What is "Legitimate" Writing?
March 25, 2008 by Deb
Filed under Freelance Writing
I’ll take the linkbait…
I just read a blog post at About Freelance Writing that has me thinking. The post, entitled “Blogs Aren’t Legit Writing“, wonders whether blogging is a legitimate writing form. As a professional blogger, I have my own views but we won’t go there. Instead, I’d like to talk about this term “legitimate”. What makes one form of writing “legit?” And the other “not legit” forms of writing, what does that make them?
What is “Legitimate?”
Dictionary.com lists “legitimate” as follows:
1.according to law; lawful: the property’s legitimate owner.
2.in accordance with established rules, principles, or standards.
We know blogging is legal, so I’m sure the author isn’t thinking of definition number one when she’s asking if blogging is legit. I’m thinking she’s wondering more along the lines of definition two – the one about principles and standards. So who sets the standards?
What makes one form of writing legitimate?
There’s a lot of snobbery when it comes to web writing and blogging. For me, my issues have to do with very low pay and rehashed content. But does that mean low paying PLR articles aren’t “legitimate?” Not in my opinion. As far as I’m concerned any form of writing where one is earning an honest living is legitimate – even those where I have personal issues. Just because I don’t agree with the whole PLR practice, doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with it in the legal or moralistic sense.
To me for a piece of writing to be legitimate it has to be well-written and factually correct. It doesn’t matter if it’s PLR, a blog entry, print, journal or web writing. If a piece is written well and the writer isn’t doing anything “illegal” there’s nothing illegitimate going on. Now, one might argue even people who don’t write well are still writing in a legitimate manner, and this is true – but if one is getting paid for a poorly written and factually incorrect piece of work, I’d question its legitimacy.
I’d also like to say I do wish the author at About Freelance Writing linked to the “small rant” she mentioned in her first paragraph so I could include that post in this discussion. Since it’s the one that stemmed her discussion it would be nice to reference it.
Talk to me…what is “legitimate” writing? Is one form held to higher standards than another?
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This sort of attitude really irritates me. Just because everyone can blog doesn’t mean it isn’t a legit form of writing. This really is tied to traditional media being threatened by new media. It scares the bajeezus out of old media. I have history of 15 years in traditional media before getting fed up with dying news business and moving on.
I believe anyone who writes is a legitimate writer. They may not be a good writer, but really that is someone’s opinion.
And seriously… what about NYT bloggers? Are they not legit writers? Or are they, since they also write for traditional newsprint? Who decides? Snobby writers?
Also, snobbishness between writing media formats is not exactly new. Mag writers have looked down on newspaper journalists for years, newspaper journalists have looked down on broadcast, etc. Blogging is just the newer target.
Although I must confess that I find it really irritating when bloggers write sloppily or put up posts littered with typos and grammatical errors… or, worse yet, flat out steal content and images. It’s sites like that making it difficult for quality bloggers to get respect.
I think factual accuracy is important, but beyond that I don’t think it’s up to us to decide what’s legit and what’s not–that’s up to the reader. Legit is more about usefulness in this sense, at least as I see it.
I agree with Kelly and with you Deb, and I also think we need to start giving readers more credit to make their own decisions about what’s legit and what’s not.
Thanks for the mention to my article. I’m sorry I can’t link to the person who said blogging wasn’t legit cause it was an email from one of my newsletter subscribers, not a public entry.
I have tried to make her demographics public without giving up her name by visiting blogs like yours who have talked about my article:
She was an older woman and a published fiction author, romance I believe. I assume she was halfway tech-knowledgable since she had her own website.
She also said something about blogging being “self aggrandizing” for those who just want to see their name in print.
Again, thanks for the article mention.
I recently left a job where I was working with a guy that had gone to school for Journalism, and he basically could not conceive of ‘legitimate’ news that did not come from a ‘trusted news source’. (a major News Corp.)
It irked me, because no matter how I tried to explain blogging to him, he just didn’t get it. He had a very holier-than-thou attitude about the little Internet pipsqueaks reporting the news when they ‘didn’t know what they were talking about’. And the real icing on the cake was that this guy had gone to school for both Journalism and Technical Writing, and he didn’t seem to be doing either one. He was totally cynical.
This attitude, I believe, comes from a lack of understanding of the web’s impact as a mass medium. Writers can’t speak from their soapbox in the same way on the web, because the web is not a one-way medium. When bloggers write, they write with the expectation of a response, quite literally. It’s a very different mindset, I believe.
I call it jealousy- writers for traditional print media want to maintain their monopolization of the word ‘writing’, but the web is making that rather difficult.
PS not that I believe that self-aggrandizing part. Didn’t mean to read that way. Best,
I agree with Kelby who says that anyone who writes is a writer. Most are legitimate in their minds. What about the journalers, those who only journal? Are they not legitimate in their writing, then? I think they are, with regards to the established principles and rules of journaling. Just as many bloggers are legitimate with regards to rules of blogging. It’s just a evolving world that some can’t get used to.
I think the line is fuzzy with all this writing stuff. I think there are so many different forms. We learned in English that writing has different purposes. These are just more of those different purposes. Blogging can serve a multifold purpose if it wants. Any writing can serve a purpose (even horrible writing). Silly ole’ optimism…
Kelby and Megan are getting at the legitimacy question with the mention of magazine and newspaper writers looking down on webwriting. It *is* illegitimate because anyone can do it. You don’t need to apply for a job and become a part of the secret journalists club in order to write your stuff and get it out there. Webwriting is a threat to the insiders’ sense of professionalism… and so they lump in all webwriters and bloggers, even the ones who do it really, really well, with teenagers on MySpace and suchlike.
I too, think that anyone who writes and devotes time to doing it well and gets it out there is a writer. We should work to make this snobbery about the medium and the outlet a thing of the past.
As a problogger, I would take offense to someone thinking my writing isn’t legitimate. For instance, when I write about weddings, I’m doing the same thing I would if I were writing those articles for a magazine. The entries are just shorter. And my women’s automotive writing – that’s more like a column in a newspaper. I would write it the same way there. Again, I think it’s legit.
I think it depends on the standards of the writer, and the quality of the writing. But can blogs be legit? Absolutely. And I thought that before I went “pro.”
I have to admit that I do not agree with the majority opinion here. There are some forms of writing that I do not think are legitimate. Specifically, I do not find writing for term paper mills (i.e. the sites that let students cheat) legitimate, although I know that some writers do that sort of work. I guess I think that writing is too important to use for hurting people.
Of course, in light of this view, I consider blogs a very legitimate – and fun – form of writing.
Interesting that the reader who started this topic at About Freelance is a published romance fiction writer. There are many that slander romance novels as not being worthy of the fiction genre – it’s considered trash. So, I find it very curious that such a writer, who has dealt with such discrimination would say that any form of writing is illegitimate.
In terms of one format being better than another, that is in the eye of the beholder in my opinion. I don’t see one being better than another, but rather they meet different needs and work towards different audiences. Uppity editors and publishers are limiting themselves in terms of audience and writers that prescribe to the same attitude are only making themselves difficult to work with. Writing is an artform and like any other, it tends to grow over time. Writer’s need to learn to be as felxible if they want to truly succeed.
As someone who writes for a lot of print pubs, it’s not the publication — print or online — but the articles that are legit or not. Even the NY Times has had fabricated articles — writer of many years was fired in a very famous case not too long ago.
However, a lot of print pubs require sources (old journalism quote: “If your mother says she loves you, be sure to check it with at least two sources”), whereas many blogs don’t have those standards, nor any warnings about that.
For example, I posted here in another thread a couple of weeks ago about copyrights, cautioning that I was going by memory from an old class and to confirm the recommendation. Some blog (and newsletter) writers will post things from what they hear, remember, etc., and post it as fact without checking or without cautioning the reader to check.
Wow, everyone here has some great points about this. I personally believe we have a lot to be thankful for as far as being free to blog on this worldwide forum known as the Internet ‘Blogosphere.’ The bloggers of the world have given us so much information, and I think we are all so much better informed in general as a public than we ever were. I think it’s not necessarily a bad thing that people take the time to question blogging a bit, in my mind, it says we’ve ‘arrived’ in the world of writing
And, we are here to stay. I love that…
Footnote: I believe mostly everyone on this particular set of threads to be pretty heavy duty professional writers, and I for one learn a great deal by reading your posts.
I won’t get started on quality/not-quality or PLR or not PLR or all that GREAT DIVIDE crap between the mag writers and the web content writers.
But I will say this about legitimacy:
When is a person a legitimate car driver?
When is a lawyer legitimate?
When is the phone technician legitimate?
What makes a legitimate plumber?
Who is a legitimate web designer?
Take those reasons, and substitute writer.
Actually, I don’t agree with the premise that anyone who writes is a writer. That’s like saying anyone who fixes a broken toilet is a plumber. Writing is a profession. It’s hard work. And the vast majority of people who blog are doing so just to spout off an opinion or doing so for social networking.
But yes, blogging is legitimate writing. It’s more casual than most writing, but so are essays and columns in the paper. The important thing, I think, is for the writer to be professional in his/her approach. I’ve seen blogs that are informative and approach a topic like any magazine article, with interviews and quotes and outside research.
As a reader, it is almost impossible to tell a paying blog from a non-paying blog (ads excepted). I know of one blogger who claims to be a pro (no one I’ve ever seen post here) yet the blog I’ve read is filled with copy taken from other articles/blogs and photos lifted from the Internet without credit and likely without permission. IMO, that’s not legitimate; that’s theft. But it makes me wonder how many others behave the same way.
I wish the original post had at least quoted the e-mail that started this little firestorm.
It seems to come up again and again… can anyone who can write be a writer? Sure, why not? Are they a professional? That’s a bit harder to define. In many jobs, including some that James names, a person is a professional because they’ve got some certification and membership to practice. Professionals band together and throw up some barriers to entry. Writers and editors do well to get some training, but we don’t have to, and there aren’t any standards that govern the practice.
Writers are legitimate all right, but we’re outlaws too.
@ Christine – Rebels with a Pen.
You said it Kristy, romance novels. I could of choked on coffee if I had any.
Great topic again.
Time to get some coffee!
Maybe by “legitimate” the poster meant that there are people writing blogs who aren’t “writers” by profession. I don’t agree that that de-legitimizes the whole blog genre, any more than a non-factual memoir taints the whole memoir genre.
Maybe, too, she has taken a lot of guff for being a romance writer and is just taking out her angst somewhere else. Her rant is just as misplaced as rants about romance novels. Both exist because there is an audience.
In a day and age where people overall read less than twenty years ago, I’m pleased people are taking the time to read any genre, whether it’s one I particularly enjoy or not.
Spot on, L.L. Woodward. As a community, we should be grateful the Internet has given us a platform to publish our work, considering the number of people who bother to open a book or magazine these days.
Blogging reminds me of those who filmed movies digitally. When digital first came out, “purists” talked about how the only right way to film and edit films was in the plastic form.
Some people blog as a way of journaling about an important even on their sight. Blogging is the way if the present and future. Those who refuse to acknowledge it will be left behind.
I agree with Kelby.
Asking if writing is legit or not is a straw man argument. All writing is writing by definition. What needs to be looked at is good writing vs. bad writing…and that is done on a case by case basis.
Even the most “old school” writers recommended writing every day to keep in practice, to keep fresh, to keep…writing.
Even if a blog is just a tool to keep your mind fresh and the words flowing, that alone makes it legit – “old school” style.
There are some good comments here.
I think that there is some confusion between the words “legitimate” and “professional.”
You highlighted the definitions of legitimate. Professional usually refers to writing for pay. Bloggers are usually legitimate (unless they are plagiarizing). But, as we all know, many are not paid for their writing.
Richard, I agree with your post here 100 percent. Bravo and well stated.
I have to admit that taking writing advice from someone in the pastel section of the bookstore is a bit frightening. What I suspect, though, is that the person doesn’t read blogs and is making the comment more out of ignorance. I’ve only, within the last six months or so, really gotten into blog reading (one day maybe even writing) but before venturing into this medium I though, “nah – it will never last.” I also thought this of rap back in the 80’s (but I digress). The point I would most like to make is that I think comments such as the legitimacy of blogging comes more from ignorance of the medium than the work done by people who participate.
I suppose I would have to go along with what I was taught by some of my teachers on this one. All writing is legitimate. It doesn’t matter if you’re getting paid or not–that’s a personal choice to some extent. So long as you write and you publish in some way for people to read, you’ve done your job. Writing is an action; good writing is an art. But both are legitimate.
I’m one of those “went to journalism school,” don’t get blogging-type people. But…and this is an important but, if people want to do it, great for them. It is a natural evolution of the Internet and the opening up of the communication media. It’s great for the 1st amendment, and allows more people to have access to authorship. However…and this is an important however, I do think blogging waters down what paid writers can ask for work. This is all irrelevant now b/c blogs are here to stay and are a major source of entertainment and news. The current entertainment and news economy is built on the willingness and ability of talented people writing for little to no compensation. There is good and bad. For an old hack looking for paid writing gigs, it’s bad. For a proponent of free speech and the democratization of the media, it’s wonderful!
@ Alexa: I’m also a journalism graduate with a long career behind me as writer-editor and now freelancer. I DO “get” blogging, and I don’t think it brings down the pay for the other kinds of writing I do. You just have to distinguish between the effort it takes to write a magazine cover story, or a news analysis, versus posting your thoughts to a blog. Once that distinction is made, it’s easier to figure out how much you should be paid for each job.
I also don’t think all writers and bloggers are journalists, just as not all journalists are writers. Journalism and writing are both professions, with standards at both ends of the spectrum.
Cheers!
Hazel, Thanks for the post. I understand the difference, and I understand the distinction; but, unfortunately, many companies hiring seem willing to take a chance on the 1 cent per word types.
Ah, now we get back to that word “legitimate.” There are lots of freelance “jobs” or gigs advertised on the Web, but I’m not sure most of THEM are “legitimate.” The ones that are will not take a chance on the 1 cent per word types.
I realize that I have the luxury of a pension from a respected publisher to back me up, which not everyone does — but I just don’t worry about those 1 cent per word folks, either the ones who post the “jobs” or the ones who will work for them for that amount. What they do for 1 cent per word is not the same as what you do — they know it as well as you do.
Scouting for gigs is hard, and at this point I’m barely making it in this business. But I know what I can do, and I understand that it’s worth so much more than 1 cent per word. I’ll come down in price sometimes to get the gigs I want, but I do have limits.
Good luck, Alexa.
U do not consider myself a journalist nor do I consider myself ignorant. I think that Journalists should understand that they can learn alot from us as we do from them.
Thank you for the post and vistit my blogs (I write in spanish about telenovelas (soapoperas) at http://www.casatelenovela.com or http://telemundo33.wordpress.com
thanks great post Ive done alot of reading on the suject.
I made a typo on previous comment my first word was (I) not (U)
@Tania: Your post makes no sense to me. None of the above posters stated that bloggers were ignorant. So, I’m not sure how you got to “nor do I consider myself ignorant.” And I, at least, did not say bloggers necessarily were not journalists. That logical construct was not even introduced in my post.
Glad you got your advertising in. And, there are multiple typos in your post, not just that one.
(wink) Hope you do extremely well.