What should you ask a writer before hiring?

[Danlucy]

When I have a private message from a writer, I used to ask "what articles have you written before?"

What about you? What are some other questions to ask? and why?

 

[rwsorensen]

When I have a private message from a writer, I used to ask "what articles have you written before?"

What about you? What are some other questions to ask? and why?

I hired some writers and as my experience then I would ask about their portfolio, price and samples they did. For professional writers, you can be surprised with their price, can upto hundred of dollars for each 1000 word article.

 

[Shane Williams]

A good freelance writer should be able to research and write different kinds of content, but before hiring I would always make sure and ask:

1) Are they comfortable and knowledgeable writing about x? And can they write engaging content on the topic. Try to hire someone that specializes in your market.
2) References: Do they have examples of their work I can read through or references from other customers.
3) Pay rates, do they charge by the hour or by word count and do they include revisions.
4) Time: How long will the article take to complete. Can they meet deadlines?
5)Authorship: Once written do I have full ownership of the content and the rights to edit the content and be sited as the author.

These are just some basic questions I would ask and would not hire on price alone, I would try to find a qualified writer that charges a reasonable price and explain everything I need concerning the content up front. Hopefully the above questions can help.

 

[Nemanja]

A good freelance writer should be able to research and write different kinds of content, but before hiring I would always make sure and ask:

1) Are they comfortable and knowledgeable writing about x? And can they write engaging content on the topic. Try to hire someone that specializes in your market.
2) References: Do they have examples of their work I can read through or references from other customers.
3) Pay rates, do they charge by the hour or by word count and do they include revisions.

I agree with you, I asked about their knowledge before hiring a writer, what samples or which they wrote in the past so that I have a look on them.

As I know, some professional writers always offer high price but it is suitable because they provide quality posts/content.

4) Time: How long will the article take to complete. Can they meet deadlines?

This always is my first requirement because I don't want to wait too long or over deadlines.

5)Authorship: Once written do I have full ownership of the content and the rights to edit the content and be sited as the author.

These are just some basic questions I would ask and would not hire on price alone, I would try to find a qualified writer that charges a reasonable price and explain everything I need concerning the content up front. Hopefully the above questions can help.

I didn't ask about Authorship but seem almost writers will accept you to edit their content if needed, right?

 

[bebetsizo1]

Ask for samples that are actually posted on websites and look whether it has been copied or not via copyscape.