I’m frequently offered writing projects that involve “minimal research” or “most of the work has been done” and by the time I’ve waded through the hype, it simply boils down to a buyer looking for a rewrite of existing material. The money tends to be low because you do not need to do so much work and a speedy $100 is something we all look for but writer beware – there is a frequent sting in the tail!
I have a basic rule – I do not take on rewrite commissions.
The reasoning is simple and the factors in my refusals are numerous.
Rewriting is a sugar coated form of plagiarism designed to trick search engines and readers that what is being presented is original because “neither” has been substituted for “nor” enough times where necessary or similar. If you are going to create compelling and interesting work, you need to inject a degree of passion into the piece and unfortunately, I have never been able to get passionate about copying someone else’s work.
[Read more…] about Rewrites: Easy Money or a Waste of Your Time?