‘A dishonest attempt to try and trap you into parting with your money’ is the web definition for ‘scam’. And we have had the Nigerian 419, the lottery and the phishing scams. But expand it further to include parting with ‘just about anything’ and it will still read scam. If the experience of writers is anything to go by writing ‘scams’ too are wide, varied and one too many. Unfortunately here it is not as clear cut as one would wish it to be. A writer’s field being so wide and disparate the debate only gets acrimonious. For what might constitute a scam for one could very well be not to another.
Websites
Poetry.com promises to include winning poems in its forthcoming anthologies. And then asks for payment to get them published!
Academia research. Writing for Academia Research was all hunky dory till it start defaulting. Now newcomers cry ‘scam’.
Hyderabad news net. Writers in response to its advertisements were offered payment in dollars. Articles were written, accepted and published. Requests for payment were met with silence and more silence. What is one to deduce? Yet it appears regularly with its full complement of writers. Are they paying only some-the big guns perhaps?
Content Developers
Melademics a professional outfit pays between 10-20 paisa a word. While some might balk at the paltry amount there are ‘qualified writers’ prepared to write for that much.
Catchwords another content developer advertises ad nauseum in Monster. But as to how much they pay the terse rejoinder was ‘you will be told at the right and appropriate time’. Now when was that going to be? After the pieces had all been written and sent in? Or not at all?
Rights
There is much persity even on the issue of rights
4indianwoman.com a US based weekly Blogsite wants full and complete rights for Rs 500/1000 a piece while the monthly Readers Digest pays Rs 10,000 for similar rights. While seasoned writers may say ‘no thanks’ to 4indianwoman.com, many don’t as publishing is immediate and the payment is so prompt. So again what is right for some writers is not so for others! ‘Immediacy’ prevailing over the ‘maybe’ even with something as important as rights.
Rates
This wide disparity is seen in the rates as well which is what riles most writers.
While Paramount Airway’s inflight Windows & Aisles pays, it is reliably learnt, Rs one per word, JetWings of Jet Airways pays Rs 5.
Even the popular The Chicken soup series, while US writers are paid up to 200$ for their contributions Indian writers are being asked to write for free by the publishers
Scam
Does all this necessarily constitute a scam? Not really.
Even where disgruntled writers cry foul it is quite apparent that more often than not, no ‘dishonesty’ of intent is evident nor ‘trap’. High or low this is what they pay- after all they are in it for the money too. It is thus for the writer to decide whether he wants in or out. It is only when payments do not happen and sources disappear that a case for a scam can be made out. As in the case of the Korean website.
Change the scenario
Most writers are also not prepared to buy the often used excuses of “The client didn’t like it or it wasn’t sent on time or it wasn’t written to specifications” that web developers trot out come payment time. The bottom line is that despite the writers’ best efforts and the length of time spent on the assignments the writer doesn’t get paid.
But instead of crying scam each time, if writers were to take a call on not writing for less than x- amount/x- rights/x- number of rewrites, chances are that the present scenario might indeed undergo a much needed all round change- for the better.
Let warning bells start to ring
If they ask for money
If their websites do not exist
If they don’t spell out their requirements
If they don’t give you their rates upfront
If they are cagey, rude and terse
If they give you a test assignment
If your intuition tells you otherwise
- Sreelata Menon
Please Note: Chillibreeze does not endorse techniques or views mentioned in the articles here. The articles listed here are provided as reference material for writers as a support service.
Check out the complete list of our featured articles for Indian Freelance writers and editors
Related Links
Courses, Certifications and Higher level tests evaluated by experts
Writing and Editing Assessments
Expert Review of Your Writing
Related posts:
- Fixing Freelance Writing Rates: The Criteria
- Associated Content Website Profile
- Occupational Hazards of Being an Indian Freelance Writer
- The Issue of Rights and the Indian Freelance Writer
- FAQs on Freelance Writer Pay & Rates | Online Writer Meet Oct 2010
Comments:
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
Great tips, I paid up some hard $$$ when a site promised me great paying project only to realize that I was made a scape goat. Thanks for sharing these wonderful tips.
{ 1 trackback }