While you've taken great pains to be honest (see Tip #1), not everyone has such stellar morals. Boot up your BS-detector. "Self-employed" can sometimes mean "incapable of being employed by anyone but self." If he's wearing MC Hammer pants or she's sporting the "Rachel," that ain't a recent photo. And if they can't think of at least one thing they enjoyed reading recently, there's good chance they prefer E! True Hollywood over Ernest Hemingway.