The problem is that most people can't write books that other people want to read. There will always be a small population that will buy anything. That small number of people who buy your poorly written book will only get you bad reviews. That will lead to no one else buying your book. I would guess the average person who posts a poorly written book on Amazon or some other platform makes about $10 total for their effort.
Don't get me wrong--marketing, pricing, and many other things go into the complex web of making money off any publication, but the heart of the matter is that nothing else will help a poorly written book.
I understand that some people can't afford to pay 0.05-0.10 per word (or more depending on the caliber and experience of the freelancer). This is the other big problem with a "selling e-books to get rich" scheme. Can these people, who can't afford a decent author afford to pay 0.01 per word or more to have a ChatGPT garbage book or a poorly written book fixed? Probably not, but no one can afford a slat of negative reviews about his/her book. This sinks your ranking on Amazon because you will eventually stop getting any reviews for that product.
A well-written book, however, can promote other books that you have to offer. A good book, that you promote properly, is better advertising for your next book than any other advertising. This is why authors at a professional level should put out a new book at regular intervals.
So, what do you do if you can't hire quality? Your best chance is to find a really good writer who is new and trying to build a profile. Whether you are a freelancer or an employer here are some pointers:
- ChatGPT will never--even at the paid level--give you a satisfying book. Plus, the likelihood your book is plagiarized at least in part is high.
- Look at writing samples. A good freelancer, even when starting out, will have some samples they can offer. If a freelancer has never written anything before, paid or otherwise, that is not the person you want to hire.
- You can pay for a sample--I recommend $30 for a 1500 word sample. The only time you need to ask for a sample should be if you did not see samples that met your exact criteria or you want to ensure the sample is written by the freelancer. If you request a sample, give a one-scene premise i.e., write a 1500 word sample for me about two raccoons that walk into a restaurant and ask to be served. Judge based on project perimeters being met--did they write about what you asked? If they wrote about something else, they either struggle with instructions, are not very creative, or they used a sample from something else (it might even be plagiarized). Did the story make sense? If the story needs explanation to make sense to you (even if they followed the premise), the freelancer isn't a good writer. A good writer should be able to get his/her ideas across without explanation. Did they follow grammar rules? It is true some grammar rules are flexible. As long as a person is consistent about serial comma usage, for example, that is the important thing--not whether they use them or not. However, other rules are not flexible. If the person uses run-on sentences, comma splices, or incomplete sentences (without justification), those are warning flags to stay away. How close to the 1500 words were they? It would be difficult to write a creative story and hit exactly 1500 words. However, a person who writes 1000 words will probably give you less than you want and someone who writes 2500 will give you more. More is not necessarily good and less is not necessarily bad, but if you felt the story was too quick and find out it was short or if it dragged on and was long, you might want to consider someone else. How much "fluff" is in the story? Fluff is used be poor authors to meet word counts or make their writing longer than necessary. There are two types. First, there is redundancy and repetition. For example, "The big, huge, large skyscraper loomed in the far distance." "She walked up the sidewalk to the home. She ambled along slowly." Another type of fluff can be intentional or unintentional. This is when a person writes overly wordy sentences. "There is a current situation in which many people who live in our society today seem to have a preference for reading stories about zombies." This could convey the same meaning by saying: "Currently, many people prefer to read zombie stories." The text goes from 25 words to 8 and the readability is greatly improved. Authors frequently and unintentionally do this (especially people who are trying to sound more knowledgeable and academic). However, every author, especially one submitting a sample, should proofread their work and catch this.
- Things you are looking for in any sample: (1) Consistent use of viewpoint. Switching from first person to third person (or second person) is not acceptable. (2) Consistent use of tense. I cannot tell you how many freelancers have samples posted on their profiles where they flip tenses throughout the first few paragraphs. (3) Consistent use of grammar rules. Again, there are many freelancers who don't know what a sentence is or who haven't proofread their samples. (4) Story coherence. If the story starts out with a teenage viewpoint and then the same character develops and adult viewpoint, there are coherence issues. If the story says it takes place in 1700 and talks about getting in a car, again there are coherence issues. (4) Genre confusion. The biggest area where this takes place is usually between romance/erotica. Few books, even erotica, open in the middle of a sex scene. Fantasy/Science fiction is another area of confusion. Some people think they are writing fantasy because their science fiction novel has fantasy type aliens, but it isn't. Even George Lucas got a little confused on this because he felt adding the "force" into Star Wars made it a "Science fantasy." Science fiction--is fictional science. It has the veneer of being scientific, but it contains many fictional (fantasy) elements--instant matter teleportation (which defies relativity), artificial gravity without inertia, etc.
- The most obvious warning signs are: (1) The samples posted do not match the job you want or are not relevant. For example, a person with only graphic design samples or transcription samples is not a writer. A person who sends you a sample that is a product description when you are looking for a fiction writer or who instead of writing about raccoons writes about aliens either doesn't understand the project or isn't experienced in it. (2) they send you a proposal filled iwth typos and without punctuationor capitalization (Yes, that was on purpose.) If someone doesn't take the time to proofread their proposal or really care about it, you can expect that they won't really care about their work, either. (3) They want upfront payments when you are using either Guru SafePay or the equivalent on Upwork. Unless there is an upfront cost, such as for non-computer artwork, there is no reason for someone to ask for money upfront unless they are not planning on doing a good enough job to collect later. It is completely reasonable for a freelancer to ask you to put the project cost in escrow with Guru or Upwork prior to beginning work. The freelancer does not have access to these funds. (4) The freelancer has a lot of low ratings. What is a lot? That depends on the website. On Amazon, for example, I don't buy from anyone who has lower than 97% positive feedback. On Guru, most freelancers have 99% or higher. If someone does not yet have a rating, make sure it is because they have not yet worked. If they are new, you need to rely more heavily on their samples and references if they have any. You can also do a check online and see if you can find reviews on other websites
You can hire a decent, new freelancer on a budget. Do not expect miracles and be prepared to have someone proofread his/her work.
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