The "Lingo" of Net Writing

As with most industries, the writing industry employs the use of common and some not-so-common terms in defining different aspects within the scope of the writing profession. Although you may find many of these terms throughout the various fields in writing, a few of them are "unique" to the specific writing fields where their names and definitions are created and used.

Below are eight terms that you will see frequently as a net writer. I have included definitions of those terms for the benefit of newcomers to net writing.


Bidder: refers to a writer who makes a “bid” to a posted job, stating price and estimated completion time, on job boards where writers receive projects based on bid(s) accepted by buyers.

Buyer: refers to the buyer of content. On some boards, you may see “project creator or job poster” which also means the individual or company intending to buy completed works from a writer they have contracted with to produce the content.

Commission Scale: This is how your pay breaks down on many writing job boards. Typical it is a 65/35 pay- split between writer and job board provider for completed work, with 65% going to the writer. . There are writing job boards offering the writer greater than 65% compensation for the works they produce.

Content: refers to articles, documents, images, presentations, and other works writers produce.

Content Provider: This is a name given to writers offering their writing services to buyers.

Copyright: This is a law that protects a writer’s work from being copied, or used without permission, or without proper citing of the true author, by others.

Copyscape: refers to an online resource for checking content to ensure that it is not copied, copyrighted, or duplicated material.

Copywriter: refers to a writer who writes copy for advertisements, press releases, and website mainframes.

Julie M. 2009. twsstaff@yahoo.com, all rights reserved.

There are more terms to know and understand in the net writing industry. New terms crop up on a regular basis too. I will continue sharing even more of the lingo in net writing that I have run across in my ten years writing for the net, and any new ones that pop-up as well in future posts.