The Competition from India

I see a lot of freelancers mentioning the competition from Indian writers and how that has made it necessary to write for very little in order to stay competitive. Many writers believe this, and I think in some cases it's true. But, I've never considered myself to be in competition with Indian writers. I am not competing against them, or Eastern European writers, to get the low paying, quantity-over-quality assignments. I am competing with other writers who are experienced, well versed in nuanced English and dedicated to high quality, and that's all.

I know that many, if not most, freelance writers get insulting offers like I often do. Sometimes they are aggressively insulting, often implying or outright stating that they have writers overseas who will work for less. It doesn't concern me what people overseas will write for. I wasn't concerned when a potential client insisted that he had writers who would write his blog posts for $1.50 apiece. He should be concerned that he's spending money on something that no one, anywhere, will ever read, but I'm not. Probably 80-90 percent of buyers are looking for the cheapest writers they can find- period. They don't concern me. My concern is finding the other 10-20 percent who will challenge me to offer my best work in exchange for reasonable pay. Indian writers can do what they do, circus performers can do what they do and cowboys can continue to ride across the plains. I'll stick to my own market.