My personal experience with Valnet is slightly contradictory, but I’d still like to put my thoughts out there for any up-and-coming writers who are interested in applying for Valnet brands.
Valnet is an umbrella company that owns several entertainment, pop culture, and lifestyle websites.
If you get hired by Valnet, there’s a chance you’ll write for websites like ScreenRant, MovieWeb, ComicBookResources, Collider, GameRant, and more.
Is it worth it, though? Here’s what I think.
My personal experience writing for Valnet
I got hired on to write for Valnet in 2018. My position was for one of their brands that’s no longer active — TheQuiz.com.
I was in charge of writing trivia quizzes and personality quizzes for the website based on trending pop culture topics.
I was a few months shy of graduating with my English Bachelor’s degree, so I was excited to snag a job in the writing industry in any capacity.
Eventually, they transferred me to other brands so I could write articles instead of quizzes. I started writing for ScreenRant, ComicBookResources, TheTalko, and TheThings.
What I didn’t realize is how overworked and underpaid I was about to be for the next four years. I stayed with Valnet until 2021. That was when I finally decided it was time to let them go and move on.
The pay scale Valnet offers for the amount of writing and research required is absolutely barbaric. It’s absurd. It’s despicable… and every other synonym to those words.
I was earning 0.02 cents per word, which is less than a penny per word. That was my life for four years! I was writing 850-word articles for $18 bucks a pop.
For reference… since then, I earn $100 to $300 per article at the current companies I’m writing for.
At Valnet, I was churning out eight to 10 articles per day (around 850 words each) to cover my bills and expenses.
Keep in mind that respectful writing jobs expect their writers to contribute four to six articles per day with word counts that fall around 300 to 500 words each.
By that same token, I was certainly in a comfort zone with Valnet. I was familiar with their backend, their style guide, and all their rules.
I stayed with them for four years because of the consistency they offered, even though the pay was so painfully low.
The silver lining of Valnet
It’s hard for me to completely sh** on Valnet when I have to honor the fact that they got me started as a writer.
They were the first company to hire me when I had no prior experience. My name had never been published on an article anywhere else, and Valnet gave me a chance.
With them, I was able to write for multiple websites under their umbrella, which was beyond wonderful for my portfolio.
Since I was published hundreds of times on different Valnet-branded websites, it was easier for me to apply to better companies when I was finally ready.
I had the chance to start writing for bigger websites that paid more money like The-Sun, iHeartRadio, Glam, LoveToKnow, WorldAtlas, Monsters & Critics, Distractify, and Dexerto.
If I’m being completely honest, I don’t know if any of these higher-paying websites would have given me the time of day if they didn’t see my name published on so many articles from my time working at Valnet.
For brand new writers who have never been published before, this is a company that will help you get your foot in the door.
I don’t believe Valnet is a company anyone should stay at forever since they don’t offer livable wages.
Plus, their editing practices have turned into an extremely nitpicky and difficult process compared to how things were run between 2018 and 2021.
If anything, use Valnet as a place to get your name published – and then move on as soon as you can.
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