By now we can pretty much recite most of these, but just in case you’re new to writing, here are some sure signs the employer has no intention of paying you for your work.
1. “This is a labor of love for us.” Time and again, this has gone on to say “….and for that reason, we cannot pay at this time.” The minute the word “labor” is involved, it’s usually you suffering the labor pains.
2. “Post your work for free on our site!” Oh dear gawd. They really mean for us to believe that they’re doing us a favor. Another word that means the same thing: “showcasing” your work. Yea, right. I saw one last week that actually read “Promote yourself on our site!” What they really mean to say is “We need content, so we’ll just pretend we’re helping you out!” Get your own website and promote yourself without furthering some lazy shmuck’s goals.
3. “We need writers looking to build their resumes” or “Build valuable clips.” You’ll never build your resume properly by giving away work. That’s what they’re asking you to do. As for clips, do you honestly think someone there will edit your work or that the site will have enough traffic or branding to be clip worthy? Again, post your writing for free on your own site. Keep your copyright.
4. “The perfect job for stay-at-home moms and college graduates.” Great. Now they’ve insulted two classes of society in one sentence. What makes them think moms and grad don’t need money or have talent? Putzes.
5. “We cannot pay at this time, but there is potential for future earnings.” Sure there is. And Christmas now comes in July.
6. “We pay in ad revenue.” Just run like hell. Even the most popular sites aren’t paying that much in ad revenue. Either a per-word or per-article rate or buh-bye, losers!
Any others you can think of?
12 responses to “Six Phrases That Mean “I’m Not Paying””
My personal red flag fave: “We’re a start-up business.” This is not to say all start-ups are looking for free labour, but in my experience it’s definitely the majority.
Also, any ad that has the word “exposure” in it sends off sirens for me.
That’s true for me too, Amanda. My experience with most startups has been their inability to pay or to pay on time.
Exposure is for nudists. I want cash. :))
Indeed!
How about: “I gave up on freelancing and have a job now, so I am looking for guest blogger to try out for free”?
Make that bloggers–plural. Luckily, I did not try out, huh?
I once got the comment from a small business owner “your hourly rate is more than I even make.” Of course it is. I’m going to be working 5 hours a week for you. You work more than 40 hours a week because its your business.
One of my favorite lines: “I’m looking for interns” blah blah blah. I think it’s because they know they could pay less or none at all because of the so-called “lack of experience” and a comprehensive portfolio.
Oh gawd, I hate that one! Interns, college students, moms, and those looking to gain exposure – excuses used to avoid payment. Good one, lemski!
Nothing is more irritating to a writer (this one, anyway) than those who don’t understand that writing is work – creative effort – and should not be taken for granted.
Editors and publishers can be almost as guilty as these no-pay sites you mention because they often don’t take authors and artists into the same consideration they would their secretary when it comes to payment.
DNW
Macabre Ink
My favourite is “Wanna have some fun and get paid with free stuff?” This is a famous line for a lot of blogs catering to the sucker crowd: 20 somethings desperate to build their careers. One local entertainment blog asks their writers to post at least 3 times a week, the writer should ideally have a camera, and the rewards are: press passes to local music gigs.
The fantastic part is when the writers then complain bitterly on the blog that the “so-and-so music/film/whatever festival” are being jerks and not putting these writers on the guest list. Because they actually start to believe that they are Real Journalists and not suckas that are writing for a blog that has been around for 4 years and has yet to actually get enough traffic to justify payment through aforementioned “ad revenue”.
When I contacted the blog in question, I received an email from the admin with the previously mentioned “rah! rah! be cool and write for us!” crap PLUS a whole sob story on how they are planning to get rid of their current writers who just aren’t producing the quality they are looking for. Nice. Trash talking about your current suckers in a bid to attract more suckers? Yeah, you sound real “cool”.
Madness!
Wow. That’s just absurd. You gotta admire the kahonas of the blog admin, who seems to think the entire writing profession has taken enough blows to the head to not see what’s going on.
I hope you countered with a “Sure. My fee is ten times what you were paying them because you’re now paying for QUALITY writing, and quality is worth more.”
I had to laugh at your post. How many times have I seen those phrases!? I just wrote an article about people who scam others into writing for them by advertising writing jobs and having them send in “original content” as part of the app. process.
Priceless