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Stellar guide for writers and contributors

As a new writer or contributor at Stellar, please read this entire guide carefully. It contains helpful information to lead you on your journey as a member of the Stellar team!

1.0 Introduction

Congratulations on your acceptance to Stellar as a contributor! Our writers, editors, subject-matter experts and translators are the backbone of our services, so we’re excited to have you.

You can now get paid for freelance content writing jobs and also edit, review or translate real work for Crowd Content clients.

To start, we’ll answer questions you might have so you can build a portfolio, earn income and provide amazing content for thousands of businesses.

1.1 What makes Stellar awesome for writers and contributors?

At Stellar, we want our writers and contributors to feel valued.

We offer a star system to help reward you. The more high-quality work you provide and the more positive feedback you receive from clients, the more your star rating increases!

Our star system sets Stellar and our team of writers & contributors apart. We want you to shine!

We also offer highly competitive pay rates for writers and contributors. You can earn more with positive feedback and we outline all pay rates for every order so you can understand your earning potential before accepting work.

1.2 What does it take to succeed with Stellar?

The answer is simple: SATISFY CLIENTS!

Stellar has delivered conversion-generating content to over 8,000 businesses. We know what it takes to deliver satisfaction: quality and reliability.

Always create and optimize content to the highest quality, do research, think critically, ask questions, read instructions and do what you say you’ll do.

Most importantly, show empathy. When you write or edit work for a business as if it were your own, you’ll set yourself up for success with Stellar.

2.0 Rules and procedures for writing at Stellar

We’ll review how to claim and complete orders for clients (i.e., how you can earn money!).

We’ll also summarize a few simple rules that every writer and contributor needs to follow at Stellar.

2.1 A simple three-strike system

Stellar offers quality and reliability served with empathy. To ensure we deliver on these values—and to enable you to develop a great reputation with clients for additional income—we have a simple three-strike system:

  • A violation generates one strike on your account and your capacity to pick up orders is reduced.
  • After three strikes, Crowd Content will review your account and work with you at our discretion for improvement (though we reserve the right to remove any account if need be).
  • To clear a strike you need to complete 5 orders without a violation.

2.2 What is a violation?

There are three violations that can result in a strike:

  1. Dropping an order after a 30-min. grace period (“drop window”) that begins when you accept an order.
  2. Missing a submission deadline (for all types of work, including writing, editing, translating or providing subject-matter expertise).
  3. Missing a revision deadline if a revision is requested by the client.

2.3 How do orders work?

Sign in to your account and simply claim orders if they’re available to you based on criteria from your account details and as set by clients.

To see full details of any order, just click on the order title for all information and client instructions.

Before you claim any order, always read the instructions carefully. Be sure that you have the required skill and knowledge; otherwise, you may want to leave it for another writer or contributor.

If you do decide it’s an order you’d like to work on, click the Claim button. You’ll then see a message that explains the implications of claiming an order and asks you to confirm.

After you confirm, we assign the order to you and you are now responsible for completing the order before the deadline expires.

2.4 How do deadlines work at Stellar?

Every order and revision request at Stellar has a deadline attached to it.

Clients can set maximum deadlines at their discretion, but most order types will have minimum deadlines based on the scope of the order. Generally speaking, the larger the scope, the more time you’ll have to get it right.

When you claim an order, you are responsible for completing the order before the deadline expires.

To help you keep tabs, the content editor via the dashboard in your account shows a countdown timer for each open order so you can always see how much time you have left when working on an order.

2.5 What happens if I miss a deadline?

As mentioned, missing a deadline qualifies as a violation that will generate a strike against your account. But you can have any strikes removed by completing five consecutive orders without a violation.

If you miss a deadline and receive a strike, the order will become available to other writers or contributors.

2.6 What is the drop window?

After claiming an order, you have up to 30 minutes to drop it without repercussions. This is a grace period known as the “drop window.” When you drop an order, it becomes available to others.

Be careful when dropping orders. If you miss a drop window and do not submit the order by the deadline, you receive a strike on your account.

2.7 What is the revision deadline?

Occasionally clients will request revisions on submitted orders. Don’t worry—it happens! When it does, we notify you by email and via your account.

You can see the client’s revision request in the instruction pane and in the messaging system.

From the time the client submits a revision request, you have 24 hours to complete the revision. If you miss this revision deadline, you will receive a strike and the order will become available to other writers or contributors.

2.8 How do quality levels work?

If you’re new to Stellar, we assign you a baseline Quality Level as determined by the strength of your application.

Your Quality Level is reflected by the number of stars you have. The higher your Quality Level, the higher the pay rates you’ll qualify for and the more high-value client orders you’ll have access to.

The lowest Quality Level is one star and the highest is four stars. Higher Quality Levels yield higher pay rates and more potential earnings.

You can claim orders at or below your Quality Level but not above your Quality Level. For example, a writer at the three-star level can claim orders for one-, two- or three-star writers, but not for four-star writers.

There are various ways writers and contributors can increase their Quality Level, but the biggest factor is feedback received from clients.

2.9 What is TAT?

TAT stands for turnaround time, the time it takes to complete an order from the time you claim it.

Stellar measures TAT only for Marketplace orders and displays the the metric in words per hour (wph). For example, a TAT of three hours at 300 words is shown as 100 wph.

2.10 What is the TAT bonus?

At Stellar, Marketplace writers who maintain a great TAT earn extra money.

If your average TAT over your last five Marketplace orders, excluding direct orders, hits or exceeds the Target TAT, we increase the pay rate on your account that stays in place as long as you don’t fall below the target.

The Target TAT is determined by Stellar and is the same for all writers. We reserve the right to alter the target TAT at any time.

When you qualify for the TAT bonus, a rabbit icon in your account turns white to let you know about the bonus. You can also view the current Target TAT at any time by hovering over the rabbit icon.

2.11 What are direct orders?

When placing an order, clients can optionally assign work to specific writers. This is known as a direct order.

If you receive a direct order, we’ll notify you by email. Direct orders will always show at the top of your Available list with a blue “D” icon beside them, regardless of any filters you have applied.

Contributors are able to consent to deadlines before accepting any direct order.

2.12 How and when do I get paid?

We make all payments through PayPal every Tuesday and Friday. You can adjust your PayPal settings via My Account > PayPal Account.

Pay periods cut off at 11 p.m. ET the night before a payday. For example, any payments received on a Friday are for completed orders accepted by the client during the 72-hour period starting at 11 p.m. ET the previous Monday.

If you are owed less than $10, your balance will carry over until you reach the $10 threshold and then your full balance will be paid out on the next payday. All amounts are in USD.

2.13 What is Stellar’s plagiarism policy?

Stellar scans all content uploaded for clients using an anti-plagiarism tool called Copyscape.

If Copyscape finds batches of text that match previously published content elsewhere online, you will be notified with an error message in your account when submitting the order and the text will be flagged for you to review.

You will not be able to submit an order unless and until your content passes the Copyscape scan.

2.14 Can I use AI to create content at Stellar?

Under no circumstances is it acceptable to submit AI-generated content on
our platform, including our marketplace and managed services. While we
embrace AI as a writing tool that can help you become more efficient in
your work, our clients pay for and expect content that’s 100% human
written. This policy extends to AI-generated and human-edited content, as
the finished deliverable is still not 100% human written.

3.0 Tips and best practices for success

At Stellar, consistently doing the little things right separates average writers from great writers!

We’ve listed several key tips and best practices below to create great content and satisfy clients.

3.1 Read and follow the writer resources

In our Writer Resources, you can find tips for writing specific content types that clients request.

We recommend that you read and understand each resource to learn more about effectively writing content for clients.

3.2 Format your content to for readability

Make your content visually appealing! Even if you write the most interesting article ever, readers are put off by lousy formatting, long paragraphs, run-on sentences and more. Here are some quick tips:

  • Insert headers and subheaders via the dropdown-menu item “Paragraph” in the editor dashboard.
  • Practice proper and consistent spacing; avoid extra line breaks and keep your copy tidy!
  • Use bulleted and numbered lists properly properly via editor tools.

3.3 Be polite, responsive and professional

Stellar’s built-in messaging system facilitates discussion between clients and writers. When conversing with clients, follow the following guidelines for success (and increased odds of receiving positive feedback):

  • Be polite. Clients are customers and, as they say, the customer is always right. Always converse with respect and never lose your composure.
  • Be responsive. People love fast responses. It shows that you care and are attentive.
  • Be professional. Remember we are a professional service and you represent our brand. Always be professional when talking with clients.

3.4 Only claim orders you can start working on immediately

To deliver quick turnaround times, it helps to start working on orders shortly after claiming them. Otherwise, you “locks up” up orders, prevent other writers from claiming them and creating an unneeded delays for the client.

3.5 Always double check spelling and grammar!

This is a bit of a no-brainer, but don’t ever submit content without running our spellchecker in the Stellar editor, which supports American, Australian, British and Canadian English—handy for localized-spelling requests.

3.6 Give your profile picture some love

Pay attention to your profile picture and present yourself as professional as possible. Do your best to put yourself in the best light possible and you’ll instill confidence in your clients.

To upload (and crop) images, go to My Account > Change Picture > Edit Photo.