> It was only when I realized that one of my clients had his own editing website that everything changed. Turns out, this guy would offer to edit someone’s novel for, say, $2,000. He would then pay me $500 to edit it, then send my work back to their client and pocket the leftover $1,500 for himself. All he had to do was secure the sale and wait for me to finish up the work.

So this guy was selling his reputation for $2,000. If the author would have provided a bad service and the guy would send it to the client without proofreading then that guy would no longer be able to charge $2,000.