Street-Smart But Not Scam-Proof

by Marie Stone
(reprinted by permission)


I like to think of myself as sophisticated and -- snap snap -- street-smart. I can recognize an illegitimate poetry contest just by the font and layout of the solicitation letter. With the agility of a contestant ringing in on Jeopardy, I can identify a telemarketing call from the background din of the call center, and hang up before the telemarketer issues a word. When I'm maneuvering city streets I wear sensible shoes, walk with intention, clutch my purse under my arm, and look straight ahead. This is my way of cautioning any would-be predator not to mess with me.

Yet, despite these highly evolved survival skills, I've recently discovered that I'm not fully scam-proof. And, in part, I blame the recent economic downturn and the resulting belly-up of many companies who, this time last year, were paying me good money for content.

You see, I'm a freelance writer who is feeling the economic pinch. And, with the increasing desperation of a sexually motivated barfly after last call, the tighter the market gets, the less discriminate I've become about the types of jobs I'll consider, and the amount of money I'll accept. I know I'm not alone. Yesterday a freelancer friend of mine accepted an assignment that pays less than one-half her usual rate. "Just a month ago," she said, "I wouldn't have considered this job." But, you see, April 15 came and went, as did our fat checks to the government, and then our rainy day money and slush funds rapidly evaporated. (Last call, anyone?)

So, it was with this degree of financial destitution that I recently read this job ad:
We are looking for proofreading editors for our fiction department. Positions require the applicant to complete a simple editing test, and we pay $11.75 per script page (about 600 words). We currently have four positions to fill. Last year we published over 300 titles. This job is an excellent opportunity for first time writers to get their foot in the door. Last year three of our editors were published. We send work on disk via email, therefore proofreading editors can work at home. For further information, contact us.
The "contact us" was an email link to an AOL account.

You know the old saying, if it walks like a duck, talks like a duck, [fill in other verbs] like a duck, it is a duck? Well, I must've forgotten that one, or my blinders were on, or something. And, although it tweaks my pride to admit I fell for this charade, I feel it's my duty to share my experience with my fellow freelancers in the hopes that some of you may be spared a similar, humbling, time-wasting experience.

So, that said, I hang my head in my hands and, with the inflection of the unmasked villain at the conclusion of a Scooby-Doo episode, I confess to you, "Yes, yes, I did it. I answered the ad and I took the proofreading test, too!"

It actually turned out to be more like a high-level editing request than a proofreading test. The original prose was abysmal, peppered with typos, misspellings, grammatical errors, and logic flaws. I applied my usual magic and spun sentences like, "As the elevator door shut and he was inside Monsignor couldnt help but feel a sense of total enclosure. He was now traveling up to what for all intents and purposes was a haunted apartement, in a haunted building," [sic] into smooth, error-free gold. I spent three hours on that sucker... er, I mean I'm a sucker and I spent three hours editing that prose.

The result? After I submitted my edited test, the publisher emailed me a link to a Web site advertising the soon-to-be-released book from which the test derived. Then, I never heard from the publisher again, not even after sending several courteous follow-up emails. I compared notes with other freelancers who responded to this ad, and it turned out we all edited different sections of this book. One freelancer reported calling the telephone number of the "publisher" listed on the Web site and -- surprise -- the author of the chapters we edited answered the phone. Though we can't be sure, we suspect he concocted this scheme to have his manuscript professionally edited for free.

So, my kindred self-employed artisans, if you, too, are feeling the economic squeeze and you find yourself considering freelance opportunities you would've turned your nose up at a mere few months ago, it may be time to brush up on your scam-detection skills. The cardinal rule, the one I seemed to have forgotten, but have been so rudely reminded of, is: if it sounds too good to be true, it usually is!

Below are some additional articles and links I found that may help you hone your scam-busting savvy. Good luck!

* * *

Marie Stone is a writer, editor, and interactive producer who specializes in transforming technical language and concepts, such as medical terminology, into engaging, easy-to-read-and-understand content. Since 1996, she's held top-level editorial positions at a number of Web and technology companies, including adam.com, Wellsource, and Salu.net. From 1998 to 1999, she developed a line of interactive health assessments that appeared on the American Medical Association Web site. Her work has also been published on CNN.com, europeCNN.com, MSN.com, WebMD, Salu.net, WellMed.com, adam.com, HealthAnswers.com, VisionSite.com, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Colorado's Web site, eHealthInsurance.com, and others. Ms. Stone holds a Master of Fine Arts degree in creative writing from The American University. Before entering the field of new media, she was an English instructor at Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle, Washington.

Copyright 2001 by Marie Stone


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