Ghostwriters on elance and odesk

I have been looking at resumes posted by ghostwriters at the ghostwriter clearinghouse sites elance.com and odesk.com.  The resumes themselves (and I've read quite a few) display writing that is equivalent to high school level or below.  If the resumes are bad, what must the actual work produced by these writers be like?

In the first paragraph of every resume I read--resumes advertising ghostwriting services--are egregious grammatical errors and awkward phrasing.  Below is a simulation of the kind of resume that is posted.  It is NOT an actual listing from either site, but it approximates the awful writing one encounters at elance or odesk.

"I am ghostwriting professional with many years of service.  I love to write all the time, if you need web copy for your web site, I can help because that is my main area.  I also write novel under my own name, such as Romantic novels that have been published, however I write both fiction and non-fiction.  If your looking for the best, you have found it.  !I specialize in SEO and web content."

Here are the problems.

1) There are two comma splices in the paragraph.

2) The word "a" is omitted in the first sentence.

3) The tone and phrasing is simplistic, not professional.

4) The word "novel" should be plural--"novels."

5) Is the novel "Romantic" in nature, or is it part of the romance genre?  The author should say that she writes romance novels, not romantic novels.

6) "Romantic" should not be capitalized.

7) "Your" should be "you're," meaning "you are."

8) There is a mysterious exclamation point in front of the last sentence.

9) The mention of web content is redundant.

This paragraph would fail freshman comp in both high school and college.  (I taught writing at both levels.)  It is disgraceful that elance and odesk have no one checking the resume content of people they allow to register on their sites.  No one should pay money to writers who cannot master the basics.

Most writers on these sites, of course, charge very little money.   Some charge $10/hour, and those who write books charge an average of $600.  Would you pay a doctor $20 to take out your appendix?

Let the buyer beware.  You get what you pay for.

~ William Hammett

Contact wmhammett@aol.com

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