Writers Work Review 2023 – Legit or Scam?

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If you’re hungry for a career in freelance writing, you may well have encountered an advert for a service called Writers Work.

In this detailed Writers Work review, we look at exactly what you can expect from the service in 2023. Perhaps, more importantly, we look at the honest downsides.

We also answer the key question: Is Writers Work legit, or is Writers Work a scam?

Why Listen To Me?

I was one of the very first people to write a review of Writers Work, shortly after it launched. As such, I have considerable experience of what’s on offer.

The service is now much more well known, and has seen some controversy too. I’ve updated this review several times over the years, and last looked in depth during the second half of 2022.

For the purposes of keeping this Writers Work review up to date, I use a dedicated account with a paid for subscription. It uses an address that’s not linked to this site. As such, you can be sure that what I report is exactly what you would see if you decided to sign up – and that I’m not getting any “special favours” as a reviewer!

We’ll start with the basics, but first, a little TL;DR graphic for those who want a quick summary.

What is Writers Work?

Writers Work is an online service offering a suite of tools and services for aspiring freelance writers. It includes regularly updated job listings for freelance writing gigs, and a database of publications that accept article submissions. In addition, subscribers gain access to a range of tools, an online portfolio, a document editor and grammar checker, and a basic project management system.

There are also some training materials built into Writers.Work, to help you learn the basics of how to establish a writing career, work at home, and make money.

As well as understanding what Writers Work IS, it’s equally important to understand what it ISN’T. 

Writers Work does NOT employ new writers directly or hand out writing jobs. The jobs available on the platform are with clients who you have to apply to individually.

Signing up to doesn’t guarantee you any clients or any income. You still have to do the groundwork to win each writing job, and – to be brutally honest – you have to actually be good enough at writing to compete as a freelance writer.

Is Writers Work Legit?

Writers Work IS a legit website for freelance writers. It lists lots of freelance writing opportunities and also provides online tools and training materials for new writers. However, Writers Work has a controversial reputation, largely thanks to its style of advertising. 

Is Writers Work a Scam?

Writers.Work is NOT a scam. However it’s a service that’s been mired in controversy. Many people take issue with the way it is advertised, and there are several online reports of issues with refunds. 

$47 is NOT a large amount of money to invest in a career as a freelance writer – but that doesn’t mean it’s worth it. Read the rest of our review to find out if it’s a good fit for you. 

What Earnings Can you Expect on Writers Work?

As all the jobs listed on Writers Work come from third-party sources. There’s no fixed amount you can expect to earn.

Writers Work’s adverts suggest you can expect to earn from $20 to $65 hourly as a freelance writer. These are not at all unrealistic rates, but you have to win the gigs first. The site doesn’t hire writers directly. 

Writers Work Pricing: How Much Does it Cost?

Writers Work isn’t an expensive service to sign up to. Lifetime membership costs just $47, and includes all the features detailed in this review, except the “upsells” mentioned below.

You also have the option of paying $15 per month for a monthly subscription.

There’s no free trial available.

You’ll notice in the screenshot above that Writers.Work refers to “early bird” pricing at 50% off. The service has, in fact, been on offer at this price since launch, and received some criticism for the fact this is still marked as a “limited time” offer. I was interested to see if the company would remove this in 2022 but – lo and behold – it’s still there.

Upsells

When you sign up, you are offered some added extras. In fact, you have to work through several screens turning them down if you don’t wish to buy them.

The first offer is for an extra $99, and includes one-to-one writing coaching and a “Freelance Writers Toolkit.” The 30 minute coaching session is probably the most useful thing in the package, but we did note it is delivered via live chat, not “in person.” 

The “toolkit,” which includes various document templates and a 30 page “freelancer’s playbook” eBook, is also offered on its own for $29. Finally, there’s an offer of two extra video courses for $99. 

You don’t have to upgrade and buy any of this stuff. My review concentrates on the core service at $47. 

Our Experiences

Signing Up

The sign up process is simple, just needing the basics, including your credit card details. Once you’ve paid your subscription you gain immediate access and are guided through the initial setup of your profile to help you get started.

The Dashboard

The WritersWork dashboard gives you access to all the different features, and is pleasingly slick and well put together. A tour function begins automatically and helps you understand what each part of the dashboard does. There are also some short introductory videos. 

In fairness, a look around the dashboard does illustrate that you get quite a lot for your money given the low price. Exactly how useful all of it will be to YOU is a slightly different question. To help you decide, we explore all the key features below.

The Job Search Experience

In order to earn any money from writing you will actually have to find jobs you’re capable of and apply for them successfully. As such, the jobs listed on Writers Work are arguably THE most important feature.

The good news is that there are a fair few of them, and you can search for particular keywords, or by using a series of search filters. One particularly useful filter for novice writers is the ability to search specifically for “beginner friendly” jobs, although I’m curious to know how jobs are selected for this category – it’s a rather ambiguous term.

The job postings are updated frequently, and on my last check I saw jobs posted hours, rather than days before. It appears as if the jobs on Writers Work are pulled into their system on a daily basis, as a large batch seems to hit the system each day.

The filter system is pretty decent too, with the filters you use taking effect immediately. A few more filters wouldn’t go amiss though, especially the ability to sort jobs by the date they were posted.

One thing that seems to have improved since my last Writers Work review update is the number of out of date listings on the platform. Last time around I was seeing three-year old jobs among the featured listings. I’m glad to see those have been cleared out.

On the subject of featured listings, one thing to be aware of is that they’re listed in date order and always appear at the top of the list. As such, you need to scroll past the featured listings to get to newer “unfeatured” listings. The screenshot below should help explain what I mean!

A really important thing to understand about Writers Work is that there’s nothing exclusive about most of the jobs on the platform. In fact they are almost entirely pulled from other online sources which you could search on manually, such as ProBlogger Jobs. 

You’ll notice in the screenshot above that there is a search filter for Writers.Work. When I clicked on this in July 2022, it threw up just three jobs “exclusive” to the site. Two were from two days previously, indicating that there are some efforts to bring in exclusive jobs – but not big efforts!

I get the impression that Writers Work, at some point, had much bigger ambitions to become a platform for exclusive writing jobs. But, for whatever reason, those plans have not gained momentum.

All in all the job search functionality on Writers Work is pretty decent, and slightly improved since our last review.

Applying for Work

When it comes to applying for jobs, it’s important to note that the procedure depends entirely on the individual job.

When you find a writing gig that interests you, clicking on it takes you out of the dashboard and to the original job advert. From there, you have to follow the specific instructions on the job listing. This could mean emailing a pitch or applying via a different website. 

For fear of labouring the point – Writers Work isn’t supplying the jobs – it’s merely curating a list of what’s available out there. 

Submissions

In addition to the live job listings, Writers.Work also maintains a list of publications that accept article pitches and pay for content.

There are certainly plenty of publications listed here, and with the use of the keyword search you could well find some suited to the things you like to write about. However, I’m not convinced that much effort goes into curating these listings. Several that I clicked on were outdated, and one even went to a dead page. Furthermore, several just went to generic contact pages on the publications’ websites – with nothing to confirm they were accepting submissions.

It was also a shame that the areas displaying the “per article” and “per word” rates were unpopulated in many cases.

When I wrote the first version of this review, several years ago, I was quite inspired by this feature. However, it seems to have evolved into quantity not quality now, which is unfortunate. It is useful – to a point – but you could probably uncover the same kind of opportunities with some tactical Googling.

The Text Editor

If you wish, you can use Writers Work to actually create your written content. There’s an online document editor which is rather pleasing to use. I was quite charmed by this the first time I saw it, and still rather like it. 

Functionality in this text editor isn’t extensive, just covering basic formatting and image insertion, but it’s enjoyable to use. After you’ve created documents in the editor, you can export them as PDFs or Word files, or publish direct to WordPress or Medium. 

You can even turn on background noise such as “outdoor birdsong” or “Hogwart’s library(!)” I personally find white noise like this quite useful when writing (and regularly burn out desk fans as a result!)

There’s also a basic timer you can use. This could be handy both for tracking chargeable time, or simply for keeping track of how long things are taking you.

Agreeable though the editor is, I’m a little sceptical about how many users will end up using it as their default for producing written work. Anyone already well-versed in Microsoft Word or Google Docs will probably prefer to continue using their existing word processor. But it’s worth a look, especially due to the spelling and grammar features.

Spelling and Grammar Checks

As you can see from the screenshot above, the Writers Work editor includes some useful grammar features. It automatically analyses your work for readability and gives you a reading level grade and a readability score.

Quite a lot of clients ask you to stick to a certain reading level, so this is useful. It will also help you shake off bad habits like using cliches, or producing overly “wordy” sentences.

Even if you don’t use the editor routinely, there’s nothing to stop you copying text in from other apps to work on readability and grammar. These are handy features, but it’s worth noting you can find them elsewhere too, in standalone tools such as Grammarly and Hemingway. 

Portfolios

Another thing Writers.Work gives you is a portfolio for your work that you can share with potential clients.

This has evolved since our first look at the service, and you can now do a little more with the styling – choosing fonts and colour schemes. 

You can list the services you provide and showcase previous work. You can also link out to your social media profiles and put together an “About” page, with text, video and multimedia content.

It’s simple but effective, and give you a very easy alternative to creating a personal website to showcase your online writing. That said, there are free portfolio sites such as Contently that allow you do similar things. 

Goals and Time Tracking

The “Goals” area in Writers Work is rather perfunctory. It simply gives you the ability to set goals such as writing x words per day on a specific project. 

To be frank, this is extremely basic and seems there for the sake of it. I certainly didn’t want to use it for anything.  

The same goes for the time tracking really. It’s cool that it’s there, but unless you choose to use WritersWork as your sole platform for all of your writing work, you’ll probably be better off using a dedicated time tracking app – if indeed you need one. 

Training Materials (Writers.Work University)

Included with WritersWork is access to a small collection of training materials called the Writers Work University. 

It’s essentially a small online course comprising three modules and 19 video lessons, each just a few minutes long. 

The content is well put together, and covers topics such as how to send pitches, how to build a portfolio and how to manage the practicalities of a being a freelance writer.

I’d stop short of saying this training material justifies the cost of the service (as an example, you get WAY more training material with a FlexJobs subscription, for much less money. However, it does add to the overall package. 

One thing I did notice in this latest review update is that in the introduction they say “we keep adding new materials every week.” As far as I’m aware, this material hasn’t been added to for a long time – so this does seem rather disingenuous.

Performance

The Writers Work website performs just fine with a normal broadband internet connection. I didn’t notice any slow-downs or issues. 

Refunds and Other Controversies

There’s no way to sugar-coat it: Writers.Work has a mixed reputation, and there are some bad reviews out there.

Writers Work Reddit threads seem to present the same mixed picture I’ve given you in this review. Writers Work is legit, but it’s not without its problems – and plenty of people on Reddit are sceptical about the real benefits it brings.  

Writers Work offers a 30-day money back guarantee, but over the years some people have complained of difficulties claiming on it within those 30 days. Primarily as a result of this, the Writers Work Better Business Bureau page displays a “F” grade BBB rating. The average review score on the BBB is just 1.22/5 at the time of writing.

In the interest of fairness, I should point out that Writers Work has issued responses to BBB complaints and issues refunds in the past. However, these issues often seemed to drag on. I’ve had comments on this site from people battling for refunds, such as the one shown in the screenshot below:

So why do people ASK for refunds, anyway?

I think if you understand what Writers Work is, and decide whether to sign up based on the facts, you shouldn’t be disappointed. Unfortunately, this service has been “cleverly” advertised to suggest that earning money from writing might be much easier that it is in reality.

I don’t know if Writers Work still uses the “get paid to write” advert shown below. But this was sent to me by a reader and illustrates the point:

There’s an implication here that writers with no experience can start in less than 30 minutes, and earn anywhere from $20-$65 per hour.

Well, writers could sign up to Writers.Work and start training straight away. And if they proved good at writing, they could start to apply for jobs, and once they got one, it is quite conceivable that they could earn $20 per hour or more.

But it is also quite possible that someone could join Writers.Work with neither the writing skills nor drive nor business acumen to ever earn a penny as a home-based writer. 

The people behind Writers.Work also operated Master Writing Jobs in the past, another site that used similar marketing tactics. 

Let’s be straight here: this is about nothing more than marketing. $47 doesn’t guarantee anybody a new work from home career, and anybody with the ability to employ a basic level of critical thinking would know that. But then I guess it’s those lacking that ability who’d be suckered by the marketing. 

It would be easy to moralise about this all day, so I’ll say just one thing: If you decide to spend money, spend it on the reality, not on the dream. 

Conclusion – Is Writers Work Worth the Money in 2023?

Writers Work actually offers quite a lot for the new freelance writer, so it’s a shame there are some red flags, where the company doesn’t do itself any favours. 

With slightly more realistic marketing, there probably wouldn’t be so many arguments about refunds from people who expect a new career for less than 50 bucks. It wouldn’t take much to refine the job search function and make it great instead of good either. 

The refunds issue irks me. Writers Work seem to determined to compromise their own reputation by being inefficient in processing them. They’d immediately remove most of their bad press if they got a handle on this situation.

The key here is to make your own mind up. We don’t endorse Writers Work, but do acknowledge that people can gain some training, a portfolio site, a document editor and a way to search for work, all for a low price. But it doesn’t come with any guarantee of a freelance writing career. It’s up to you to use the tools to find a job, and gradually build up to full time writing work. 

By means of a quick update for 2023, nothing has really changed on this platform. There are no new features, and the site does still feel like little ongoing effort goes into maintaining it. That said, there appears to have been a clear out of out of date job listings recently.

All the information you need to help you make your decision is here. Writers Work isn’t a scam, but it’s not a magic ticket to a new career either.

Writers Work Alternatives

Writers Work sounds great initially, but so do flying unicorns. The reality is that Writers Work has pulled together a lot of elements that you can find elsewhere and wrapped them up in marketing.

Now, if having a collection of tools to assist your writing in one place is something that appeals to you, the (seemingly unending) early-bird one-time price of $47 really isn’t bad.

If not, here are some alternatives that you really should consider:

Learning about Writing as a Freelancer

I am constantly surprised by how many people want to learn about writing as a freelance career. It is often a lot of hard work, but the level of interest in writing means that there are oodles of places for you to learn.

In fact, you can find information on most of the topics covered by the Writers Work training for free right here. My Ultimate Guide to Online Writing Jobs is a great place to start and there are plenty of articles related to more general topics such as setting fees on the site.

Online learning platforms such as Udemy, LinkedIn Learning and Coursera offer a lot of courses on topics such as freelancing, time management and writing. You can often audit these for free or find discounted deals on them.

Personally, I would suggest that you take a general freelancing course, such as our own Freelance Kickstarter, to help you get started, and then continue to educate yourself on specific topics as your career progresses.

Finding Freelance Writing Gigs on Your Own

Finding writing jobs can seem really intimidating, so I get why people are so interested in Writers Work. However, the jobs that the service finds for you are simply a collection of jobs that have been posted on other sites.

I think there is actually a real value in learning to search for jobs on multiple sites and in building up a profile on freelance platforms. Here are just a couple of examples:

ProBlogger Jobs – This is one of the major sources of work that Writers Work depends on, and a site that experienced writers are probably already familiar with. It is a great site for freelance writers to find work. If you use the site directly you can create an online resume for potential employers to see, receive job alerts and even manage your job applications.

UpWork – It can admittedly be hard to get accepted to Upwork as a writer but it is definitely worth the effort. I often turn to UpWork when I want some extra work and I recently interviewed a long-term reader, Lyn McNamee, on our podcast so she could share how she became a successful freelance writer using UpWork.

The reality is that being active on more than one site and building up a solid reputation as a writer make it more likely that you will land higher paying gigs and build longer-term relationships with clients.

Since Writers Work does not source jobs directly it is not going to provide you with as much of a boost as some other sites will.

Here’s a more complete list of places to find work to help you get started.

Tools to Improve Your Writing

Writers Work offers its users a text editor and spelling and grammar checks. These are definitely useful tools but you can find plenty of standalone offerings which might work better for you.

• Grammarly – this is a spelling and grammar checker that will check basically everything you write. Grammarly has a Chrome extension, is integrated with Office and is currently beta testing with Google Docs. Aside from the software saving you from making embarrassing mistakes, it also offers writing and grammar tips on its blog. You probably will not need more than the free version but our review does explain what perks come with the paid premium version.
• Hemingway App – This is a great little piece of software that, like Writers Work’s tool, provides information about readability and can help you improve the quality of your writing. You can use it online for free with short pieces of text or you can purchase the desktop app for just $19.99.
• Draft – This free tool keeps track of how many words you write per day and can even send you reminders if you are not meeting your goals.
• Ommwriter – This is a great tool for helping you stay focused on your writing. You can even use it to create the sounds of an old typewriter while you work – for those writers among you who might be a bit nostalgic.

If you’d rather look for remote work, and work from home direct with an employer, take a look at FlexJobs. (Or, if freelance work particularly appeals as a way to make money online, be sure to take a look at Freelance Kickstarter!)

Finally, if you’re keen to succeed as a freelancer, check out our new guide to why freelancers quit.