There could be a number of reasons for this, but it is fascinating as a concept. Writers’ work is frequently seen as little more than a commodity. I remember one CEO asking what the difference between a product description and a blog was. He failed to understand even the most basic concept of blogging–that a blog is an entity and not an individual piece of work.

There’s nothing inherently wrong with that–until you presume to try and structure a company around things like blogs and social media. But I digress. It’s fascinating that editing isn’t the target of scam sites and low-payers. It seems that giving someone the ultimate responsibility for printed or online material getting completed in an accurate, readable fashion isn’t something you can simply throw a few pennies at.

Imagine a job ad where an editor was offered the same terms as some of these low-balling writing gigs. “Editor wanted for revisions. One dollar per article.” They’d be laughed out of court!

That said, I am sure some try–or have tried. Have you seen such laughable ads? If so, we’re dying to hear from you. Please post your experiences in the comments and share your favorite bad editor job story. Some of us think these are less plentiful than for writers…but what’s YOUR experience?