Writing for Money

Redlass · #1 07-31-2002, 01:06 PM

Interesting article here.

What are your thoughts?

CurtisEdmonds · #2 07-31-2002, 01:16 PM

"The acme of English prose style is best expressed in the sentence, 'pay to the order of'." - R.A. Heinlein

**AuntieEmma**[$] · #3 07-31-2002, 04:05 PM

I don't think there are any hard and fast rules. I think it really depends.

If (if!) your main goal is to make a living or a significant supplemental income from writing, then since there are only a limited number of hours in the day, it's a waste of your limited time and writing energy to write things you won't get paid for.

If you're writing for pleasure, then it's a different situation. And then it also depends. If someone is making a lot of money off of your writing and not passing any of that along to you, then you're getting ripped off. If no one's making much money, then there's no problem, in my view.

I guess the big problem is that writers can be, and often are, manipulated by their desire for bylines. And I think again it comes down to how much someone else is profiting from that. If you're writing for a little quarterly or a little zine with a circulation of 1,000 -- no problem. If you're writing for something that is profitable -- the "Chicken Soup" books come to mind here -- and getting paid little or nothing, then that's different.

I write something once in a while on Epinions. I don't get paid (my average "income" per piece is well under one cent), but no one else is getting rich off of what I post there either. So no problem.

Actually, I think the worst way that publishers manipulate writers if by implying that if they write for free, they will be "discovered," and all sorts of wonderful things will flow from that. That rarely happens, so I consider that a particularly nasty form of rip-off if the publishers themselves are profiting from the unpaid work. (which often is not the case!). The nastiest form of that is when people quite deliberately set out to exploit aspiring writer's insecurities (think of all those bogus "poetry contests" whose promoters make all their money from writers paying them; also think of most of the now defunct online writing sites).

Well, there are some exceptions. Writing a column or a few articles without pay for a small local newspaper is a time-honored way to get started. Writing online can indirectly lead to other things -- look at all the people who met each other on Epinions and got together and set up their own sites -- though I think it's rare that any of that leads to much money, per se.

**AuntieEmma**[$] · #4 07-31-2002, 04:26 PM

Oh, I just thought of something else. (You can see I'm quite confused about this issue.)

Say someone writes a piece for one of the Chicken Soup books and gets paid $100, or whatever it is that they're paying (I know it's very low). The publishers of the Chicken Soup books are probably making millions -- sure, not from that one piece alone, but figure they're only paying a couple of thousand dollars total for all of the pieces in a particular book, at least for the unsolicited ones from writers who aren't famous.

Ok ... so on the face of it, the writers are getting royally ripped off.

But ... say the writers are delighted with their end of the deal. Say they're not trying to make a living from writing, and they're just totally thrilled to have their byline in a best-selling Chicken Soup book, and their family and friends are thrilled and impressed as well.

Is this necessarily a rip-off? Can it be considered a fair exchange??

I have no idea. I'm very, very confused. That's why I'm asking.

kurt_messick · #5 08-02-2002, 10:40 AM

But of course, she's selling these packages of 'how to make money writing'.

Does this remind anyone else of those info-commercials that sell the 'get rich in real estate' or 'get rich in placeing classified adverts' stuff?

Methinks the real money made here is the $49.95 to find out how to make money. Of course, that is writing too...

**AuntieEmma**[$] · #6 08-02-2002, 04:24 PM

Quote:

But of course, she's selling these packages of 'how to make money writing'.

Oh, I didn't even notice that -- heh!

Still wondering about my earlier question ... if a publisher pays a writer little or nothing for something that the publisher makes a lot of money on, is that inherently unfair, unethical, etc. My immediate, instinctive reaction, of course, is "Yes! It is! It's a rip-off! It's exploitation!" but what's making me confused is now I'm questioning my immediate reaction -- not sure that it's right. If the writer is thrilled with having a byline, etc. -- even if the publisher deliberately plays to that emotion as a way to avoid paying the writer -- does it make any sense to look at it as a bargain where both got something they wanted, rather than as financial exploitation??

frazzledspice · #7 08-02-2002, 05:56 PM

Does she give a course for church musicians?

I have lived in states where church musicians are paid quite well and (currently) in states where they get one thank you dinner a year (my husband is still aghast at what they served--some kind of dry spaghetti with tuna fish

I am still involved with the music ministry, but it would be wonderful, in these days of job uncertainty, a diminishing stock market, etc. to be paid.

Alas and alack, where I live now it's the Baptist denominations who are the best-funded.

**Prepoia**[$] · #8 08-02-2002, 06:55 PM

Auntie Emma, I think you've answered your own question. If the person is willing to settle for a byline in payment, then no exploitation is really happening. As long as the person is aware that's the bargain then it's a bargain they've made. If the person is exploited because they aren't aware that they are selling cheap, then that's exploitation. Awareness of what each is getting and an acceptance of it eliminates exploitation.

Sort of reminds me of posing for Playboy.....

Sandy