Isn't this Ironic?
Yesterday, AOL purchased The Huffington Post for $315,000,000., this was big news all over the internet. Apparently the deal was signed at the Super Bowl.
I don’t read the Huffington Post often because I don’t care for the reporting or the petty tone of their articles and I especially don’t like all the name calling going on in the comment sections.
I understand why AOL would want to purchase a brand like The Huffington Post, they are widely read and AOL is trying to rework its own image and readership. (Full disclosure here, I am a freelance writer for Patch.com which is owned by AOL)
Honestly, I could care less about this merger. What I do care about is the last line in one of the articles written on MSNBC.com about The Huffington Post.
Huffington Post grew quickly from startup to online colossus and ranks as one of the top 10 current events and global news sites. Over time, it launched city-specific pages and developed a roster of sections such as food and books. The work of its paid staff is augmented by content from news outlets and 6,000 bloggers who write for free.
The emphasis is mine.
Seems to me Ariana Huffington owes each of those bloggers around $52,500. It’s not likely to happen according to the email she sent to those 6000 bloggers. The Huffington Post is not the only big name company that doesn’t compensate its contributors if it doesn’t have to. Forbes does it too, as does CNN, and all the other big news outlets. Why buy the cow when they can get the milk for free?
When are we going to stop acting like blog sluts who give it away for free?
After I read this article I copied and pasted the paragraph into an email and sent it to fellow blogger Kathy from The Junk Drawer. Her response was I know. That kills me. Every time a writer writes for free, it means another writer is having an argument with someone about getting paid enough or at all. Hmmm, I like that. I’m putting it up on my FB wall.
Which she did and the conversation has been lively to say the least.
And it is so true. Every time a blogger willingly contributes to a website for no compensation it makes it that much harder for the rest of us who are trying to eek out a living with our writing. We need to stand together and demand that we are fairly compensated for our work.
I understand why bloggers are willing to spread their legs for little more than a free drink. Companies dangle all kinds of great enticements in front of us; free products, a profile on the page, or the promise of traffic from the site for which they are writing (that never happens), but they are never worth what we provide them. We have to start asking for cold, hard, cash.
It isn’t easy to do, sometimes the offer of a product is all we think our work is worth but if we don’t start banding together these companies are going to keep taking advantage of us for our hard work.
And writing is hard. It takes time to craft a well thought out article about any given topic. Jayne, from In Jayne’s World, wrote very aptly that I secrete blood out of every orifice every time I write anything. I do too, which is why I no longer write or contribute without getting compensated. And by ‘compensation’ I mean cash. If I don’t value my time and my writing then why on earth should I expect someone else to?
This is not to say that I won’t still do an occasional review without compensation save for the product or service, but those are supposed to be objective and if you add compensation to that mix the review might not be so objective. Of course the reviews most bloggers do are completely biased because they are getting free merchandise or services and they want to keep ’em coming. Rarely will you read a review from a blogger (unless they are already getting paid by the newsite) that isn’t positive and glowing. The fear most bloggers have is that if they write a bad review they will get black balled in the PR/Marketing world. Bloggers work hard to be noticed by PR firms and they don’t want to mess that up.
6000 bloggers.
Think about that. 6000 bloggers are writing their hearts out, with no pay, so they might get noticed. And most of these companies don’t care because they know if one stands up for herself and asks for monetary compensation they can turn her down and find someone else who is willing to do it for free.
This is our Norma Rae Moment, if we don’t stand together and demand that our time and our skills are valuable we will never be properly compensated. We must stand together.
Related articles
- What the Web Is Saying About AOL’s HuffPo Purchase (gigaom.com)
- AOL to buy Huffington Post in $315M deal (cbc.ca)
- What Arianna Huffington Is Telling HuffPo Bloggers About AOL Merger (slog.thestranger.com)
It does sound unfair.
Magazines get guest writers all the time who contribute for no pay. This is not new.
True, however that public figures will demand exorbitant bribes.
Yes, I would give away my writing for ‘free’ (as you put it) to a popular magazine and demand no compensation. I want my ideas and opinions heard.
I have no beef with writing opinion pieces and giving them away for free. I do have a problem when their is a cattle call for articles and the first one to submit a piece gets published as well the others give up their rights to their work. If I got exposure for writing for free I would still be doing it, but it never works that way. Of course I don’t have great ideas that need to be heard, I just have to bitch every now and then for my own sanity.
Excellent piece, my dear. You are smokin’ these days. Thanks for the shout-out. I couldn’t believe it when one person said on Kathy’s thread: “Writing is easy.” It’s a lot of things, but easy ain’t one of them.
It’s only easy if you are doing it wrong. Imagine if the car companies used the same method to pay their workers, or Boeing or whoever makes mass transit vehicles. I wouldn’t to ride on any of them.
It’s a reason why I no longer guest write for larger blogs like BlogCritics that pioneered this sort of thing. They sold out and stiffed us as well .. the blog owners keeping all of the money for themselves.
They also assume ownership of our content if we put it on their site. Same goes for pukes like Zuckerberg and Facebook.
Why should I make them rich? I say is f**k that s**t.
Isn’t that the insult to injury, and thank you for mentioning that tidbit, most writers not only give away their hard work but they also give away the rights to it which means these companies can continue to profit off the backs of writers.
that is one of the issues I’ve had, and I don’t know that most of those writers are aware: It becomes THEIR content.
*standing ovation*
stumbled, tweeted, facebooked.
Thank you!
You’re very welcome!
I so agree with you on this. Every writer should consider the monetary value of their time and expertise. If they write for free, they are basically saying they consider themselves worthless. Every writer should charge something, that is of course if they have something worthwhile to say. There is a lot of fluff out there with little substance.
Even the fluff takes time to write. I have written what I would consider total fluff because the person who hired me wanted it that way. I still got paid
I agree, Jen. As a hobby bloggist I make no claim of being an actual “writer.” My lovely wife, a Realtor®, has a very successful business blog, and a paid position as a weekly columnist for Inman News Blog. She long ago stopped giving away her writing.
Good for her, Jack. I have read her columns, they are very informative and well written. I am glad she is being paid. As for you not claiming you are an actual writer I have to disagree. I lose myself in your writing every time I visit your and that to me is an actual writer. You have a gift my friend. I can rally the troops and talk about stuff that happens to me in real life but you are a creative which is no small feat.
The National Writer’s Union has lots of great resources for freelance writers (of any stripe) who want to ensure they get paid, and paid properly, for their work. I know that Linda (who’s on Tribal Bloggers) is a member and an advocate for them.
Thanks Thomas, that is a great resource and I will be sure to check it out.
Wow! I had no idea that so many people were going uncompensated for their work at these places. I wonder how often our need to be “liked” keeps us from realizing the true worth of our efforts?
That’s a good question. Are we doing it because we want to be popular? I’m motivated by money. I like to be liked but I can’t take that admiration to my utility company and pay for my electricity and gas.
Most blogs aren’t worth paying for. They’re just fun reading as they were fun for the writer to write them – and nothing more. And that’s what blogging should be like for me. If you want to be compensated for your time, you should find a job as a copywriter.
I wasn’t speaking of writing on your own blog. I was talking about bloggers who contribute their writing to websites so they can use them as their content. Writing is fun but when you are writing for someone else, who will benefit from your hard work, it is more work and less fun.
I think you’re making an interesting point, but I don’t agree on it. When you start a blog, you know you won’t be paid for your work. As you’re not paid when you write in your diary. Furthermore, you agree to the terms of use of your blog host. That’s your own choice. If you think you’re good enough a writer to be paid for it, you should go ahead and find yourself a publisher. And if you don’t want the host of your blog to use your texts, start your own website. Or am I mistaken?
I was not talking about writing for your own blog, like a diary, like this blog. I was talking about people who contribute articles to news sites that they use and keep rights to for no pay. I do write for other blogs and I do lose my rights to those articles, it’s called ghost writing and I make a decent living doing it because they pay me for my writing, my time and my skill. When I write here I don’t get paid for the writing per se, but I do get paid for the advertising on the site so in essence I am paid for my writing here. If I didn’t have content that was entertaining and kept people coming back I wouldn’t be able to charge for the advertisements on this site.
A much needed call to action, but one, I’m afraid, that will fall on too many deaf ears. So many of us are hungry for any kind of recognition that we dilute the market for clear, incisive, professional writing. When writers don’t get paid, the incentives for quality content are skewed in favor of populist tripe of the type that made HP a force on the Internet. $315 million for Arianna, who was so moved by her enormous good fortune that she wrote a letter to the 6000 writers who got her there to explain that they could expect more of the same?! The Hollywood model has come to roost in cyberspace, the one where the writers who produce the content fuels the money machine are second class citizens. I don’t know how to change it, but it needs changing.
You couldn’t have said it better. And it makes me a little sad.
This exact thing happened in the graphic design world, and was the cause for my business slowly grinding to a halt. As soon as software companies started putting out drawing packages, everyone thought they were graphic designers, and started supplying work free or for a pittance. Slowly my client base dwindled. “I’m doing my own work in-house” I was told by clients, or “I’ve found somebody that’s willing to do my work much cheaper”. And so it went until I had one client left, who was prepared to pay for a quality service. Fortunately he supplied me with just enough work to get by until I retired.
I fear that you may be fighting against the tide with this one too. There will always be people who will write for peanuts. They will, as you point out, always have a line of writers ready to take your place if you demand payment.
It’s a steady decline of standards and respecting a person’s worth.
I am inclined to agree with you that this is a losing battle. There will always be new bloggers and writers who want to get noticed. It’s just not what I want to be noticed for.
I’ve been a slow convert on this issue. At first my opinion was “of course you’re going to say that because you get paid”, because as a blogger just starting out you think that you have to “pay your dues” and give it away for free to get traffic, prizes for contests, etc, because you’re not a “celebrity blogger”. What changed my mind was getting pitched (over and over) by a PR company that basically said “we’ll give you this cool widget, if you tell people how much you love us” but you don’t even get free stuff. That’s when it kinda hit me that of course the PR firms are going to stop even wanting to give stuff becasue we’re giving them our talent for free… so what’s it worth?
I remember this “joke” that I was told once. A guy asks a woman in a bar if she’d sleep with him for a million dollars. She says SURE! Then he says would you sleep with me for 10 bucks. The woman says “why would I do that!?!” indignantly. The man says, we’ll we already know you’re for sale, now we’re just negotiating the price.
Well, the PR companies already know they can get content for practically nothing, now they just want to see how much more they can get for how much less!
Well said and very true. The difference between a whore and slut is that the whore gets paid. Which doesn’t sound like I wanted it to but you are right, if we don’t value ourselves the PR companies aren’t going to.
Amen, sister. I’d write more but I’m on my stoopit iPhone.
Amen, sister. I’d write more but I’m on my stoopit iPhone.
My stoopit iphone saved me yesterday. Even if autofill is embarrassing sometimes.
Awesome post Jen!!! I don’t give it away for free, EVER (just ask my husband). You want a piece of me send it right to my paypal account and I’ll get going.
I HAVE to say, on the other hand, I really do understand why some people will write an article if only to have published samples of their work in order to get paid gigs. But, man, I bet those 6000 bloggers are pissed.
I get that part of it, I really do. And it is something for someone who wants to break into writing to consider. It can be a help in the beginning. But after that you just get known as someone who will write for free, as Laura stated so eloquently above.
It’s no different than running a sweat shop. Actually, it’s worse since they’re not paying a cent. On the other hand, the writer is giving their content away in exchange for (maybe) their name on a widely read website.
That said, I can’t even look at the Huffington Post. I can’t deal with the massive glut of information/dis-information.
I’ve been promised all kinds of traffic and exposure when I gave my writing away. It never materialized, never. I’m still angry that I kept at it for as long as I did. What a waste.
Not a waste. It reinforced the lesson that if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
Brilliant missive, Jen! 😉
Seriously.
Thanks Nicky.
Completely agree with you here. It is wrong on so many levels. I do a bit of freelance work in Australia and the same thing goes on here. I have read some amazing articles and essays by bloggers and was shocked to find out later that they hadn’t been paid. It was obvious that they had put an enormous amount of work into the finished piece. I do read The Huffington Post but will admit that much of the writing gets on my nerves mainly because of its whiny tone and the constant conservative bashing that goes on (for the record, I am more left leaning than right but I feel that always trying to score points politically as a writer serves no purpose and doesn’t really address the issue at hand.)
I am quite angry that The Huffington Post sold for such an enormous sum of money and that all those writers had been writing for free. Talk about getting shafted. That’s just not right. We definitely need to stand up and say :’ Our work is valuable. Pay us what we’re worth or get left with the two bit writers who can’t spell words of more than one syllable.’
Excellent post!
The thing is there are people who don’t speak English as a first language who are writing for companies that pay them (not much, but something) more than sites like the Huffington Post. While they also make it hard for a writer to make a living at least they are getting paid something. I couldn’t afford to write for free, I have bills to pay and kids to feed. Most writers I know have the same need to be paid. I guess it’s nice if you can give it away. Too bad you are lowering my value when you do it.
I stopped writing for blog networks. I got tired of empty promises. I know when they are making money and when they are struggling. I wasn’t impressed. Now I write my own blog just myself and make far more than I ever made any year I wrote for another site.
Exactly! It might have taken a little time to do so, I know it did on my own blog, but it’s so worth it.
But how ladies and gentlemen–How? Give us who are new to this a leg up so we don’t have to repeat the same mistakes. It’s so-o confusing out here…Like I read earlier on that guest-posting was supposed to optimize one’s blog so I have been guesting wonderful articles (because I wish to be patient advocate) on big medical site, but when I looked and saw blogsite owner networked my material to about 100 other places, frankly I was miffed…my work…my blood, sweat. tears…his glory (OH, I got mentioned–Geez!). The messages are conflicting and since I’m an older newbie whose blog is 6 mos. old, I need all the advance warning I can get. Just point me in right (write) direction. Tell me where I should go and I’ll skip the non-productive, whorish business. I need you people….www.biddybytes.com
The problem is that people are writing for free for a big site like Huffington because they want recognition. What they fail to understand is that they will be recognized as a writer who can be had cheap, for nothing even. I doubt that is really the impression they want. Most of us think we will get paid better once we become known. But, becoming known for writing freebies isn’t ever going to work. The odd guest post freebie would work better than writing for free just to be published.
You are so right. It’s tempting to do the freebies because we want the quick fix and the instant recognition but nothing beats hard work and perseverance and they both should be compensated.
My blog was offered a 10% discount by a company if I wrote about their products. Ten percent? Are you kidding me? It wasn’t even worth my time.
That is insulting! I just got mad all over again. I am so glad you didn’t take it.
Agreed. Totally out of their minds if they think anyone would bite. I get the sense that the people companies hire to try and exploit bloggers have no clue what they’re doing and they’re just feeling things out now. I suspect things will get a lot more normalized over the next few years. Right now, it’s like the wild wild west out there. 10% discount? Geesh.
Well said.
I’ll have to post something in the TB forum that I recently received. It’s mind-blowing what this company thinks/expects I’ll do. I just deleted the correspondence but now I’m thinking I should reply and send a link to this post.
I have a junk mail folder full of those kinds of offers. We should start a board about these things.
And (this is PS to my earlier comment), IF I truly do change the relationship with these big sites and stop giving it for free (because I agree we need pay for what we do), HOW MUCH DO I CHARGE for a piece? I am a published writer whose had her work out there and it is getting good press, so to speak, but I do not even know what is appropriate (should be a whole primer on this topic/rates/to whom to send, etc.) Thank you for info on National Writers Union…www.biddybytes.com
Too true!!!!
I’ve seen it again and again. There are plenty of sites that have made their name on the backs of others.
I remember the owner of one site telling me: “It’s ok if she leaves {speaking of a writer who was unhappy with the promised “carrot on the stick” never getting any closer}, there are plenty of other people willing to write for me to get their name out there.”