We get letters
September 23, 2007 by Deb Ng
Filed under Freelance Writing
Dear Deb,
I think you’re a hypacrite. Your always tell us not to sell ourselves short but blogging jobs don’t pay much. I think you talk out of you’re a**.
Dear Nameless,
What clever prose. What eloquent writing style. I can see why you must be a highly paid and in demand writer!
I think I already explained why I find blogging gigs to be a different entity. The work is quicker and less researched. A blog post can consist of a sentence, a paragraph, an image, or a whole page. Plus many blogging networks offer traffic bonuses which help balance the pay.
In the next few days I’ll have a guest blogger who will explain to you why he feels blogging jobs pay less.
Thanks for playing,
- Deb
Dear Deborah,
Will you link to my ebook, blog, website, product, etc.
- Countless emailers every day
Perhaps, but perhaps not. It depends on what’s on the other end of the link. I wrote a piece today for Blogging Tips (should be live after 10) detailing why I won’t link to some blogs. For the most part I love sharing the link love and I’m happy to add your to my blogroll. Your blog has to be relevant to this blog and not spammy or offensive.
Dear Deb,
What makes you qualified to write this blog?
A.K
Dear A.K.,
I have a computer and I know how to use WordPress.
Love,
Deb
Dear Deb,
I’m really getting sick of seeing your name everywhere. You’re not that special and your blog isn’t that great. Is it possible you can’t see the truth because of your big ego?
Dear Anon,
What was that? I’m sorry I was too busy doing a vanity search and reading fan mail to pay much attention.
Deb
Dear Deborah,
I want to thank you. Yours is the only job page I come to. Thanks to you I’m freelancing full time and helping to support my family. I’m buying you a gallon of coffee. I want to know what it is about blogging that you love so much. You appear to be very passionate about blogging, moreso than others who just sort of have a blog. Care to share the appeal?
Respectfully,
Jennifer
Thanks for the Starbucks, Jennifer!
I don’t know what it is about blogging that’s so addicting! I think first and foremost is the community. Look at everyone who visits FWJ on a daily basis – you all help and encourage people. That’s very special. I also met some wonderful people through blogging.
I also enjoy being able to help others achieve their goals. Every day I read about people who are working because of this blog. No drug could ever compare to the great feeling that gives me.
Finally I enjoy being able to talk incessantly about topics that appeal to me. Blogging gives me a chance to turn people on to new things and offer my perspective.
Have a question, comment or insult? Send it to me at deborahng(at)gmail(dot)com.
ha! I can’t believe you get so much negative mail. I just don’t know why someone would waste their time writing something so negative. I think your blog is great!
*dies laughing*
Sorry, I know those mails are supposed to be hateful, but I love your replies, Deb.
I couldn’t help emailing you a response to your response to the responses you receive. ::smiles:: I have no idea *why* you’d receive such negative messages *unless* it’s because these people can’t seem to make it happen freelancing.
I’m thinking if the nastygram writers put half as much ‘passion’ and ‘energy’ into their writing *career* as they put into their nastygram to sweet Deb, they could give Rowling a run for her money.
*snork*
Debbie:
That first e-mail reminds me a little of a childish hate mail I got once from an IMDB viewer who thought it was blasphemous that I didn’t like Seinfeld. It really amazes me that preschools allow their students internet access.
I suppoe that when responding to hate mail, the two best ways to deal with it are either witty condescension or by simply ignoring them.
The late Andy Kaufman, among his many unfinish projects that he took to the grave with him, planned to publish a book containig “the best” of all the hate mail he’d received over the years.
I also don’t get the insults… What’s that saying? “If you don’t have something nice to say…” Geesh, these people need to get a life!
This makes me quite sad that the worst hate mail I’ve ever gotten is “You suck.” How is one supposed to provide a witty riposte to that?
Now that was pretty doggone funny!!!!
Awww Mariella, just say “nah honey, I don’t suck… I bite thanks to still having all my own teeth”
For Deb… I was surprized at some of those comments you received. This is a great site with plenty of opportunities, how can anyone complain about something so good!
Shell>> thanks! haha! That’s a good one
You would think you charge people money to read your blogs, the way some of those e-mails read. Sheeeee…maybe they should use their free time to work on their writing & spelling & grammar instead of being mad at you, lol.
This was one of the best weekend posts ever. Very funny. I think people get far too caught up in the base pay of blogs and don’t realize that page views is where the real money is at. That said I don’t think people should write for revenue only or anything (But I know you don’t think that either). However, you can take a gig where the base is low but you get a decent per page view rate and make good money. The trick to blogging jobs is just to be picky about them. Each one may have different perks.
Note; about the above — most of the time page views is where the money is. If you really look there are some high base pay jobs. Although sometimes they don’t have the pv perks.
Very funny. I love your witty comebacks Deb. I am getting a gmail address right now so I can start getting hate mail! Ha ha!
I love the sarcasm, Deb. That’s right up there with Kathy Kehrli’s Screw You! blog.
By the way, Deb, I tried putting Kathy’s blog’s link into that comment, and it did the same thing as before — reloaded the page without my comment and with no sign of my comment being flagged for moderation. If you did not get an email with my comment-plus-link, I’d say there is something wrong with your moderation setup.
I officially have a gmail address now. Weeeee. I do have question for you or anyone who knows the answer. Does anyone use affiliateer for links and revenue? I just started using them as my blog is new but have yet to recieve and e-mail back from them. One of their selling points is how easy it is to access them via AIM and yahoo and etc. So far nothing. Maybe it’s just the weekend and the time I set up. I’m just wondering if anyone has had any experience with them?
Hi Deb,
That’s alot of pent up sour grapes aimed at you!(And you managed to avoid being hit head on!)I enjoy blogging. You are right about everything you’ve said about blogging. Not to mention the more we write, hopefully the better our writing will get…
Are these letters for real? Seriously, because I can’t believe so many people could be so rude toward one person for no viable reason. I’m thinking *your* theme song should be “Jealousy” by the Gin Blossoms.
It’s really sad some people spend so much time hating when clearly, they need to work on their own issues. Sad.
I love the “what makes you qualified to write this blog” one. Am I allowed to say ratbastards here? Seriously though, good responses. I’ve gotten negative mail like that, and I used to let it bother me.
p.s. Katharine, do you use Firefox? That’s what I use and I’ve had trouble posting comments here.
Geez. People are mean! I can’t believe people would write in saying those kinds of things. You obviously don’t pay attention to them.
Keep up the good work!
Amy –
No, I use Explorer. So apparently the problems are regardless of which browser you use.
Damn. You get some crappy letters. I hope the fan letters outweigh the negative garbage.
Love your work!
I like hate mail, too. I don’t get very much of it, so I must be too nice. I will try to be more abrasive from now on (kidding).
Deb, I didn’t know you had an always! That’s a very useful thing to have, since it is always there and always at the ready. I only mention it since the one letter made reference to “your always”.
I also like your qualifications, possibly even more than your always. In all honesty, who among us is “qualified” to do more than eat, poop, and procreate? That’s pretty much what we’re built for, after all. The rest is a matter of training, which is always suspect IMHO.
Amy Derby:
I get the “what makes you such a know-it-all?” kind of comment all the time. This must be because I write on so many different topics that interest me.
The correct answer is, of course, the fable of two men who are hacking through the jungle and come across a Bengal Tiger. The start running away, and one tells the other, “We can’t outrun a Tiger!” The other responds, “No, but I only have to outrun *you*!”
Naturally, people with specific expertise school me bad all the time. Unlike a fabled tiger attack, I emerge unscathed but slightly wiser for it.
Perhaps this is intellectual masochism here, but rather than be bothered by it I actually enjoy it.
poor deb. I want to send you some happy fanmail:
Mariella Says:
It’s really sad some people spend so much time hating when clearly, they need to work on their own issues. Sad.
…That is so very true – that’s what it boils down to really, an individual having their own issues and trying to off load them on to someone else!
Erik,
I haven’t had anyone call me a know-it-all since high school. That was actually kind of fun. [insert evil grin here]
What I get is people who write to me and say stuff like, “What gives you the authority to run a website for writers?”
(err… I know how to write?)
or “Why do you bother when there are so many better websites out there than yours?”
(umm… Because I enjoy doing it?)
Before I had my picture posted on my website, I also had someone ask if I was too ashamed of being fat or ugly to post my picture online. That one I only knew how to respond to with a hand gesture which, unfortunately, doesn’t come through so well in an email response.
The first few months, I couldn’t believe people could be so mean. Now, I’ve learned to laugh at it and just use the delete button. When I was 5, my mother told me the best way to get rid of a bully is to ignore him. Evidently, it still works when you’re 27 and on the internet playground.
Amy Derby:
One thing that I find amusing is that Phil and I are just about the only males of our species that are here (perhaps there are others, I apologize). Writers do tend to be females – which means that you are presumed to be “beta” by the mega-alpha males of our species out there.
This means you take far more than your load of crap. It also means that if you never saw yourself as part of a playground (or zoo) you never saw it coming.
On behalf of my entire gender, I apologize. Many of us are not exactly cut out for this genteel thing known as “civilization”. It’s a problem that we’re all working through, some of us with more success than others.
Erik,
You are the second writer Erik (spelling the same) I’ve met online, so maybe your breed isn’t as rare as you think.
Seriously though, I get an equal amount of hate mail from women, although I’ve yet to have a woman ask if I were fat or ugly. Haha. Now that I’ve posted this, I’ll probably get a few feminists asking what I look like naked just to help close the gap.
I’m eager to read some more of Deb’s letters. I love the discussions here, but this post has been one of my favorites.
Erik, I know another male writer posting here. Maybe they’re just shy.
☆