And I really mean WhackedOut Outsourcing.  What a train wreck!

This is mainly a post for newbies thinking about outsourcing a project - to provide you with a little insight…

I’ve outsourced the creation of many ebooks, articles, reports, etc. For the most part, things have been going very well.

But in the last week, I’ve had back-to-back nightmares.

Case Study # 1:

I posted on Elance.com to have an ebook written for a niche market. After several bids, I chose someone who had good feedback and a good amount of earnings. It was agreed that the project would be completed in four weeks.

Four weeks go by and I contact the writer. Nothing. Five weeks go by and he writes back that he needs just one more week. I say OK - but I have to have it then.

Six weeks go by. Nothing. I post another message on the board.

After eight weeks he posts how he has been doing a lot of traveling lately and will get the book to me the next day.

Next day comes. Nothing. A few days later I get the rough draft - it was a disaster written in about 80 point font, had 8 pages taken up by the “Index” and screenshots that were pointless. Total amount of content after I removed the images, took out the index, and fixed the font: 7 pages. This was supposed to be 30-40.

Long story short, he never got his final 50% and I had to hire someone else to rewrite the ebook.

Case Study # 2:

I posted another project on Elance.com (MISTAKE!) for another ebook in a niche subject. I supplied 5+ pages worth of research and two pages explaining EXACTLY what I needed. After several bids, I chose one that had great feedback, had great earnings, so I thought I would be OK.

The ebook arrived one hour ago.

I wouldn’t even call it an ebook. I don’t know what to call it but a disaster. The font was huge, there were screenshots that had no point, and it was nearly impossible to read. Even if I gave someone this ebook to rewrite, it would be impossible. There is no flow and it has sentences like:

“Being termed as the next Internet boom, the online diary or journals as they are called, have opened the gates of the Internet to express their thoughts, feelings, knowledge and a lot more which would not have otherwise opened out at all.” 

And…

“There is not a single proven way to get the right audience for the blog one has written the de facto principle for blog to be found online by the people who are looking for it the blog.”

And…

“Generally most human beings have a fascination for timetables, planners and checklists.” 

And…

“To the amusement of most marketers, the improvement of technologies in the online arena has effected in not providing the due importance to the-word-of-mouth marketing.”

And the last sentence in the ebook is:

“So are you ready for the go now?”

95% of the ebook is written like this. It makes no sense and if I removed the images and gave it to someone to read, they would have a hard time trying to figure out what the subject of the ebook is on.

I HIGHLY doubt this person will be able to fix this. I have NO IDEA how this person has good feedback on Elance and how they have earned so much this year. Do people  even read what he provides them?

Back-to-back bombs here. I do have a handful of good writers I use, but they’re working on other projects for me and for others - so I had to venture out to Elance for these.

The first project cost me three times more than what I wanted to pay and took months longer than I wanted to take.

This second project is a disaster. I’ll have to walk away from my 50% deposit and try and find someone else to complete this project - adding more time and money invested.

When you find good writers, do whatever you can to keep them. If you use them for one project, pay them a little more next time to get bumped up a little.

If you’re thinking about outsourcing your projects, really do your homework - although a lot of that can be very misleading. Even if someone has huge earnings and the best feedback, that does not mean that you’ll get top quality work.

And again, when you find someone who really does do a great job, do whatever it takes to keep them busy with projects so that you’ll scoop them up from the market.

The moral of the story is do what you can to find  great writers and then shower them with money, flowers, candy, gift certificates, a car, a private jet, a trip to space… whatever! A good ebook/article/ report/content/blog post writer can be worth thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, or more to you down the road.

** Update **

Since writing the above, I tried another writer who was recommended from a friend.  She has written materials for “guru” Internet Marketers. She was not only 2 weeks past the deadline, but I had to hire an editor to fix over 100 mistakes, spelling errors, etc. that she made.

If you or know anyone who has experience in writing SOLID ebooks and reports, please contact me.

Also, I could have saved myself a lot of time and money if I only went through this outsourcing course. I’ve gone through a lot of Paul’s ebooks, reports, and courses, and I’ve always been very impressed. His Xtreme Outsourcing videos are very well done and you’ll get a lot out of them.