Scribendi Reviews

Pros

I have been working with Scribendi 35-45 hrs/wk for about six months now. I was very excited yet a bit hesitant at first, and I am now quite content and comfortable with the system, the hours, and the management team. As a remote editor, I make my own schedule. I pick up orders I want, I work the hours I want, and I receive valuable and fulfilling feedback from both clients and senior editors, which really makes the...

Cons

None, zip, nada; a true dream!

Advice to Management

Keep doing what you're doing :)

Pros

pleasant tone to communications incentives for certain jobs

Cons

some very difficult documents new rating system is annoying

Pros

This is a good opportunity for remote work. The job board generally has plenty of documents to choose from, especially if the editor is around to check it often. Documents come in from all over the world, so as someone in America, I had better luck finding papers later at night. A discussion board is available for editors, but I didn't utilize it much. The general user interface for downloading and uploading files...

Cons

Where to start? Be prepared to edit ESL documents from graduate and undergraduate students as well as journal articles written by professionals for sweatshop wages. Such documents generally require three or four passes to help the reach a readable level. However, given the short turnaround times, it often is next to impossible to devote the necessary amount of time to such texts. Scribendi takes a 50 to 60 percent...

Advice to Management

What advice is there to give? You need to pay editors ridiculously low wages to make your business model work, and there will always be people desperate enough to work for pennies. The long training modules are incredibly boring and tedious, especially for the measly karma points that are awarded. While the QAs are done by skilled editors, the rubric doesn't take into account how much a horribly written document...

Pros

Arrange your own schedule -- but you must edit a certain # of words each month Regular pay.

Cons

The company expects perfection from at-home editors working on horribly written documents. This perfection is impossible to attain without rewriting the article/paper. Most work is submitted by students or researchers who have ESL. Random reviews from senior editors, with infrequent feedback regarding the reviews. Editors are expected to have extensive knowledge of APA, Blue Book, Harvard (various versions), MLA, Chicago,...

Advice to Management

Offer training in each style guide. Give a warning before you're about to fire someone and offer opportunities for training to remediate mistakes. I was terminated without warning after receiving high scores from clients almost every time. Get rid of your ISO requirements. They create work rather than improve it.

Pros

You have complete control over your work schedule and where you work. I really enjoyed being able to work outside if I wanted to. The work was challenging, and I enjoyed learning new and interesting things through the documents I edited. The other remote editors were very friendly and supportive in the forums. I enjoyed talking to them. I did like the karma point system because it was easy to accumulate karma points if...

Cons

They expect too much from their editors in too little time. A lot of the papers are very poorly written ESL documents, and they expect their editors to turn them into perfect masterpieces in just a few hours. Many of these papers require way more time to complete than is provided. Furthermore, if the client needs to be contacted and the deadline is approaching, you have to submit the incomplete document to the customer...

Advice to Management

Provide more training opportunities for editors to refresh their editing knowledge or even learn new things. Cramming it all into one, long, frustrating "training" session on another website doesn't work. Also, telling editors to review the 5-star editing examples when they ask for more training is not enough. Also, one editor mentioned that his or her last place of employment had a grading system where, if a document...

Pros

You don't have to deal directly with the clients, because the order forms and Customer Service take care of that. You can pick and choose the types of documents and services you want; because of this you can structure your schedule however you want.

Cons

If you are contracted with them and live outside of Canada, count on having to keep track of your payment for your own taxes, as they don't provide W2s or 1099s. In the US, you will likely pay self-employment tax. Another downside is that they take 50-60% of what they charge the clients, so you get less than if you were freelancing (although it is nice to have the advantage of their web platform and customer service)....

Pros

I learned a lot doing remote editing for Scribendi. The management and customer service teams are very friendly and professional, and you get a lot of support as an editor (online tutorials, incentives, and regular QA evaluations that are very fair and constructive). I like the variety in the type of work you get to do. Could I get paid more if I just found freelance work on my own? Probably, but it's really nice to have...

Cons

Some of the papers you edit can be very poor quality. But usually there are enough jobs to pick and choose from so you can get some easier work too.

Pros

There is plenty of work available, and you can choose the projects you like. The board may be a little lean during the summer and at other academic down-times, but I've been able to earn a modest and steady living. They provide tools to enhance your productivity, as well as a knowledge base to help you answer many basic questions as you edit.

Cons

The company does not support their editors. When clients complain, the order is reviewed by their full-time staff. No matter how high your score, no matter how well they esteem your editing, no matter how petty the client's complaints are (including that the client just didn't like a change you made, which they could just choose not to accept in their own revisions), the client is offered a redo or a refund. Frequently,...

Advice to Management

There needs to be some balance between satisfying customers and supporting your staff. Refusing to ever stand up for the work your editors perform is not only a disservice to them, but it is a disservice to you. Deeming an editor's work as well-done privately and then publicly demanding that they redo it is not only duplicitous, but it shows that you have no faith in your workers. If you really believe that you are a...