Looking for Freelance Allies

Writing.com has the best community around, and I wanted to share a writing opportunity I discovered.  This won't be everyone's cup of tea, but if you are interested read on to learn where to apply.

How often are you presented a writing prompt that is an actual assignment for a high school, college or graduate level course?

"WHAT" you say?  "Writing an assignment for somebody, anonymously, and getting paid for it?  Is that legal?  Is that ethical?"

I've been paid for doing just that for about the last two months.  The company deposits your wages once a month in your designated Pay Pal account.  They do keep a "chunk" of the customer's pay for their go-between position.  The "support" responses are usually timely, but seem more mechanised than human.  You're pretty much on your own to reseach and create your piece of writing.  It's a writing challenge!

Each individual must make his own determination about what is ethical.  Before I entered the business of academic ghost writing, one company to which I applied had me read a 100-page book, and write an essay.  In the process, I came to an understanding that satisfied my conscience.  In some situations (actually, most situations) full time students are overwhelmed with a multitude of reading and writing requirements.  If just one essay made the difference between someone passing or failing that chance of a lifetime opportunity that  is a college education, would you help that person?  My answer was yes.  I realize others may not share my philosophy, and I accept their position.  If you don't approve, you need read no further.

Academic writing is good experience for the writer who can produce professional work with absolutely perfect spelling, grammar, and punctuation.  It's good experience for  researching information on a subject and presenting in a stated number of words or pages.  It's great experience meeting a deadline. 

I've learned that in choosing assignments I have enough rope to hang myself--some clients need their 10-page paper yesterday.  I can't do that.  This kind of writing takes time.  I have yet to be able to figure out how long it will take me to research, draft, edit, and type the assignment and whatever bibliography or citation information required.  However, I am developing a systematic way of tackling assignments.

After 2 1/2 months, I'm beginning to get past the uncomfortable  "college paper cram" anxiety.  Some of the writing assignments I've accepted have been incredibly interesting.  The client's assignment becomes his property because you're paid for it, but the reseach notes you gather can be reworked into any other number of articles or essays which you might submit for publication in a mag or zine.

I'm learning to enjoy researching and writing.  I pick the assignments about which I feel comfortable writing.  The topic, number of pages, number of resources, and the date and hour due is listed on the "writer's job page".  It states up front the exact amount of legal tender that will be exchanged for this transaction.  When you accept the "order" you are able to correspond with your client through "tickets" to discuss details and obtain any specific resource requirements. 

As with life in general, you may run across as much as 30% of what I'd call "bad apples".  What annoys me is a client who doesn't check their e-mail often enough to respond to my needs.  You will find that some clients have already gather their resources and even have their thesis and a basic outline to hand over to you.  Others have zilch, and  I've discovered they'll either tell you so up front, or remain incomunicado during your fine and furious writing of their assignment.

You know if you're the type of person who would actually ENJOY writing multiple paged essays, referenced with footnotes and bibliographies (either MLA or APA designated), you will gain academic writing experience and learn all sorts of interesting information in the process.  The pay for each assignment is nominal, but the more assignments you complete in a month, the higher your income from this effort.

I don't have a "special in" for you except that the home page has
just today begun advertising their need for more writers. I can't vouch for the company-- because one does come across gossip.  I do know that there is not a telephone number associated with the site, and that can be a bad thing. 

This is a "let the writer beware" opportunity.  If you are up to the challenge, visit the web site at www.DueNow.com.  If you join this anonymous group of ghost writers, I hope you will e-mail me about your being hired on.  Experiences are often better when shared.  Best wishes