- Academic writers say earnings have fallen sharply as artificial intelligence and increased competition reshape the once-lucrative trade.
- Some writers are abandoning academic essays for farming, data analysis, grant writing, editing and other specialised services.
- Amoto Ndiewo examines how technology, changing university practices and growing writer numbers are transforming the academic writing business.
Arnold Masinde earned an average of more than Sh5,000 per paper and about Sh35,000 per month three years ago from academic writing. Nowadays, he says he hardly earns Sh1,000 per paper.
Masinde is a veteran academic writer, master’s degree holder and secondary school teacher in North Eastern Kenya. He says the trade has taken a huge dip in earnings.
“I stopped writing because I earned an average of over Sh5,000 per paper and about Sh35,000 per month three years ago. Nowadays I hardly earn Sh1,000 per paper,” he says.
As a result, Masinde rerouted his efforts to poultry and horticultural farming in Western Kenya. He says he practises telephone farming, but the end justifies the means.
The number of academics, both people and subjects, is increasing by the day across the world. Yet academic writing has taken a beating, suffering a deep dip in earnings.
AI changes the writing landscape
Jeff Mwilu, a teacher of English at a secondary school in Garissa, says the flood of AI tools such as ChatGPT has changed the trade.
He says such tools can generate lengthy literature reviews within minutes, while journals are receiving increasing numbers of low-cost submissions, leaving editors overwhelmed and raising questions about credibility.
“Acceptance becomes a hill to climb even for quality work,” he says.
Carole Ouko Ndiewo, an entrepreneur in economics, points to what she describes as a shift from traditional paywalls towards author-funded open-access publishing.
“Readers don’t pay, authors pay. Article Processing Charges are about Sh260,000 to Sh390,000 to publish. Writers pay, publishers don’t. This has inverted the profit model,” she says.
Dr Tom Okoth Oneko of Kenya Highlands University in Kericho says there are too many writers but fewer buyers.
“Hundreds of PhDs and thousands of master’s holders need publications for jobs. Supply has outstripped demand,” he says.
He adds that some universities want free content rather than paid writing, with writers being compensated through bylines or so-called exposure.
“At Kenya Highlands campus, we teach students how to write. We have writing centres, templates, Grammarly, reference managers. So, do students like ours need to hire academic writers?” he says.
Ndiewo says reduced funding in universities and shrinking research grants, especially in the social sciences and humanities, have also affected the amount of money available to pay writers and editors.
Masinde notes that opportunities now lie in specialised areas such as grant proposal writing, high-impact journal editing for non-native English speakers, combined data analysis and writing, and dissertation coaching rather than ordinary academic essays.
Oneko explains that a dissertation is a long research document covering the problem, literature review, methodology, findings, conclusions and implications.
The Kenya Highlands University lecturer, who teaches English for Specific Purposes, says a dissertation is far from an essay. It is a book-length piece that demonstrates a researcher’s ability to undertake independent research.
Masinde remains optimistic, saying all is not lost. He attributes the change partly to an explosion in supply.
“A decade ago, only the chosen few could write APA 7th referencing and PRISMA review. Now millions can access AI,” he says.
“Every dark cloud has a silver lining.”
Ndiewo says barriers have fallen because nearly everyone with a phone can produce written output, putting downward pressure on prices.
She describes this as the “commodity trap”—when something becomes so widely available that buyers increasingly make choices based on price.
She says buyer power has also increased as universities adopt plagiarism-detection tools, writing centres and templates.
“Supply and demand. You have the right product but at the wrong time,” she says.
“Wheat is the right product, but if everyone plants wheat in the same season, prices have to collapse.”
Moving up the value chain
Oneko says the situation does not necessarily mean writing has lost its value. Instead, he argues that writers need to move up the value chain and provide services in areas where supply is not overwhelmed.
Ndiewo similarly argues that people can remain in academic writing but specialise in areas where AI and low-cost writing services cannot easily compete.
She identifies statistics, grant writing and responses to journal reviewers among such areas.
The trend is worrying some young graduates who have depended on academic writing to meet expenses such as rent and school fees.
In estates around Nairobi, Nakuru, Eldoret and Kisumu, writing hubs that once buzzed with laptops late into the night are becoming quieter, according to people familiar with the trade. Some writers have shifted to content writing, blogging and other sources of income.
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Masinde now checks his chickens at six in the morning, not his laptop.
By Amoto Ndiewo
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