Almost every week I receive invitations in my email to submit test articles for jobs. This is normal, especially if you are job seeking. I reply to most in a decent manner, but there is an epidemic of scams and intentionally exploitative posts out there.
Last week I decided I had enough. This article will describe my descent into the world of scumbags. I will take you on a journey of troll and sick comebacks.
Imagine this: you are a new copywriter, you apply to jobs online, one gets back to you and offers £0.024 a word, you get excited and you accept!
This seems like a good price right, at least now you get paid to write, what could be so bad? Everything! Let me explain…
I see this mistake being made by so many copywriters; they don’t take into account the time it takes to write the article. To some extent, they are being exploited similarly to artists. You are expected to “enjoy your art” and be “the starving artist”.
A good quality, researched piece of content (2000-word article) takes at least 12 hours to write. No, it cannot be done faster. You have to account for interviews (this could be even longer if it’s face-to-face), data collection and analysis, SEO, guidelines, formatting, HTML, image selection and graphic design, uploading to the website, thinking, and — finally — writing.
When I received this message, I thought they wanted low-quality content. Then I looked at the briefs (copies linked below) and I realised it was a scam.
If a 2000-word article takes 12 hours to write, then 750 words takes 4:30 hours and 1500 words takes 9 hours.
What is that? £4 an hour in the UK, where the living wage is £10.9 an hour? No way… could this be exploitation? Modern slavery, my friends.
I’ve met scenarios where this is perfectly fine with simple, low-quality content that takes one hour to make. You must always take into account the time and effort you will spend on an article.
The issue is this “client” wanted researched content for not even the price of peanuts. Here are the copied Google files they shared with me.
These content briefs require in-depth research, something they are willing to buy for the low price of £4 an hour. Haha.
Obviously, I accepted the job!
A Brief Guide on How to Troll a Scammer
Copywriting scams strike a chord with me because I know those 12 hours are active hours I have to spend doing the work, these are not “office hours” where I walk around with a coffee in my hand looking busy.
It upsets me to see copywriters being taken advantage of in this way, especially young ones. They don’t know any better and are being exploited.
Step 1. Say yes to the dress! Be professional, apply to the job, look over the briefs, and reply to their messages as you normally would. This is the quiet before the storm.
Step 2. Write it, but write it bad. Paraphrase the shill out of it. Here’s a tool you can use: https://quillbot.com/
You don’t need to waste too much time on this as you don’t want them to actually use the article.
Step 3. Wait for the reply and gloat. They will realize it’s paraphrased (hopefully, if not you have to tell them) and you get to laugh at how offended they are. “How dare you paraphrase; I’m paying you £4 an hour?!”
Troll time! This is your moment. Make it count!
Here are some of the glorious replies I had the chance of writing back:
Happy trolling!
P.S.: Art thou not a scammer? Are you willing to pay me a decent price? Then get in touch and I will write the best articles you’ve ever had!
