Have you lost your work to a pay-per-click website or underhanded publisher?

Times are tough and web-based publishers are popping up asking writers to send in their work. Many of these publishers take copyright over your work in all but name and some refuse to remove your work from their sites.

Your work is precious, so please check out the contracts sites such as Suite101.com and Helium.com offer BEFORE signing up and submitting your work.

Web sites we advise caution on, due to their terms and conditions, include:

• www.suite101.com
• www.Helium.com

In addition we would caution against writing contests that require an entry fee. While many legitimate contests do ask for an entry fee, there are many more that are scams. Do your research and ask around before paying to enter any contests.

People advertising for writing services, where one tenders a price to win work, frequently ask for samples of your work which they then use – in some distant land – and never pay for. By all means point them to your published work on your own or clients’ web sites. But think twice before sending them exactly what they want for free.

If you know of any freelancing scams then please let us know via this contact form and we’ll post them here