articles or the emails sent by the authors. Did not expect brownie points for that. Still, I would love to know “their standards” as I was given a straight, level 3 starter grade when I applied with The Content Authority, and have not had any problems with the editors so far. I get regular reviews and detailed comments from the site, something Authorr would never implement.

I think I am “ditching” the site for good, and many authors are already leaving because of the ignorance of the company.

 

I don’t think I’ve ever received chimes of “me too” quite so quickly on a site review before, which makes me even more wary of Authorr.com. Who knows, maybe they can salvage themselves in time, but right now it looks like a terribly executed site that’s up to some underhanded nonsense when it comes to free “samples” of your hard work.

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