Selling Out for Less
May 7th, 2008
It’s bad enough that writers are underpaid – no company in the world would get anything done and out without the written word.
It’s also bad enough that many writing jobs advertised in the paper and on the Net offer peanuts for pay – no other field, with the exception of social work, would dare offer a paycheck that can buy you a paper and a cup of coffee.
But what really gets my goat is the reason why these employees get away with this kind of slave labor: the willingness of many writers to accept and work for .03 a word, $5 a post, $100 an article, and the like.
When you, as a writer, accept less than acceptable wages, you sell the rest of us writers out.
It’s one thing if you’re some kid out of college, with no portfolio and no experience to get you in the door. But what galls me are these ads stating that they want so many years of experience, want to see several clips of your work, AND on top of it, want you to take the time to submit one of their writing exercises just to “prove” that you are the writer you say you are. THEN, after all is said and done, they only want to pay you pennies on the dollar. And when a writer submits his or her resume to that kind of ad, they’re only reinforcing that idea that we are only to happy to spend our time writing for someone else because – hey, we love to write, right?
If you have any respect for yourself as a writer and for the writing field in general, stay away from guru.com, elance.com, or any site that requires you to place a bid. This has the negative result of writers underbidding themselves, when instead they should be demanding top dollar. In other words, fellow wordsmiths – if nobody bids, we might be taken seriously for once.
Also, stay away from ads that read, “payment commensurate with experience.” What does that mean? And who is going to judge what my 27 years of experience is worth, and whether or not it’s enough?
Only answer ads that have the payment there in black and white. The company advertising oughta know what they want to pay. And, again, if the payment is ridiculous, scan right on by until you find one worth your talent and time.
Can you imagine offering a top exec what amounts to less than minimum wage an hour? Can you imagine your plumber working on your sink, and not demanding a full day’s pay when done? Most of us have a four-year degree or more, yet a mechanic makes a zillion times more. No disrespect of course, to mechanics. But if we didn’t pay them, our cars might not run.
And like them, the world runs on correspondence. If all the writers stopped writing for less than fair pay, life as we know it might come to a screeching halt.