Dangerous Business Models for Freelancers
There's never been a shortage of scammers in the writing industry - vanity publishers taking writers for their life savings with promises of making their books best-sellers; agents who charge reading fees and just low-paying assignments that have helped keep the average rate of pay no where near the cost of living.
I was very startled last year when I responded to an ad for VP Magazine, (a publication I had seen many times in the sitting rooms of corporations) and the editor called me to explain that VP writers are given a list of 150-200 companies which to call. Only those that agree to help the magazine generate ads, which will accompany the profile are given to the editor, who then assigns the piece. Once the piece is assigned, the writer has to interview the subject and obtain a list of his vendors, write the article and type up the list to be given to the ad reps. The pay out of 200 calls and basically selling ads for the magazine? Depends on the ad sales. In this business model, we're in the same category as used car salesmen, drawing on our commission.
This next one is even more startling: Grand Magazine, a magazine aimed at the grandparents lifestyle charges a reading fee of $10 to be placed on their approved writers list. That's right, to even submit a query, you must pay them first.
What's next?