Writing for Free, Then the Fee
This is not a new article or a new topic, but it’s evergreen to many writers. I personally totally agree with this writer. While it must have been nice to begin one’s freelance career making $1 a word, some of us had to start smaller. There will always be people writing for free, usually for two reasons: 1.) They have found a publication that they want to publish with that cannot pay, so they write pro-bono. 2.) One needs clips to get clips and you need to start somewhere. Some publications might benefit from those who write for free, but once writers are able to garner that first writing paycheck, they are free to leave behind the nonpaying pubs.
Meanwhile, obviously, Ms. Dreifus has had a few negative encounters with impolite people on writing threads. And who hasn’t? It has been a while since I’ve had a good e-fight so from my current point of view, it’s easy to see the author as having a bee in her bonnet, but who knows how long it will be until I feel slighted by somebody on a writer’s thread. It’s a touchy situation because on the one hand, you know that it’s just a silly internet thread and you should pull yourself away from it and rise above it, but on the other hand, why do people have to be such jerks, and why do they get away with it?
That’s when you turn off the computer.
(And by the way, if you are one of those threadsters who commonly practice “tough love,” know that perhaps your best intentions may be interpreted differently than you think.)
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