What’s on the iPod: Hallelujah by Rufus Wainwright
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We’re nearly finished with February — is that possible? Before we wave goodbye to our shortest month, we still have some unfinished business when it comes to promotion and client generation.
Client generation tip: I spent this week finishing up an article project and pitching a few more ideas to other publications. Now is when magazines are flush with budgets. The work that’s here now will dissipate by October. Get busy while you can.
I sent out a few letters of introduction and got back in touch with some prospects who’d responded with enthusiasm when I’d gotten in touch. We’ll see.
Thanks to Susan Johnston of The Urban Muse blog (and author of LinkedIn and Lovin’ It) for sending me this link to a Huffington Post wonk describing why his organization doesn’t pay its writers. Sorry I can’t embed it: that function has been disabled for this video. But do follow the link and share in host Allison Hope Weiner’s outrage. Hers was more controlled than I could have been, but she did a fine job handling such a load of BS with finesse:
Note when she asks “Don’t you feel any obligation to pay those writers?” regarding those articles HuffPo lifts and reprints without pay, the HuffPo Managing Editor Jimmy Soni says “We direct substantial sums of traffic to other news organizations because we’re willing to give credit where credit is due. A lot of authors have written to us and said the opposite of what you’re saying, which is ‘Thank you for linking to my work…'”
She hammers back at him, but he starts his answer with what’s become my least favorite word in the English language: “So we have paid reporters on staff…” To me, “So…” is not an argument — it’s a brush off and it shows someone who’s ignoring what’s in front of them. But I digress.
What I love is when Soni describes how a high school student submitted a letter that got the attention of the First Lady, Weiner replies”I find it disturbing that now you have high school students writing for free.”
But throughout this entire video, what stands out to me? The bullshit, which is not new. It’s just that it’s so practiced.
The responses by Soni are exactly what one would expect because it’s repeated by other groups with similar business platforms. Pay as little as possible for as much as possible. And never apologize. Instead, expect gratitude.
Here are the underlying messages, plus where these platforms fail the freelance writing and journalism professions:
Writers should be honored to have us lift their stuff. They’ll pick up your articles from news agencies and link back. That’s it. That’s the part you’re expected to feel “honored” about. It’s not unlike that pushy girl in high school who stole your boyfriend while sidling up to you in mock friendship. She gets the boy. You get “credit” for introducing them.
We’re giving writers free exposure! Oh, super. Another person wanting to increase my popularity by expecting me to work for free. Get in line. Better yet, get lost.
Payment will come later (and by other people) once you gain notoriety. If I had a nickel for every time I was promised payment via increased notoriety, hell, I’d be rich. And I sure as hell wouldn’t be working for someone who doesn’t pay.
Writers should be thanking us. I will never quite understand why I should thank someone for stealing my work and giving me one lousy link back to my stolen work while they keep the ad revenue and site traffic. I’ve had that happen, and the dude doing the stealing had the audacity to chew me out for being “too stupid” to see the big picture. He didn’t see the even-bigger picture — the one where my attorney was standing in the wings ready to pounce on that plagiarism and copyright infringement stuff.
We’re assuming all writers want to be associated with us. This is a big problem. What if you are opposed to the practices of the people thinking they’re “promoting” you? What if you loathe their business model or cannot abide by their actions or attitudes? Tough noogies. They’ve decided to “honor” you by linking you directly to them. If they end up in a huge scandal, they’ve just made you guilty by association. Like that guy who stole my content — he assumed I wanted to be associated with him. He couldn’t have been more wrong.
It’s why we go down the Writers Worth road every May, and why this blog and others like it exists: you are worth so much more than nothing, and no amount of linking or promising payment or giving $10 stipends and calling it a paycheck will suffice. Promoting yourself is your business in all meanings of the phrase. Don’t allow someone to steal your work and smooth-talk you into submission. Defend your right to run your business your way.
How has your work been “promoted” without your permission?
How do you think that differs from blogs sharing links?
This is precisely why I don't click links people send me about great articles they saw on Huffington Post. I refuse to patronize a site that I know doesn't pay the vast majority of its writers.
I do know of one writer who's a paid HuffPo staffer. I like her as a person, but no longer click the links she tweets to her stories. If they can pay her, they can pay all of their writers.
Writers Worth Month can't get here soon enough.
(See how I did that, Lori? You started with Day, I kept saying Week. You started calling it Week, now I'm calling it Month. Slick, huh?)
Really slick, Hendrickson. 😉
Actually, you did manage to persuade me to make last year's celebration a month long. 🙂 It's tiring, but it's worth it if one person decides to expect more.
I don't click on HuffPo links, either. Nor will I visit eHow, Demand, or any sites that won't pay writers well, or at all.
Yeah, it goes without saying that the only way I'd click a content mill's link would be by accident.
I know we've had this discussion before, but if the bloggers/writers would stop doing it for free, the site would either have to change its policy or sink.
However, it was pretty funny to observe the interviewer's demeanor when he started spinning his feel good (?) stories. I was waiting for her to shout, Whatever, Dude. 🙂
The other day on I received a new posting in a group I belong too on my LinkedIN profile. It was from a website called Ghostbloggers.net.
Me being the skeptic I am, I had to review it further if only for my own curiosity. I looked at the site and there is a section for writers and bloggers to contribute work which then gets sold to people/businesses looking for content.
The site acts as a distribution site on a writers behalf. I was mortified.
After digging a little deeper, I discovered that the writer only gets paid $3.50/100 words and only gets payment to their PayPal accounts after hitting the minimum payout of $25.00 According to the site, 550 words can net about $19.00US
I'm very outspoken so I had to say something to this gentleman about the site. Here is what I wrote:
"Please don't take offense to this but in my opinion, this site undermines the value of good writing, freelance writers and the industry as a whole. This is merely a content-mill with a middle man. Writing isn't a product that can be boxed up and sold in a store.
How did you arrive at the $3.50/100 word payout? And a minimum cash out value of $25? That's ridiculous. Any self respecting writer, whether they are just starting out or have years of experience would not sign up for this.
I will NOT be visiting, endorsing or using your site at any time, now or in the future.
Good Luck with your site."
Too bad my comment was deleted.
Even though I am not a fulltime freelance writer, I value the craft and the business of writing. I value the writers who are out there working and maintaining a level of professional integrity that allows newbie writers like me to be paid fairly.
Sometimes I can be quite the idealist but I think too many people take writing and writers for granted. While everyone can write, not everyone can write well.
I'm not a perfect writer but I will not pan handle on sites like this just to get paid. Beggars can be choosers if you choose wisely.
Building on what Michael said, those sites — and the writers who work for them — hurt ALL of us who are busting our butts to make a living, because people just getting used to the idea of hiring writers think we should work for a pittance or "exposure".
Then, of course, they get crap in return, and wonder why they should have to pay at all. Where, if they hired a pro at a reasonable rate, they'd get quality first time out.
Michael, I'm sorry your comment was deleted, too. Says something about the person running the place, doesn't it?
Utterly ridiculous offer. That's not a place serious writers should ever give their work to. Unfortunately, there are a lot of non-serious writers out there. What really frustrates me though? Seeing writers climb over each other to "win" this type of job. What the hell are they thinking?
Devon, having been replaced by a writer who agreed to $25 a blog post, I know exactly what happens to those clients. In fact, that one came back begging me to work for them again, only I got to choose my rate that time.
People who won't pay what I'm worth are not my clients.
I find this hilarious. I mean, weren't these same folks bent out of shape when they didn't get a share of Ariana's fortune when she sold to AOL? Did they not learn anything? Do they have even a lick of business acumen?
Anyway, Darwin will have his way with them.
It is a bit daft, isn't it Jake? They went OFF because Oh no! They just realized they weren't being paid (really??)! Then this? Sweet Mother of All, how daft.
Oh, man, you just got me started. I won't rant on and on, but I'll say two things.
1. I won't read HuffPo for exactly this reason.
2. Another writer friend and I were just talking about this. Her husband's friend was a writer at a big-city newspaper and got laid off. All the while, the wife was touting that her articles (unpaid, of course) were getting picked up on HuffPo. My writer friend: And they didn't see the connection!
I preach to everybody: DO NOT WORK FOR FREE. IT'S A FOR-PROFIT CORPORATION.
AMEN, Gabriella! You're preaching what I'm hearing!
The scenario you described –this is the kind of stuff that's killing journalism. How long before that seeps into other areas, such as marketing and customer communications?
BTW – did anyone notice Doonesbury's recurring storyline about a downsized reporter reduced to writing for HuffPo?
A favorite one had him trying to get an interview and being asked if he was a paid or unpaid HuffPo blogger.
I got a response back from the guy who started the site. Instead of addressing my question he deflected it by asking why I didn't have any connections yet on the site. I replied but before hitting the "send" button, I did some digging of my own. Found out his experience and credentials are focused on web design and I.T.
Instead of getting into it with someone who clearly has no appreciation of writers,I took the high road, deleted my comment and stated I won't be using his site any time soon and wished him good luck.
Just thought I'd share my experience with your fans / followers.
Cheers!
Michael, good for you. I don't know that I'd have had the same restraint. 🙂 I think his deflection is more telling than any answer he might have offered. He doesn't have the answer because he knows what you say is true — it's a crap job paying crap wages. He has no criteria for why he's not paying more. Maybe that's what he had in his pocket at the time. Maybe he wanted to see how low writers would go. Maybe he thought "Hey! I have a spare fifty bucks–let me see how far I can stretch it." Or maybe he thinks that a writer isn't worth more than a Happy Meal.
Or maybe he's just a jerk who would be highly offended if the shoe was on the other foot?
I saw that video, and I couldn't do much more than laugh, shut it down, and take my self-respect elsewhere. The guy was clearly oblivious. She handled him well. I probably would have broken down and punched him in the nose.
Jenn, I would have paid money to see that. 🙂 What gets me is they keep parroting the same BS without missing a beat. If it's such a great deal, how about HE tries it?
Right. That's not happening. 🙂