This job ad just came across an editorial mailing list I’m on:

Would like to enhance my online “presence” with good, literate reviews of books, music, art. I’d ask you to do two things. One, write the reviews with my collaboration. Two, help me place them with publications. If that seems a match, email me at [redacted].

Location: Remote

Rate: $ 40 – 100 per hour

…what?

I mean, I guess there’s a market for ghostwriting in reviews, as in any other kind of writing, though the idea makes me sad; the whole point of a review is to convey the opinion of the person behind the byline. But “books, music, art” is a very broad field, and how does publishing reviews elsewhere help to establish one’s online presence, and what review organizations pay so well that passing on $40 to $100 (!) an hour (!!) is a reasonable business decision? Maybe it’s some sort of scam but I don’t see how that would work. I am very confused.