Comments on: Free Advice Friday: This Job, Not That Job

By: Melanie Kissell

Melanie Kissell — Fri, 22 May 2015 17:38:36 +0000

This one's a doozy!

Happens to graphic designers, too — the ever lovin' logo "contest", for example. UGH. OY. What artist is going to spend his/her precious time designing something for free?! Nobody, that's who.

By: Lori Widmer

Lori Widmer — Fri, 03 Oct 2014 18:02:16 +0000

Eileen, that's just lousy. So they're using their big-name status to screw over writers? Why does everyone want to jump on the HuffPo model? It's as though they think reputation doesn't matter.

Paula, I suspect there's no real winner, either. Well, even the "winner" is kind of a loser in this case.

By: Paula

Paula — Fri, 03 Oct 2014 14:19:30 +0000

Call me a skeptic, but I'm pretty sure the 99 or so other losers will be rewarded with the exposure gained by having their "tests" published on the blog - without their content or payment. There probably won't be a "winner" at all, since they'll have all of those free "entries" to use.

You know they'll argue that all contest entries become property of the entity running the contest.

By: Eileen

Eileen — Fri, 03 Oct 2014 13:19:57 +0000

It isn't only the unknowns who try to pull this off. I was recently approached by an 800 pound gorilla in the world of direct response marketing. These are the guys that built a nearly billion dollar business on direct mail. They found me on the web and asked if I would be interested in working for them. I thought I was … after all, they're the "holy grail" client for many copywriters. It turns out they were asking for spec work. Yep, IF they liked my headline and lead, they'd pay me a portion of my fee, and then IF they liked the rest of the copy, they'd pay me the rest. Um … no. 13 years writing copy, 8 of it in the industry they need writers in that require a nuanced understanding of the regulatory climate … and they are asking for spec work? It was like a slap in the face with a dead, clammy fish. A colleague of mine observed that they have a bad case of "Disney-itis" and assume just having them on one's resume is payment enough. But not for me. I'd love to work with them, and if they would meet my terms, I'd do so. But that looks pretty unlikely. I know my worth … and it isn't speculative.