Whether or not you are a writer, this is relevant. For the past few months, I have been scouring the internet looking for freelance writing gigs. The good news is that there’s a plethora of opportunities out there. The bad news is that they are offering cut-rate wages.
Why should you be as alarmed and angry as I am about this? Well, for a few reasons:
Writers are often the voice for Freedom of Expression. If we aren’t paid at a level commensurate with our experience, how can we support ourselves? If we can’t economically survive by our craft, many will have to choose between our calling and our creditors. In effect, our voices become silent. This is a pernicious form of censorship, and ultimately, the citizenry pays the greater price.
Think about this. The going rates for ghost writing a blog is in the $10-30 range for roughly 500-800 words. That’s not so bad you think. Really? Well, consider this. For that fee, the writer does all the research, the writing, often the editing as well, and someone else gets the credit and copyright! Meaning, that these are not writing assignments which lead to other work because if you cannot get attribution, you cannot include these articles in your portfolio. Getting the picture?
A-A-R-G-H!
How about this? When my fellow writers do accept these miserly assignments, they are not only hurting themselves, they’re harming writers like me who reject this system of slave labor. In harsher terms, those who are so desperate that they’ll accept ANY pay, also unwittingly, make the same decision for their fellow scribes. It’s simple supply and demand.
To my fellow scribes, I respectfully say:
If all writers suddenly said: ”Hell no, we won’t go !” Third party websites like: Cloud Crowd, Writer Cash, Academic Experts, etc. would be forced to raise their rates to adequately compensate an author’s level of expertise. This is the beauty of free trade.
Comments really do ROCK! What’s your take on this?
© 2011-2013 Cinema Profound All Rights Reserved.
The same rational applies to the music industry. Most clubs have a universal and standard pay schedules no matter how many members in any particular band.
No doubt. Corporate greed runs rampant everywhere. We all need to take our power back. Thanks for taking the time to read and comment, Billy!
This is so true. Unfortunately, it’s true for editors, too (although not to such a degree). Everyone suffers when standards slip, and I applaud your conviction to not live by others’ low standards.
Unfortunately it is. Yes, I know. I was also an editor in Boston with Newsome & Company (closed when Newsome died). Things have really changed with the internet. It’s opened up the field, which is good; however, the influx of amateurs has made it difficult for us professionals to be adequately compensated. Thank you very much for expressing your support, it means the world to me. Peace!
Nail-on-the-head, as always C.P.
Aww, shucks. Thanks, Axel!
I’ve been looking around a bit lately as well. But I was looking at getting published in a literary journal that pays. Sadly those don’t pay a lot either.
Can’t comment on literary journals. Not my world. No surprise there. Thanks for reading and commenting, J.T.!
Don’t do it, Sidney, just don’t do it! Help elevate standards for all of us! I am with you on this one….. HELL NO!!!!!!
Not to worry, my friend. There’s NO CHANCE of me compromising myself for money. No way, Jose! Thanks, babe!
Totally agree, but I doubt anything less than the Second Coming of Christ, and him projecting a message on the face of the full Moon, saying “Do not accept low payments for your writing!” would prevent people from accepting the status quo. Good on you for your stand, however!
Les. I LOVE you. I’m laughing so hard I can hardly compose this reply. Damn though, I refuse to accept that. I think they just need to be reminded that we are a POWERFUL force, especially when we band together. Anyway, THANKS!
I do not even know how I ended up here, but I thought this post was great.
I don’t know who you are but certainly you are going to a famous blogger if you aren’t already
Cheers!
Haha! I know what you mean. I blog hop myself and have found some great sites that way. What a generous compliment; thank you very much!
Wow that was unusual. I just wrote an really long
comment but after I clicked submit my comment didn’t appear. Grrrr… well I’m
not writing all that over again. Anyways, just wanted to say wonderful blog!
Oh, dear! That’s happened to me many times visiting other sites. Sorry for that. Thank you very much for visiting and commenting. I hope I’ll see you here again.
Hello, I think your site might be having browser compatibility issues.
When I look at your blog site in Opera, it looks
fine but when opening in Internet Explorer, it has some overlapping.
I just wanted to give you a quick heads up! Other then that, superb blog!
I will look into that. Thank you very much for calling it to my attention! Why thank you!
I love looking through a post that can make men and women think.
Also, many thanks for allowing for me to comment!
That makes two of us! Of course! Thank you for taking the time to do so.
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and men don’t seem to be fascinated except it’s one thing to do with Lady gaga!
Your personal stuffs great. All the time handle it up!
Thanks very much for all of your kind words. I agree with you that the public’s fascination with celebrity is rather troubling. I’ll absolutely keep it up, on that you may depend.
Excellent post. I definitely love this site.
Keep it up!
I am very pleased to hear that! I’ll do my level best.
Very nice post. I just stumbled upon your blog and wanted to say that
I’ve really enjoyed surfing around your blog posts. After all I will be subscribing to your feed and I hope you write again very soon!
Thanks so much! Happy that you did! That I will. Thanks again!
Greetings! This is my 1st comment here so I just wanted to give a quick shout out and say I really enjoy reading your articles.
Can you recommend any other blogs/websites/forums that cover
the same topics? Thanks a lot!
So kind of you to say, thank you! I’d be happy to. On my site, look down the right sidebar and you will see “Blogs That I Follow”, they are all excellent! Enjoy!
Hey very nice blog!
Hey, thank you very much!
WOW just what I was looking for. Came here by searching for aaron lewis
Well, I’m very glad that you did! I hope to see you again.
Hi Sidney! You had me at Solidarity… this is so great to read, and so true. I am with you… I just wanted to add that I have liked Constant Content because you set your own price. I have found that people are willing to pay for high quality there.
Hey, kiddo! It’s so great to see my new friend here! Yeah, baby! We writers need to be cooperative, not destructive! EXCELLENT! Thank you so much, Libby! Going to get right on it!!!!!!!!!! Muah! XOXO
Excellent post. I used to be checking continuously
I take care of such info much. I was looking for this particular information for a long time. Thanks and good luck.
this blog and I’m inspired! Extremely helpful info particularly the last phase
Thanks, Milton. Well then, hopefully, you’ll subscribe so you don’t miss my future posts.
With havin so much written content do you ever run into any issues of plagorism or
copyright infringement? My website has a lot of unique content I’ve either created myself or outsourced but it appears a lot of it is popping it up all over the internet without my permission. Do you know any techniques to help reduce content from being ripped off? I’d truly appreciate it.
For reasons I’m sure you’ll understand, I’d rather not answer that directly. Let me say this instead, protecting your work — especially when it’s posted over the internet — is challenging. My best advice is for you to a) screen shot where these violations have occurred, b) inform the violators that they do not have your permission and therefore, must immediately either remove your copy, or give you attribution; and c) contact an attorney who is experienced in copyright law. You may also offer “sharing” and “reflagging” options on your site. That way, people can share your copy without stooping to stealing it. I hope this is helpful. Good luck!
I was reminded of the music industry as I read your blog. Actually, now that I think about it, I can’t think of any industries that don’t underpay (or at least try to). It’s a shame. The art of doing anything seems to be generally undervalued. I like the idea of “Hell no we won’t go” but you know what? There will always be someone willing (but not necessarily able) to do the job at a substantial pay cut and a company throwing out the fishing line to hook them in.
No doubt, and I concur that the issue is endemic. That’s the crux of the problem.
simply stopping by to say hi
[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCi2eX0hvHE]this video[/url]
No idea who wrote that, but hello back. Thank you for visiting!
Everything said was actually very reasonable. But, what about this?
suppose you typed a catchier title? I mean, I
don’t wish to tell you how to run your blog, however suppose you added a post title to possibly get people’s attention?
I mean SOLIDARITY | Cinema Profound is kinda plain. You might
glance at Yahoo’s home page and note how they create news titles to grab viewers to open the links. You might add a video or a picture or two to get people interested about everything’ve got to say.
In my opinion, it might make your posts a little livelier.
Well, I hope so! Haha, I thought I had. “Solidarity” is the post’s title, but thanks for your suggestion, and I will give it some thought. Haha, now I know you didn’t read the article because I do have graphics in it. Thanks anyways, Kristal.
I do not drop a bunch of responses, however i did some searching
And, if you are writing on additional places, I’d like to keep up with everything
and wound up here SOLIDARITY | Cinema Profound. And I actually do
have some questions for you if it’s allright. Is it just me or does it appear like a few of these responses look like they are written by brain dead individuals?
new you have to post. Could you make a list of the complete urls of your communal pages like your
twitter feed, Facebook page or linkedin profile?
Glad you did, although in the future you should reply with another email, because this one landed you in my spam file. All of my links are easily found with a Google search. You can also find me here: about.me/sidneypeck. Thanks for your interest.
Appreciating the commitment you put into your website and detailed information you provide.
It’s good to come across a blog every once in a while that isn’t the same old rehashed information.
Wonderful read! I’ve saved your site and I’m adding your RSS feeds
to my Google account.
That’s my intention; thank you for acknowledging it. That pleases me very much, thank you!
Awesome article.
Thank you1
Wonderful blog! I found it while browsing on Yahoo News.
Do you have any tips on how to get listed in Yahoo News?
I’ve been trying for a while but I never seem to get there! Appreciate it
Thank you very much! Not really, but my suggestion is that you allow links to your blog(s). If you don’t, you may get some anyway, but the chances will definitely improve if you do. Best of luck and I hope to see you here again.