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.
