Review of Writing Site: Scripted.com

Updated on: by Jess Weaver

Everyone is looking for a good freelance site nowadays. If you are following the freelance writing world closely, then you know that most “content mills” have gone down. If someone finds a suitable company to work for then the word spreads fast. I first heard about Scripted.com when I was browsing WAHM.com. A few people said that they have been accepted to write there. Of course, the writer in me wanted to go check it for myself.

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What is Scripted.com?

They are basically a writing company who has clients. This company hires freelancers to write for those clients. On the bottom of their website it shows what type of clients they have. Some of them include CNN Money and Venture Beat. Scripted proudly displays work they have done for these companies. They will hire freelancers, like you and I, to do blog posts, articles and even social media updates.

 

What is it like to sign up for Scripted.com?

The website is very simple to navigate. Whenever I came to the website, I had no trouble figuring out where I could sign up. This is a good sign because I hate when I have to look around for a sign up button. Scripted asks for your name, phone number, experience and any past degrees you may have. So, I would say the application process is really simple.

 

What do you write when you sign up with Scripted?

From what I can tell, you can only take jobs in certain specialties. You need to have confirmed experience in these specialties. In essence, this is not a content mill because you cannot just sign up and start claiming work. Scripted says that they do not just accept anyone and the sign up process is not an easy feat. Once you are inside the doors of this writing company and you take a job- you are expected to complete it.

Here is a quote from their website:

“When you take a job, it’s like a contract with us. You’re expected to complete it on time and to the best of your ability. If you fail in either respect, you will no longer be invited to take jobs on Scripted.”

 

Is this a real company?

For you content company haters out there, this is a real company. The pay is not disclosed but that is something you learn once you are accepted.

Remember, this is a contract position- you are not an employee. It’s hard to believe that this company actually has an office but they do. There are real people who go into work every day and help make Scripted run smoothly. If you sign up and look around the site where it says “jobs” you will see a variety of assignments for x amount of dollars. Some were $25 and some were $14…it just depends on what you get approved to write for and what your expertise actually is.“Our address is 423 Washington Street, in the Jackson Square district of downtown San Francisco. We share space with an architecture firm and occupy the front-most offices.”

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I have not been accepted as a writer through Scripted as of yet. I will keep you posted as my experience with them progresses. The company is very thorough in their FAQS and they sound like they have tried to cross every “T” and dot every “I”. So be sure to read over it to learn more about Scripted.com.

 

To sign up for Scripted Visit their Sign Up page.

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Comments

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Leisa Good

February 2, 2012 at 12:48 pm

Great review, Jess. Definitely keep all of us posted with your application process at Scripted. Got my fingers crossed for ya!

They seems to have an impressive list of clients and no shortage of work if you can get in!

Jess

February 2, 2012 at 1:16 pm

Thanks Leisa! Love your name btw!

Leisa Good

February 2, 2012 at 11:58 pm

Thanks, Jess. I do get some interesting pronunciations though. 😉

Lisa Mills

February 2, 2012 at 9:06 pm

Glad to see you’re back up and running again!

Jess

February 2, 2012 at 9:09 pm

Hey Lisa 😉 Thanks. I haven’t stopped running haha. But I told Miranda I need to get back to my first love which is blogging.

Anna

February 3, 2012 at 10:10 am

Thanks for the info, Jess! I am pretty intrigued by this website. I like the way it’s laid out and everything 🙂

Julie

April 11, 2012 at 9:11 am

Thanks for this succinct review! I stumbled upon scripted.com last night and in a late night blur, simply copy and pasted blog posts into the specialty categories. DON’T DO THAT! I got rejected 🙁 A humbling, eye-opening experience! I thought “oh, this post kinda fits into this category” and they have a firm policy that you can’t reapply once rejected. Drat! Should’ve invested some real time into the application. Lesson learned! I hope you have much more success 🙂

Amanda

April 12, 2012 at 2:40 pm

Scripted was a waste of time. Both of the categories that I was accepted for had ZERO jobs available (Healthcare and Publishing/Journalism). I was rejected for two — with no rhyme or reason. The application process does not have clear enough directions (no tips or samples) to help you decide which of your writing samples would be best to use, there is no legitimate feedback on rejections, and the pay is no much for the 10 jobs I saw posted before I submitted. As someone who has been writing professionally for over a decade, earned much more, and had content approved by Fortune 500 clients and their legal teams, the company’s process for selecting writers seems pretty poor. I wouldn’t waste your time.

[email protected]

March 19, 2013 at 8:32 pm

If you are writing for Fortune 500 clients then why are you trying to sign up for a content site like Scripted.com?

Are your crazy?

April 25, 2012 at 8:41 pm

Scripted.com is a horrible site – it’s nearly impossible to land a gig and the pay is worthless. Don’t even bother registering. It’s sort of like elance where you are bidding against people in India willing to do data entry for $2 an hour.

James Miller

March 19, 2013 at 8:34 pm

You don’t bid for jobs on Scripted. They have category job boards similar to Textbroker.

Therese

July 15, 2013 at 2:08 pm

Between Demand Studios and Scripted, these content mills are a joke. You can make far more money on your own. Do NOT get duped into take these low paying content mill gigs. I’m a professional copywriter with writing experience under my belt. I wouldn’t waste my time on these sites. Many moons ago, I wrote for Demand Studios (awful content mill) and they are another joke–they rip off their writers with low-paying gigs. I was curious about Scripted so I checked it out and it reads like your typical content mill who hire freelancers that are desperate for gigs and don’t pay writers what they are worth. Do yourself a favor as a freelance writer and find gigs on your own–don’t bother with these low-paying content mills. For a $14/article, they probably charge the client five times that much and make a big profit. As the writer, you get screwed. Just a word of professional advice from someone who has been in the trenches. If you start taking low paying gigs from the very beginning, you put yourself in a vicious cycle and people won’t take your writing seriously. We all have to start somewhere but don’t sell yourself short. My best advice is to start your own blog and write original content, and go from there. You don’t need these rip-off content mills! Avoid them like the plague.

Linda Rogacki

June 21, 2012 at 7:28 pm

WOW, great job. This is the only place I ever found with such complete reviews that even include the names and links to possible jobs. It seems like there are a lot of other writers who do not want to share the names of the companies they work for.
Thank you very much for your honesty.
Linda

Miranda Grimm

June 21, 2012 at 10:08 pm

Thanks Linda! You are right, most people don’t like sharing what they do because it means more competition for them. Which I understand, but I remember as only a reader of blogs it drove me crazy! 🙂

Jess

September 4, 2012 at 10:33 am

I never did get into scripted.

Michelle Goad

April 4, 2016 at 9:41 am

I didn’t get in either. I got a generic rejection that stated that I didn’t use the supplemental materials correctly and that I did not follow guidelines. No specifics other than that. I googled the wording and it fitted with technical. I wrote a catalog item description and a persuasive blog article. It was timed and I did the best I thought I could. This was my first rejection so I have given the matter some thought. I might not have cited sources or quoted as they would’ve wanted. I wonder if there are classes that might teach things. I have an MBA and and Ed.S. from UVA. I know how to do a research paper, but who really gets 40 minutes to submit something for pay/evaluation anyway. Lesson learned. It’s still sort of like a content mill and I won’t write for those.

Alicia

December 12, 2012 at 11:20 am

I tried this site, and I really don’t like it at all. I applied over a month ago, and was accepted into health care. I wrote one article to try it out. It did go through the editorial process, but they completely changed everything I wrote. I understand that this happens in freelancing, but not to this extend. It’s like they took someone else’s article completely and put it on my account. The title was the same, but none of the information that I had researched was in there, making me feel like I wasted my time to provide good information. Now it’s weeks after the deadline and it still hasn’t been approved nor have I been paid. I don’t think I will be working with them again.

Maria

January 9, 2013 at 4:09 am

Hello,
I also submitted my application, but my sample was rejected. This is the email I’ve gotten from them: “We’re sorry, but your specialty application in Business was not approved by the community review board. Here is their collective feedback:

Regarding the flow of your prose: The thoughts linked together, with one or two notable exceptions.

Regarding the extent to which you kept the reader engaged: The subject was interesting and informative, but my focus still wandered.

Unfortunately, we’re not able to reverse this decision. However, you are welcome to apply to other specialties on Scripted.”
In my opinion, they should have underlined the areas that didn’t fit their expectations/requirements.

James Floyd Kelly

May 27, 2014 at 3:11 pm

Unreal! The “focus still wandered” comment was verbatim what I received. Hilarious. Let me tell you what happened to me with regards to Scripted…

I actually laughed out loud when I was turned down after applying to a specialty. I’m a professional writer with 25+ published books (not self-published) in my field as well as over a decade of paid writing work with the specialty I selected.

Scripted probably did me a favor, as further digging has revealed to me their standard pay rates for short articles and long articles and they’re not acceptable. I’ve heard from colleagues that Scripted is understaffed and is way behind in not only approving writers but in finding them work. This doesn’t surprise me. The only reason I applied to Scripted is I’m always looking for additional paid writing jobs and a friend recommended it. The hoops I had to jump through to apply were hilarious; cutting and pasting in a three or four paragraph sample of my work is all I’m allowed to submit? Really? A scripted staff member is going to be able to tell the quality of my work from a fixed essay topic?

Good luck, Scripted. Turning away qualified writers is definitely the way to succeed. I forwarded the email message telling me in four brief excerpts from an “editor” why I wasn’t qualified to write for Scripted to eight writer-colleagues and almost all have given a comical response. One nailed it – “Sounds like Scripted would be better off trolling English department hallways at the local junior college.”

Hitchhiker

June 19, 2014 at 9:08 pm

Hah! I got that exact same response as well when I applied for the business section.

claire zanes

March 15, 2013 at 3:48 am

I tried out at scripted.com and have to say I was disappointed in their screening process.

I have been a photographer for years, have made a living on both rights managed stock and micro-stock images, so naturally I applied for their new photography sub-specialty.

It took over 2 months for my 4 sample images to get reviewed and once they were I received a rejection, the comments being that images were poor. Ironically, the linked images were from my portfolio on a stock photography site.

So….. I’m not entirely sure what I think of the rest of the enterprise but if they’re rejecting successful stock photography images as being “bad” I don’t know what kind of writers they’re hiring and what standards they’re using.

It seems a bit arbitrary.

And there is no one to contact in regards to any of their decisions.

Anne Hutchins

March 21, 2013 at 4:14 pm

My film critique sample for the Entertainment specialty was rejected by Scripted’s ‘community review board’ with multiple choice responses:

Regarding the consistency of your voice: I know what voice this piece needed, but the writer didn’t execute it perfectly.

Regarding the clarity of your writing: I see what the writer was trying to express, but I’m still a little confused.

Regarding the flow of your prose: The thoughts linked together, with one or two notable exceptions.

Regarding the extent to which you kept the reader engaged: The subject was interesting and informative, but my focus still wandered.

Unfortunately, we’re not able to reverse this decision. However, you are welcome to apply to other specialties on Scripted.

Apply to another specialty? Um, I think not.

Parsibagan

May 18, 2013 at 2:56 pm

@Anne: I received exactly the same reply from them, even though it was for a different category.

Ileandra Young

May 21, 2013 at 4:39 pm

@Anne, @Parsibagan
That’ doesn’t sound very promising at all! I’m really struggling to find a selection of freelance sites that are actually worth spending the time on. While initially these guys sounded pretty good, your experiences make me think twice. o.O

Jony Roc

March 30, 2014 at 4:23 am

@Parsibagan, @Anne, will you guys believe that I got the exact same, word for word response for both my applications for Lifestyle and Travel and Business! It seems that they randomly reject applications based on whatever their “review board” smokes. I am obviously not going to recommend them ever.

James Floyd Kelly

May 27, 2014 at 3:13 pm

Those are the EXACT same four responses I got from my *DENIED* email from Scripted — too funny. Their “editor” must just select responses from a drop-down menu. I really did dodge a bullet here by getting denied.

Althea

June 24, 2013 at 12:57 pm

Seems they just flush out people’s specialty application and give the same response right through. See below for the response I received for my application to their health category. I was accepted for their education category months before, but there is never ever any work in that category. I find that unbelievable. I received an email in March in which they stated that they wanted writers in several areas including:

* Writers with a strong background in education or admissions interested in discussing what colleges and grad schools look for in a student and what students should prepare for the process.

When I got that message I quickly went to check for work and there was nothing there. I then decided to apply to health and this was their response:

We’re sorry, but your specialty application in Healthcare was not approved by the community review board. Here is their collective feedback:

Regarding the consistency of your voice: I know what voice this piece needed, but the writer didn’t execute it perfectly.

Regarding the clarity of your writing: I see what the writer was trying to express, but I’m still a little confused.

Regarding the flow of your prose: The thoughts linked together, with one or two notable exceptions.

Regarding the extent to which you kept the reader engaged: The subject was interesting and informative, but my focus still wandered.

Unfortunately, we’re not able to reverse this decision. However, you are welcome to apply to other specialties on Scripted.

All the best,

The Scripted Team

This is June and I just went there to check when they presented me with a test saying that my previous score was not high enough. I was accepted as a writer from 2012!!!… Any ways, i completed the test and the next thing I know the site is stuck on a message saying they have no work that match my qualifications at this time. The option to apply to another category was not even visible (unless it was really hidden somewhere on the page), and whenever I clicked on a feature to read up on it it seems I was automatically signed out.

Those are some pretty awkward occurrences. That’s when I decided to see if there are any recent reviews on them and I came across this blog.

Jenine

July 24, 2013 at 9:47 pm

I signed up for Scripted sometime before or after Thanksgiving and took the English Proficiency Test for this site twice. The first time I did, something went wrong. The second time I did, I got a 93% on the test. What’s the passing score for this test? Does anyone know?

Elizabeth Young

January 25, 2014 at 9:14 pm

I didn’t even get a score for their dumb test! I didn’t even get to fully apply to see what specialty I qualified for! I took the stupid easy as heck test twice and according to them I didn’t pass! I just got a message after i took the test a second time that said just: Sorry but there’s no jobs for you at this time! WTF??? In my opinion they’re a joke. Don’t even bother!

A.D

February 3, 2016 at 6:58 am

I just took their English Proficiency test and it is quite fallible. The first time I completed it I clicked on an answer to change it then was shut out of it and was told that I clicked out of the tab when I didn’t. After that I entered the second time and was shut out twice because they claimed that I clicked out of the tab, only to have a message saying “sorry, something went wrong!”

I then managed to get it done the second time round only to be told that I didn’t pass the examination and they cannot offer any jobs.

So after that I did an English Proficiency exam on a reputable English language site and scored over 90%!

Since I had problems with them claiming that I had clicked out of the tab when I didn’t it’s probably just as well I didn’t pass according to their standards, which according to some of the other comments on here are probably quite subjective lol

Elizabeth

August 19, 2013 at 7:04 pm

This is one of the most frustrating sites I have dealt with as a freelance writer. I was accepted by Scripted and approved for their legal category in February of this year. I have an associate degree in paralegal studies, have worked as a paralegal for a few years and as a FT contracted legal content writer from spring 2010 to Jan 2013. Unfortunately, Scripted rarely ever has available work in the legal category. And when they do, I’m so far down the totem pole that the jobs are taken before I am allowed to accept them.

I finally had the opportunity to accept two legal article assignments in June. After completion, I received feedback praising my work and stating that the client had “favorited” me. The email explained this meant I would have priority for future jobs by this client. Not so. The next time I saw work by this client I was unable to “accept” the assignments for at least 44 hours. I emailed Scripted asking them to explain why this occurred. I wanted the work. The client wanted me. What was the problem. They sent some b.s. generic reply. We went back and forth. Some other writer eventually snatched up the jobs. Then Scripted emailed me that the reason I was unable to claim the jobs right away is that the client had actually “un-favorited” me. Really?! With no rhyme or reason, and certainly no notice from Scripted.

I have also applied for other categories that had available jobs regularly. I was rejected with the same type of “form” response the other writers here have received. Lately there have been between 350 and 700 Lifestyle and Travel articles available. I received a form email from Scripted last week encouraging writers to apply for this category. So, I gave it a shot. Received my form letter rejection today. Same generic reasons. Currently, there are over 100 jobs available in this category.

So IMHO, Scripted.com BLOWS! Absolutely no real communication with the writers, no clarity of expectations, and no notice of what is going on. Again. . . FRUSTRATING!

Ken

August 27, 2013 at 9:36 pm

Scripted is soooooo FRUSTRATING! keep away folks, trust me, keep away.

anonymous_writer

October 1, 2013 at 8:52 pm

I completed a huge number of the apartment guides for the big project they recently had. Out of the $1500 worth of work I did over 6 weeks ago, so far I’ve only been paid $300. (two separate pay days of around $150 a week, which seemed like a joke given how much work I did.) It says there’s a payment for almost $1200 that I’m supposed to be paid today, but there’s no payment pending and I can’t get anyone there to respond to any of my emails. VERY frustrating and I’m afraid I’m going to get ripped off.

Shooter Shot

December 23, 2013 at 5:59 pm

I think they have some innovative ideas on how to run a freelance writing site, but their execution is lacking.

For example, their email system is substandard. The few emails you get contain one link at the end of the text. You probably think it links to the subject of the email. Nope, it is to stop all emails. Huh? Hey, no problem, I can change that back in my account preferences so I get emails again. Nope. Next thing you they say a client wants you specifically but they couldn’t email you because you turned off emails. Wowser.

Several of the pitches say something like “we’ve attached an example of what we want.” There are no attachments.

The potential pitch list is littered with “test entries” some clients must have used so the entries have lines like “adfkfjed fjalsdkjf alsdfjals dfjas l dfkjasldf jasldfj kalsdfj.” You have to wade through these to get to a pitch you may want to try.

If you access the site near the deadline, a pop-up fills the screen that says something like “Are you still working on this article?” You click yes 43 times but it will not go away so you can actually enter the article.

Those are just a few examples. Again I think they are on the right path, it’s just that their software can’t support their vision at this point. It’s probably normal for a growing company but makes it hard to want to log on and fight.

shareenarciso

January 22, 2014 at 12:58 am

I currently am a writer for a few specialties at Scripted. It’s fairly easy money, although it does take some of the clients a bit of time before they accept/reject your pitches. Great place for sideline work. I’ve had over ten articles/blog posts accepted and paid for, so far. I recommend it if you’re okay with waiting and doing some sample work

Elysia

March 26, 2014 at 6:10 am

Hey Shareen, what kind of money can you earn for these articles/blog posts? I’m trying to figure out if it’s worth it financially to go through the application process…

Fred

March 8, 2014 at 12:16 pm

I applied for a specialty at Scripted in January 18th. It is now March 8th and I have not heard a thing from them. I am still listed as “Pending.” Wow – that’s some service. I also have to go, on a daily basis, to various county courts for my work. I think the people at Scripted should apply for jobs with the courts (or any government agency) – they work at the same glacial speed! If that’s how slow they process applications, I cannot image squeezing some money out of them!

Julie M.

March 19, 2014 at 6:30 pm

Not surprised to see the feedback on here is consistent with all my suspicions. I was searching to see if I needed to waste any more time with their opaque application process.

I find it ridiculous that there is really no clear explanation of their process, nor mention of the qualifications for their “Community Standards” board. Their specialties categories are insanely narrow. Only one category seems to fit my experience and I’ve been “pending” approval for my samples for weeks. It was my understanding that this was started by people in the entertainment business, so if I get into that specialty, it seems safe to assume all the entertainment work will be soaked up by people who’ve been there longer. And then, how much will it pay? It’s a sexy specialty so I assume everyone wants in.

For a bunch of writing snobs, they sure seem like business hacks. And there’s not even enough information to keep people from wasting their time. THAT’S what bugs me about it. They’re so concerned about whether they want the people who apply that those of us who are selective don’t even have the information we need to determine if we want THEM.

Done. Ugh. Now how can I get them to delete the info in my file?

Rose

April 1, 2014 at 12:41 am

I just signed up for Scripted. There was a ridiculously easy test, I think? But I can’t find where to upload my resume or prove I am a professional writer. Their specialties application asks me for a statement as to why I am an expert, but how do I prove I have a college degree and professional writing experience? Also why am I being asked for a prompt AND a writing sample?

I can see assignments in the pool but I can’t claim any of them because I don’t have those specialties.

I used to write for Demand Studios and didn’t mind it so much because I did it on the side while in school. I earned more there than I would have working full time at minimum wage. Even there though I had to prove my credentials. Scripted though just seems bizarre. 0.o.

Rose

April 14, 2014 at 6:20 pm

Ok, so update. I got approved to write in one section a few days after I applied, but the other section is still pending and that’s the section I have my degree in. Not sure what’s up with that.

I’ve successfully submitted a small batch of test articles, and I’m able to claim pitches and from the main content pool after the time limit is up (wtf?). They have been sitting in “internal review” now for a few days. I was also eligible to apply for the editor position so I did.

Also their emails say they will pay me through BIll.com and their TOS say they use PayPal? Some research indicates they moved away from PayPal 2 years ago…..?

Miranda Grimm

April 14, 2014 at 9:45 pm

Thanks for the update. I’m going to need to look into the pay method change. I hope they approve the rest of your application but congrats on your approval so far!

April

July 9, 2014 at 8:45 pm

Hi Rose! I applied to scripted, was accepted in a specialty, and was also accepted as an editor. Had a problem with getting an invite from Bill.com…they said it was because I didn’t complete my profile and once I did I would get it. So…just did that and waiting. The thing is, I have visited Bill.com…from what it looks like, you have to pay fees? Is this so to get paid through there also or is that just for places (like Scripted) who use their services? I’m honestly not too happy that they don’t use paypal and am a little hesitant to even keep them in my “basket of writing eggs.” I definitely won’t if I have to pay to be paid. 🙁 What is your experience in getting paid through them?

Anny Mous

July 23, 2014 at 11:31 pm

I’ve been writing for Scripted for a couple of months, and have written about 10 articles for them. They have a steady stream of work, though the topics and specialties available vary. I’m only in the Lifestyle specialty now but plan to apply for additional ones in order to get more work. Sometimes it’s hard to get available work because they hold it for more highly rated authors, though it’s easy to improve your rating by turning work in early. Sometimes it can take them a few weeks to review and accept your work.

April, Bill.com was new and a little scary for me at first too, but it’s not an issue. You do not have to pay to get paid. Scripted creates an invoice in Bill.com; then they pay Bill.com and a few days later the money gets transferred to your account. The first time I had a payment coming I emailed both Bill.com and Scripted to get clarification of the process. I think they have pay dates 2x/month, so if it takes 2 weeks to get a piece approved and it misses the pay date you might need to wait another 2 weeks for your money.

Scripted has the best payment rates of the various content sites I’ve seen. Pretty much everything except for simple rewrites seems to be around $0.05 per word. I’m trying to get faster at writing, but even if a $49 article takes me 3 hours to write, that’s not totally awful. Right now this isn’t my main income, and I’m not sure I could write enough here to live on by itself.

Anne Akers

July 31, 2014 at 10:39 am

I have been writing for scripted.com for a few months. It took a long, long time, but I got approved in Lifestyle, Business and Education. Until recently, I waited days for a response to emails. Now they seem to have hired a girl who responds to emails. This is great, but it usually takes two or three go arounds for her to get beyond the scripted pat answer and to deal with the question. The editorial process is slow, slow, slow and seems entirely in the hands of English majors who can spot a missing comma at fifty feet. Never any comments on the substance. And, the various editors are all over the place when it comes to comments. One will say don’t mention the client in the intro. Another (same client) YOU MUST mention the client in the intro. After months of writing and leaving two spaces after a period, somey editor has just informed me that I am to leave one space (and this after nearly 20 articles written for them). On one assignment, writers were asked to put in a certain kind of link and, when they realized there were problems with the links, did nothing. I kept submitting pieces, pointing out that the links were not available. No one responded. Weeks and weeks later, they put the whole project on hold and the fate of the four or five pieces I submitted is unclear. They appear to be legit, with a good client list. I am slowly working my way up to being able to take assignements earlier. But the whole editorial, nitpicking process is beginning to put me off the site. Being grammatically correct is one thing, but hit and miss comments that depend on the focus of a given editor (mostly freelance and remote) is something else.

Tonya

August 22, 2014 at 3:57 pm

I recently stopped working with Scripted after writing almost 50 articles for the company. I agree with all of the points that you’ve made. I’m a professional writer and editor with 15 years of experience who decided to freelance with Scripted as a side gig in addition to my full-time editing job. Initially, I had a great experience with the company. However, toward the end, it seemed that every article that I submitted was sent back to me with requests for changes that contradicted the requests that I had received from other editors. It got to the point where, no matter how much I adhered to the site’s writing guidelines, I’d still get my work bumped back because a random editor took issue with something that other editors regarded as acceptable.

In addition, I often wouldn’t receive requests for edits until weeks after I had submitted my articles. Once I received an edit request, I had 24 hours to make the changes; if I couldn’t complete them within that time frame, my article would be assigned to someone else, and I would lose out on my payment for it. This was extremely inconvenient; I could never anticipate when I would receive an edit request, and they often appeared on days when I had little time to spare.

Ultimately I decided that the pay (less than ten cents a word) was not worth the aggravation that I experienced. Scripted is certainly a “legit” company, and I made more than $1,000 during my time there, but I would recommend it only to writers with flexible schedules and who don’t mind dealing with editors who contradict themselves.

EditDoc

November 23, 2014 at 3:02 am

This site has gone downhill. A few months back they hired a woman who oversees the editors. Unfortunately, she does not know what she is doing. She constantly reviews the editors, getting them in trouble for “edit mistakes.” The problem is she is wrong when she points out errors. She does not have a grasp of the English language. She marks correct grammar as errors constantly.

Another issue is the buggy system. When you submit assignments, the system does not always save your edits, and of course you get in trouble for that.

Baa

March 3, 2015 at 8:24 pm

Ah, I’m glad I wasn’t the only one.

I’m pretty acerbic when someone points out “errors” incorrectly, so it’s not surprising I got kicked off the editing jobs fairly quickly after Taylor was hired. When I knew I was in Taylor’s bad books, I did as many edits as I could before I got booted because I could see the red pen coming for me.

And I know my AP style better than she does. She doesn’t exactly understand U.K. English, either, which was an arse when she was supposed to be overseeing the editing for the Australian eBay project. Officially I was removed for my conduct on the eBay.com project. The only problem was that I didn’t edit anything on that project. Le sigh.

JJ

November 23, 2014 at 3:09 am

I started writing for Scripted not long after they first started up. I also edit for the company. I am seriously thinking of quitting. I have quite a few complaints, which I’m not going to get into right now. The biggest problem I see is the way the staff treats freelancers. Contribute thousands of pieces of work that they love and it really doesn’t get you too much attention. No big deal. I don’t need praise. Contribute one piece that they don’t like and get ready for a nasty email from Taylor. I’m not talking about submitting subpar work by the way. Taylor makes no sense in what she does or does not like. Scripted was nice for some spare cash, but dealing with Taylor is just not worth it. I don’t think I can take one more ignorant email from her. Where do they hire these people?

Peterson Teixeira Writer

December 30, 2014 at 10:37 pm

Hello people
Awesome comments here.
I was about to enter Scripted.com and from what I read here, I am
leaving that content mil alone.

I would like some hints about where to pitch freelance writer jobs if possible.
Reading online, specially at makealivingwriting, I ran into About.com

But it seems people can’t pitch there anymore.
Any hints?

Thanks in advance
Peterson Teixeira
http://www.peterson-freelancer.com

Professional_Copywriter

March 19, 2015 at 7:42 pm

I just stumbled across this now, but this is an excellent example of why cookie-cutter content hawkers are going to be the death of writing. They don’t hire anybody who’s ever studied writing and yet they expect to pay under minimum wage for good content. The comments above carry no surprises for me

Ma’am, another thing to consider is that you might not be writing material and if somebody promises something that sounds too good to be true……well you know the adage. The reason the “housewife blogger” stereotype is so often used is because it has a certain degree of truth to it. I went to school for writing and journalism some time ago where many students were told flat out to hang up their pens and switch to another field. Writing’s a brutal business and it’s only gotten worse in the online boom where everybody with wifi, a computer, and an opinion that he or she loudly proclaims to the world every day. Stepping into writing as a profession requires extreme precision in language or a heavy rolodex of connections to milk for work or positions in good firms. It’s a rough game.

I’m going to leave you and anybody else a freebie from Journalism 101, although it’s been about 3 years since original post went live: you can’t review anything you potentially want something from. That’s the basis of a conflict of interests. If the NYT restaurant reviewer was found to be getting free meals from an establishment he gave a five star review, both their credibilities would be suspect regardless of how well the article was written, how true it was, or how appreciative the restaurant owner was. Press members aren’t even allowed to accept gifts or even paid expenses at junkets, generally. The papers themselves have to pay. Having a credibility issue is a good way to torpedo a writing career, even if it’s a moderately innocent one. Also, reviewing something you haven’t fully experienced is a no-no. This is an overview of what Scripted says about themselves, which is very different from a glance under the hood or some time in the driver’s seat. It would be like reading about an item on a menu and reviewing it before it got to the table.

A_Nonymous

October 2, 2015 at 11:21 am

Interesting to read all the comments. My experience has been different – I’ve made several thousand dollars on Scripted and it’s been super easy, great, interesting, two thumbs up. Takes awhile to get paid sometimes, but I always do get paid. All was going well until out of the blue, literally after no complaints about my work whatsoever, and completing several HUNDRED jobs with only 4 rejected total and just a handful of revision requests all of this time, all of the sudden I’m warned twice in one week about the substandard quality of my writing. (This as I”m at the same time receiving praise and even tips ie: they pay extra – from clients). My account has been locked so I can’t claim any more jobs. My mind is blown! Why get rid of a writer who has completed a shitload of work and has a 99% approval rating? I totally don’t get it? Anybody?

Mel

March 16, 2016 at 2:36 am

I worked at Scripted for a year and z half. I had the same thing happen-one minute they love me-the next they say I’m making mistakes but can’t be specific. I was locked out of the site on March 2015. As of today, they still owe me $800. Beware of this site! And if you’re a client-find a writer on Craigslist-don’t waste your corporate dollars on this scam of a site.

Cleveland Digital

January 13, 2019 at 9:26 am

Thanks for the comments and feedback. We have seen many ads for Scripted and it sounded too good to be true from the content buyer / digital marketing perspective. We’ll stick with you professional freelancers and bypass the content marketing mills 🙂