OMG!! They hired me as a senior editor for 2 days then fired me over a minor mistake without talking to me. I was devastated but immediately got a bad vibe. I’m glad to know it was a good thing I didn’t stick around😭
Hailey! I’m so, so sorry to hear you had to deal with that. That’s a horrible way to treat people, I’m so sorry you went through it. I think you definitely dodged a bullet by the sounds of it!
I just know this took a ton of courage to post, and I’m glad you said something. I’ve gotten weird vibes since I was auto subscribed to their publication after answering a pitch call, but at some point I became an annual (paid) subscriber. I think I wanted access to some zooms or something, idk I will say they are good marketers! this was a good reminder to cancel my paid subscription to this other publication (something I was planning to do at the end of my year anyway, but this made me actually do it).
I for one appreciate everything you do, and your authenticity is so apparent. It can’t be faked, and maybe that’s part of the ~vibes~ I picked up.
Thanks Julie. It definitely was not the most fun I’ve ever had writing, it just became impossible to ignore. I mean, 10,233 links clicked in 11 months is embarrassing. And I can’t think of a way this could even be defended?
They are definitely excellent at marketing. I was on their free plan a year ago and it was pretty relentless. Reviews don’t seem too positive from what I’ve seen.
Hopefully we can keep up the work we do here at the FWN! Really appreciate the kind words. Authenticity is definitely a word I’m happy to be correlated with!
I quit their newsletter recently because it was awfully expensive and the content felt, for lack of a better word … hollow? Now I understand what my intuition was picking up. Ugh. Switching my sub to your newsletter. So sorry this happened to you.
Thanks for joining us, Stefene! And I'm sorry to hear you didn't have the experience you paid for. Quite a bit of money to spend to end up disappointed.
Thanks for the note! The theme of June 2026 seems to have been ‘grifters gonna grift.’ July’s theme is kicking grifters to the curb and starting from scratch. :) So I’m glad to have found you guys!
I also had subscribed to them, and quit earlier this year, because of weird vibes. Particularly when they kept pushing that message of "Make $$$ with newsletters." Felt like one of those scams you see everywhere for writers. And they portray themselves as these unique entrepreneurs with a life you can have to, if you just work harder. Ugh.
All that to say - thank you for this. And your site is so far superior. Well done on standing up for yourself and your work!
Thanks for the support Amy. I am always super suspicious of people who claim you can make easy money with newsletters - anyone doing this will tell you that's just not true. If you really earned 6/7 figures from ghostwriting then you would do more of that, not just sell a dream to aspiring writers.
Their subscription is $19, but they have an entirely different model for $25, meaning the people paying $19 are only gaining a fraction of access. I asked if it was better to pay the $25 if that contains all of the leads for work, pitches, contests, and everything. I received a non-answer. Struggling beginning freelancers absolutely do not have $44 to pay monthly.
Plus, some of the leads are pulled from threads, LinkedIn, and even Reddit. I thought that was strange, too. Plus, plus, some of the leads are defunct.
Thanks for sharing your experiences, Steph! Apparently there are a lot of AI training roles too? I’m not sure that’s something any writer wants to see.
I’m uncomfortable with tiers of access like that too. We try and keep it affordable here at the FWN, and I can’t understand two different costs for access? That would be insane. You’re paying already, you should get everything!
This is actually so eye-opening and I'm so sorry you had to go through that and this is coming from someone who has dealt with (and is still dealing with) plagiarism (because what they did or are doing to you is literally plagiarism in a form).
Thank you for sharing. There are too many predatory stories like this in a world of people that, for the most part, just want to earn a decent living doing something they actually want to do.
This is WILD. So sorry you've had to go through this, George. I hope they have the decency to offer up some sort of explanation—though precisely how they could explain all those links clicked is beyond me.
I doubt that will happen! I can't imagine they'd want to acknowledge them, and there really is nothing defensible about this. But appreciate the support anyway!
I think it's very important. I have subscribed and cancelled a few times to that newsletter. I hope that Amy or Kyle responds to you. We should all be doing our best to support each other, even if we're competing in the same lane.
George, your data tells one story. I have another layer that fits directly into it.
I’m a founding member of Make Writing Your Job. I earned that status by purchasing enough copies of Amy’s book, and it included access to a quarterly mastermind call with Amy and literally four other women. On that call I shared my story: returning to journalism and PR after a decade of crushing disability, two abusive marriages, and finishing my second Masters degree after being out of school for over 30 years. Amy looked at me directly and said ‘Nicole, it sounds like you’re putting in the work and on the right track. If you ever need anything just reach out. I’ll do whatever I can to give you a hand.’
Less than a week later I took her up on it. I had just broken an investigative story about OpenAI job postings that amounted to smoking gun evidence of their military pivot. I had already pitched The Atlantic and ProPublica. I reached out to Amy directly:
’Hey Amy,
Remember that OpenAI investigation I mentioned on our call, the one I pitched to The Atlantic and ProPublica?
Well, OpenAI just posted job listings tonight that are literal smoking gun evidence. They’re hiring investigators to track child exploitation and bioweapon development through their products (up to $425K, security clearances required) while deploying engineers with Top Secret clearances into Pentagon operations.
I just sent follow-ups to Atlantic and ProPublica with this breaking evidence, but I need to move fast before these postings get edited.
Do you have any connections who could help me place this quickly? Or should I be pitching elsewhere at the same time?
This is that “let me know if there’s anything I can do to help” moment.
Thanks so much!!
Nicole Davis’
Her response:
’Hi Nicole,
No I don’t have any personal connections, but we do have a full pitch database here and twice weekly pitch calls we post as part of our Pitch List for Make Writing Your Job (most recent one is here!)
Best of luck with your story!
Amy Suto
✍️ Writer & Founder
✨ Join my community for writers + writing job board
Every ‘here’ in that email is a link back to the pitch list I already receive as a founding member, 24 hours before regular subscribers.
Your data shows what the operation looks like from the outside. That response shows what it looks like from the inside. Someone with actual industry connections doesn’t need to click 10,233 links on a competitor’s newsletter. They have editors calling them. The list IS the whole product, and now we know where the list comes from.
Thanks for your response, Nicole. I'm really sorry to hear your experience wasn't what you wanted from it.
This is actually one of the reasons we run lots of themed roundups rather than generic pitch lists. We have an entire section dedicated to outlets accepting investigations so you can browse one, straightforward list rather than having to sieve through dozens of posts.
One thing I always do at the FWN is try to support writers with questions and queries, especially members here, and I'll always try to do better than just point you to a post we just published. Please do reach out if I can help at any point.
Things that didn't surprise me to find out #45894654. I really dislike when I have to read and am called to post also about things like this. Thanks for calling this out George. I am free subscriber now. I am often hesitant to pay for boards unless I have well vetted the creators. Amy has always looked like she was riding coattails and cashing in from it. Not everyone in this space has the best interest of all in mind. All too often it's how can they capitalize and cash in by "copying." Makes me question how much of their so-called of their talent for both founders and team is legit as well. A lot of grifters in this space.
Thanks Amanda, appreciate the support. I have had to block others like this in the past, but usually they are new or quite small and are trying to make a quick buck running a newsletter with opportunities. But absolutely NOTHING on this scale, or even close to it. To know they've done this to other newsletters is just obscene, and really just indefensible.
This sucks so much and kudos for calling them out! It’s incredibly icky that a writing resource would plagiarize content so heavily while seeming to ‘creativity’ and original work. Really hope Substack can ban their account to prevent any further plagiarism.
OMG!! They hired me as a senior editor for 2 days then fired me over a minor mistake without talking to me. I was devastated but immediately got a bad vibe. I’m glad to know it was a good thing I didn’t stick around😭
Hailey! I’m so, so sorry to hear you had to deal with that. That’s a horrible way to treat people, I’m so sorry you went through it. I think you definitely dodged a bullet by the sounds of it!
Oh that's major tea!
I always had a bad feeling about how they had been running their operations since I first stumbled upon them in, idk, 2022. Glad this confirms it.
They also penned a book, "Write for Money and Power," entirely written by our good friend Chat GPT.
The market is not in its best shape as it is. We don't need to have those individuals further poisoning the (not so gurgling) well.
Thanks for sharing your experiences, Angelica. Really interesting to hear your perspectives on this!
I just know this took a ton of courage to post, and I’m glad you said something. I’ve gotten weird vibes since I was auto subscribed to their publication after answering a pitch call, but at some point I became an annual (paid) subscriber. I think I wanted access to some zooms or something, idk I will say they are good marketers! this was a good reminder to cancel my paid subscription to this other publication (something I was planning to do at the end of my year anyway, but this made me actually do it).
I for one appreciate everything you do, and your authenticity is so apparent. It can’t be faked, and maybe that’s part of the ~vibes~ I picked up.
Thanks Julie. It definitely was not the most fun I’ve ever had writing, it just became impossible to ignore. I mean, 10,233 links clicked in 11 months is embarrassing. And I can’t think of a way this could even be defended?
They are definitely excellent at marketing. I was on their free plan a year ago and it was pretty relentless. Reviews don’t seem too positive from what I’ve seen.
Hopefully we can keep up the work we do here at the FWN! Really appreciate the kind words. Authenticity is definitely a word I’m happy to be correlated with!
I quit their newsletter recently because it was awfully expensive and the content felt, for lack of a better word … hollow? Now I understand what my intuition was picking up. Ugh. Switching my sub to your newsletter. So sorry this happened to you.
Thanks for joining us, Stefene! And I'm sorry to hear you didn't have the experience you paid for. Quite a bit of money to spend to end up disappointed.
Thanks for the note! The theme of June 2026 seems to have been ‘grifters gonna grift.’ July’s theme is kicking grifters to the curb and starting from scratch. :) So I’m glad to have found you guys!
I also had subscribed to them, and quit earlier this year, because of weird vibes. Particularly when they kept pushing that message of "Make $$$ with newsletters." Felt like one of those scams you see everywhere for writers. And they portray themselves as these unique entrepreneurs with a life you can have to, if you just work harder. Ugh.
All that to say - thank you for this. And your site is so far superior. Well done on standing up for yourself and your work!
Thanks for the support Amy. I am always super suspicious of people who claim you can make easy money with newsletters - anyone doing this will tell you that's just not true. If you really earned 6/7 figures from ghostwriting then you would do more of that, not just sell a dream to aspiring writers.
I KNEW it, but I couldn’t prove it.
Their subscription is $19, but they have an entirely different model for $25, meaning the people paying $19 are only gaining a fraction of access. I asked if it was better to pay the $25 if that contains all of the leads for work, pitches, contests, and everything. I received a non-answer. Struggling beginning freelancers absolutely do not have $44 to pay monthly.
Plus, some of the leads are pulled from threads, LinkedIn, and even Reddit. I thought that was strange, too. Plus, plus, some of the leads are defunct.
So glad to know my intuition is working 😅.
Thank you for writing this!
Thanks for sharing your experiences, Steph! Apparently there are a lot of AI training roles too? I’m not sure that’s something any writer wants to see.
I’m uncomfortable with tiers of access like that too. We try and keep it affordable here at the FWN, and I can’t understand two different costs for access? That would be insane. You’re paying already, you should get everything!
This is actually so eye-opening and I'm so sorry you had to go through that and this is coming from someone who has dealt with (and is still dealing with) plagiarism (because what they did or are doing to you is literally plagiarism in a form).
Thank you Feifei, I really appreciate the support. And I’m sorry to hear you’re going through something similar! It really is an unpleasant feeling.
Thank you so much for writing this article! I just got my refund back!
Thank you, you're very welcome. And I hope it wasn't too much money!
Thank you for sharing. There are too many predatory stories like this in a world of people that, for the most part, just want to earn a decent living doing something they actually want to do.
This is WILD. So sorry you've had to go through this, George. I hope they have the decency to offer up some sort of explanation—though precisely how they could explain all those links clicked is beyond me.
I doubt that will happen! I can't imagine they'd want to acknowledge them, and there really is nothing defensible about this. But appreciate the support anyway!
I’m not until now aware of these folks. Given the way they behave they’ve lost a potential client.
Oh boy. What an eye opener.
This was really, genuinely not a post I wanted to write. But this one was just *too* much for me to ignore. Thanks for reading, Diane.
I think it's very important. I have subscribed and cancelled a few times to that newsletter. I hope that Amy or Kyle responds to you. We should all be doing our best to support each other, even if we're competing in the same lane.
George, your data tells one story. I have another layer that fits directly into it.
I’m a founding member of Make Writing Your Job. I earned that status by purchasing enough copies of Amy’s book, and it included access to a quarterly mastermind call with Amy and literally four other women. On that call I shared my story: returning to journalism and PR after a decade of crushing disability, two abusive marriages, and finishing my second Masters degree after being out of school for over 30 years. Amy looked at me directly and said ‘Nicole, it sounds like you’re putting in the work and on the right track. If you ever need anything just reach out. I’ll do whatever I can to give you a hand.’
Less than a week later I took her up on it. I had just broken an investigative story about OpenAI job postings that amounted to smoking gun evidence of their military pivot. I had already pitched The Atlantic and ProPublica. I reached out to Amy directly:
’Hey Amy,
Remember that OpenAI investigation I mentioned on our call, the one I pitched to The Atlantic and ProPublica?
Well, OpenAI just posted job listings tonight that are literal smoking gun evidence. They’re hiring investigators to track child exploitation and bioweapon development through their products (up to $425K, security clearances required) while deploying engineers with Top Secret clearances into Pentagon operations.
I just sent follow-ups to Atlantic and ProPublica with this breaking evidence, but I need to move fast before these postings get edited.
Do you have any connections who could help me place this quickly? Or should I be pitching elsewhere at the same time?
This is that “let me know if there’s anything I can do to help” moment.
Thanks so much!!
Nicole Davis’
Her response:
’Hi Nicole,
No I don’t have any personal connections, but we do have a full pitch database here and twice weekly pitch calls we post as part of our Pitch List for Make Writing Your Job (most recent one is here!)
Best of luck with your story!
Amy Suto
✍️ Writer & Founder
✨ Join my community for writers + writing job board
💻 Read my blog: AmySuto.com
📧 Subscribe to my personal newsletter’
Every ‘here’ in that email is a link back to the pitch list I already receive as a founding member, 24 hours before regular subscribers.
Your data shows what the operation looks like from the outside. That response shows what it looks like from the inside. Someone with actual industry connections doesn’t need to click 10,233 links on a competitor’s newsletter. They have editors calling them. The list IS the whole product, and now we know where the list comes from.
Thanks for your response, Nicole. I'm really sorry to hear your experience wasn't what you wanted from it.
This is actually one of the reasons we run lots of themed roundups rather than generic pitch lists. We have an entire section dedicated to outlets accepting investigations so you can browse one, straightforward list rather than having to sieve through dozens of posts.
One thing I always do at the FWN is try to support writers with questions and queries, especially members here, and I'll always try to do better than just point you to a post we just published. Please do reach out if I can help at any point.
The thing I’ve learned since I joined is that you actually mean that. Thank you.
I really wish I had found you and Remote Writing Jobs first and I wish I had the money I had spent on those books back, too.
Saw this on LinkedIn so came and had a look. What a cheek! Don’t blame you for exposing it.
Things that didn't surprise me to find out #45894654. I really dislike when I have to read and am called to post also about things like this. Thanks for calling this out George. I am free subscriber now. I am often hesitant to pay for boards unless I have well vetted the creators. Amy has always looked like she was riding coattails and cashing in from it. Not everyone in this space has the best interest of all in mind. All too often it's how can they capitalize and cash in by "copying." Makes me question how much of their so-called of their talent for both founders and team is legit as well. A lot of grifters in this space.
Thanks Amanda, appreciate the support. I have had to block others like this in the past, but usually they are new or quite small and are trying to make a quick buck running a newsletter with opportunities. But absolutely NOTHING on this scale, or even close to it. To know they've done this to other newsletters is just obscene, and really just indefensible.
This sucks so much and kudos for calling them out! It’s incredibly icky that a writing resource would plagiarize content so heavily while seeming to ‘creativity’ and original work. Really hope Substack can ban their account to prevent any further plagiarism.
I don't think it's likely, Substack don't ban anyone really. But it's definitely disappointing. Thanks for the support!