Frequenty Asked Questions... Answered! 

 

Who are you again?

Great question. Pen and a Pad is a close-knit team of writers, proofreaders and editors. I guess you could call us a small business, but we like to think of ourselves as ‘cosy’. Don’t let our size fool you though—our expertise spans a multitude of industries, and ranges from writers fresh out of university to internationally renowned ­published authors, journalists and content writers.

Regardless of what writer level you choose for your project, one thing we can guarantee is the quality of writing. Our writer team is supported at all levels, with regular coaching and feedback, to ensure our customers are fully satisfied with the service we have provided.

All our writers are native English speakers, and all our projects are checked against the brief, run through the world's most advanced paid online plaigarism checker, and proofread before being submitted to our clients for approval. What makes us special is our passion—we love what we do, and because of that, we know you’ll love it too.
 

What’s the difference between the writer levels?

We have three levels of writers on staff; standard, professional and expert.

A standard writer is a hobby or budding writer, with expertise in your chosen field. They’ll write about what they know, and to all our internal guidelines as well as yours. They were often writers or editors of their school papers, and are accomplished in their own right despite not having fully launched their writing careers (yet—these guys are rising stars!)

Our professional writers have written content for numerous businesses across a range of subjects. They have multiple areas of expertise, but can also write comfortably about almost any topic. They also have their own blogs, or regularly write for local and international media, be it print, online or both.

Expert is exactly what it sounds like—writing specialists and industry experts. Our expert writers are senior writers in their fields. They each have their own writing accolades and are published content writers, journalists and novelists. They have years of experience to bring to the table, and will surprise you with their depth of knowledge and research skills.
 

What do I get with each level?

Our standard writer option comes with up to two amendment requests within five days of receipt of your work.

Our professional option gets you three amendment requests within two weeks of receipt of your work.

Our expert option gets you unlimited amendment requests within four weeks of receipt of your work.
 
All of our writer levels come with proofreading and QC included in the price, and again after each amendment is delivered.
 

What about turnaround times? Which one is the best for me? 

This really depends on your needs. Below is a guide to what we consider to be the deadlines for each turnaround option.

Word count	Turnaround time
	Standard	Urgent	Critical
500-1000	5-7 days	3-5 days	2-3 days
1100-1500	7-10 days	5-7 days	3-5 days
1600-2000	10-13 days	7-10 days	3-5 days

• The above is just a guideline—it’s entirely possible you’ll receive your project earlier than the timelines in table above.
   
• We will never sacrifice quality for speed. Customers often request custom deadlines for projects, and we’re happy to accommodate whenever possible. However, if we believe we won’t be able to deliver a reasonable quality piece to our minimum internal standards within a requested timeframe, we will refuse the job and refund your payment or provide store credits to use on another project.

 

What are Content Guidelines?

Content Guidelines are the specific set of instructions to be followed by the writer(s) for creating the content. These will be sent to you by email once you have ordered an item.
For best results, fill in all the fields under the Guidelines section and share examples of the format/writing-style/tone to be followed (if any). You can attach these to the email as Word, Pages or PDF documents.
 

What instructions can I give to the writer when I place my order?

Shortly after placing your order, you’ll receive an email with a request for more information on your purchase. You’ll be asked to provide as much of the following as you can:

• Topic line
• 2-3 keywords
• Writing style/tone
• Intended audience
• Purpose of writing
• Any further information that might be useful for the writer
• Writing samples for format/style/tone (which can be attached to the email)

Example:
Topic line: Marketing Tips for a Local Small Business
Keywords (include at least 2-3): small business, marketing tips, digital marketing  
Article structure: Intro and at least 5 tips including 1-2 based around digital marketing…
Writing style/tone: Formal, logical and focused.
Intended audience: Small business owners who don’t currently outsource their digital marketing.
Purpose of writing: To boost engagement on our website and drive traffic.
 

When will you start?

 
We’ll start working on your order as soon as we’ve received your reply to our guidelines email. Don’t worry, we’ll drop you an email back to let you know we’ve received your reply, and we’ll keep you updated on the status of the project. Feel free to email us to check in­—all your queries will be replied to by a real human being (not those silly auto-responder messages).
 

I’m ready to order, what do I do now?

 
Great! Follow this link to our order page and choose your project type, writer level, and turnaround time. Once you have made payment we’ll be in touch ASAP.