I have written as a ghostwriter a few times and usually the contract that I enter into is held with respect by both parties. In this instance it was not. Watch out for scammers that will literally steal your work!
The recent Writers Weekly article, Great Writing Gig Or A Scam?, got me thinking about all the deadbeat editors I’ve met in my long freelancing career and how I’ve answered some of their “scams.”
As an underpaid adjunct English-Journalism professor, I always looked desperately for concrete examples to enlighten my students why good grammar was not just a theory in principle but actually paid off. Little did I know then that I would need to heed my own advice. Not only did my own suggestions help me avoid cheats but I also got some revenge (a mild dish served sort of like a cold turkey sandwich)…
Here’s how to spot 10 of the most common red flags telling you that great gig you’re thinking about is really a scam…
How can we fix the glaring inconsistency of expecting writers to work for free while everybody else receives payment? Well, editors can either pay the writers or writers can move on to publications that do pay. Sometimes, editors do not seem to understand the unfairness of this policy or, at other times, writers sell themselves short. I wrote the following allegory to expose the issue, and to encourage fairness for the work that writers do…
I received an email this week from a writer I’ll call “Susan.”
She needed my advice about a “client” who owed her a few hundred dollars. He hired her last year to write an ebook for him. What mistakes did this writer make to contribute to the scammer’s success?
It sometimes looks as if writers are the most vulnerable set of talented workers in this world. If only employers knew what writers go through to complete their projects!
As freelancers, we all appreciate how valuable our time is. The less time we spend chasing work, the more time we can actually spend writing.
Like most freelancers, I peruse the Internet in search of projects on a regular basis. Over the years I’ve secured a variety of assignments for a number of different publications through this means…
There’s an entire industry of people online now who making a living out of subcontracting writing work out to other writers – often for far less than they’re being paid by their client. I have nothing against hiring ghostwriters, nor against ghostwriting. However, I do have a problem with someone taking a “job” for $500, and paying another writer $5 to do it.
We were recently notified by a travel writer that some of her work had been posted to a website without her permission. The site’s owner immediately responded to the writer and apologized, then she surprised us all by writing this:
“I would hope this wouldn’t be necessary but understand if you want to proceed and will respond through my attorney. I am actually shocked by your attitude. My material and articles have been published without my agreement all over the internet. I take that as a compliment and am willing to share my thoughts and experiences. I am actually very saddened by your email.”
