How Textbroker Pay Works and Ways to Manage It

Last Updated on May 17, 2023 by Michael Brockbank

Content mills are a great way to get experience as a new freelance writer. But how does a company like Textbroker pay its authors? And what should you do with the money once it’s in your account?

In reality, it all depends on what your financial goals are and what you’re willing to do to set money aside.

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How Much Does Textbroker Pay Writers?

If you’re curious whether Textbroker is legit, I can assure you that I’ve literally made tens of thousands of dollars on the platform. It mostly comes down to how you handle clients and how quickly you can process content.

Textbroker uses a star-rating system to gauge author abilities. The higher the star, the more money you make. So, you can get:

$0.007 cents per word as a 2-Star
$0.011 cents per word as a 3-Star
$0.016 per word as a 4-Star
$0.055 per word as a 5-Star

It is important to note that there is far more work for 4-Star authors than at any other level. So, if you start off as a two or three, I suggest working on your skills to get to four as quickly as possible.

Also, you may notice you’re only making half of a cent more per word between 3-Star and 4-Star. Now, this doesn’t sound like a lot until you look at an article as a whole.

Let’s say you can do a 1,000-word blog post in an hour. A 3-Star will get paid $11 for the piece while a 4-Star will make $16.

In other words, that half of a penny adds up pretty quickly the more orders you do in a day.

Textbroker Pays Out Every Friday

When writing for Textbroker, you are paid every Friday. That is, as long as you claim your money in time. The process works like this:

You write content for clients on Textbroker Friday through Thursday.
If clients accept the article, the money they pay you is kept in a cash pool in your account.
On Thursday night, you manually log into the system to claim your money before midnight.
Textbroker pay is processed by Payoneer and available the next day.

Depending on how Payoneer is set up, it can automatically deposit the funds into your bank account. However, this process can take up to three business days.

The cut-off time limit on Thursdays will vary from region to region. For instance, I can claim my money before 1:00 am and still get paid the next day. This means Textbroker is running on West Coast time.

If you miss the Thursday deadline to claim your money, it’s held in your account and added to the following week.

This means you can accumulate quite a bit of money over time if you don’t request a payout. You don’t have to worry about the money disappearing on you.

I’ve had money in my Textbroker account for several months at a time because I simply forgot it was even there.

Textbroker Uses Payoneer to Pay Authors

To use the system efficiently, you’ll need to have a Payoneer account. This is the preferred method Textbroker uses to pay its authors.

In order to get paid as an author, you’ll need to set up a Payoneer account directly from Textbroker. It’s not that difficult of a process but does require bank and tax form information. This means you need to verify you can work in the United States.

In essence, using Payoneer helps Textbroker by being the identity verification system. If Textbroker doesn’t have to verify author information, the company can get new authors into the system faster.

For me, it’s just an extra step I need to take now to get paid. Before, I could simply use my PayPal debit card as soon as the funds were available. Now, I have to play musical banks.

Saving Pay for One Lump Sum

You don’t have to claim your money each week. You can let the cash sit in your account for weeks or even months at a time. This means you can use Textbroker as a kind of savings account and just keep accruing cash with each order you complete.

I’ve heard of some authors using Textbroker throughout the year to save up for one big payout at Christmas.

My point is the money is yours. You will not lose it if you don’t request a payout every Thursday. This is convenient as some writers like the idea of a bi-weekly or even monthly pay schedule.

6 Easy Ways to Improve Your Textbroker Pay

Although the pay-per-word in Textbroker is a set amount based on your star level, there are ways you can improve how much you get paid and how often you get work.

Here are some of the ways that greatly increased how much I was paid each and every week.

1. Get to 4-Star Level ASAP

There’s no doubt that 4-Star authors have access to far more available jobs. That’s because clients will often pay the extra bit of money to get a higher quality of content.

To put it bluntly, there is simply far more work available for 4-Star writers at any given time. Though, there will be days when the open pool of orders is a bit dry for all levels.

2. Apply to as Many Teams as Possible

I’ve made more money writing for various teams on Textbroker than any other method. Not only do I apply for every team I feel qualified to write for, but team leaders often invite me to this very day.

The entire open pool for orders can be completely empty, but a team leader could drop more than a thousand. In fact, I’ve seen this happen countless times. And a lot of Textbroker teams will actually give you more than what 4-Star orders will pay.

3. Set Your Textbroker Direct Order Pay Logically

One thing a lot of new writers gloss over is the price you can charge for direct orders. This can easily boost the amount of money you make from clients, provided you have the necessary skills to back up what you charge.

You don’t want to increase the amount so high it scares clients away. However, you don’t want to short-change yourself, either.

Also, keep in mind you can set prices for specific clients in Textbroker. This means that if one client has a lot of research and requirements, you can charge more as those things will take time.

Don’t be afraid to negotiate prices with direct clients. If you do good work and the client likes you, a lot of them will be more willing to toss in a penny or two more per word.

4. Complete Your Profile as Much as You Can

Never underestimate the need to spruce up your profile. This is how clients and Textbroker managers find authors who can fulfill specific needs. For example, if you’re an expert in using WordPress, make sure you emphasize that in your profile.

Get your profile as close to 100% complete as possible. Mine is currently sitting at 88%, but I think that’s because I only speak and write in one language.

5. Go Outside of Your Comfort Zone

Don’t be afraid to explore other niches and categories. I vastly increased my Textbroker pay just by exploring the different categories that were available.

I also found that I had a knack for writing about industries I didn’t think I’d excel in. This goes to show that you never know what you’ll find interesting until you try.

6. Improve Your Writing Abilities

And lastly, always strive to improve your abilities as a writer. Clients are more likely to pay you more in Textbroker if you demonstrate a strong sense of skill and professionalism.

I learned a lot by researching AP Style English in Google. However, you can use tools like Grammarly to help you learn how to write better content.

In fact, even the free version of Grammarly will tell you why certain changes are necessary within your content.

Managing Your Textbroker Pay

Once you get your Textbroker pay, then what? Do you pay bills or go on a shopping spree? This depends on what you’re using the content mill for.

However, I do suggest you consider the following. As a freelance writer, these points are quite important when it comes to your financial future.

Save for Taxes

Each year, Textbroker sends out a 1099 for its authors. This displays the amount of money you made on the system for tax purposes. Since Textbroker doesn’t take anything out for taxes, all of this is on your shoulders.

This means you need to save up a bit, especially if you make a lot of money using the system.

I try to send 10% of whatever is paid out to a savings account or some kind of long-term investment.

For instance, I like using Stash Invest to hold onto money. You can buy portions of ETFs, or Exchange-Traded funds, which are often more resilient than ordinary stocks.

Using Stash, I can buy a part of a $50 ETF for only 10 bucks. This way, it keeps it out of my hands until I desperately need it. This doesn’t mean you should invest in stocks, though. In fact, you should find a way to save that fits your specific needs.

The point is you need to save for taxes if you want to avoid an audit. Chances are good that you’ll have to pay each year.

Vacation Time

Something else you need to consider is taking vacations. As a freelance writer, you most likely don’t have access to paid leave. This means you need to save twice as much as anyone else if you want to go on vacation.

You’ll need money for the vacation itself and enough cash reserve to make up for the time you’re not writing. Unless you’re like me, who winds up writing while on vacation anyway.

Textbroker pay relies on your ability to produce content. If you’re not productive and submitting orders to clients, you’re not making money.

And since you probably won’t work while on vacation, you need to make sure you can sustain yourself after losing those days of not writing.

Sick Leave

Freelance writers also don’t have access to paid sick leave most of the time. And nothing is worse than trying to create content when you have a 103-degree temperature.

You’re far more likely to make mistakes and could inadvertently damage relations with Textbroker clients.

Make sure you set a bit aside for those days when you’re under the weather. That way when you’re sick, you don’t have to sweat about trying to make money to pay your bills.

Retirement Fund

Planning on retiring as a freelancer? You need to save a bit of money for that as well. Textbroker pay isn’t going to include a 401k. You need to handle all of that on your own.

Luckily, there are a number of ways you can save for retirement. Savings accounts, mutual funds, stocks and more are easily accessible.

The biggest thing you need to keep in mind is the earlier you start saving, the easier it is to retire. With enough money set aside, you could retire comfortably much earlier than you thought.

Use Your Textbroker Pay Wisely

Paying your bills is only a portion of your financial responsibilities. Since you are responsible for everything as a freelance writer, you need to distribute your money wisely.

Otherwise, you could be in your 70s still cranking out content for paying clients when all of your friends are relaxing on the beach.

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Michael Brockbank

Michael has been a freelance writer since January of 2012 and has contributed to a long list of blogs throughout his career. He is also a published author and continues to help other writers find their own paths. Maintaining both the WriterSanctuary blog and YouTube channel, he covers topics that relate to writing in all forms.