Yeahhh it definitely looks to be that way
by the way, is that Noel Miller in your profile picture? 
I love it
4 Likes
Update:
I wrote back to them asking to verify that they’re real and that I wouldn’t be giving info until I knew it was legit, and they replied back repeating most of what they said in the first email, and gave me the name of their app (it’s called ‘Updates’ and it’s on the app store). I downloaded the app and had a look and it seems to be pretty average and definitely nothing special.
Since then I haven’t replied, and honestly I don’t think I’m going to. It all just seems really sketchy, even though the app seems average enough and not too sketchy I guess. But I find it hard to believe they think I’d be a “good fit” for their team if they haven’t read anything I’ve written (they even said this in their first email, they asked me if I could name the things I’ve written before, but if they didn’t know then why would they bother saying I seem like a good fit?).
They also asked to share copyright of my “previous published stories” and I was just thinking “Why?” How does that affect my ability to write for their app? Why do they need the copyright to my previously ‘published stories’ (which is basically none by the way if we’re not talking episode related stuff)
6 Likes
Lmao the most uncreative name ever for a creative storytelling app 
love that
I honestly wouldn’t trust it. It’s good you didn’t go through with it too. Just seems to suss and it’s better to avoid suspicious things like that than get involved with it
Btw— those two dms you got, are they from the same people? It seems weird that you would get two identical dms from two separate accounts with literally no followers or following at all.
7 Likes
They asked me if I owned or shared the copyright of my previous stories. I think what they want to do is take what you’ve already written which is why it matters.
I think the original message was kind of click bait in a sense. A generic message to make you think they’d legitimately read your work 
I’m not following up with them anymore either but for what it’s worth, while it seems a little off, it doesn’t seem completely sketchy (without seeing a contract, anyway). The contract/terms could be horrendous.
2 Likes
Haha it is. Thank you!
The generic message is what gets me, though.
Have any of y’all ever been messaged by someone trying to get you to join their pyramid scheme? It’s the same exact thing.
They send you a generic message that’s hardly personalized because they’re sending it to everyone.
I believe a smart business, or at least one that’s worth any type of investment, isn’t going to do that. They’d do a little a bit of research on this kind of thing.
Can you imagine if any of your favorite companies sent these kind of emails to random suppliers and see who bites?
This whole thing just screams scam to me.
4 Likes
Lol that’s an excellent comparison 
I don’t necessarily think it’s a scam but I’m guessing it’s going to be something like the Dreame contract where you pretty much sell your soul for like $50
2 Likes
Still sounds scammy.
If I’m being offered an “opportunity” I’d be very suspicious of someone asking me to send them money.
2 Likes
I don’t think they ask you to send money? I’d never do that and that’s definitely a scam.
What I meant by Dreame is apparently (you can Google it) you get paid peanuts for all your rights lol
2 Likes
i got that too!
4 Likes
Ahhh.
I thought you were suggesting they’d make you pay 
No
If anyone asks for money upfront or your banking information (rather than using a third party like Paypal)- 100% run for the hills lol.
While paying you very little for all your rights is obviously sketchy, I wouldn’t say it’s a scam because the actual contract was legitimate and people knew what they were getting into.
That said- I don’t know what the go is with these guys. The initial message does sound “click baity”. They send it to everyone and clearly haven’t read your stories lol, but they also don’t offer an automatic contract. If you reach out to them, they then ask for you to share your work (through the app, so again, nothing too sketchy).
1 Like
Okay, here’s my thing with it. At best, they’re going to pay you almost nothing for your work. At worst, it’s something else entirely. Neither of these things are worth your time and effort.
What app genuinely looking to build their brand wouldn’t curate a unique username for themselves and try to build up followers for when the app is ready for full release? All the “story_love” kinds of usernames with an icon, maybe some early posts, etc. are attempting to get themselves out there in some way (and even they are really a scam in an entirely different way).
Can you imagine Episode - hell, even Chapters - DMing people like me who have no published works for a job? If you are a brand new company and really want “talented freelance writers to create popular interactive novels” for you, you’re going to do better than throw out the net and see what gets caught. You’re going to look for people who have been successful on other platforms.
4 Likes
Amanda Traver and Ish got messages like this
1 Like
yeah that seems kinda sketchy.
“we’d love to give you a job even though you have nothing published” 
2 Likes
OMG I got this same email and I’m like “UH i have one story with like 2 chapters only…” LMAO. I feel like it could be legit. It just seems like they’re desperate and are going around the Episode community trying to pick up any authors they can find.
2 Likes
Exactly.
And if a company is just going to toss their net out like this, how can I be sure they’d even honor the contract they make me sign?
It just sounds like more trouble than it’s worth.
2 Likes
But seriously, if anyone gets an email or DM like this, I’d strongly advise you to reconsider.
No company worth working with is going to reach out to people without a proven a record of success elsewhere.
And if they have to ask you what you’ve written after reaching out to you, that’s a strong indicator they don’t know what they’re doing.
7 Likes
Yeah, they both seem to be the same people because they both had “Daisy” at the end of the message, and their email address was the same as one of the usernames.
1 Like
It’s weird they’d use different accounts just to employ people (and it’s kinda funny how the same person had to send you dms from two different accounts about the same thing)… but then again, I don’t know much about that whole thing lol
5 Likes
I received this too, in my email. I knew it was a mass spammed message attempting to poach Episode writers. I’ve been messaging back since at worst they waste their time and at best I actually get a deal out of it.
The fact that they did ask how much you would like to be paid and didn’t offer any price point for themselves proves that they are trying to get quality stories for cheap. They’re hoping we will undervalue our work.
Either way, what I have gotten from them is that they just want a script, no directing, and they want to pay chapter by chapter. 
3 Likes