3 Scams I Faced As A Teen Ghostwriter And How I Escaped

I started ghostwriting at 16 with only my phone. No laptop, just my Infinix and night data. I was finding clients from Facebook writing groups.

I thought it was just write and get paid. I didn't know some clients will stress you and still not pay.

Here are 3 scams I faced that taught me sense.

1. The Pay After Delivery Scam

This was my first client from a Facebook group. He needed 2000 words story urgently. He said his own client was waiting and he would pay me immediately after I deliver.

I was new so I wanted to do well. I wrote from 9pm to 1am and sent the full story on WhatsApp. He read it, blue tick, and blocked me. No reply till today.

I lost sleep and data. I was angry but I learnt.

What I do now: I don't send full work before payment. For new clients I collect full payment first. For people I have worked with before I collect 70% before I start. I only send first paragraph or screenshot as proof. If you want full story, pay first.

2. The Half Payment Plus Extra Work

Second one pain me pass. A lady needed business plan for school. We agreed 5k. She paid 2k upfront and said she will pay 3k balance after delivery.

I delivered. Then she started adding plenty extra. She said lecturer said we should add proposal, add financial analysis, add this and that. All inside that same 5k. She was sending correction every day.

When I asked for my balance she said work is not complete because of the extra correction. She dragged me for 3 days. I was tired and I left the 3k.

What I do now: Before I start any work I write everything on WhatsApp. I will write price, what the price covers, delivery time and correction limit. For example, 5k = business plan only. Free correction is only one time and only small changes. If you want new chapter or new addition, it is extra money. When both of us agree on WhatsApp, I start.

3. The Sample Thief

This one happens a lot. Some people will come and say send me sample of your previous work let me see your writing style.

You will send your complete story thinking they want to check your style. Next week you will see same story posted on another page or on Selar with different name. They will just change character names.

One girl posted my story on her own page and was selling it for 15k.

What I do now: I never send full story as sample again. I send first 300 words only and I put SAMPLE BY JANET inside or I remove the ending. If you really want to see my work, that 300 words is enough to know how I write.

These three experiences almost made me stop writing but they also taught me how to be professional. If you are a teen writer starting with only phone like me, learn from this.

My 3 rules now are: payment before work, no full document as sample, and agree on everything on WhatsApp before you start writing.

It will save you data, time and heartbreak.

Have you faced any of these before as a writer? Share how you handled it in comment, let's learn from each other.