Authors Tools Blog

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Today I was procrastinating about writing my next article. I went into my secondary email account to clean some things up and see if anything really important had come in.

Because I wasn’t focused on what I should have been doing (or because the universe wanted me to see it, so I could pass this warning along to you), I noticed an advertising email telling me I could make money selling my articles.

I’m always on the lookout for new online (and off line) article sites, so I opened the email.  It had a link to a webpage that gave unrealistic figures for the income you can earn for writing blogs and articles. I quoted REALLY high rates for writing fiction and non-fiction short stories. This pinged the scam alert warning in my brain, but I decided to investigate further.

There was more hype about how you could work as much or as little as you wanted to make the income you chose. AND lucky me, they were having a sale!

Most of their figures were how much you could make per hour. Since no two writers work at the same pace, most projects are measured by words, pages, or complete jobs.

Also, without knowing how well someone writes, making an assumption about income possibilities is impossible.

The normal two week fee was $69. However, right now, and right now only, I could get in for only $2.95. After the two weeks, the cost was ONLY $47 per month.

Later, as I was reading email from my local RWA chapter, I saw that the same company had purchased a Google Adwords ad that showed at the top of the page of my Gmail.

I did some checking online. It seems this company had lots of writers questioning it about a year ago. It also has an affiliate program. That means if you send someone there and they sign up, you get part of the sale.

The Google search results showed an even balance of ads for the sites from the company and the affiliates, and warnings or questions from writers about the company.

Beware of companies that

• Ask for money from the writers
• Make promises about future income
• Rate freelance projects “per hour”
• Have a recurring monthly charge

This particular company is Freelance Home Writers. However, there are lots of other companies who try to take advantage of writers.

If you have any question about companies that sound too good to be true or make unrealistic claims, be sure and search Google or check out Preditors and Editors, Absolute Write, or other reliable writers’ resources that expose companies that take advantage of writers.

There are lots of legitimate businesses that pair freelance writers with clients. There are also several article directories that pay for articles and/or help writers sell to publishers. These companies don’t ask for money from writers. They may take a commission on sales.

Some article directories have revenue sharing programs. These are usually low income (pennies rather than dollars). But the income flows TO the writers, not in the other direction.

I will write about some of my favorite places to sell writing on the web in another post.

Let me know if you’ve come across questionable business practices aimed at writers.

Write on,

Lynn