In Nick Mamatas' The Term Paper Artist, he explains how his career as a professional writer started. "After all, nobody ever puts a classified ad in the paper that reads “Writers Wanted.” Then, in the Village Voice, I saw just such an ad." He stumbled upon the oppurtunity for a job writing term papers for money. "Term paper writing was never good money, but it was certainly fast money" states Nick. He could charge whatever rate he wanted per page and alot of them would pay just so that they could pass. He could charge $100 dollars a page and could write up a nine page paper and make $900 dollars in a night. Nick says that "The secret to the gig is to amuse yourself. I have to, really, as most paper topics are deadly boring." When he was given a vauge assignment to write about a book or story he states that "My own novels and short stories were the topic of many papers — several DUMB CLIENTS rate me as their favorite author and they've never even read me." In the end he does not blame these "DUMB CLIENTS" but instead he gives this opinion, "They are being cheated by the schools that take tuition and give nothing in exchange."
Nick Mamatas' The Term Paper Artists not only explains the flaws of those being educated but the educators themselves. The students are not the only ones to blame they can only absorb what the tearchers give them. If they are never told or even showed what a term paper is how are they suppose to write one. Nick never felt bad writing these papers because he had sympathy for those who were the "DUMB CLIENT" because they were never really given the attention that they probaby desperatly needed to write these papers themselves in any level of education not just in college. The educational system has many flaws in it and cramming classrooms with more and more students so that less teachers can be hired or just so that they can give students something to do is not helping the matter either.
