RE: Guru.com
From: "Juho Tunkelo" To: "'Peter Neilson'" ,"'Jennifer C. Bennett'" CC: 'TECHWR-L' Subject: RE: Guru.com Date: Wed, 15 Feb 2006 10:20:27 +0200
While I have no experience with guru.com, elance.com and workaholics4hire.com have both been getting some good press. I suggest you explore those places instead if guru.com is as bad as it sounds.
Juho Tunkelo
> -----Original Message----- > From: techwr-l-bounces+juho=metadoc -dot- fi -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com [mailto:techwr- > l-bounces+juho=metadoc -dot- fi -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On Behalf Of Peter Neilson > Sent: 15. helmikuuta 2006 2:25 > To: Jennifer C. Bennett > Cc: TECHWR-L > Subject: Re: Guru.com > > I am signed up with guru, using their "free" service, not paying to be a > preferred vendor or whatever. For the most part, the jobs that show up > are so imprecise as to defy bidding. I submit for maybe two or three a > year, and have never had any response from the clients. > > Here's one I didn't bid on: > > ] Title: Need a Nutritional (Supplement) Expert > ] Category: Writing / Editing / Translation > ] Description: > ] Need a nutritional expert to develop four six-week supplement guides > ] programs for dieting and health maintenance for four different times > ] of the year. > ] > ] The nutritional expert will be given payment after work is completed > ] or partial, depending if the nutritional expert wants royalties and > ] recognition on the final product. > ] > ] Further details will be given to the qualified winner. > > It makes me glad I'm not an expert in that field. > > I saw one guru RFQ that contained the following lament: "I have been > so disappointed with GURU's attempting to get this work, it is > amazing. I am trying again! I am looking for someone to peak my > interest. The press releases need to cut through the clutter, and so > far...I have only received very generic replies." This person, who is > willing to pay $70 per release, is clearly in need of a writer. > (Anyone trying to 'peak' an interest needs an editor at least!) I can > see that if they had a staff writer working at $60,000, the person > might be able to toss off two press releases an hour, and the naively > perceived hourly cost would look like $30/release. But to come in out > of the blue and do them at $70 each? How long might it take? Maybe > two weeks to come up to speed on their actual requirements? Then > maybe a day per release of back-and-forth to get them worded > correctly? Sounds like $30/day to me!!! Slightly below my going > rate. > > > Here's another: > > ] Title: IT SupporContract Proposal Tech. Writing > ] Category: Writing / Editing / Translation > ] Description: > ] Need someone that can interperate network, server, hardware and > ] software information on an RFP and write the technical response > ] to deliverables. Probably on the order of 5 pages of test. Subjects > ] will be: Help Desk support, Unix/Windows Administration, Network > ] Administration (routers/switches/firewall). > > Perhaps there is money to be made in helping guru's clients build > good RFQs. The originator intended to say "interpret" and "text". > > When bidding on guru, one is supposed to make a total-cost, fixed-price > quote, IIRC. There is the temptation to low-ball just to get the > job. and then to try to squeeze in added costs, but that's not > something I'd want to try. Once I found one job that I was sure I could > do, but it was so flaky that I bid way high just to make sure I > wouldn't get trapped. Never heard from them. > > It's my opinion that guru's clients are cheapskates who see spending > more than a trifling amount of money on tech writing as being wasteful. > If they were for real they would hire a writer or contract with a > tech-writing company. > > My advice about guru? Not worth the trouble of even bidding. > > Jennifer C. Bennett wrote: > > Hello all, > > > > Has anyone here used Guru.com to find freelance technical writing work? > > If anyone has any experiences to share, good or bad, please let me know. > ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ > > WebWorks ePublisher Pro for Word features support for every major Help > format plus PDF, HTML and more. Flexible, precise, and efficient content > delivery. Try it today!. http://www.webworks.com/techwr-l > > Doc-To-Help includes a one-click RoboHelp project converter. It's that > easy. Watch the demo at http://www.componentone.com/TECHWRL/DocToHelp2005 > > --- > You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as juho -at- metadoc -dot- fi -dot- > > To unsubscribe send a blank email to > techwr-l-unsubscribe -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com > or visit http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/options/techwr- > l/juho%40metadoc.fi > > To subscribe, send a blank email to techwr-l-join -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com > > Send administrative questions to lisa -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- Visit > http://www.techwr-l.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.
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WebWorks ePublisher Pro for Word features support for every major Help format plus PDF, HTML and more. Flexible, precise, and efficient content delivery. Try it today!. http://www.webworks.com/techwr-l
Doc-To-Help includes a one-click RoboHelp project converter. It's that easy. Watch the demo at http://www.componentone.com/TECHWRL/DocToHelp2005
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WebWorks ePublisher Pro for Word features support for every major Help
format plus PDF, HTML and more. Flexible, precise, and efficient content delivery. Try it today!. http://www.webworks.com/techwr-l
Doc-To-Help includes a one-click RoboHelp project converter. It's that easy. Watch the demo at http://www.componentone.com/TECHWRL/DocToHelp2005
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