Freelance Writer Scams & How to Avoid Them

If it’s your first day, I’m going to rip the Band-Aid off — some people just plain suck, and despite what they say to the contrary, they’re not out to help you succeed or make money. They exist to waste your time and your money. Here I’ll cover common scams that can bamboozle even the savviest writer.

“Dear writer / editor, I’d like to exploit your dreams for financial gain. Please assist me in this endeavor. My mother didn’t give me enough hugs, and my thing is like so small.”

Freelance Writer Scams

Who’s the target?

Freelance writers and hopeful freelance writers are easy targets for scammers because not only is it hard to find work, it’s also hard to find work that pays well and that is exciting or career-progressing.

This makes freelance writers an easy target for low-pay or for non-existent work.

What are the scams? The scams that target freelance writers vary but aren’t limited to:

• Pay to join a network and pay to get writing jobs. While perfectly legal, these “opportunities” are usually promoted as ways to make tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars with no training, no degree, etc. Reviews from the handful of unique success cases are supplied as evidence that the network is the real deal solidifies the deal, so writers sign up. I know several people who work or who’ve gotten work through Textbroker and Upwork and the like, so it can be done; however, it’s not the goose that laid the golden egg…