What's the situation with writing categories?

[roberty1y]

There used to be four: "content writing", "editing and proofreading", "creative writing" and "other". Now it's just "content writing" and "editing and proofreading".

Have the two missing categories been merged with the remaining two? For the last few weeks, I noticed that the categeries that have since disappeared were all wrong. All kinds of work would show up when you'd filter for "creative writing" or "other". 

[pgiambalvo]

Ditt and oh! Their "update" is awful.  They need to undo it immediatley and put things back they were.

[kochubei_valeria]

Hi all,

I have merged two threads about this topic into one to consolidate all feedback in one place and provide updates. 

First of all, I’d like to reiterate that there was an update to categories in mid June. The information about those changes can be found in this article. Our product team makes updates to categories and specialties periodically and the history of these changes can be found here. 

After the most recent update here are the sub-categories and specialties available under Writing category:

L1 Writing

• L2 Content Writing. This includes the following Specialties (L3:)
• Article & Blog Writing
• Creative Writing
• Ghostwriting
• Scriptwriting
• Web & UX Writing
• Writing Tutoring
• Other Content Writing
• L2 Editing & Proofreading Services. This includes the following Specialties (L3:)
• Copy Editing
• Proofreading
• Other Editing & Proofreading Services
• L2 Professional & Business Writing. This includes the following Specialties (L3:)
• Academic & Research Writing
• Business & Proposal Writing
• Grant Writing
• Legal Writing
• Medical Writing
• Resume & Cover Letter Writing
• Technical Writing
• Other Professional & Business Writing
• L2 Sales & Marketing Copywriting. This includes the following Specialties (L3:)
• Ad & Email Copywriting
• Marketing Copywriting
• Sales Copywriting
• Other Sales & Marketing Copywriting

In your Profile Settings, you can update Categories and Sub-Categories (L1 and L2). Additionally, you can use the Categories and Sub-Categories as filters when searching for jobs. 

Under Specialized profiles you can update Specialties (L3). This will place you correctly in talent search when a client applies filters by Category and by Specialty.

Secondly, I’m sorry this update placed Specialized Profiles for some of you into specialties that don't quite describe what you do. You should be able to update it without having to re-link all the jobs to it. 

For example, Jennifer, you should be able to go to your Profile Settings, click on the three dots next to what is now your Web & UX Writing Specialized profile and switch it to Technical Writing (which is now under Professional & Business Writing.) You’ll have to click through a few prompts but it should keep all the jobs you already have added to that Specialized Profile.

Finally, I’d like to note that feedback you all shared on this thread has been forwarded to our Product team. We’ll work on making sure we communicate such changes better in the future and make the transition more smooth.

[kfarnell]

Thank you for responding but there are two separate issues which was why there were two separate threads. When searching for projects it remains that the only options under writing are:  'all'; 'content writing'; 'editing and proofreading services'; 'professional and business writing'; and 'sales and marketing copywriting'.

So regarding :'Additionally, you can use the Categories and Sub-Categories as filters when searching for jobs. No, we can't.

There is no option to search for any of what you list as L3. 

[lysis10]

Valeria, mine was Technical Writing and it was changed to Web and UX writing. Why? Now I need to go back and go through 500 jobs to create a specialized profile again because you guys changed it and it was already Technical Writing.

[kochubei_valeria]

Hi Jennifer,

I understant this is frustrating and I have already shared your experience with the team so that it can be improved in the future. 

That said, I don't think you need to create a new Specialized Profile. You should be able to go to your Profile Settings,
click on the menu button next to the Web & UX Writing under Specialized Profiles and select "Switch Specialty." On the pop up, you can select Technical Writing and click Unpublish and Continue. It'll guide you through a few prompts but most of the information should already be pre-filled based on your current Specialized Profile. The jobs should also be pre-selected. I just tested it on my own profile and was able to save it under a new Specialty without having to select all the jobs again. 

[lysis10]

---

Valeria K wrote:

Hi Jennifer,

I understant this is frustrating and I have already shared your experience with the team so that it can be improved in the future. 

That said, I don't think you need to create a new Specialized Profile. You should be able to go to your Profile Settings,
click on the menu button next to the Web & UX Writing under Specialized Profiles and select "Switch Specialty." On the pop up, you can select Technical Writing and click Unpublish and Continue. It'll guide you through a few prompts but most of the information should already be pre-filled based on your current Specialized Profile. The jobs should also be pre-selected. I just tested it on my own profile and was able to save it under a new Specialty without having to select all the jobs again. 

---

Thank you, Valeria. This was helpful.

[gilbert-phyllis]

Valeria, in my profile settings I have four L2 options in the Writing category: Content Writing, Professional & Business Writing (which I have checked), Editing & Proofreading Services, and Sales & Marketing Copywriting. Nothing about proposal writing.

I have two specialized profiles, one for Market Research and one for Writing. The latter now contains a subtitle or tagline saying Specializes in Business & Proposal Writing. I cannot figure out where that came from or how to change it, since none of the L2 options in the Writing category I can see contain the word "proposal" nor does it appear anywhere in my overview. 

I don't even have time to be angry about this, I just need to get it fixed and would appreciate any assistance. 

[kochubei_valeria]

Hi Phyllis, 

One of your Specialized Profiles is currently set under "Business & Proposal Writing" Specialty (L3.) If that doesn't describe what you do, you can switch the specialty same way as I described in my example for Jennifer: in your Profile Settings, click on the three dots next to the Specialized profile and select "Switch Specialty." You can switch it to "Other Professional & Business Writing" or another specialty that best describes what you do. You’ll have to click through a few prompts but it should keep all the jobs you already have added to that Specialized Profile.

[gilbert-phyllis]

Thanks, Valeria. (That seems obvious now but it's counter-intuitive to me that making an edit in the profile settings wasn't found under the 'edit' option.) 

[2e6b844d]

Hello community,

I am trying to opt this category from the section but I can't find one. Is there something I'm missing or what?
You response is really appreciated.
Thank you.
Syed

[LuiggiR]

Hi Syed,

Thank you for reaching out to us. I'll be merging your post into the thread we have about an update to Categories. I also encourage you to check out Valeria's post on that thread for more information about the change as well as instructions on how you can update your profile to better reflect what you do.

[jr-translation]

It is the same mess in translation. I suggest a solution but never ever got a reply for for it. The main issue is that I no longer can offer all the services I was able to offer before.

[pgiambalvo]

Huh. Not being able to offer all the services we were able to offer before seems like a bad thing for freelancers and clients alike. Lord knows why Upwork decided that doing this would lead to them making more money, but of course that's at the root of all their -- or any other business's -- decision.

[moonraker]

It's a mess.

I have to have every option selected, so I get a load of jobs on my feed that I would never apply to.

[moonraker]

An example of how ridiculous this is - Grant writing. Which no longer has its own category.

Grant writing is a very different skill from other types of writing but is bundled in with the rest for some reason that I cannot fathom. Not only does this mean I must have grant writing jobs in my filtered search results, but it also means grant writers must go through jobs in every other category to find suitable opportunities.

Why?

[renata101]

---

Jamie F wrote:

An example of how ridiculous this is - Grant writing. Which no longer has its own category.

Grant writing is a very different skill from other types of writing but is bundled in with the rest for some reason that I cannot fathom. Not only does this mean I must have grant writing jobs in my filtered search results, but it also means grant writers must go through jobs in every other category to find suitable opportunities.

Why?

---

I try not to ask why. It's an invitation for someone on the team to trot out one of their canned answers, and I know this will leave me feeling even more crazed and frustrated than the sense that no one is remotely curious about why people are upset about this. 

I'm with you on grant writing. That should remain in its own category because it's a category clients can quickly identify needing. 

At present I'm most irked by the amalgamation of Writing and Editing into a single category called Writing. The original category is self-explanatory in terms of the sub-categories it contains (both writing and editing). Now clients who are looking for editing will have to make a logical leap that Writing contains Editing. The old category heading didn't force them to have make a logical leap. This may seem like a simple thing, but people feel most comfortable navigating a system when they feel like they know where they're going or can easily figure it out. 

This another example of something I notice Upwork doing quite frequently, which is constructing heading hierarchies that only make sense to people who already know where they're going in the structure (meaning they basically only make sense to the people who constructed them).  This is similar to the way they've laid out the hopeless maze that is the Upwork Help Center. Don't get me started about the chatbot. And I do wish they'd sit down with freelancers in these areas to  work out what the potential issues might be before they implemented their solutions. 

Sorry, if this has already been covered elsewhere.  I just needed to get it out of my head before I move on to my day. 

[ravi_iitian]

It is great that Upwork has been improving in its software, but how does Upwork decide what I specialize in?

The title I have set in my specialized profile is “Professional copyediting and proofreading in US and UK English.”

Upwork has taken it upon itself to display “Specializes in Proofreading” in my specialized profile.

First, don’t I get a say in what I specialize in?

Second, why is that display not editable?

Third, there is a difference between “copyediting” and “proofreading.”

In fact, many clients indicate they need “proofreading” when they actually need “copyediting” (sometimes just to lower the rate).

Which brings me to the main question: How and why is Upwork unilaterally deciding and displaying “Specializes in Proofreading”?

Here are some links to differentiate between “copyediting” and “proofreading.”

https://knowadays.com/blog/copy-editing-vs-proofreading-what-you-need-to-know/#:~:text=Copy%20editin....

https://blog.reedsy.com/copy-editing-vs-proofreading/

https://nybookeditors.com/2016/05/whats-the-difference-between-copyediting-and-proofreading/

[pgiambalvo]

Yes, they changed some profile and category things recently and you're not the first to complain about it. Hope they change them back to how it used to be.

[kochubei_valeria]

Hi Ravindra,

I'll be merging your post into the thread we had earlier about this update to categories. I also encourage you to check out my post on that thread for more information about the change as well as instructions on how you can update your Specialized Profile to better reflect what you do. You could consider switching the speciality of your Specialized profile to Copy Editing or Other Editing & Proofreading Services if you'd like.

[joduxbury]

I have two specialised categories on my Upwork profile - Brand Strategy and Copywriting. They've been like this for years. 

I just went to respond to an invitation and on selecting which category I wanted to respond with, Copywriting, had disappeared and was replaced with Proofreading.  I did not make this change, Upwork did. The contents of the Proofreading profile are the same as before, it's just the category name that changed. 

It was impossible to simply change the category name back to Copywriting - I had to do a workaround to restore it to how it was. 

Why did this happen? 

EDIT: The Copywriting category has now disappeared and I have to choose a specific copywriting type (e.g. Marketing Copywriting). I do all sorts of different types of copywriting - can we not have that category back as a catch-all please?

[NikolaS]

Hi Jo,

Thank you for reaching out to us. I'll be merging your post into the thread we had earlier about this update to categories. I also encourage you to check out Valeria's post on that thread for more information about the change as well as instructions on how you can update your Specialized Profile to better reflect what you do.

[joduxbury]

Thank you - I've just caught up on the discussion.

It appears the new Writing L2 and L3 categories were compiled by a non-writer. I do not write 'web content', I do 'web copywriting' - but there's no option for that. Do you know the difference between content and copy? My clients and I do. 

Also, WHY on earth were we not notified in a can't-miss way that our specialist profile categories had changed? Apparently mine has been wrong for about 3 weeks without my knowledge. Might explain why I've not been getting nearly as many invitations.