Cactus Communications Freelance Academic Editor Reviews

Pros

I enjoy the work, and I am satisfied with the volume of work I receive. Interactions are pleasant and timely. Work is assigned in such a way that I can balance my work and my private life.

Cons

The pay scale is low, given the expectations for follow-up and multiple-round edits. Evaluations sometimes appear to be subjective. All contact is on-line, so communication is limited.

Pros

You get a steady flow of work, and you get to choose which projects you want to pick up. No one forces a project on you, and once you establish yourself, you don't have to worry about not having enough work. It can be a good job for college students, grad students, or people who are in-between jobs and don't want a gap in their resume.

Cons

The pay is not very good, although I would say that it is similar to other editing companies. I would not recommend it as a full-time job or your only source of income. I earn about $20/hour on average, but keep in mind that the base pay is $0.013 per word.

Pros

Opportunity to learn and grow in the academic editing field.

Cons

Work load can be overwhelming and takes most of your time in the beginning to get used to things. Pay is average to low.

Pros

You get to choose the editing assignments you work on. You can improve your productivity as you get acquainted with the work. There is always work available. Quick responses from support when you are struggling with an assignment.

Cons

Client feedback may sometimes be unfair.

Pros

Choose your own hours, good support and feedback.

Cons

Inconsistent ratings for quality of work.

Pros

They provide excellent personal grooming services.

Cons

The quality rating is subjective. You get penalized harshly for a few errors, despite the good work you do overall.

Pros

I gave this job 3 stars because as a student, it provides me with pocket money and I can do it from anywhere. Sometimes I learn about interesting topics, and the managing editors provide solid feedback so you can improve as an editor. The work is highly flexible. If you consistently receive good QFR scores, you receive assignments pretty regularly.

Cons

Depending on the difficulty and length of the text, you are probably getting paid minimum wage. The work can be quite tedious, and you are expected to re-edit for free. This job is good for part-time income, but it's not enough to live off of. I would recommend it for people who are in between jobs or students, but not as a full time career.

Pros

Interesting and stimulating work. Flexible and remote work. The administrative team is very responsive and helpful.

Cons

You are paid per quality of work which is decided by numerous editors who all have different stylistic requirements. Sometimes reviewing editors forget to record high quality work. Sometimes reviewers are punitive -- for example, giving you 3/4 instead of 4/4 for a 6,000 article with only 1 very minor mistake. Depending on where you live you have to wake up in the night to see if you may have an assignment. The worse your ratings, the less assignments you receive and also the assignments nobody else wanted, which means you probably won't do a great job editing, which means your rate will probably decrease. My manager ceased communicating with me after I complained one too many times about improper ratings. No one ever got back to me with answers or advice to my questions from my reviewing team. I was fired for low scores even though my last 3 assignments had been 3/4. Pay is pretty meager sometimes.

Pros

I use Cactus Communications academic editing to get more familiar with the editing world, and I can do this job from anywhere and whenever I want. I also only need the internet to download and upload the files.

Cons

The payment is FAR below the minimum wage for anyone living in Canada/US/Europe/... If you want to deliver a job that lives up to their standards, you will edit 500 words/hour at best. At an average payment of 10$/1000 words (you get paid by word count, not by the hour of work, and some articles are extremely poorly written) this brings you at a wage of 5$/h. The quality control is strict, so minor editing mistakes will cost you points, and drop your payment for future jobs. Being a bit late (even if it's 30 minutes) will cost you money for the next ten posts to come. Anyway, if they find a way to pay you less money, be sure that they'll implement it. To optimise my wage I now sub-quality editing work and spend not too much time on editing anymore. This will cost me money, but the time that I would otherwise invest in good editing I'm now investing in online learning on 'deep editing' and looking for a US or Canada based editing company to be able to earn at least minimum wage (which is the least you could provide when asking highly educated freelancers).

Pros

You're able to select a work schedule that gives you some freedom and flexibility. The per-word pay rate is excellent. The work is rewarding and challenging.

Cons

Sometimes it can be difficult to obtain work, especially during the academic off-season. This is to be expected, however, due to the nature of the work. Also, you don't have access to as many jobs if you don't maintain a certain level of quality, as subjectively rated by reviewers, and the ratings can seem rather arbitrary at times.