Top Sites You Should Not Write for
While most of the sites out there that pay you to write are legitimate, some of them are scams. Here is a list of sites that you should avoid.
I’m always on the lookout for new writing sites that pay me to write, to add to my “List of Freelance Writing Sites”. While most of them are legitimate, some of them have been unworthy of my list. Here are those sites and the reasons why you should not write for them.
Daytipper
In my search for paid to write sites, I came across the site Daytipper being mentioned a few times. I went to visit it, to find that it only pays the top 3 writers of the month $100, $75, and $50 respectively. That didn’t sound very attractive to me, but there were all these articles touting Daytipper as a writing opportunity, so I did some digging around on the web.
A search on the web about Daytipper reveals that it used to offer $3 per tip, which got cut down to $1, which got cut down to cash handouts to the top 3 writers of the month. On top of that, lots of writers during the $3 per tip period didn’t get paid for tips that were published, due to Daytipper’s “unique” way of defining “published”. My searches also revealed that an article by a Susan Corbett from Associated Content, saying that Daytipper was a scam, had been called a scam by Nathan Preheim, the founder of the site. Huh? That is also a new definition of the word scam for me.
Stay away from the site.
EssayWriters.net (and Other Sites Affiliated with It)
While their website claims that they accept applications by people with a Bachelor, Master or PhD degree, they do not actually require you to provide proof of your qualifications. Their website is peppered with grammar errors and broken sentence structures. Grammar errors on a freelance writing site? I can understand if a site has one or two grammar errors due to oversight, but the errors can be seen everywhere you look. Even the testimonials are the same. Which leads me to suspect that the testimonials aren’t real as well, given the way that they are written is in the same way as the rest of the site. And what does having a Bachelor, Master or PhD in “unspecified” have to do with writing? OK, time to search the web.
Whoa! Numerous non-payment issues, payments that were a mere pittance compared to what was promised initially, and countless other issues. And here I was thinking that what I had read about Daytipper was bad. They also own
- BestEssays.com
- SuperiorPapers.com
- DissertationsExperts.com
- RushEssays.com
- BestTermPaper.com
Stay even further away from these sites.
Children’s Literary Agency (and Other Affiliated Sites)
This site is notorious enough that my searches actually turned up complaints about it before I came across the actual site itself. Similar to EssayWriters.net, they belong to a group of websites. This list I got from www.sfwa.org lists the sites that are (or were) under the same group as Children’s Literary Agency.
- Sydra-Techniques
- ST Literary Agency
- Stylus Literary Agency
- Children’s Book Publishing Agency
- WL Children’s Agency
- Christian Literary Agency
- Global Book Agency
- New York Literary Agency
- Poets’ Literary Agency
- Poetry Book Publishing Agency
- WL Poet’s Agency
- Screenplay Agency
- Screenplay Writers’ Agency
- WL Screenplay Agency
- Writers’ Book Publishing Agency
- Eloquent Books (a “joint venture” publisher)
- Strategic Book Publishing (a publisher)
- Strategic Book Marketing (a marketing company)
- My Editor Is A Saint (an editing company)
- Writers’ Literary & Publishing Services Company (an editing company)
Some of these sites no longer exist as they were the previous names of current companies, which were changed to avoid bad publication. And yes, My Editor Is a Saint was really one of the company names that was used before.
Again, stay far away from these sites.
I have saved the best for last. And by best, I mean best as in better than the rest in terms of better returns on investment, not best as in outdoes the rest of them in sheer evilness.. And that site is
Thisisby.us (or TIBU)
TIBU does pay, it employs a votes system to determine payout for articles. Votes x the day’s views of an article gives you it’s Daily Goodness (DG) . While the specific formula for payouts isn’t disclosed by the site, the general consensus is that you get paid according to this formula. DG of an article divided by total DG generated for the day x writers’ share of revenue generated for the day. The problem with the site is that moderation can be said to be non-existent there. Swear words, cussing, sex exploits, blatantly bad writing, all these can easily be published there. While genuinely good articles can be found taking the top spots, it’s not unheard of for articles depicting graphic sex taking the top spot. For those who have ever written at Helium, imagine a Helium without any moderation and no repercussions for bad rating and you’ll get an idea of what TIBU is like. Like I said earlier, TIBU does pay, but why join this site when a similar but better site like Helium exists. Helium pays better too.
Update: As of Feb 1st 2009, Thisisby.us has gone belly up and has discontinued operations. You can view the notice here at their website.
So there you have it, my list of sites you should not write for.
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August 24th, 2008 at 11:24 pm
Thanks for the heads up!
August 25th, 2008 at 8:25 pm
Yikes! Thanks for the info. Will have to print this list out and keep it handy while I continue doing my writing online.
August 26th, 2008 at 1:54 pm
Thanks for the warning, iakul! Not making much steam at Triond. Any suggestions on how to increase viewership for my lyrics?
August 27th, 2008 at 10:43 am
Thanks so much for this. I am constantly looking for new sources to check out and these will not be any of those.
September 1st, 2008 at 11:04 am
I’m surprised that you didn’t list triond as a site to avoid!
September 18th, 2008 at 4:07 am
WOW! You know how to copy and past from Predators & Editors! That is very impressive. Considering you should find more information that one place before posting stuff like that… However, I do agree with the WL Children’s, they are a scam from hell. But I would recommend Strategic Book Publishing, but you might want to get an agent or have strong skills with contracts. SBP will not budge on the contract unless you have an agent. If you have an agent that knows what they are doing, he/she can make the contract very friendly to the author, and also, I got my book in a soft and hardback. If you don’t have an agent, than yea, they might try to stick you a bit. SBP does not try to sell the author books to the author; they do have a marketing plan, same as Random House. Two SBP authors have been on TV shows, and several authors have had a lot of success with their book. Speaking of Random House, did you know that Predators & Editors even has a branch of Random House as “not recommended?” A lot of people affiliated with Predators and Editors say that Harbor House is a vanity press and a poor contract. However, Harbor House gives the authors $500.00 advance, but only 7% royalties. So it is not a good contract, but far from a vanity press. I stopped using P&E as a bible when I started noticing that they had people, such as SBP being not recommended because they use a vanity press to print their books, but than again, SBP uses 3 presses to do their books. And than, P&E has other publishers that uses a vanity press such as Lulu to print their books as recommended. Looks like both are in the same boat.
September 25th, 2008 at 11:54 pm
POOP
October 13th, 2008 at 12:42 pm
Thanks for the heads-up! As a beginner to the wide, wide world of online writing, articles like this really help. I think I’m just going to stick to Triond for now!
https://www.triond.com/users/Autumnrose
October 17th, 2008 at 5:23 am
I published with publish america and I made 72,000 in 7 years
November 14th, 2008 at 12:27 pm
Thanks for the advance warning. I like to check out ripoffreport.com before signing up for sites.
December 10th, 2008 at 9:25 pm
Jeez..! Thank you for warning us against snakes and vipers in the writing web. You’re doing a great job!
Sincerely
Ver
February 23rd, 2009 at 5:01 pm
great information!
March 4th, 2009 at 11:06 am
It appears that Thisisby.us has gone beely up and has shut down operations as of Feb 2009. I’ll be updating my article to reflect this.
May 24th, 2009 at 11:58 am
Wow! I just received an email from Strategic Book Publishing saying that they were interested in my manuscript. I’ve acquired a few more skills as I had my first memoir; “Not Just The Levees Broke” My Story During and After Hurricane Katrina. Foreword by: Spike Lee published by Simon and Schuster/Atria Books and the agent for the book/memoir was William Morris Talent Agency in New York. My first rough draft of my new manuscript was rejected and I’ve been on a search for an agent and publisher. Thanks for the heads up on this company. Will keep on searching. PML
July 13th, 2009 at 9:23 pm
My thanks to all of you for information I find most helpful.
betterbody/Pat Anthony eHow member
July 19th, 2009 at 5:34 am
Great article and great information, I appreciate you taking the time to share with us all the evil side of these sites before we had to find out the hard way. Its sad how deceitful these businesses become in such a short amount of time. At least some of them are offline now and no longer a burden to the freelance writers community.
November 1st, 2009 at 1:58 am
I will be aware of the fraudulent sites from now!
November 10th, 2009 at 8:08 am
I have had no problem with Strategic and so far I find them one hundred times better than my previous publisher.
The only perfect publisher is the one that wants you because you are established and they know they will make money on you. When you are unknown you have to put up with the maze and fight your way through. At least Strategic is organized and responsive.
I went to the New York Book Exposition last year and went to the Strategic booth. I spoke first hand with some of the authors. I found nothing to be leery of.
A new author has to bust his butt to get out there. You should not expect everything to be for free and you should not expect your publisher to do an agent’s job. So once you are published and moving forward begin the agent search.
That’s all
Jeffrey B. Allen
November 17th, 2009 at 2:02 pm
Give me the positive side of SBG / Eloquent Books, please. Is there one? Thanks.
December 17th, 2009 at 11:49 am
Thanks for sharing! I’m quite familiar with daytipper scam, as for the others I’ll be adding those to the list.
March 12th, 2010 at 11:58 pm
Great article. I write for different writing sites and good for me because all of them are not scam. thanks for sharing
April 27th, 2010 at 1:13 pm
Thanks for exposing these scams! I was recently ripped off by Mahalo.com, so I would add them as a “write at your own risk” website as well.
February 17th, 2012 at 6:33 pm
Hi,
This is all amazing stuff. Exact repros of stuff from writers beware etc.
If Strategic books, Eloquent books etc, etc, etc are so… so bad to deal with then why do websites like yourself allow advertisement for them to hit your site.
After reading about issues I went to the right of the site and opened a section for Seeking a Publisher, low and behold who the hell do you think I was sent to.
I am seriously looking at going with these guys… Yes it’s going to cost me, but I will have a first novel and that I hope will assist me in my future novels to find a publisher or agent. One must weigh the odds. I am not tied down to them, but by God I’m learning a lot as I go through their process. My book may be trully not worth any one else publishing, but at least I will have some books that I may be able to sell myself who knows.
There may be a place in this crazy writing world for someone like them as long as you know you pay and the results are up to you and your written word from there.
To date I have forked over a massive $150.00 US, yes I still need to be edited and I have a local person to do that, so do I go with Eloquent books editor or the local one who has already taken $85.00 of my money and so far no results unless you see concept changes as editing and to go on she wants more money? And she was recommended by an editor in one of these registration boards. Other suggested changes to my first 50 pages (thats what the $85.00 was for) match those suggested by Strategic Books, and Strategic Books wants less to edit than this other #%@&^^*$$$.
It’s a war out there and all us struggling writers can do is dodge the bullets. I’ve dodged and weaved for years now with all these knowledgeable artists bagging this company and that but not parting with good advise without wanting to charge us… Guess how many help books I’ve bought? So here goes another expense, but I have already learned a truck load since spending my total to date of $235.00. I still have to pay to edit yes, but would I not have to do that anyway? Family and friends have not picked up all the little mistakes after years of reading.
Vanity publishing??? Yeah!!! So who’s not so vane that they want their own book? Success would be great, but maybe, just maybe my writing is not that bloody interesting. Let’s see…
Ron