Writing content takes time. Lots of it. So you either need full-time writers on staff or a reliable way to outsource your content writing. Because content creation has become so important to long term online success, we decided to check out and give a detailed review of Scripted. Scripted offers a stable of pre-vetted freelance writers, an editing pass included with every job and some unusually flexible communication and assignment options — if you’re willing to pay their monthly membership fee. Keep reading for five things you should know before signing up for Scripted’s content creation service.
1. Scripted Pricing
When you sign up with Scripted, you get the first month for free — but once that’s over, you’ll have to pay a membership fee to access Scripted’s writers, communication tools and analytics. Membership fees range from $149 to $1,299 per month, with discounts of more than 20 percent for paying a year ahead.
The higher membership levels offer you more time to review assignment drafts, extra logins so multiple members of your team can manage assignments or communicate with writers without getting in each others’ ways and access to specialized analytics tools and dedicated support staff.
That membership fee gets you in the door, but you’ll also pay a per-piece fee for any content you order. Prices for sending an assignment to the general writer pool start at $39 for a short blog post or $85 for a long blog post; this includes two rounds of revisions and an editing pass by one of Scripted’s freelance editors. If you choose to assign jobs directly to a chosen writer, they can set their own prices or you can reach out to offer the job at your rate of choice.
Scripted offers a satisfaction guarantee: If you don’t like the content you receive, you don’t have to pay for it. If you do accept the content and pay for it, you’ll own the intellectual rights to it.
Finding Writers on Scripted
Scripted offers several ways to recruit specific writers. Their “SmartMatch” tool can recommend the best matches for your assignment, or you can manually browse through writer profiles and work samples. If you see a writer you like, you can send the assignment right away, contact them with real-time messages within the Scripted platform or request a call time to discuss the specifics of your assignment.
Writer profiles show their reliability rating, a star rating and reviews from other clients and how their peers have ranked their performance as well. You can also see whether writers have been vetted for expert-level qualifications in industries such as software and technology, healthcare and sciences, sports and fitness or lifestyle and travel.
If you don’t want to spend time browsing the writer pool, you can also create your assignment brief and then release it to either the general writer pool, a smaller pool of top-ranked writers or only those writers who have elite-level qualifications in specific industries.
You can also ask writers to pitch you ideas: You provide a basic framework or assignment brief which is made available to the general pool of writers, then they contact you with a short summary of the article they’d write. You only pay for ideas that you like, which then become a regular assignment. You have the option of creating multiple assignments from a single pitch assignment.
Scripted’s Content Writing Workflow
Scripted’s general assignment types include long and short blog posts, white papers, social media posts, press releases, email newsletters, movie/video scripts, website copy and product descriptions. If what you want isn’t covered in that list, you can also create your own custom assignment profile.
Once the assignment is created, you should receive the first draft within a week, including a first editing pass already done by Scripted’s editors. Depending on your membership type, you’ll have five to seven business days to review the draft, and up to two rounds of revisions, which can be triggered with just a few clicks. If you don’t respond within this review time, the assignment will be automatically accepted.
What Makes Scripted Unique?
Scripted has an intuitive interface that makes sending assignments as easy as selecting from multiple choice options or filling in a few blanks. That interface is one of its greatest strengths, but it also offers some functionality you won’t find in other content marketplaces. In addition to the option for real-time messaging straight from the writer’s profile, you can also set up conference calls for up to 60 minutes at a time. (Note: The writers are not paid for their time on the call.)
Scripted also offers an analytics dashboard at higher membership tiers, and the fact that they let writers set their own rates for a wide variety of assignment types from white papers to video scripts and long or short blog posts means that, if you shop directly through the writer profiles, you’ll know the writer feels they’re being paid a fair price.
Here’s another little-known feature: Scripted also offers an editorial calendar function that makes it easy to plan, assign and manage an entire month’s content in one fell swoop.
How Scripted Finds Their Writers
Scripted advertises that only the top two percent of writers who apply make it into their workforce, and an informal screening of reviews from writers who’ve applied shows that they are in fact picky. Applicants are required to provide original writing samples along with a list of qualifications and must go through a similar re-application process if they want to be considered for specialty qualifications in industries such as healthcare and sciences, lifestyle and travel or sports and fitness.
On balance, if you’re looking to build lasting relationships and a continuous content flow, Scripted’s flexible communication and assignment options can represent a big advantage — but the monthly membership fee, on top of per-piece content fees, may be a turnoff for some.