A Little Bit About Responsibility
December 31, 2007 by Deb
Filed under Freelance Writing
I’m about to make myself unpopular again.
I’ve been following a situation with interest. A few weeks ago at a message board for Work at Home Moms, the WAHM writers became incensed after learning of a report that listed work at home moms as being the source to go to for $3 per article writing gigs. In fact, the discussion stemmed around a marketing report in which a gentleman, who paid $50 to stock his website with content , turned around and sold said website for $12,000. It may have made the WAHMs angry, but it’s the truth. I’m forever seeing content seekers throwing out insulting offers and believe me, there are plenty of takers. If WAHMs don’t want to be seen as cheap labor, they need to stop accepting these offers.
I started FWJ as a service to my fellow WAHMs because I wanted them to see they had options .Even the newest writers could find jobs paying respectable wages. The same people who complained were also taking on $2 gigs or submitting their content to mills for $3 or $4. FWJ was a way to suggest there were better alternatives. Some would agree others would politely tell me to bug off because they had to do what they needed to support their families. The same WAHMs wouldn’t work at McDonald’s for below minimum wage, yet they would accept jobs that pay $1.50 for 500 words. The problem is, when you’re churning out hundreds of articles for content mills and webmasters, you’re just mass producing. What happens to the quality of the writing? What happens to the facts? This was a few years ago, clearly the situation hasn’t changed.
Several months back I asked who bears the responsibility for poor or regurgitated content on the web. The webmaster or the writer? Today I have a different question about responsibility. Who bears the responsibility for low paying articles – the webmasters and content mill owners who pay slave wages, or the writers who accept these wages?
I used to blame the webmasters, after all, they’re the ones who don’t want to pay us what we’re worth. Now I believe the responsibility falls mostly on the writer. It’s the writer who accepts these wages. It’s the writer who just Googles and rewrites articles. It’s the writers who put articles through a spinner so they can get 30 of the same topic. As long as writers accept these wages and accept these jobs, nothing is going to change. Webmasters pay these wages because they can.
Now I’m probably going to suggest something that will anger many of my fellow WAHMs. I’m going to suggest if they’re getting a reputation for accepting low rates, they probably brought this bum rap on themselves. Though we all have to start somewhere, accepting sweatshop wages will only establish the author as someone who writes content for cheap. If you don’t want the rep, don’t accept the wage.
The WAHMs are all pledging now to "strike" and not accept $3 jobs and I admire them for it. But I also wonder if it’s a little too late. Webmasters already know they can pay these wages and there will still be plenty of takers. Besides, I submit that for every WAHM who strikes, there will be another two or three who take the gig because they don’t feel they have other options.
I don’t wish to insult my fellow WAHMs, I’m a WAHM too. I know how hard it is to do what one has to do to make ends meet. I know the feeling of desperation one gets when realizing there’s no money to pay the bills. I know what it’s like choosing something I don’t want to do over leaving my child in day care or with a baby sitter.
I also know I have the upper hand. The Internet brings many opportunities to us and we as writers hold all the cards. Those who want good writing know they have to pay for it. Let’s show them we deserve better than what they’re offering. As moms we have the most important jobs in the world, surely we’re strong enough to say no to $3 jobs!
Thanks to Courtney at Web Writing Info for bringing this situation to light.
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@ Sharon – Once upon a time, I was *this* close to being without a penny to my name. I did what I had to make ends meet. I fully understand what you’re saying: that sometimes, there is no choice.
However, a *temporary* need to make ends meet is just that – temporary. What most of us are complaining about is that many people don’t go for temporary. They accept low wages long-term and they refuse to work at improving their rates or their work environment, or they typically refuse to see that their actions make it worse for everyone.
There is no reason for that.
I agree with Deb. One of the worst offenders is GetAFreelancer. There are the cheapest and most offensive jobs on that site. Best sites are Sologig and LinkedIn for picking up, respectively, jobs or jobs and contacts. Also, I like Facebook for job advice and camaraderie.
Then what needs to be done instead of putting down the WAHM who takes the $3 articles (because that was me too at one point), is to teach those of us who know nothing about marketing is how to do it and how to do it without breaking what little reserve we have in the bank. That’s my goal for the year: to learn how to better market myself and get the higher paying jobs – Web or Print. I’m not a salesperson so it makes it hard to “sell” myself and I think ultimately that is what keeps many of the WAHMs from going after the bigger opportunities, we don’t know how to market. It’s sad but true.
@ Anne – Facebook is a huge time-sucker for me. Slap up a profile and watch hundreds of people you haven’t seen in ten or fifteen years suddenly fill up your Wall with the same video, send you dumb invitations to play slayer games, and all sorts of idiotic things. In fact, I regretted the wasted time so much I removed my profile. But if you’ve found a way to make it work for you, great!
@ Nikk – Buy our ebook. It contains customer service, sales, and marketing info to help you get started with better jobs.
I don’t think it helps to just point a finger at who is to blame. That’s one of the reasons I started TheWritingMother.com, because I wanted to help other moms grow as writers and start seeing themselves as More Than.
We have bestselling authors on our list, copywriters, poets, non fiction writers… every colour and creed.
Whenever someone steps up and says that they are writing for low pay, we surround them with encouragement to go for more. We don’t condemn them for bringing our rates down. We show them how to market themselves and ask for better rates.
One starfish at a time, my friend.
I agree with you, Heather. We do have to offer encouragement as I’ve been doing here for three years. But sometimes I believe in tough love too.
If someone is going to complain about being seen as cheap labor, I’d like to suggest she doesn’t accept low paying gigs. It’s the only way that reputation will change.
I encourage WAHMs to find higher paying gigs, it’s why FWJ was started in the first place. This post stemmed from a thread at WAHM.com where the WAHMs were upset over being associated with cheap labor. I’m suggesting they have the power to change that. Sometimes it’s better to point out the obvious than gloss over the truth.
Thank you for comment. Please come again often. I think it’s great you offer such a useful resource to WARHMs and writers.
@JCM – With all due respect – buying another ebook that I have no time to read or the $$ spend (hence the need to learn to market with limited funds), I don’t think that is the way for me to go. I know there are useful tools out there that I will find without making another purchase that I don’t know for sure will help me. The last time I did that, I spent (albeit low $) $5 on an ebook which contained information I already knew. So please don’t take offense if I don’t jump to buy a book that I can’t guarantee will help me. Again, please take no offense just understand if you are talking to a group of WAHMs who are trying to make every spare dime they can to provide income to the family – I don’t understand how you help by telling them to buy an ebook.
@ Nikki – Actually many of us understand the importance of investing in ourselves. A part of working for yourself involves providing yourself with the education needed to continue succeeding. Many jobs give employees the opportunity to advance their skills. Freelancers need to do this too.
There are no guarentees that anything we pay for will benefit us but if you go in receptive to the idea of learning something new, you will; even if it’s simply hearing the same old thing in a whole new way.
I believe in the give to get theory. The more you give the more you get. A $5 ebook is a bargain when I consider that I already spend thousands of dollars a year on educational tools like, books, workshops, and broadband.
If a fellow successful writer is recommending a resource then it is probably something worth looking into.
@ Nikki – I understand your views, but Rebecca is right. Investing in bettering yourself and improving your situation is a wise investment. Yes, you do have to make good, solid investments that provide a return for your money and that do make a difference.
You mentioned you want to have better pay. Then go after it. Make wise choices (not $5 ebooks that regurgitate crap). And if you think I’m recommending something that isn’t worthy, you’re wrong. See the review of Write for the Web at eMoms.
Would you be interested in a free copy? Perhaps that will restore your faith in writers and that there is a better working environment possible – if you invest in yourself. Let me know your email and I’ll send you one. No risk.
@ James – Thanks, I really appreciate your comments and tips. I’ll definitely be checking that site out.
I’m so thankful for resources like this site because they can help beginning writers quickly see that they have the ability to earn more.
Two years ago I had no idea that my dream of becoming a writer could happen without first receiving fists full of rejection letters.
Two years ago I was tickled pink at finding out there were sources of work that would give me a chance to get paid to write. Getting .01/word for those first few months did more for my confidence, self esteem and family than I can even tell you. It changed my life.
Kudos to sites like this one and people like the people here who mentor and freely give information, leads and help to others. Because of it, I am doing much better than I was 1.5 years ago and I continue to work towards getting my rates up and getting more work I want instead of search engine fodder. I guess I’m a middle of the ladder freelancer at this point but the thing is, I won’t stop climbing the ladder. Complacency can’t be in your vocabulary in this business otherwise your health, your finances and your creativity will suffer. If I’d kept writing .01/word gigs I’d have had the life and juices sucked out of me by now.
I’m still writing for lower than I’m worth and I’m also subbing work to a handful of writers I am mentoring from my pool of not the best paying (but not $3/500 words either!)clients so that we can all better our situations and gain more experience and more knowledge.
I feel very blessed to be working in an industry that offers such mentoring and sharing so that writers can increase their rates and evolve if they choose to.
I think I read this article just in time. Being new to the scene, I’ve seen the sites willing to offer $3, and I thought “but I’m worth more than that.” I weighed it in my mind and it just didn’t gel right. Yes, I want to write and be paid for it. That just just seemed like an incredibly low wage for my efforts. But being new I thought, hey- what do I know? Good to see my instincts were right.
If you really look at the net and what’s out there, good writers are NOT a dime a dozen, and shouldn’t be treated as such. In a generation where texting/IMing is more prevalent than writing an actual sentence, I’d say good writing is a treasure.
The issue here is one that is seen in almost any industry. If there’s something worth being paid good money for, there will always be people out there who will do it for less– or free. A restaurant owner could hire a janitor with experience for a price that will reflect hard work, or he can hire an immigrant who will work as hard but for less. Thus, janitors don’t get paid what they’re worth. If money is all it’s about, this is what happens.
It comes down to people short-changing themselves and not seeing their true self-worth. Writing is a talent, a gift. If someone feels they don’t have what it takes, they’ll take what they can get… In many cases this pulls the pay scale down for everyone else. People get what they pay for, though, and hopefully in the end they’ll realize that there are hidden costs in hiring cheap labor, and in working cheaply.