New catalog feature

[Theresa C]

Thanks for your input, Wes, Jessica, Melissa, Kelvin and others!

We understand that not all freelancers will use Project Catalog as a way to connect with clients. It was created as an additional offering, aiming to give you options for how you would like to connect and work with clients. You can, of course, continue to find clients as you always have on Upwork. The talent marketplace will continue being a great source for you to connect and work with clients, running alongside Project Catalog.

[Wes C]

I said the other day I'd follow up with other things that I think need to be tweaked in this product before it would be useful to my type of work. Here they are, just based on two passes through the screens:

1) First and foremost, again, it must not create a contract off the bat. It needs to go to an interview or at most an offer. Without that, nothing else matters.

2) There needs to be additional options for deliverables under the pricing tiers, preferably freelancer-defined. The ones listed for editing and proofreading are far from sufficient. The only two levels of editing listed are "Grammar and Syntax Review" and "Structural Edit". We're missing (at least) copyediting, line editing, developmental editing. It's would be best if these were able to be defined by the freelancer for clear specification and differentiation of services.

3) Under book editing, we can only choose one genre. I edit regularly in five of those listed (and it's far from a complete list), so I would use 5 of my 7 available projects right here. Allow unlimited choices for genre and, preferably, the ability to add more.

4) There needs to be more flexibility in the pricing tiers and, preferably, the ability to calculate the cost based on the size parameter (word count in the case of editing). I price primarily by word in addition to the specific editing needs of the client. While I can (and often do) round to 500 or 1000 words, there's no way to fit that into three slots. So, we would need either a fairly flexible pricing calculator, a "starting at" option, or unlimited pricing tiers.

[Susan S]

I so agree!  The way it's set up it pigeonholes you and there's no flexibility.  I'm willing to try it if some things are changed.  Having a couple of projects and still being able to go look through the jobs might be fine.  I can picture that some clients will try to take advantage of the projects and not in good way, however others might want to be more specific and go the message and talk route.

[Jessica D]

Hi Susan! I am a User Researcher with Upwork, and I *really* appreciate when our freelancers take the time to share their concerns! I was particularly interested in your response here because it sounds like you may be interested in Catalog if some of those concerns are addressed.  I'd love to understand a little bit more about what you (and I'm sure others) are feeling- if we could change anything about Project Catalog that would make it feel more flexible for projects like yours and safe to use with clients, what would you have us change?

[Douglas Michael M]

---

Jessica D wrote:

Hi Susan! I am a User Researcher with Upwork, and I *really* appreciate when our freelancers take the time to share their concerns! I was particularly interested in your response here because it sounds like you may be interested in Catalog if some of those concerns are addressed.  I'd love to understand a little bit more about what you (and I'm sure others) are feeling- if we could change anything about Project Catalog that would make it feel more flexible for projects like yours and safe to use with clients, what would you have us change?

---

What Susan said. We're not Amazon, with warehouses full of goods. We're working professionals who schedule weeks to months in advance. It's ridiculous for Upwork to offer a mechanism that plunks a new job on our plate based on the client's action, with our only recourse being cancelation.

[Susan S]

I did add a project, although a very basic one to test this out. I don't really understand why the contract is generated without even talking to a client. I don't like canceling a contract like that.

[Sein M]

I totaly agree -- We are not Amazon.

[MD Shariar H]

6 days my project catalog not approve Why? What's wrong?

[Goran V]

Hi MD and Muhammad,

Please keep in mind that it can take up to 5 business days for the review to be completed. I would like to clarify that weekends are not counted as business days. Thank you.

[Shehroz R]

Hello everyone, I used Upwork new project feature. I add one project related to google analytics and it's not approved are required changes. They did not mention what changes the project needs. I am confused.