That's my view of it.

Don't fall for it. Stick to your rates.

I agree with Wendy — the desperate tend to fall for these low paying joss. To a point, I'm sympathetic. But when you refuse to break a cycle of abuse — and these low wages are a form of abuse — there's nothing anyone else can do to help you.

The writer has to make the choice to stop going for these crap jobs and move on.

Amie, I know why it bugged me more – it included a new area, press releases. It's bad enough when people write "articles" for nothing, but they're spreading out into new areas and insulting an entirely new crowd of writers.

Paula, what a find! And I love that you compared your yard sale earnings to SEO article pay. Hysterical!

KEB, welcome to the blog. 🙂 I think the sector idea is an interesting one. The trouble is that there is no sector I'm familiar with that isn't going to require actual work – but they do lure us with that "More work to come!" line. It never does, does it?

Wendy, can I just use you as a PSA for writer's worth? :)) Excellent input – exactly what new writers need to hear.

Devon, that aggravation fee has been a godsend for me over the years. As you know, I've put that into use many, many times.

Kathy, I've noticed that, too. I suspect the predators are out now that they smell desperation. I'm sorry – I don't care how damn desperate I become. These are not "jobs." They're organized exploitations.

My bottom line is whatever doesn't make me sick to my stomach when I agree to it . . . fortunately, I rarely get anywhere near that line.

I get a couple of enthusiastic e-mails back, and this woman asks if I had time to speak with her on the phone that weekend. Why not? Her e-mails had said they were starting a website about food and kitchen things, cooking gadgets, etc…and I love those things.

Then the call. She says how she and her husband went to this seminar on starting your own business – running articles about niche topics, and generating click through affiliate marketing revenue. Well, d'uh. No wonder I never heard back from them after quoting my prices! They weren't looking for article writers, they were looking for content generators.

Okay, so if I have more typos than normal, blame it on over-exhaustion. I've been helping an older neighbor with a garage sale. Day one I made $10.75. Today, day two: $0. By SEO standards I'm well paid – we just didn't have enough views today to generate any income.

(On the upside, I discovered the neighbor had a gorgeous 1923 Rookwood vase that's been stored in a cupboard for, oh say, the past 86 years. She was going to slap a $5 price-tag on it. If she's able to find a dealer willing to offer a fair price, she said I get half. Finding and recognizing that vase took about 10 seconds. That's a decent payoff – if she can sell it for even near what it's probably worth.)

"You want to stay at home with your children, don't you? We'll pay you chump change to write for us and you can fulfill that dream."

They say they have a ton of bills to pay, they can only afford one car, so only one person can work outside of the home and daycare costs are so high, they can't make ends meet. The person has to stay home with the younger children. Plus, medical bills are driving them to bankruptcy. So, they have no other choice than to take the $5 an article jobs.

I can certainly understand financial hardships, because I was there as far as needing to take a job- any job, but I soon realized that it ended up costing me more than my bills etc. were doing in the first place. Not just money-wise, but also experience-wise as well. I couldn't use those particular jobs as references to the real paying clients. And I learned more about writing for the web by writing for the higher paying clients than the low-ballers. Working for pennies did me absolutely no good whatsoever.