Being a freelance writer can be like hurling yourself repeatedly at a brick wall.
Every day, I wake up and pitch the best ideas I can think of to half a dozen different news outlets. Most of them I will never hear from again. But the slight possibility that one in twenty will respond is my sole motivation.
I’ve been freelancing since I left the Daily Dot in December, and only now am I able to pay (some of) my bills. As Susannah wrote, they call it freelancing because a lot of the time, you feel like you’re working for free much of the time.
Still, a recent discussion on compensation for writers made it clear that my path isn’t the only way to get a byline. There are plenty of people out there who are both willing and able to write for free. Some are professionals in another field who write columns for pleasure and recognition. Others are students or interns. I used to be one of the latter.
I wrote that post back in 2010, so I don’t necessarily agree now with everything I said about working for free. But I still believe this: It was worth it because I needed the internship experience more than the company needed me. Three years later, I still think this is the only reason anyone should write for free.
Just last year I wrote a lengthy article on Homestuck fandom for CNN. I did not get paid for this article. I’m not surprised if you didn’t realize that since 1) CNN is an enormous company with lots of money and 2) I intentionally omitted that detail when I wrote about the article, because I felt like a failure. What kind of person works for free and has the nerve to call herself a professional writer?
It was a tough decision, but I eventually agreed to write for CNN without compensation because—you guessed it—I needed them more than they needed me. My rewards for this one article have been tremendous:
- My article was popular. With 3,500 Facebook likes, 500+ tweets, and hundreds of thousands of hits, I was literally writing for exposure.
- I have the dubious honor of being Wikipedia’s most cited authority on the Homestuck page.
- I get to write that I’ve been published in CNN on my resume from now until forever.
- I got to tackle a topic that’s important to me and fun to write. I think this is what Adrian Chen means when he talks about the “fulfillment factor.”
For me, these four reasons were enough to sway me into exchanging my hard work for something other than money. But whenever you’re forced into working for free, your ultimate decision will be personal. Will you be writing for real exposure (or are they just saying that)? Will it be a strong addition to your portfolio? And most importantly, do you need them more than they need you?
Because if they’re the ones propositioning you and not the other way around, it’s time to stick to your guns and ask to be paid what you’re worth.
(Photo by Douglas Porter on Flickr.)
5 Comments.
As I told your mate-in-fate on her Forbes post:
Funny, but when I started you, I learned that a pink slip/rejection letter [yes, literally done via U.S. mail] was worth it’s price in gold.
I did a lot of reading — books on how to do business, bio/auto-bio on entrepreneurs, had a subscription to a magazine devoted to Entrepreneurs, and read books by several freelance writers. Never once did I ever mistake FREELANCE to mean FREEE stuff for others. Look up the definition. It goes back to when men would hire out this lancing skills independently. They were free of obligation or duty to another kingdom and selling their skills. Mercenaries. If you’ve not got the passion they did to go in for the kill, you may not want to be a freelancer.
Doing my best Tom Hanks voice as Joe Fox: You’re at war. ‘It’s not personal, it’s business. It’s not personal it’s business.’ Recite that to yourself every time you feel you’re losing your nerve. I know you worry about being brave, this is your chance. Fight. Fight to the death.
source: http://cinema.theiapolis.com/movie-2RSR/you-ve-got-mail/quotes/joe-fox.html
[to Kathleen Kelly (Shopgirl) in instant message] The Godfather is the I Ching. The Godfather is the sum of all wisdom. The Godfather is the answer to any question. What should I pack for my summer vacation? ‘Leave the gun, take the cannoli.’ What day of the week is it? ‘Maunday, Tuesday, Thursday, Wednesday.’ And the answer to your question is ‘Go to the mattresses.’ You’re at war. ‘It’s not personal, it’s business. It’s not personal it’s business.’ Recite that to yourself every time you feel you’re losing your nerve. I know you worry about being brave, this is your chance. Fight. Fight to the death.
The one time it’s OK to write for free, with no apologies needed, is when it’s for something you control completely: your own blog, for instance. You don’t have to make excuses to anyone about why you’re doing it, and in the end it’s still yours to repurpose or expand on as needed.
But if someone comes to you and asks you to work for them on spec, you’d better already have a trust relationship in place with them, or you’re simply asking to be exploited.
I was once part of a project that consumed a good deal of my time — time which I really needed to devote to work that would actually pay me something — and I ended up in some really dire financial straits because of it. At least some of that was my fault, for not also enlisting some paying work in that timeframe. But that didn’t diminish in any way the fact that they’d asked me to do something for nothing.
@Serdar, well said!
I’m really glad that the Homestuck article, despite not being a paying gig, still helped you out in other ways.
For me, the decision about whether or not to write for free comes down to the question: “Is this my only source of income?” If the answer is yes, then I would focus on paying jobs. Since the answer is still no and I primarily write for pleasure and exposure via my blog and GeeklaFemme.org, the question of pay doesn’t come up. Would it be nice? Sure. Am I dependent on it? No. that makes my world a lot simpler, but that also makes me not what I would call a “professional” writer. For people who are trying to be professional writers and make money doing it…the waters remain murky.
Thank you for pointing out the different ways in which one can be “paid” for their writing, be it money or otherwise!
@Kat, that’s a really good point. Right now that writing’s my only income, I have a tendency to put aside my pleasure writing (here, and guest posts for friends) when I could better spend my time getting paid. I really shouldn’t though because this blog has a history of paying me off in rather indirect ways—leading to paying jobs, getting me attention from the right people, etc.