April 9, 2024
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Benjamin Levin is a freelance writer and SEO strategist who began writing for Zerys in 2015. In his 7+ years as a writer, he's...
Benjamin Levin is a freelance writer and SEO strategist who began writing for Zerys in 2015. In his 7+ years as a writer, he's...
Zerys is a freelancing platform where writers can connect with clients. Founded in 2008, it’s one of the oldest freelance writing platforms currently active.
However, is Zerys still worth it? Is it still a good place to find writing gigs, or has the work on the platform largely dried up since the rise of advanced AI models like ChatGPT?
In this review, we’ll give you an insider’s look into what working for Zerys is like in 2024.
Zerys is one of several freelance writing marketplaces, or "content mills"
Zerys is a website where freelancers can find writing and editing jobs. Specifically, it’s a type of site known as a content mill, which means that it’s a platform where writers are expected to produce a high volume of content at a quick pace.
Content mills like Zerys have a bad reputation because they generally offer fairly low rates, but they can be a valuable source of jobs for new freelancers. When you’re just starting out, holding out for lucrative work is easier said than done, and websites like Zerys fill a niche for beginner and intermediate freelancers who are willing to grind out articles for modest pay.
As content mills go, although Zerys isn’t perfect, it’s one of the better options out there. You can refer to the list below for a quick summary of its pros and cons; we’ll expand on these points throughout the rest of this review.
Zerys features several boards where clients can post jobs that freelancers can apply to. If you’re hired, you’ll submit your work into Zerys’s interface and receive your payment from the platform (deposited into a PayPal account, which you’ll link from your profile).
In exchange for facilitating all of this, Zerys will take a 30% cut of what the client pays you, which is how they make their money. This is the main downside of content mills; almost all of them take a commission, which means you’ll earn less on them than you’d be able to make if you approached clients on your own.
Zerys features both writing and editing jobs, although the majority of the assignments available are writing-related.
You can get paid to write all sorts of content, including SEO blog posts, press releases, white papers, e-books, and more. As on most content mills, SEO blog content and website content account for the bulk of the work on the platform.
As the screenshot below shows, Zerys plans to add other types of work in the future, such as project management and keyword research jobs. However, as of January 2024, only writing and editing projects are available, with the majority of the assignments available being writing-related.
Zerys can be a solid source of supplemental income, but don’t expect it to replace your job any time soon
Zerys pays its writers by the word (rather than per project or per hour).
Rates on the platform aren’t standardized. Clients choose how much they’re willing to pay for each project. As a writer, you have to decide whether you’re willing to accept the stated rate when you evaluate the job. If the rate isn’t acceptable to you, you don’t have to apply.
You can renegotiate your rates with repeat clients, and you also have the ability to set a “direct assignment” rate on your profile for clients who contact you directly (as opposed to the clients who you approach when you apply for a job).
Earnings per word on Zerys can vary. Some projects may pay around $0.03 per word, while others can pay $0.07 per word or higher.
Those are relatively low rates. For context, $0.10 is usually considered entry-level pay in the freelance writing industry.
That said, the pay on content mills always skews low, and Zerys offers better rates than many of its competitors. Most articles on the site range between 1,500 and 3,000 words, and you can expect to make between $40 to $175 per article. On comparable sites, rates of $10 to $30 per article are common.
Moreover, the assignments on Zerys tend to be relatively straightforward. While they usually require research, it usually isn’t excessive, and most projects can be knocked out in 3 to 6 hours.
The takeaway is that while Zerys isn’t particularly lucrative, it’s in a decent spot compared to its competitors. You can realistically expect to make a few hundred bucks per month on the platform, but you shouldn’t rely on it to pay your bills.
Zerys pays via PayPal. You’ll be paid twice per month, usually on the 1st and 15th, although your payments may arrive up to 3 business days later than that.
PayPal is your only payment option. In contrast to some platforms, you can’t link your bank account to receive direct deposits. This is a downside if you’ve had issues with PayPal in the past or just prefer not to use it.
Payments are sent out automatically once each article is approved by the client. Once they sign off on your work and confirm that they don’t want to request any revisions, you’ll receive payment at the end of the current two-week billing cycle.
Most of your work on Zerys will come from repeat clients
There are two separate job boards that you can use to find work on Zerys. You can find them both from the My Job Center section of the site, which you can find in the writer’s portal (the main screen that you see as soon as you log in).
To find work, navigate to the job center and click either:
You’ll usually have a few days to accept or decline a direct assignment before Zerys will automatically decline it.
Once you accept an assignment, you’ll be given a deadline by which you must complete it. This varies depending on the client, but generally, you’ll get anywhere from 3 to 10 days, with most deadlines averaging around 5–7 days.
This is significantly more time than many content mills allow. On some of Zerys’s competitors, such as Textbroker, Steady Content, and WordAgents, assignments are often due 24 to 72 hours after you accept them.
Moreover, deadlines on Zerys are somewhat flexible. If you need more time to complete an article, it’s possible to request an extension from the client, although you should try to do this as infrequently as possible.
When you land a job on Zerys, make sure to read the client’s instructions and familiarize yourself with their requirements and preferred writing style before you begin to write.
You can work wherever you like (e.g., Microsoft Word, Google Docs, etc.). You don’t have to do your actual writing in Zerys’s interface. However, once you’re finished, you’ll have to submit your work into a text box on the site.
Before submitting each piece for review, you must pass it through Copyscape, which will run a plagiarism check. This feature is integrated into the Zerys platform and doesn’t cost anything.
After you submit an article, it will enter a “pending review” state. If the client (or agency) isn’t satisfied with the article, they may leave feedback and request revisions. If they take no action by the approval deadline, the project will be auto-approved.
Clients usually have up to seven days to review each article, but that isn’t universally true. If you write an article for an agency that manages multiple clients, the review process may take up to three weeks. First, the agency will get two weeks to review it; then, they’ll pass it to the client, who will have the usual seven-day period to conduct their own review.
This means you may sometimes find yourself waiting for longer than you’d like to find out if you’re finished with an assignment.
While that isn’t ideal, the way that Zerys handles this is in line with how other content mills function, and their system is significantly better than some of their competitors’. (For instance, Verblio, another writing platform, doesn’t impose a deadline on clients at all, which means articles can stall out indefinitely after you submit them.)
When you get accepted at Zerys, you will be assigned a writer rating on a five-star scale based on a sample article that you’ll submit with your application.
From that point on, your score will change based on how clients rate you. They’ll be given the chance to do so after each project that you complete.
Your writer rating and activity score (which shows how active you are on Zerys) are listed on your public profile and can be used by clients when filtering for potential writers to join their teams.
There are also other settings you can toggle to make it easier for clients to find you. For instance, you can enable a geo-targeting feature that will display you to clients who filter for writers in their area (if they have a project that requires local knowledge or they want to work with somebody in their timezone, etc.)
You can boost your score by being strategic about the assignments you accept. Prioritizing projects from clients who’ve invited you onto their teams generally leads to better ratings than accepting work from new clients (since most of the time, repeat clients will be ones who like your writing style).
Work on Zerys has become significantly scarcer due to the rise of AI-generated content
Unfortunately, finding gigs on Zerys isn’t as easy as it used to be. The amount of work on content mills has declined significantly since the release of ChatGPT 3 in late 2022, and Zerys is no exception.
As mentioned, there’s very little paid work on Zerys’s open job board these days. However, a number of clients still regularly post “auditions” to find new writers, and if a client likes your audition, they may invite you to their “team” and regularly send work your way.
The number of assignments you’ll receive will depend on the client, how many writers they’re already working with, and how much they like your writing style. The frequency can be quite variable; sometimes, a client might only send you a few direct assignments per month, but at other times, you might receive several articles in a single day.
As mentioned, Zerys almost certainly won’t provide enough work to serve as a reliable source of income. However, if two or more clients accept you onto their teams, you can usually count on at least a couple of articles per month, making Zerys a decent enough side hustle.
Because work on Zerys has become relatively scarce, the platform isn’t currently accepting new freelancers. However, they do have a waitlist, which you can join by clicking the button below.
Zerys will prompt you to enter your email. When they open up applications again, they’ll contact you to let you know.
When Zerys gets in touch with you, you’ll need to jump through a few hoops to complete the signup process. You’ll have to:
As mentioned, Zerys’s editors will use your sample to assign you an initial score on the platform, which clients will see when they evaluate you.
Zerys can be worth it for new and intermediate freelancers
Working for Zerys can be worthwhile, although it’s important to go into it with clear and realistic expectations.
Writing for a site like this is never going to be an idyllic gig. Freelance writing is a competitive field, and writing for content mills—which, as mentioned, pay relatively low rates compared to what you can earn by working with clients directly—can be particularly grueling.
That said, if you’ve decided that you are willing to accept content mill rates in exchange for the leg up they give you in finding jobs, Zerys is far from the worst option out there. It’s a good place for entry- and mid-level writers to pick up a few extra articles per month. Because its projects have relatively long deadlines, you can accept them when they come in and work on them when you have slower days.
Just remember that if you’re serious about your writing side hustle, Zerys can’t be your sole source of work. Look into other popular freelance writing websites and consider signing up for more than one so you’re not totally reliant on any one platform.
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