The Writer's Dilemma: Should You Write For Free?

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Summary: If you're a professional writer, it goes against the
grain to write for free. But it may just be the best move you
ever made.

Total words: 850

Category: Writing

The Writer's Dilemma: Should You Write For Free?

Copyright (c) 2002 by Angela Booth

If you're a professional writer, should you ever write for free?
I used to be adamant that that way lies madness. However, I've
changed my mind. Sort of.

I still believe that if you're writing for a major publication
which accepts advertising, you should be paid, and paid well. If
a magazine, newspaper or Web site charges thousands of dollars
for advertising, they can afford to pay the writer for the
content which delivers the eyeballs to that advertising. Without
writers, there would be no advertising, and the publication
wouldn't exist.

However, there are problems.

=> The problems with paying writers' markets

Here are several of the problems I've identified:

* Declining pay rates for writers. If you write for major
magazines, you know that you're getting paid less today than you
were in the eighties.

* Stiff competition. You send your query in, and never hear. This
is understandable. Major magazines receive hundreds of queries
every week. If they replied to them all, the staff would never
get anything else done.

* Editor churn. Even ten years ago, if you sold to a major
magazine, you formed a relationship with the editor. You sold her
other pieces over the next year or two. Nowadays you're lucky if
the editor is still with the magazine when the issue with your
article in it hits the newsstands.

* Slow payment in tough times. Even with pay on acceptance
markets, you may wait months for your check.

* Wasting time. You can spend days wracking your brain and
researching, to find the perfect story for a particular market,
and then receive the reply, thanks, but: "We're running a story
on that in our next issue" or "We've just signed a writer for
that".

What's the upshot of all these problems? If you can't stand the
heat, get out of the kitchen. I've turned to copywriting, that
is, writing for businesses, rather than put up with the hassles
of writing for magazines.

=> The benefits of writing for free

It makes sense to write for free if you're being paid in other
ways.

For example, as promotion. My sister and I have just partnered in
a new Web site Digital-e --- Info to Go:

http://www.digital-e.biz/ .

I've been happily writing articles to promote the site for a few
weeks now. I send my articles out far and wide and hope that
ezine editors and Web site owners will publish them for free.
It's not really writing for free, it's quid pro quo because in
exchange for using my articles, the publications include my
Resource Box, which includes a link to my site.

However, beyond promotion, I've discovered other benefits of
writing for free.

* You write more. This is pressure-free writing. You get to write
what you like, when you like.

* You get more ideas. All this keyboard-tapping is making me more
creative. I've got pages and pages of notes for articles, books,
and courses.

* You enjoy writing more. It's been years since I enjoyed writing
this much. Why? Because it's more play than writing.

* You're pioneering new ways for writers to make a living from
writing.

=> You, the writer, as pioneer

The Internet turns writers into pioneers. You get to discover new
ways to make a living from your craft. Is this easy? No. Is it
fascinating? You bet.

I first became aware of the Internet in 1993-1994. In those days,
getting an Internet connection was an adventure. I finally got a
free connection, set it up with lots of help (there's nothing as
unforgiving as a Unix command line), and discovered online
bulletin boards.

Within months, I had a CompuServe account and the real adventure
began. I couldn't believe the possibilities. I still can't.

There's a revolution going on. Thanks to the Internet, writers
are discovering new ways to make money. They're publishing their
books as ebooks, setting up subscription Web sites, and
subscription ezines.

They get started in this adventure by writing "for free". As
their following builds, they sell their work to the people who
know them and trust what they have to say.

* These writers built this trust by writing for free.*

Can you make money from ebooks? You work it out. If you write an
ebook on a hot topic, it takes you a month or so to write. You
sell it online for $20. You sell 200 (let's be conservative). Not
bad pay for a month's work.

If you're writing professionally, it takes a change in
perspective to write and not get paid for it. At least, not in a
way you're used to being paid.

But writing for free can help you to discover how creative you
really are.

***Resource box: if using, please include***

Author and copywriter Angela Booth crafts words for your
business. Words to sell, educate or persuade. Contact her today
for a free quote:

http://www.digital-e.biz/

Free ezine: Creative Small Biz --- subscribe at:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Creative_Small_Biz/

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