Academic writing has been very popular in Nairobi, Kenya in the last decade.
The skill, which is very famous, especially among university students, has turned out to be one of the sources of income for many graduates and many youths in the last 10 years.
Some people have taken this as a full-time career while others take is a side hustle to complement their other sources of income.
Other writers have used this skill as a stepping stone before entry into the corporate world.
Whichever way, the skill has been a very instrumental source of income. However, over the last few years, the industry has faced a number of challenges and there is a looming fear that it might come to an end. This article explores possible reasons that will lead to the shrinkage of this booming industry.
Media attention
The industry that is famous for its high sources of income has not only attracted a good number of creatives and writers but has also caught the attention of the media.
Newsmakers and media houses have introduced this career to the world.
The industry has been very silent and operated almost like a cartel. Most people would only state that they are online writers but refrained from stating that they are academic writers.
With the media attention, the overseas schools began knowing that students that have been performing well have had their grades made somewhere made in Roysambu.
In 2018 when the Daily Mail exposé was made, the number of works that were available was reduced.
Many students were afraid that they would face disciplinary actions in their respective schools and this led to a reduced number of accessible orders. In addition, a high number of academic websites were brought down making the writers to suffer a shortage of jobs.
In addition, the writers felt the heat of the exposé when online payment companies such as PayPal choose to flag any payment that was suspected to be linked to academic writing. However, the industry still survived as the writers found other means of payment.
Last year when CBS made yet another expose most people thought that this would be the final hit of the luxurious industry. While the industry did not completely die, there has been a major impact experienced by the writers.
First, the number of jobs that are available has really gone down. A writer who does not have an account would easily make an average of Ksh 60000- 100,000 on a high season and this can be said to have dramatically gone down to a high one of Ksh 50,000 if one is lucky.
In the UK most schools choose to rely more on giving their students group-work and discussions as opposed to emphasizing individual effort to reduce cheating. This reduced the high flow of jobs.
The impact of the pandemic
The pandemic has been a major blow to the industry.
Most schools were forced to take online classes which was an action that was needed fast. The quick adjustment has led to a reduced number of assignments given to the students.
The pandemic as we all know has also led to the slow economic performance of most countries. The consumer’s spending power is thus low and even the disposable income has gone down. Most students have thus stayed away from seeking academic writers’ help as they cannot afford it.
In addition, there is an increased number of drop-outs in schools. This has also resulted in a reduced number of available tasks for many writers.
Increased number of writers in the industry
While the number of tasks has decreased, there has also been an increase in the number of writers.
Almost all graduates know about this industry and will want to make quick money for sherehe. As a result, there has been an increased number of shortcuts to try and make quick money for these newbies in the industry.
Robots that can paraphrase are in plentiful usage and the papers that are written although grammatically correct may lack flow and have poor quality. Either out of context or just a paper that does not make sense. This has made many students fail and as a result, most students have chosen to handle their own academic work.
Most people on social media have portrayed the industry as lucrative and a get-rich-quick scheme which has thus attracted a large number of writers.
Unlike 5 years ago when the number of writers was not so high, today there is an influx of poor writers whose main aim is to make the money and thus have little or no regard for the quality of work delivered. As a result, students have coiled back and this can only be noted by the low number of available jobs
In addition, the high number of writers has increased the demand for jobs. The more writers there are, the fewer jobs there are to go around. The increase in demand for jobs has also affected the rate per page and this has thus led to the reduced lucrativeness of the job compared to how it was before.
Increased efforts to reduce cheating by schools
The other main reason that has led to decreased jobs in the industry is the effort that has been put in place by the schools.
Different schools across the world have developed strategies that will help reduce academic assistance from writers.
Proctored exams have become a norm in most schools in the US and this has led to reduced jobs in the market.
Another strategy is that schools are using text-matching not only to test plagiarism but also to find out if texts in an assignment are accurately attributed. This may not be a big threat to the industry as most of the writers are smart.
The industry is not as stable and lucrative as it was in the past but those that are aggressive will still survive.
