In a continued effort to provide solutions that clients and writers are asking for, Crowd Content has released a new set of features that greatly improve writer management and pricing flexibility when placing Direct Orders.
We’re happy to introduce the My Writers section and Direct Order Offers.
My Writers: A Comprehensive Set of Writer Management Tools
Look at the main navigation of your client interface and you’ll see a button for the new My Writers section of your account.
In My Writers, you can see all writers you’ve ever worked with at Crowd Content. You can also add and remove writers to your Favorites list or your Blacklist, create writer Teams, and leave notes about specific writers.
Favorites list and Blacklist
Up until now, you’ve only had the Blacklist to work with. We’ve now added a Favorites list, too.
If you Blacklist a writer, that writer will not have access to any of your future orders.
If you add a writer to your Favorites list, you can easily find that writer again by going to My Writers and clicking on the Favorites label on the left.
Also, when placing an order, you can make it available to only your Favorite writers by clicking Team Order and selecting Favorites. Our system automatically creates and maintains this Team for you as you add and remove writers from your Favorites list.
Creating and Managing Writer Teams
In the My Writers section, you can now create Teams. This can be very handy for ongoing blog projects or for large batches of product descriptions.
To create a Team, simply click Create Team on the left area of the My Writers section. Enter a name for your Team and click Save.
You then have a few different ways you can add writers to your Team:
1. Drag and Drop. When in My Writers, hover your mouse over a writer’s profile. You will see four vertical dots to the left of the check box inside the writer’s profile. Click and hold your mouse on the dots (you will see “cross hairs” when in the right spot) and then drag the writer to the Team you want him or her on.
2. Add from Writer’s Profile. You can add writers to a Team, Favorite them, or Blacklist them from anywhere on the website. This is done using the writer’s profile which pops up whenever you hover on a writer’s image. To add a writer to a Team, bring up a writer’s profile and click on the “three person” icon. You can then add the writer to one or more teams using the check boxes.
3. Use Batch Select to Manage Multiple Writers. When in My Writers, you can use batch select options to Select All or to select multiple writers. Then use the batch controls at the bottom of the page to Favorite, Blacklist, or Add to Teams.
Leave Notes about a Writer
We’ve added the ability to leave a note about a specific writer that can help you identify him or her in the future. This note is for the client only and is not viewable by the writer.
To add a note to a writer, bring up their profile and click on the “paper” icon on the far right. Then click into the text area to write a note. Simply click off of the text area to save the note.
You will then able to see the note quickly later by just hovering on the blue paper icon.
Direct Order Offers: Pricing Flexibility when Working Directly
Before, if you were placing a Direct Order with a writer, you were forced to pay the price of the Quality Level that the writer was currently at.
For example, if I wanted to place a Direct Order with Conrad Richards, who is a 4 Star writer, I had to pay the 4 Star price of 12 cents per word.
Although our 4 Star writers are proven, skilled authors and worth this rate, we realize there are situation where both the client and writer would like to engage at a lower price. For example, for ongoing jobs that become routine or jobs with simply requirements, writers are willing to work at a discounted price.
We listened to feedback from both clients and writers to bring you Direct Order Offers.
Make an Offer to a Writer
Direct Order Offers start out on the client’s side. Now, when on the order form and selecting Direct Order, clients have the option to “Make an Offer”.
To do this, select Direct Order, choose a writer, and then scroll down to the pricing section of the order form. You’ll see a blue text link that says “Make an Offer”.
Click this link. Then, click a Star to choose a pricing level different than the writer’s normal rate. Then place the order.
This will send a Direct Order to the writer, offering it to them at the price you’ve selected.
Writers Counter Offer or Accept
If the writer is happy with your offer, he will simply accept it and then start writing your order.
However, if the writer feels differently about the job in question, he has the option to counter offer. For example, if you offered a 4 Star writer a job at 2 Star pricing, he may counter offer at 3 Star.
The writer also has the option to send a note with his counter offer to explain why the pricing doesn’t work for him in this situation.
After a counter offer from the writer, the client has the option to accept, counter again, or edit the order (delete it, change to an Open Order, send to a Team, or place a Direct Order with a different writer).
Thank You and Keep Sending Feedback!
As always, we want to thank our clients and writers for the continued feedback. It’s your passion for creating great content that helps us to continue improving the Crowd Content platform. Please keep the comments coming and enjoy these new features.
