That's a ridiculous generalization. Web-based email address do not signal a fraudulent writer and they also do not necessarily signal non-native English speakers.

Customers need fraud-detection skills better than just ruling out gmail, yahoo, etc.

Go back and forth with the writer in emails, feel them out, see how good their response time is, and what kinds of questions they ask.

Not all legitimate writers are going to maintain their own website domain.

And besides, it's cheap and easy to set up a Website and receive a personal domain name.

Anyone can and does do it, and fraudsters can easily appear legit.

No, and yes.

I do not get tired in general, but as with all work it has its ups and downs.

As for helping people get into careers they are clearly not suitable for, well there will always be people unsuited for their careers--with or without our business. A lot of my customers are good ppl whose careers have nothing to do with writing essays, so I don't lose a lot of sleep over it. Although I will admit some customers make me feel dirty inside. But that's not why I started this thread...

Pheelyks
um...seems like you didn't really read what I wrote
ppl usually appreciate it if you actually listen to what they have to say ;)

Pheelyks, are you ok? You seem a bit antagonistic.

Anyway, given that you were too short of time to actually read the o.p., Pheelyks, I'll quote for you:

"I love the job and have no interest in doing anything else for a living"

What about "I love the job and have no interest in doing anything else for a living" didn't you understand?

I appreciate your "I write custom materials..." stock answer. But see, I have started to say that too and I think it sounds lame. I would like a little rebranding, that's all. Just wanted some fun creative responses, no downers.

You're a lot of fun at parties, aren't you Pheelyks?

I don't understand your meanness, and your needless antagonism. I just wanted to connect with other people who do this interesting gig. It's not every day that gets to happen. I did not mean to sound like I was complaining. I assure you (and anyone else reading) that was not my intent. I just thought I'd found some kindred spirits here, but I was wrong. Pheelyks, it sounds like you might the one who is not happy, but I would never presume as much as you have presumed about me.

Maybe you are right, Pheelyks, maybe I should find a new line of employment so I can tell people something different. Well that is a really good idea. Will you be my life coach? You are so good at making people feel happy, welcome, and warm, I think you might be good at it.

I believe the pilot would have been ordering his literature papers online and not his aerodynamics (or whatever it is pilots study) papers...which I would not be able to write anyway.

Well thanks for the other responses, but to EWWriter, how could I use this thread to get clients? I can see using the forum to get clients by sending emails to all the potential clients but how would starting this thread help? By introducing myself, a potential client might approach me? If that happens, great, but wasn't my intent.

Well, Pheelyks ur a piece of work. I send you love and compassion because the world needs more of it. I could take the bait and continue on the defensive, but then I'd just be contributing to the negativity. So I'll just say this, my initial complaint (I'll concede it can be construed as such) is a branding issue. It's basically like when Kentucky Fried Chicken became KFC. They didn't want to change the product, just the image or branding. I believe Phyeelyks was suggesting for me to change the product, not the brand, which was out of the question and not my original intent!

Here that I found a community of people I thought might understand me, and maybe share a few laughs about our gig and how ppl react to it. I am VERY curious about other writers, how many have other jobs, how many do it full time, how long you have been doing it. Has anyone been doing it as long as me? I thought a fun conversation would start. But there is no fun with Pheelyks the cop in the room. It is unfortunate Pheelyks controls a lot of the discourse on these forums.

[edit]: Freelance Writer you misread, people are often impressed when I tell them, I've had great fun starting conversations at parties, etc! I said that at the beginning, I mainly wanted to know what other writers tell ppl. I guess I'm not as ashamed as I seemed in the original post, I am just curious how other writers present themselves, and sometimes I do want a new "image" or different way to present myself.

I still do tell people the truth a lot. Sometimes I even say "I help people cheat for a living" and we have some good laughs. It depends on who I'm talking to. I have a great lifestyle so ppl are usually a bit envious and that's why they ask too many questions. In truth, I wish I could have a screenplay made into a movie, that is what I would really want to say, "I write movies." But that's why I write term papers--it's almost impossible to get screenplays optioned. If I do anything on the side it's that. Anyway, I think one thing I might start doing is prefacing it by saying, "I've got my own business," and then when they say "Oh yeah? Doing what?" then I can say something like, "I provide people with writing, editing, stuff like that." Anyway, I'll be brainstorming and visualizing all this over the summer.

Oh hey here's ANOTHER question, many of you might not want to answer but here goes: how many of you writers pay taxes on the income?

The title of the thread is "Writers: What do you say?" The original post concludes with the direct question to other writers. I think some of the responses indicate a misreading of my post. I introduced myself, and was (and still am) curious about others. I am disappointed to find no connection with other writers in this same fringe group.

I also assumed other writers led lives as interesting as mine. I think this is a business that gives the writer unparalleled freedom. I would not trade my freedom for all the money or fame in the world. At least right now. If someone told me tomorrow that I could write a screenplay but I would have to be keyed into Hollywood, answer to others, continually do rewrites, and never travel again, I would say no. Maybe when I'm 60 but not now.

Freedom is my number one priority and I've got it. I also never said I "hated talking about it." In fact, I learned from this thread that give better and more interesting answers to the question than I gave myself credit for. I often do tell the truth and it's been a great conversation starter. All of my close friends love talking to me about the job and when I feel comfortable with a stranger right off the bat then I talk about it too.

I probably live a different lifestyle than most of you. This is why people I meet are usually more probing than just allowing me to get away with "I write custom content." They also want to know who the clients are, how I found out about the job, etc. When I meet strangers who I don't vibe with, or who I sense might not "get it," I just give them the old boring stock answers. So that's why I was curious what other writers say. And the answers were even more boring than mine which I didn't think was possible. Whew.

I've always been curious about other writers, and what they think of the job. It is amazing none of you seem that interested in developing this conversation with me. How long you have been at it? Do you like it? (How interesting that so many of you jumped to the conclusion that I need a career change without sharing any info about yourself---which was what I wanted in the first place, and not career advice). Have any of you been at this as long as me? I met a woman a few years back--she ended up being a distant relative!--who did this for 20 years!! It was so cool to meet her. I think there must be more interesting writers out there, just not on this forum.

I guess not a lot of you care about a good conversation on these topics, or you're just boring negative people in general. Basically I wanted some laughs and to connect with ppl. How sad this thread degenerated. This was meant to be a lighthearted conversation and I certainly did not want to have people I've never met before analyze me and steer the conversation in a negative direction.