Paula, that’s absurd, isn’t it? To me, that says what they’d be like to work with. Frankly, anyone who isn’t willing to pay decently for good writing is showing their lack of respect.

This one wanted at least one 2600-3000-word article per week, at 6-cents per word. A “paid” test was required, but they only pay for tests they publish. Hard pass.

Mary, that’s a great line — “Who do you think you’re hiring, some high school kid?”

I hear you. Yes, you can rewrite from the original idea as long as it’s a completely new spin. That’s the right way to do it. Otherwise, “rewriting” is nothing more than changing a few sentences, which is nothing more than theft.

I remember one job posting years ago where they wanted someone to do a rewrite. I responded that it was basically plagiarism they were suggesting. And they responded (and I’ll never forget this): “Not at all. We expect each article to be 60 percent different.”

Uh, how exactly? That’s still not enough. In fact, why not just hire someone and say “Find a point in this article to expand on” or “I need 1,000 words on X topic.”

Just make it a new assignment. We write about the same ideas all the time. The amount of work it takes to “rewrite” something would be similar to just starting with a fresh slant on the same topic.

Jenn, thanks for your response. I agree. That line is just heinous.

What ticks me off about it is the many messages they send with that one line. They want “professional” writers, but aren’t willing to pay enough for actual professional writers, so they’re stuck with people they think will plagiarize. They’re saying that their workload is such that people might be tempted to plagiarize to meet the demand. They’re saying that they don’t trust their writers. They’re saying they’re coming into this relationship not respecting you at the outset. And they’re saying they don’t trust you without ever meeting you.

That’s how it reads to me. Who knows what they’re actually saying. I’ll never know because I’ll never waste time with them.

YES. I use sites like Upwork to fill in the gaps and pick up one-off jobs (though lately I’ve moved away from them as they’ve started charging 20% of the fee) and I loathe the “no plagiarism” thing. Who do you think you’re hiring, some high school kid?

IF I respond to a “rewriting” job, which I very rarely do, and only if the pay is reasonable enough to make it worth my time, I skim the original article for tone and points and write something entirely new from my own research and sources.

I honestly believe many of those types of clients are hacks and amateurs themselves, and every single time I’ve lowered my standards to work with someone like that (early in my business) I ended up having to pursue payment or being ghosted. No-thank-you-very-much.

I have much better luck with clients I’ve met through a Facebook group and referrals.

Not only does it say they know they aren’t paying for an actual professional… not only is it disrespectful as hell… but it says they don’t know WTF they’re doing in the first place.

Any client who thinks they only have an issue if a writer rips off someone else’s material word-for-word is going to end up in hot water eventually. They’re the same ones who are fine with “rewriting” rather than actual writing, and deem something “original” if enough words are change. They have no comprehension of copyright law and the fact that derivative works (which a rewrite would be, even though it would pass a plagiarism checker) are still copyright violations.

I don’t know why that detail ticks me off as much as it does, but it does. And it’s not worth working with clients that ignorant about a vital aspect of their business, because you don’t want to get caught up in the mess when one of their contributors steals from the wrong person. Never tie your reputation to a client who says something like this unless you’re prepared to lose it.