Table of Contents
Introduction
The decision to hire a professional YouTube scriptwriter for your channel will go a long way in increasing the amount and frequency of videos you upload on your channel. One major problem that many YouTubers face is writing many quality video scripts in timeline manner. Scriptwriting alone usually takes several hours or even days of research, writing, and modifications.
Some YouTubers usually later realize that it is best to hand-over the work of scriptwriting to professional YouTube scriptwriters. By doing that, they will have time to focus on other areas that are also important for growing their YouTube channel.
If you are planning to hire a professional YouTube scriptwriter to help you write your video scripts and grow your channel, it is important that you exercise due diligence when undergoing the hiring process. You do not want to make a mistake that will cost you both your money and time.
Steps to Hire Professional YouTube Scriptwriter
The first and most important thing you need is patience. Finding a professional YouTube scriptwriter can take some time because many of the candidates you will encounter may only be after your money.
To ensure you won’t get scammed or even waste your time hiring the wrong person, follow the steps outlined below.
A. Define the scope of the scriptwriting
The YouTube scriptwriting work starts with you. At ETAVOD, we have encountered many YouTubers who are only after earning YouTube Ads revenue without putting in any personal efforts on their channel.
These YouTubers would come to us and expect our scriptwriters to be the one to come up with all the video topics for their channel and thereafter write all the scripts.
Sometimes, they would inform us that they plan to give the scripts to their video editors who would do all the work of video production and also upload all the videos to their channel.
Basically, those YouTubers just want other people to do all the works on their channel while they are only to withdraw the YouTube Ads revenue the videos earn.
Please, don’t behave like those purported YouTubers. We hardly work with them because we can see the failure of their YouTube channel even before they start. We are never surprised when we check their YouTube channel 6 months or 1 year after they contacted us and we find out that they have either deleted their YouTube channel or they have not uploaded new content for some time.
Before you even set out to hire a professional YouTube scriptwriter, you need to define the scope of the scriptwriting work by doing the following:
- Write the topic or list of topics you want for your videos.
- Determine the time duration (in seconds or minutes) you want for the final video.
- Establish the tone and style you want for the script, i.e. should it be formal, casual, humorous, or authoritative?
- Determine what you want in the videos’ intros and outros. For example, ask yourself these questions: should the beginning of the video briefly introduce the topic or should the video just go straight to the point from the beginning? Also, what do you want the viewers to do after watching the video?
Coming up with this scope for the scriptwriting work would remove any ambiguity as you discuss with the potential YouTube scriptwriter you want to hire.
B. Determine your budget and timeframe for the completion of the work
Many professional YouTube scriptwriters have their base price, which is usually either on a per-word, per-minute of video, or hourly basis. You need to determine the highest amount you can pay per script.
Since you want only professional YouTube scriptwriters, you should keep in mind that you may need to increase your budget a bit when you finally find the right candidate that would deliver quality video scripts.
Besides planning your budget, you also need to set a timeframe for the completion of the scriptwriting work. However, different YouTube scriptwriters work at different pace and some scripts might even take more time to write than others.
The benefit of setting a timeframe is to help your YouTube scriptwriter understand how urgent you need the script. With that, the scriptwriter could let you know if they can meet your deadline or if it would be best for you to find another person to do the work so as to meet your deadline.
C. Explore online platforms or marketplaces for YouTube scriptwriters
Once you have done your due diligence as outlined above, it is now time to start searching for the potential YouTube scriptwriters you can hire. There are many online platforms and freelance marketplaces you can explore.
One place you can start your search is by looking at ETAVOD Service page to see if our services can help you with your scriptwriting needs. We specialize in helping YouTubers, vloggers, and other video content creators like you to write their video scripts. If you want, you can also check our portfolio to read some of the video scripts we wrote for our previous clients. Many of the videos garnered thousands to millions of videos.
If you would rather hire other professional YouTube scriptwriters, there are many online platforms and marketplaces you can explore to find your preferred candidates. We have helped you do some research and provided links to some of those platforms below.
Please, make sure you follow all the steps and tips we outlined in this blog post to avoid getting scammed or experiencing any other unpleasant experience on any of those platforms.
1. By clicking the link below, you will be taken to Fiverr platform where you can see YouTube scriptwriters like the ones shown in the picture below. After going through the search results and you find the candidate(s) you want, you will click on their profile and send them a message to start discussing your work.
Image Source: Fiverr.com
2. By clicking the link below, you will be taken to Upwork platform where you can see YouTube scriptwriters like the ones shown in the picture below. After going through the search results and you find the candidate(s) you want, you will click on their profile and send them a message to start discussing your work.
Image source: Upwork.com
3. By clicking the link below, you will be taken to PeoplePerHour platform where you can see YouTube scriptwriters like the ones shown in the picture below. After going through the search results and you find the candidate(s) you want, you will click on their profile and send them a message to start discussing your work.
Image source: PeoplePerHour.com
4. By clicking the link below, you will be taken to YTJobs platform where you can see YouTube scriptwriters like the ones shown in the picture below. After going through the search results and you find the candidate(s) you want, you will click on their profile and send them a message to start discussing your work.
Image source: YTJobs.com
4. By clicking the link below, you will be taken to the subreddit r/HireAWriter on Reddit platform. This subreddit is for buyers and sellers in writing niches to meet for business.
There are two types of posts on this subreddit.
One of them is marked with the “Hire Me” or “For Hire” tag. Either of these tags means the poster is a writer who is looking for new clients.
The second tag is “Hiring” which indicates the poster is a buyer who is looking for writers to help them do their writing work.
So, you can make your job post to hire a professional YouTube Scriptwriter on the subreddit. Make sure to use the appropriate tag. Writers that think they can do your work will contact you to discuss further.
Image Source: Reddit.com
5. Other platforms you can also explore include Facebook groups, LinkedIn, and X (formerly Twitter). On those platforms, use their search functions to search for keywords like “YouTube scriptwriter for hire” or something like that. Lastly, you may also seek recommendations or referrals from other YouTubers in your niche.
Once you explore all those platforms discussed above, come up with the list of potential candidates to hire and then move to the next stage below.
D. Evaluate all the potential candidates
This is a very crucial stage if you are really determined to get a professional YouTube scriptwriter.
At ETAVOD, we have found that many of the freelancers or scriptwriters you will encounter on some of the online platforms or marketplaces are usually not truthful with the information they include on their profile or tell you during your discussion with them.
Many of those potential YouTube scriptwriters would put in great efforts to craft an eye-catching profile to hoodwink unsuspecting buyers to hire them. They might state on their profile that they would deliver quality video scripts, but once you hire them, they would only frustrate you. In the worst case, they may end up wasting your time and refusing to refund your money for the poor YouTube script they deliver to you.
So, how do you avoid time-wasters who are parading themselves as professional YouTube scriptwriters?
The simple answer is thorough evaluation!
The starting point for that evaluation is to ask for their previous YouTube video scripts and read them. The more previous works they provide, the better.
In addition, check the reviews and feedback left on their profile by their previous clients.
You should also ask for the links to the YouTube videos that were made with their previous scripts. Watch those videos and read viewers’ comments concerning the videos. Many times, bad comments by the viewers indicate bad scriptwriting coupled with terrible video production.
Etavod has many positive reviews for our previous works. The reviews on our website homepage were genuine ones from some of our previous clients. You can also watch the YouTube videos below, which were made with the YouTube scripts we wrote. Also, check their comment sections to see the positive reviews by many viewers.
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3B7c0IOf9H8
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtSOJdjVHNg
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCvb8Tt0QME
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZNkQiO2aDs
E. Initiate a test or trial work
There are different consensus on whether buyers should do or not do a test or trial project before agreeing on a full contract with any candidates you choose to write your YouTube video scripts.
At ETAVOD, our opinion is in two versions as follow:
1. If you are okay with the previous YouTube script works that each candidate scriptwriter shared with you as we stated in Section D above, you may decide to initiate a full contract for just one YouTube script.
The reason we suggest one YouTube script is for you to evaluate the script and determine if you would like to continue hiring the person. We have found that most professional YouTube scriptwriters are onboard for this type of contract and many who value a long-term contract with you would do their best to impress you with that first work.
2. If based on the samples that each candidate scriptwriter provided, you are not very convinced they would deliver quality YouTube scripts if you hire any of them, then it is best to initiate a “paid” test or trial work, if you still want them to prove their potentials.
For example, if your original plan is to hire the scriptwriter to write a listicle video script of 2,000 words on the topic “Top 10 Scariest Places on Earth,” you may first hire them for a paid test work for a YouTube script that would be 300 to 500-words long. The scriptwriter can then do the test work by writing on, let’s say, the “Top 3 Scariest Places on Earth.”
Once they submit the paid sample work, you can evaluate it and determine if the work is up to the standard you want. If you like the test work, you can then initiate the full contract. However, if you don’t like the test work and you also don’t want any revision or modification, you can appreciate the scriptwriter for their effort and move on to another candidate.
You will notice that we stated paid sample work. Based on our experience and also comments by other professional writers, we have found that most professional writers who value their time would never agree to doing free sample or test work.
Even though you may not like the test work, it is still a fact that the YouTube scriptwriter have spent their time doing online research, watching relevant videos, reading books, etc. while doing the test work. They must have also spent money on food and electric bills and used their resources, including as PC/laptop, notebooks, etc. while doing your test work.
At ETAVOD, we don’t do free sample or test work and we don’t encourage our scriptwriters to do it.
So, please, refrain from looking for free test work if you are really after finding professional YouTube scriptwriters who would be happy to work with you long-term.
F. Agree on the contract terms and initiate the contract
Once you are convinced the YouTube scriptwriter you have selected would be delivering excellent scripts on a regular basis, it is time to discuss the price for each of the subsequent YouTube scripts you will hire them to write. Also, agree on the deadline you want each script completed and delivered to you.
Another important contract term to discuss with your chosen candidate is the number of revisions or modifications the YouTube scriptwriter is willing to provide in the case the video script they deliver don’t meet your expectation. Please, this contract term is very important even if you will not request for any modifications.
If the so-called professional YouTube scriptwriter stated they won’t provide any modifications for their work, that is a clear red-flag and it would be best you don’t hire them.
At ETAVOD, most of our clients never ask for revisions as they are usually happy with the first submitted work. However, we are always happy and ready to modify the video script if our clients request for it.
If you decided to work with our professional YouTube scriptwriters, we will create a contract, which would be a legal binding document stating all the agreements for the contract.
Once you endorse the contract, our hardworking staff would start working and deliver each script or milestone within the timeframe agreed in the contract.
If you are hiring professional YouTube scriptwriters on one of the online platforms or marketplaces we stated earlier, those platforms usually create an automatic contract. What you usually need to do is to fund the contract and relax while the scriptwriters do their work.
G. Revisions! Revisions!! Revisions!!!
The scriptwriter you hire would submit the YouTube scripts once they are done. At ETAVOD, we call the first submitted script the “first draft.” Note that we did not call it the “first script.”
The reason for that is because we don’t believe video scriptwriting can be completed at the first writing, even though most of our clients are always happy with the first submitted version of the script.
We always submit the “first draft” for our client to assess it and give us feedback on areas that might need modifications or revisions.
Whoever you decide to work with, please, always go through their first submission with the mindset that the script may need revision. If you don’t like the “first draft,” communicate your feedback to the YouTube scriptwriter and give them hints on which part of the scripts they need to modify.
It is our belief at ETAVOD that a YouTube video script can be modified or revised up to 5 times. Surprisingly, none of our clients has ever asked for more than 3 modifications or revisions. In fact, most of our long-term clients never ask for revisions as they are usually happy with the “first draft.” Despite that, we are always ready to modify the script if our clients request for it.
The summary of this section is that if you are not happy with the “first draft,” ask for revisions or modifications or, in the worst case, complete rewriting of the entire script. Continue to ask for modifications until the YouTube script meets your expectation.
However, don’t abuse your request for modifications. In fact, if you have to ask for more than 5 revisions, you are probably failing in your communication or you have hired an unprofessional scriptwriter.
How to Work Effectively with The YouTube Scriptwriter
If you follow the steps we discussed above, you will definitely find at least one professional YouTube scriptwriter you can work with long-term. However, there are still things you need to do to make sure you work effectively with your scriptwriter.
Some of them are:
1. Choose appropriate platforms for communication and workflow: This can include using Google Docs to make it easier for every member of your production team to assess the YouTube video script and offer their feedback. For communication and management, some suggestions include Discord, Trello, and Slack.
2. Feedback: Do your best to offer only constructive feedback on the video script that would be delivered. You should always remember that the YouTube scriptwriters are also human, who are subjected to all forms of human emotions and errors. Insulting or disrespecting them just because they missed a comma or misspelled a word would likely destroy your chance of a long-term contract with them.
3. Building trust: This involves delivering on your words. That can include paying the scriptwriter on time and not ghosting them or refusing to respond to their message on time.
Conclusion
Finding a professional YouTube scriptwriter that you can always rely on may look daunting at first. However, if you are determined to grow your YouTube channel and take it to the next level, you have to follow the steps we have discussed.
As a recap, the steps to hire professional YouTube scriptwriter include:
- Determine what you want the content of the video script to be.
- Determine your budget and the deadline for the scriptwriting.
- Search online platforms and marketplaces for potential candidates to hire.
- Evaluate all the potential candidates by going through their portfolio and probably hiring them for paid test work.
- Once you are convinced a potential candidate is good enough to write your script, initiate a contract with them.
- Work with the scriptwriter by providing constructive feedback on the areas that may need modifications.
- Pay the scriptwriter on time and do your best to respond to their messages on time.
Are you planning to hire a professional YouTube video scriptwriter to help you grow your channel with their skill? You can contact us today for a free consultation. We will be happy to discuss the scriptwriting work with you.
Also, if you prefer to write the script yourself, you can read our detailed blog post on how to write a YouTube video script. On that blog post, we provided a sample file and a template that can guide you on how to write your own YouTube script.
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