Wronging Writers: Don’t Get Taken
August 16, 2005 by John Hewitt
Writers, for some reason, are especially susceptible to scams. Perhaps this is because success in the writing field takes a great deal of hard work, and people are always looking for short cuts. Also, most writers want see their own name in print. Here are some scams to avoid:
Subsidized Publishing
Subsidized publishing, also known as vanity press, can be a legitimate way to publish small works of personal interest or for niche markets. You pay the publisher/printer a fee and they produce your book. This is a legitimate way to publish, but do not be fooled into thinking your work has been “accepted” by a reputable publisher. The company is publishing your work based on the money you will give them, not the quality or marketability of your writing.
Editor Fees
If a publisher recommends that you pay a particular editor before they consider your work, chances are that both the editor and the publisher are scamming you. There is nothing wrong with paying an outside editor to help you with your writing, but you should research and choose who to have edit your work.
Agent Fees
Legitimate literary agents do not charge you a fee to either read your work or represent you. Finding a quality agent can be difficult, but do not settle for one that charges a fee. Chances are you’ll pay more than you’ll ever get.
Contests
Poetry and writing contests that sound too good to be true generally are. Be wary of any contest that charges a fee and do not pay to have your poetry published through these contests. For more information see Avoiding Poetry Contest Scams.
Anthologies
Poetry or writing anthologies are an offshoot of the poetry contest scam. Do not pay to have your book published as part of an anthology, and do not agree to purchase a copy. Any legitimate publisher will offer you at least one free copy.
Work From Home
You may or may not be able to make thousands as a freelance writer, but if somebody tries to get you to pay them to find out how, then chances are it’s a scam. There are plenty of books about freelance writing, invest in one of those.
Reviews / Polls
This is an offshoot of the work from home scam. Supposedly, you will get paid to review movies, books, web sites and such. Of course, to find out how to do this you just have to pay the advertiser a “small” fee. There are far more people willing to write reviews than people who will pay for them. Chances are, you’re being scammed.
Avoiding Writing Scams
- If it sounds too good to be true, it is.
- Don’t pay a fee for what you can get for free.
- Always research any publisher, editor or agent you want to work with.
- Never be afraid to ask for references.
- If you are victimized by a scam, report it to the Better Business Bureau and the FTC.
Related links
- Fifteen Writing Exercises (0.500)
- How to Create Fictional Characters Using Adversity (0.500)
- 12 Exercises for Improving Dialog (0.500)
- How to Create Fictional Characters (0.500)
- Writing Productivity -- Using an Idea Log (0.500)
Contact John Hewitt
Writing Content and Web Consulting
Email: hewitt@poewar.comPhone: (520) 261-6104
LinkedIn: poewar
Twitter: @poewar
Facebook: pwar2
I wonder if you can help me? I’m currently a student studying a B A Hons degree in Journalism, and have my own weblog http://www.fashionfreaks2006.blogspot.com. I have tried many different styles in regards to my writing, ncluding a novel I’m still trying to complete.
The reason I write to you is for general advice. It is time for me to start thinking about work experience. What I would really like is to start writing on line for a particular company so I can learn how to freelance correctly.
If you have any ideas or advice I will be extremely grateful.
All the best
Lindsay
I’ve been doing some freelance writing for a PR firm in recent months. I’m on retainer that clearly states a monthly fee, despite the amount of work. My client is now trying to get away with paying less than what’s stated in the contract he and I both signed. How do I make sure I can collect what he’s already agreed to pay? Should I contact a lawyer? Collection agency? Please help … anyone.
Dear Lindsey,
I do not believe it’s possible to copy a writer’s style. For, style has everything to do with the essence of that person – the passions, fears, beliefs, perceptions of life that make him/her unique, one of a kind.
So, you may believe you’re copying someone’s style, but your own special style will always show up underneath it.
There are many professional writers who use collection agencies for bad cleints. you wouldn’t be the first — John
I am very impressed with the quality and honesty of your information. I would like to know your opinion on Essay Writers Company from Herndon, VA; http://www.essaywriters.net
I enjoy travel and I visited many countries in Latin America, Africa, and Asia. I would like to write about my travel experiences. Is there a market for that?
Alex
I would also like to know more about essaywriters.net. I’d like to know about reliability.
I actually found this wite because I was looking for information regarding EssayWriters.net. I’ve been working for the company for less than a week, and have completed four or five assignments already. I’ve found it to be enjoyable. Depending on what you pick, the work doesn’t have to be too difficult, and though there is of course the ethical question of providing students with work that they didn’t do, that’s never bothered me at all. I believe that if a student cheats, they’re only cheating themselves, and I’m so much the more educated for writing their essays, as I learn new things during the completion of each assignment.
However, I’m checking around to be sure that the site’s not a scam. I’ve currently got a talent of money on my account which I’m supposed to be paid on November 1st, 2006, via PayPal. I suppose I can keep working and wait until then, and hopefully receive my compensation, but I would like to find out early if it is indeed a scam site that will merely take my work and then give me nothing.
Has anyone written for EssayWriters.net and actually gotten paid? Please let me know. My email is southerncross3@gmail.com and I’d be glad to hear from anyone who can give me a bit of info on this.
Regards,
Chris
Has anyone heard of the Children’s Literary Agency? They say they have accepted my work, but now they want me to pay for a ‘professional’ critique, $70-$90, which they say is absolutely necessary. I wonder if they are a scam, as well. Thee Stylus Literary Agency is a shady one, in my opinion, too. They lead you on and then later request funds to cover ‘mailing’ fees…..
Cinde, Editor fees is the second item on the list so I highly recommend that you avoid this company.
Hi,
The last couple of years I have written many articles and submitted to on-line nagazines and even hard copy magazines without any pay. How can I get started as a paying writer for ezines, magazines, etc? Do you know of any?
I am not expecting to get rich but I don’t think $200 – $300 is unreasonable.
Thank you.
Fran Larson
i’m also interested in finding out whether essaywriters.net is any good. please, those who do have experience in dealing with them, shed some light on this. Thanks.
I am wondering about how to get started being a proofreader / editor. I am particularly enjoying doing this service for my professional association’s annual conference (Assoc. for Computational Linguistics) – they provide it for non-native English speakers. I’d like to do the work more and, hopefully, get paid for it. Any ideas?
Thanks,
Flo
I’m afraid I’m not keen on essaywriters.net. I have been working for them since September, and at first it was fine, but then the money issues came up. It seemed that they were not paying me for what i wrote in the pay period it should have been in…they would post some of it ahead to next pay period and even some to a month or two later…i wrote to them to ask what was going on, but they NEVER respond. I have had numerous other issues with them, wherein, i post to the interface/mail within a certain paper, and they have been totally UNHELPFUL. They won’t clear up questions i have about issues that have arisen with clients….they have also begun to call me to REMIND me of a deadline some hours in the future, though i have NEVER been late, and always written to specification and “A.” quality papers. The few that i have spoken with on the phone, have such thick foreign accents, that i can’t understand them, and there is a definite language barrier, as they don’t seem to understand what I’m trying to tell them. And today, as you may know, their site is down. I want to contact the UK equivalent of the BBB to file a complaint, but not sure yet, who that might be–unless they have an office in the States.
Let me know if you need further details, but that’s the truth as i know it about them. I really needed this extra money to pay off some things and for Christmas, but at this rate, I’m not sure that’s going to happen. They owe me $377 right now. And today (Dec 5th 2006) their site has crashed.
Sincerely,
Kelli Jae Baeli
I’ve been working with http://www.essaywriters.net since the end of October, and have gotten paid $650 so far. I haven’t had any problem with them, except of course difficult clients. But what can you do about that? But support is very helpful and they pay what they owe, on time.
WEll let’s see. Betweent he 1st and the 3rd, i was supposed to be paid $277 and they have posted that the pay is $71, and this is the 5th, and I HAVE NOT BEEN PAID even that. Some may not have an issue with them, but obviously some do. I have another friend who works for them, and she is having the same problems i am. I have sent them about 9 emails, with NO RESPONSE.
i call that a problem. Maybe it’s just a matter of time before they do this to all their writers.
I am beginning to wonder about essaywriters.net.
I have written several essays for them and now they want my SS# which they were not supposed to need until I made $600.00 with them, which to date, I have not. I have a PayPal account and they should not need to have access to my SS# until I have made enough for them to have to file a W-2.
All of a sudden they say they are combining 2 pay periods, paying at a date that is almost a week later than originally promised, that they need the SS#s of all US citizens that wish to get paid, and they never answer the phone with the name of the company, if they answer the phone at all.
Dear Sue, Kelli, Tina and Chris,
Now read my tragedy:
I wish I had read your forum before getting fooled by essaywriters.net and shoved rudely by constant-content.com.
I was a technical writer working on software documentation for a renowned American company for 3 years. Suddenly, all came crashing down and I had to quit. Without a job, I started to work day and night for the essaywriters.net. After I have worked for 48 days and nights, and my total stands at more than $1200 USD, they are making all the excuses on planet. They are not paying me. I won them plenty of customers and worked hard on topics that no other writer could touch; like neurocysterscerosis and international marketing report for a foriegn company that invested in UK, listing all the challenges etc.
Then constant-content.com kept rejecting my articles for no valid reason. They became so rude and nasty, I think they have my articles and will use them.
I am based in India and now I am pouring tears on forums and websites that are screaming essaywriters’ fraud on my face!
Who can help me now?
Sanjeev
sjshar1510@gmail.com
I also have been working for essaywriters.net but I still haven’t received any payment from them. The accumulated salary that I’m supposed to receive for this month is over $100. Now, they are making up so many excuses such as that they have to check my ALL my works for plagiarism. I asked them why I am being told just now. I have never received any complaint coming from the clients. Besides, if the customer is satisfied and the payment has been made, they should give the writers what is due them. They did not anymore respond to me in Live Chat. Now, when I logged in to my account, even though there are available orders, I cannot see them.
In response to point 1 above, I work for a subsidised publisher (Starburst Publishing Pty. Ltd.) and I would like to point out that not all subsidised publishers are “vanity” publishers. A vanity publisher will charge you to print a book and then dump a palette of books on your doorstep with no marketing support, leaving you to sell them yourself. At Starburst Publishing, we do NOT do this. While we require the author to pay the publishing costs up front (which includes proofreading/editing, ISBN registration, layout, cover design and printing) we do also provide marketing and publicity for our clients, by:
a) Working with a PR company (The Hot Pepper Group) to procure newspaper reviews and critiques, and to set up marketing campaigns;
b) Working with major Australian retailers such as Dymocks and Angus & Robertson to get the books on the shelves;
c) Posting the book on our website (www.starburstbookmarket.com.au). This site has only just opened but we’re getting considerable interest in Australia and we will be operating internationally within twelve months. This site is part of our distribution network where we do not sell to the public, but to bookstores who can order the books directly from us or our authors.
I should also point out that since the author meets the publishing costs, they also retain copyright in their books when they deal with us. Mainstream “reputable” publishers will buy the copyright off you, after which you have no rights in your work. Most such publishers pay a royalty on what is called a “sliding scale”, which means that though they may offer you say 10%, the more the book sells the less you get; we’ve had authors tell us their royalties went as low as 1.5%. You should also know that at least one of our authors has in fact been “ripped off” by a major publishing company, and is still embroiled in legal proceedings over this issue. So know that even large publishers can be dishonest.
We take only our upfront publishing fees, and all profit from store sales goes to the author (although we do charge a small commission only for sales through our website). We’ve had many authors sell upwards of 5,000 – 10,000 copies off the first print run which, while not a huge best-seller, more than covers our fees and nets our authors a nice profit on top. We’ve also had reprint orders for several books, for which the author pays only the printing and freight costs.
Finally, we do not automatically publish a book just because the author has the money to do so. With 8 years of industry experience behind us, we are in a good position to advise authors when we believe a book will not sell well, and can refer them to a writer’s centre or accredited training course where they can improve their writing techniques and their work before resubmitting their manuscript for publication. We believe every author deserves a fair chance, and we also realise that the book market is highly competitive and people will not buy badly written works.
So I believe it is important for writers to understand that not all small publishers are vanity press or scammers. Of course, it pays to do your research; always check FIRST that the publisher offers marketing and promotion and can get your book into the stores as well as printing it. It may cost a bit upfront, but please be aware that just because a publishing house is not a major multinational corporation does not mean we cannot get the job done well.
Steven Roper
IT Manager,
Starburst Publishing Pty. Ltd.
1 Rover Ave, Croydon Park
South Australia 5008
Ph: (+618) 8346 3760
Fax: (+618) 8340 0863
Steven,
The fact that you offer promotion and marketing does not remove you from the ranks of the vanity press. You are just going to have to live with that. If the author pays you to publish, you are a vanity press. There is no exception to this rule. Your particular company may have a set of standards that they apply to a book before they publish, and that does not make you a scam. As long as you are up front and establish immediately that your company publishes authors for a fee, then your company is probably not a scam and can freely apply any standards you like. If at any point you try to make authors believe that being ‘accepted’ means anything more than that you have decided to let THEM pay YOU to provide THEM a service, then we would have a problem.
Sanjeev Sharma articles were rejected for grammatical errors and problems with word choice. Not to mention our editors were harassed and insulted by this person. I have about 5 emails that are just him swearing and calling us names, obviously we made the right decision by choosing not to work with this writer.
John,
Just a couple of questions then: First, I’m not sure what else one could mean by “accepted”, other than an agreement to provide a service for a set fee. This is the basis of any business that provides any professional service to clients, whether that business is a Web developer, a legal or accounting firm, advertising studio or a publisher. We accept works on the same basis that a legal firm accepts a case or an advertising studio accepts an advertising contract. The terminology we use in our contract is that the “author agrees to engage” our company to produce and promote their book.
We certainly make clear right up front that the author will be required to meet the publishing costs, and perhaps I did not make that point clearly enough in my first post. At no point do we attempt to mislead an author into thinking their work is being financed or that we are providing anything other than a publishing and promotion service.
Finally, I must disagree with you that Starburst Publishing is a vanity press. “Vanity press” is a derogatory term and its application to companies who play a vital role in assisting authors to get their works on the market is unjust and inappropriate. What we are is a self-publishing company, not a vanity press. You can see the distinction by looking up “vanity press” on Wikipedia, which states:
“…However, the true distinction between vanity publishing and self-publishing is simple: who owns the books when they come off the printing press? If the answer is the printer, who then pays royalties to the author on the basis of books sold, then the book has been vanity published. If the author owns the books outright, and can thus dispose of them as he or she likes, then that author has self-published.”
Since, as I have stated in my first post, the author retains the copyright in the work, that work is not “vanity published”, it is “self-published.” While the article goes on to state that mainstream bookshops don’t sell self-published books, I can testify that this is not always the case. Dymocks and Angus & Robertson are Australia’s two biggest book retail chains, and we market our authors’ books through them all the time, as we have accounts with them. I agree it is entirely likely that these stores would not accept the books if the authors tried to distribute them themselves; in which case we have indisputably provided a valuable service to the author by getting their books into those stores. I believe this establishes that that there is a difference between “vanity press” and a publisher that provides a legitimate self-publishing service.
Steven Roper
Steven,
You appear to think I am making a personal attack against your publishing company. I am not. I have no specific opinions about the legitimacy of your company or service. I have never heard a complaint about your company and this article was not written with your company in mind. My only request is that if you want to argue semantics you go to a greater authority than Wikipedia. They aren’t what I would call an authoritative source. Even so, their definition is stated clearly in the first sentence, “A vanity press or vanity publisher is a book printer which, while claiming to be a publisher, charges writers a fee in return for publishing their books or otherwise makes most of its money from the author rather than from the public.”
Let me make my definitions clear.
Traditional Publishing
John is published by a company that agrees to pay the costs of printing, distribution and marketing. That company generally pays John an advance on expected profits (royalties) and if the book does well John receives additional royalty payments. At no point does John pay the publisher.
Vanity Publishing
John and a publishing company enter into an agreement through which John assumes some or all of the costs of publishing and the publisher handles all aspects of publication. Payments to John are made from any book profits. In many cases the publisher receives a percentage of those profits.
Self-Publishing
John assumes responsibility for all parts of the publishing process. He either does the work himself or he contracts with one or more companies (of his choosing) to handle such tasks as editing, typesetting, printing, distribution and marketing. John assumes all of the risk, but also receives all of the profits.
As for your quibble with the term “accepted” I will make it clear for you. In the traditional world of publishing being “accepted” means that a publisher has agreed that the publishing company will pay YOU to publish your book rather than you paying them to publish your book.
As for where your company falls you state the following:
While we require the author to pay the publishing costs up front (which includes proofreading/editing, ISBN registration, layout, cover design and printing) we do also provide marketing and publicity for our clients.
The fact that you provide every aspect of the publishing process indicates to me that you are the publisher rather than a printer/distributor. If you control the entire process, then the client is not self-publishing. I do like the fact that your company does not own the copyright to the work, but that alone does not prevent you from being a vanity press.
We do not automatically publish a book just because the author has the money to do so.
This is an admirable quality, but it is also an indication that the author is not self publishing. If your company has an editorial policy and standards for publication that the author must meet, then the author is not in charge of the process, you are. Again, I am not criticizing your policy, but pointing toward the definition of your company.
We take only our upfront publishing fees, and all profit from store sales goes to the author.
This is the one area in which you appear to be less of a vanity publisher than a printer. Unfortunately, because your service is so all-inclusive and because you have an editorial process, this is not enough to take you from the ranks of vanity publishers. Also, you choose to call yourself a publisher which eliminates my ability to refer to you as anything but a publisher. If you are a publisher and you publish the works of others for a fee paid by them, I cannot see you as anything other than a vanity publisher.
Again, I am not accusing your company of operating a scam. My article was not about your company and did not mention any specific companies. The fact that you take exception to the article and feel it portrays your company in a bad light denotes a sensitivity on your company’s part, not an attack on my part. I am sorry that you do not like the label. Subsidized publishing is an alternate label that carries less stigma but is also less widely used. In my article, I use both and I state that it can be a legitimate means of publishing. I feel I have been very fair.
Essaywriters.net is definitely a scam. I also encountered same problems as yours. They are good and accomodating at first but gets rude later. Thre are unexplainable deductions, delayed payments, plagiarism charges and delayed review of submitted work – lame excuses not to pay us for our effort. I really wanted to have their company closed down and the people behind it jailed for fooling writers. They earn for something they haven’t work for. More should be warned since their ads were on top of google.com search engine.
I’ve worked for Essaywriters.net for alomst one month, recently. I worked day and night and I earned $ 1,450 during 28 days of hard work. But, when it comes to pay my wages, they stopped responding to my messages. ESSAYWRITERS.NET is 100% scam! I request google, please don’t run its ad on your page.
I have done work for this company for a very long time; always received my pay and was never treated badly. There were troubles now and then, but that happens everywhere you go. I was always clear on what I was doing, how much it would pay, and when I could expect payment. In over a year I have only had one delay in payment.
It would be a shame to influence others about a company because you have had a bad experience. But, the problem for the people that actually work and get paid for it is we don’t usually have time to go to blog sites to dis someone because we are too busy working as writers!
I would vouch for essaywriters.net any time. They are solid. But, here’s one for you guys who want to gripe because of your bad experience: Can we send our electric bill to you so it will get paid because you just stopped a scource of income for a family with two small childen?
essaywriters – SCAM
Beware of planted “writers” from essaywriters who attempt to justify the scam companies actions. We need shut operations like this down. They are stealing money from clients and writers.
Join me and lets organize. There are more of “us” (writers) then them. And they need writers to support their clients. In fact, who needs essaywriters at all? Let’s organize to connect writers directly with clients.
Charles – captec@comcast.net
I have been working for essaywriters.net since april. Supposedly they have been going throuhg a companywide quality review for the last 4 weeks. I have not received pay for either the pay period that ran from May 16th to May 31, and by July 3 I will be overdue by two checks. They currenly owe me around 1300$. I am one of their better writers (although you may not be able to tell from the grammer in this post)and have a 0% plagiarism rate, and a satisfactory survey rate that is over 20%. I will be filing a complaint with the Online Better Business,Bureau and finding out where their US offices are located (have talked to support over the phone, they have a US phone # and therefore some loc in the US)in order to file a complaint with the State Labor Board, and the State Better Business Bureau wherever they are located by the end of the week if I do not see a check. I will also be doing everything in my power to let students know they are being scammed by these companies and in many cases could come up with a paper the same quality or better that many of us writers with no access to univeristy libraries etc can by making a simple trip to the academic skills centers at their colleges. I would not advise any writer to work for this company. So since I am looking for writing jobs does anyone know of any reputable sites that actually pay people? I primarily do academic writing, peer reviewed journal articles, resumes, copyediting etc. So any help would be appreciated.My suggestion is that we all get together and start a Free-lancers community on LJ, Facebook, or MySpace, all places where college students hang out and sell our services their. Set it up so we accept paypal or something.
Have any of you ever considered joining or forming a Freelance Writers Union? My recent complaints with Essaywriters have made me realize that we are very poorly treated. You will have to excuse my poor typing and grammer in the previous post, My keyboard needs replacing and some letters, and punctuation does not work very well, and I don’t type so well when I am upset. I to rely on my writing for a living due to living in a small town with few jobs and no car. I am giving it a wait and see until the end of the week, but it is necessary to find a reputable job ASAP. The excuse I am getting is quality review, that has been going on for a month now, since they supposedly did not hire enough QC people for the job back in May (like they did not realize that finals would be busy?) My writing is my career and this is ridiculous.
I have been duped by Essay Writers, supposedly of Herndon VA of about $ one thousand. I have started actions for recovery, and would like to join others in this effort also.
Why don’t you duped writers set-up a website where you can post all the papers you made for essaywriters.net? Definitely, their customers will get them for it. I even submitted the plagiarism reports they made to Mydropbox.com and Turnitin.com so that they will lose their account there. We can bring Essaywriters.net down if all of us do this.
I am another victim of http://www.essaywriters.net.
I have been duped to the tune of about 1500 dollars. I had worked so hard during the first half of this year. They are very cunning. They first pay you. Once you gain their trust and write more and more, they then say you plagiarized and withhold money….and change 150 dollars to minus 40 dollars!!!! You pay for what you write….despite client giving you excellent remarks!! I cant believe I was duped ……I have spent sleepless nights over their cheating. I dont want anyone else to be cheated this way.
I’m also another victim of Essaywriters. I don’t wish to stay duped. I got in touch with journalists and currently they work at numerous articles and TV show, which will denounce Essaywriters.net. If anybody wants to make a complaints against this company or simply to tell the truthabout their speculations, please contact me via e-mail: olga.rabulets@edipresse.com.ua You may become a hero of famous Ukrainian TV show.
Let’s protect our rights and show them what’s what!
That’s weird. I’ve been working for essaywriters.net for a few months now and they’ve paid me everything they owe me so far (though not necessarily on time). The delays were there and they were frustrating but I’ve yet to experience not getting paid for a pay period when I should have been (I’m due to get paid in a few days so I’ll let you know how this period goes).
However with respect to setting up a freelance site of our own I can’t say that I’m against such a move, but the main problems are 1.) getting customers to trust us and 2.) setting up a viable payment scheme.
I just got my money. ^_^
Essaywriters is the biggest fraudster of our times. They represent Satan in their penchant for lying. I have been ruined by them. My health, both within and without have been done for. Do not listen to anyone who says they are honest.
essaywriters.net don’t pay the writers because this is their official policy. They are absolute cheatsssssss
So…I just sent my “application” to essaywriters.net….and I’m guessing by now that I’ve made a mistake? I really, really need the money and I’ve got the qualifications to do this–an MFA in writing and work published in various magazines. I know maybe this question can’t be answered here, but are there ANY “reputable” (as far as treatment of employess goes) essay-writing companies out there that I could work for? Would it be so wrong to work for essaywriters.net up until the honeymoon is over and they quit paying me?
clariongoddess@yahoo.com
Moonpye,
I would never advise you to turn down work if you are hungry. You’ve read what has been said here. You should make up your own mind. As for reputable Essay Writing companies. There may be some that treat writers well, but the industry is based on helping students to cheat (no matter what their PR says) so you would be joining an unethical business. When you do that, you are assuming a certain degree of risk no matter what company you work for.
@ John Hewitt
You wound me, friend. Ethics has always been a relative principle. Still, you are correct with the degree of risk that one should assume over ventures that are not so conventional. ^_^
@ Moonpye
If you got accepted by EW and you really need the money, then I advise you to try it out once with a small project and wait until they pay you through paypal (they won’t pay you through bankwire unless you accumulate at least $50 which is reasonable given the transaction fees). If you’re still sketical after they pay you for one project then you can just take a little at a time.
All I can say is that they did pay me and they still do. You just really have to be worth your salt.
Hi Mike,
Ethical relativism is a fun and interesting concept to discuss, but it is not something to hide behind.
If you feel no guilt about providing this service, good for you. I won’t judge you. Just remember that you are also working for someone who feels no guilt about providing this service. One wonders what else they don’t feel guilt about. Perhaps they feel no guilt about finding every way possible to not pay for writer’s services, whether it be late payment, no payment with explanation or no payment without explanation. When everything is relative, the writer can be in relative danger.
Hi John
You’re right. Risks are always there. That’s why I made that particular suggestion to Moonpye. If he really needs the money, he can start small and see if it pays, and continue working small jobs if he’s still not convinced after he gets paid. He can continue this way indefinitely until he takes on bigger risks hopefully for bigger rewards.
With regard to ethical relativism, i was merely pertaining to the act itself being an ethical grey area (much like most things in life).
I’ve written a fiction of around 60000 words and I wish some publisher buy it from me! can it be possible?
Some information about essaywriters:
Name: Olga Mizyuk
Address 1: 11654 Plaza America dr # 365
City: Reston
State: VA
Postal Code: 20190
Country: US
Phone Number: 1-703-774-3050
I did a search on the name and address and voila! the name “EastBiz.Com Inc” came up. Eastbiz has 6,850 companies working under it.
http://secretaryofstate.biz/
sorry guys, i’m just another victim of essaywriters.net. worked hard for a few orders, hopes to earn a few dollars, when suddenly, just days before the payment period, they witheld my payment.. waited for months now, without any news from them..
ESSAYWRITERS.NET is the worst scam and fraud i’ve met in my entire life. They terminated my account when I demanded my payment after 3 months and accused me of plagiarism, even if my client’s haven’t complaint of any.
I waited for the next 3 months of my payment and they changed their payment procedure asking for information which you can’t give from the bank.
Their system was programmed in such a way that it won’t register your payment information if it’s incomplete.
I hope someone will take action on behalf of all their victimized writers from all over the world.
They have their office in the USA, VA.
1361 Icy Brook Dr
Hendon, VA 20170
1703-994-4522
Hi all,
I have recently joined EW and given my BANK INFORMATION to them.Now I am really worried about revealing this piece of sensitive information to the soooo called fraudster site.Help me out guyz..Please advice me on this!!!I donno if I should really start working with them after reading soo many bad reviewa etc..
I anybody could please tell me about Academia-Research.com.Any reviews about this freelance writing site.They also don’t provide you with much contact details apart from a contact # which is mostly unavailable
Write a formal complaint to their web host (domains by proxy) – that they are hosting a fraudulent website. It is in their terms of service, they can suspend a client’s website for a cause.
I had been writing for Essaywriters.net…
it’s their policy “TO NOT PAY THE WRITERS”..
No one had been paid till date.. It’s all about Cheating Writers..
Those who all say they had been paid….are liers (essaywriters.net owners..)
if it’s true that they had been paid… let them produce the proof of it..
Essaywriters.net ——BLOOD SUCKERS!!!!!!
Essaywriters.net ——NEVER PAY!!!!!!
Essaywriters.net——No.1 SCAM SITE!!!!!!
Essaywriters.net ——ONLINE DEVILS!!!!!!
Essaywriters.net——CHEATERS!!!!!!
I wrote for them for two years and I wanted to see for myself how far ‘good faith’ can go.
After two years of no late submissions, no penalties and fines imposed, and no violation and almost 90% of the orders I accomplished were about legal issues/law and international relations/law–they suddenly made an issue about the second to the last client. First, I was imposed 97% of the total amount of fees for that order. The reason given was I did 14 pages and that I was rude to the bully client. Ignorant as they are of their very own policy, I had to explain that the additional number of pages were supposed to be bonus pages pursuant to their policy. As for rudeness, they cannot even cite messages I made to the client that can be construed as rude. Then I asked for review and reconsideration. They issued out another decision–this time accusing me of not following the instructions of the client.
The client of course was a mediocre and a bully. He insisted that I take out a paragraph which discussed the very subject matter that he wanted me to include in a discussion. He also wanted legal citations be taken out when the paper was about two court cases on self incrimination clause and confidentiality. After I convinced him of how absurd his demands were. He made a revision request that I add more to my discussion when I had previously explained that there were no references that can be used. He merely asked for 9 and I already included more than 23 references. Ah, there really is no Questia account and no honest-to-goodness plagiarism software. I had to make a lot of qualitative analyses of each plagiarism report–even the bibliographical entries reflected as plagiarized! How pathetic!
After a series of exchanges of emails with EW’s Support and QAD, I QUIT. And i thought I was the most patient person! Obviously they wanted to earn on my account. They reconsidered and increased what was left to my fees for that order (after fines) from 11 USD to 16 USD. I told them that they can take that together with my remaining fees from other orders but they cannot make me accept their decision imposing EXCESSIVE FINES. I took web screen shots of everything including their policies. I took the disputed paper which was after all accepted and sent to the client–and published all of them. Why? Well, I did not get paid for it so it is still my paper.
HR of EW wrote to me asking for negotiation. She specified the statements in my messages to the client which she alleged was rude, i.e.
“Please be kind enough to apprise yourself”
“Your request is unreasonable and myopic”
“Before you label me as unprofessional, think again”
It really is so difficult to reason with bigots. It is like the pupil of the eye, the more light you pour into it; the more it contracts. It is also difficult to explain to them because they are not conversant in English. Moreover, greed can really change people’s perception. Negotiation? Was all this exercise about the ‘mighty dollar’? No. My values, integrity and principles are never subject to negotiation.
The quoted statements are used time and again by the US Supreme Court justices in their decisions. So shall we call them rude, too?
I continued my investigation of this group and found out that they are not in the office address they claim to be. The Icy Brook drive address is a residence of a certain Guevarra as reflected in the property registry of Fairfax County.
Now, I have photographs, certifications of police authorities, state office records, etc. web screen shots and a whole lot more.
They are in the Philippines now–’hiding behind their own shadow.’ They admitted that writers.ph is their affiliate.
Have you all noticed that Universal Research LLC’s registration before the corporate commission of Va has been cancelled last December 2007. The other sister affiliates of EW immediately switched to Universal Research Incorporated.
I think I already know a lot that there is to EW–what to do? More concrete action.
Collate your evidence, talk to media, expose them all–make a LOUD noise. After all, they trampled on our rights. Let us not allow them to laugh at our faces.The only advantage they have is that we do not know each other–but we are all victims here. . . time for us to unite!
Please send me all information about this company, essaywriters.net. I am going to prosecute. I will close them down. I am contacting the Attorney General for Virginia and have them prosecute. I need any writers that have worked for this company to contact me immediately. They can be prosecuted under international trade laws (these apply to cyberspace, don’t forget. I have written to many of you individually) but please write to me if you did not post your contact information. ruthebeyer@yahoo.com
Where to start? The staff of EssayWriters.net use aliases-they adopt American names. The addresses specified on their website is a residence of the Guevarra’s and all other addresses specified by their affiliates like SuperiorPapers, BestEssays, RushEssay, WiseTranslations, Killer-content, etc. are also false office addresses.
These people and their entities do not have any physical presence in Va. They are all based in Ukraine.
I recall an advisory issued by the consular affairs to Americans traveling to Ukraine to be careful because of credit card and ATM fraud and scams rampant especially in Kiev. American visitors and permanent residents are discouraged to use their credit cards http://www.traveltoukraine.org/traveladvisory.htm
Americans, citizens from UK, Australians and others who avail of their services need not travel and be in Ukraine–they only need to use their credit cards to order essays from them.
How do we acquire jurisdiction over the persons of the defendants/accused? The only links to Va are a) it is the favorite haven of these people that is why the specified address on the websites of the affiliates and of EssayWriters are all located in Va; b) registration before the Va State of Corporation Commission, i.e. for the former Universal Research LLC with LLC ID T029708-7 which was cancelled December 2007 and the newly incorporated Universal Research Incorporated Corp ID 0701509-2 registered 10/27/08.
The Attorney General Bob McDonnell will refer any complaint to a much higher authority because the rights allegedly violated are not confined to Virginians. It is state-wide and country wide. It also affected the writers in the Philippines, India . . .
It is payback time EssayWriters.net and all other affiliates.
What an excellent post. Thanks for writing it. It’s sadly true that there are far too many con artists who seem all too happy to scam writers online. These scam artists exploit writers’ deepest hopes and dreams, which is what makes their behavior particularly reprehensible.
I have been with Essaywriters for several months and there are some huge problems. The problems have been increasing over time and today it got to the point to where I did a reverse search on the customer number that we have, found it as a land line in Virginia and called the Attorney General in Virginia. I have, as of today, filed a consumer complaint against Essaywriters on behalf of many of those who have been wronged by this company.
This is an unfortunate happening as this was a big part of my income and now I’m down several hundred of dollars per month in lost revenue from freelance writing. If any one has any comments, questions or concerns please feel free to contact me at tapken@tapkengallery.com
I wrote for Essay Writers for four months and was paid $5,300, but then they stopped paying this wek for no reason. Knowing the history of this company, I deactivated my account yesterday and have also reported them to the Cyber Crimes Division of the US Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission. They owe me $4,700 which I know I will never receive, but anyone defrauded by them should report them to the same fedearl agencies that I have.