Pros
I have worked for Simple Tense coming on a year now. I find that it has an outstanding core of people in the management and admin staff who seems to maintain high standards of quality and concern for both clients and writers. I appreciate that once you have earned their trust, by consistently producing quality, problem-free work, they are encouraging and pretty much leave you alone without nit-picking too much about content. As long as you make the deadlines and produce work that fits the client's criteria, you will feel appreciated. They are not interested in people who cannot fulfill their obligations to the tasks and clients. I feel this is a good policy. They are looking for skilled people who are committed to the rigors of this deadline-based profession. They weed out the weak, unreliable writers. Given this, I find that they are understanding and rational. They are accepting of some mistakes as long as they see concerted effort to improve the situation. They maintain a cordial and responsive communication line between their writers and clients, and continually monitor all correspondence between the writer, admin and clients. `Another positive aspect of this company is that they are young and growing, and you get a sense they are continually improving and genuinely excited about the opportunities that come with their growth. If you are qualified and earn their respect, they will offer you some extra work through the slow times. For the most part, though, they do not play favorites and seem to want to allow their writers to earn as much as possible. They are concerned about balancing quality with productivity, and acknowledge that it is best to take advantage of their more talented writers instead of truly being egalitarian. Their server is useful and functional, with many thought-out resources and features. Their system is easy to navigate, and I do not find anything lacking in it. They give you clear instructions about their policies as well as grammar and citation guidelines. Questions about specific tasks are answered promptly, and it is rare that there are lapses of observation. They monitor tasks and correspondence for quality assurance. The work itself can be challenging and rewarding, particularly if you an intellectually curious type of person. Because students come from various fields, subject matter ranges across disciplines. The clients are all Chinese, so if you a special interest in Asian studies, Confucianism, or Chinese cinema, Simple Tense might be the place for you. I have personally found that I have skills in economics, business and human resource management even though I was an English major with experience in environmental studies and educational philosophy. It’s a great chance to develop your skills as a writer and thinker.
Cons
I do not feel that there are very many cons for working with SimpleTense education. I have generally had a good experience. What I can say is that not all tasks are created equal. Some of this depends on your aptitude. Sometimes tasks are so specific or heavily researched-based that it will take too much time for the money you are paid for it. This is why it is important to be selective when you claim a task. If it is on a subject you are unfamiliar with, you may want to either pass or just realize that you should allot more time for it. For success in this business it is important to maintain high personal writing standards, so it may work out that some tasks take longer to produce than others. I try not to think of the work in hourly-wage terms. It is painful at times if you do. Instead, I think about it as cash flow, and, as a learning opportunity. You will not get rich working as a freelance writer for SimpleTense. Unfortunately, you will have to write the next great American novel for that. But it is a nice secondary source of income, and perhaps a primary one if you can be productive enough with it. They do stay competitive with the market value for finished pages of academic writing. They are also good about giving extra money for reading or viewing fees on tasks. However, much of it is nominal, and is better than nothing, but not enough money to compensate you for a deep reading of an entire novel, for example. The best way to improve on the time v. money problem is to increase your writing speed, develop a system to organize your thoughts quickly, and learn how to skim through vast amounts of academic journals, articles and books. I have learned that you do not have to read most of the material if you know what to look for. Many academic journals are formulaic, and you can find pertinent information quickly if you know how. Even books can be read with speed and haste if the writer is clear what they are looking for. Many online notes exist that you can use as guides to the reading. But these are skills that take time to develop. At first, tasks might simply take much longer to complete than you are being paid for. That will not change much, but your approach to the work can change. Online research has its limits, and it is unfortunate that the academic databases are so expensive. I wish Simple Tense could find a way to provide its writers with one or two of these databases, but that there are probably restrictions on that. One of my biggest gripes is that it takes too much time to find quality sources because most current academic articles are locked up in private databases. Sometimes, students allow you to use their library accounts for research, but most of the time, writers have to be creative to find valid academic sources. That said, SimpleTense is on the writer’s side and will help you if they can. They will accommodate resources if they are hard to find, and give suggestions if you are stuck. But if you consistently submit late or unprofessional work they probably will not keep you around long. That is just the nature of the business.
