Fired? Ouch...

[slvsquared]

To be honest, I was shocked at the way I was treated, as well. For the record, I wasn't scammed or cheated - I was paid for everything I wrote in a timely manner. However, when she decided to fire the OP, she forwarded the email to her entire staff. She fired me the same day, after I told her the articles would be less than six hours late. She then emailed me multiple times, insulting and berating me. She also regularly sent out assignments that were due in less than 12 hours, then sent out nasty emails about no one on her "team" wanting to take them on - just generally unprofessional behavior.

[AG1976]

Some of her posts on this forum were rather...combative, so to speak.

[shan90805]

You know, after the rude and inappropriate behavior on the part of this ex-client, I emailed her. I had calmed down, and I said in the email, I know you are busy/overworked/under a deadline/having a bad day whatever, and I'm sure your over the top response was uncharacteristic of you -- maybe you were having a blonde moment (which is something she had tweeted before) -- but you owe me an apology. That was totally uncalled for.

I got nothing in response to that email.

Then I started this post thinking that maybe during the course of the emails I missed some slight sublety that I should have caught onto that would have clued me in to the soon to come rant and firing. I even emailed this thread to her HOPING that she would come on here and defend herself. Maybe she had a *good* reason, excuse, etc. I got nothing, nada, zip, zilch...

I gave her a chance to pay for the article she accepted. She paid me nothing and responded to no emails or paypal invoices/requests for money, so I sent her an invoice for .02 via paypal (maybe she had my email addy blocked) the invoice said please do not use the articles nor give them to your client because I am publishing them myself. No response to that invoice either.

Then when I found out that she sold BOTH articles to website owner jerk, I knew I had been bitten by a snake... AVOID her at all costs.

Or take your chances. It is your choice.

[Rhyahcf]

Well now that her identity is out, she may defend herself or let it go to the wayside. Either way, I know I stopped following her on both Tw and FB. It's one thing to recruit people from these boards and it doesn't work out. It's another to recruit and be downright nasty to fellow WAHM's and writers. Having been on these boards since 2005, I feel like I go through a lot of ups and downs with you "online writer moms" as I call you guys when talking to my family. And it's upsetting when someone comes on here and hires writers and then insults them and steals from them. Especially when it's someone who takes the time to post and make themselves known on the boards.


Thanks for posting the links. Had I not seen the links, she's not who would have come to mind.

[JaneSv]

Originally Posted by ebookwriter1

You are probably not going to get paid for the article, but I would drop her a note to let her know that, since it is not paid for, she does not have the right to use it. Let her know you will be putting it up for sale at another site or using it on your own site. This isn't worth small claims court at $10/article.

Indeed, I would turn around and sell it to someone else. This kind of things always seem to happen online so its best to collect the funds upfront instead of waiting for a payment after the work has been done, at which point there is nothing else that can be done...

[jar617]

If she is in the states, then it is someone completely different than who I was talking about previously. It"s just the wording was oh so very familiar to an e-mail I got from an ex-client. So I guess I just assumed...dummy me for assuming...sorry about that.

[AG1976]

Bumping this thread for shan90805...Angela has written about your situation in her column this week!

Why Writers Should Avoid Third-Party Article Brokers

[shan90805]

Way to go! Thanks for that!

[charmed]

"If you can use the keyword phrase 3 times throughout naturally throughout each article, that would be great."

This sounds to me like you can but don't have to, the instructions aren't that clear.

BUT, late is late. We all really need to learn time zones. I think her approach is unprofessional too, but I do get the frustration .

[shan90805]

This thread is super old, but for the record, 7:58am PST is 10:58am EST. This is still Monday morning per the initial instructions.

In my own business my subs have deadlines that are 24 hours or more prior to my deadlines with my clients. This allows me more than enough time to proof the work and have it copy-ready for my clients.