August 10, 2007

Will Write for…?

Like most people with short attention spans, I'm easily bored. When I'm not busy writing, consulting, promoting my book, volunteering at an artists' cooperative, giving private English lessons to visiting scholars, leading workshops, planning home improvements or knitting, I cruise Craigslist for freelance writing gigs.

It's not that I think I'll find a job there-most of the gigs seem to involve knowledge of the club scene or medical terminology-but I find the listings fascinating.

The common theme seems to be an expectation that people will write for free. Enticements include the chance to "build your portfolio!" That means that someone uses your work to make money for himself and you get nothing. If that sounds like modern-day slavery, remember that slaves at least get a straw mat and a bowl of gruel once in awhile.

I'm not saying I won't work for free. I have done so and would do it again if it meant a chance to prove my skills with the aim of securing a paying gig. What's important is who you're writing for. If the New York Times called, they could get me for nada. I wouldn't even expect a free copy of the article. Why would I be willing to donate my efforts? To say I'd been published in the New York Times, which would presumably open door elsewhere.

What I won't do is work gratis for some start-up web site that promises a share in profits later. Unless this is 1998 and the start-up is called Google, I'm not optimistic about a payoff.

The allure of a future fortune to be had is used as bait by people who are narcissistic enough to believe that they can make a mint selling their life story to Hollywood. One current ad on Craigslist is looking for a ghost writer to collaborate on documenting events in the poster's life. "This could be a screenplay for a movie or a novel - I haven't decided yet," says the protagonist. If you relish squandering your time and talent crafting the story of this guy's life for "50% of revenues of finished project" then this gig is for you.

Writing is one of the few professions in which people are expected to work for free. Zipping through the gigs advertised on Craigslist, I see that I can get a job waving a sign for $9 an hour, doing errands for $15, or helping with a garage sale for half the proceeds. All of these unskilled positions pay more than the professional writing gigs which offer on pay whatsoever.

C. Hope Clark, the editor of the site "Funds for Writers," writes in a rant about the no-pay situation that in the business of book and magazine publishing, it is often ONLY the writer who works for free. She says, "… the printer, the cover artist, and the distributor get paid. In most cases, the editor, too." Why, Clark asks, is the person who provides the content without which there is no book or magazine, the only one not being paid?

Not every publication is asking writers to work for the honor and glory of it all. Sometimes, non-monetary compensation is offered (see above reference to gruel). Some of the goodies offered on Craigslist in return for writing are Chinese tea, free tickets to events, comped meals, and…hold on a minute. I just noticed this ad: "We are looking for a few writers willing to work for chocolate."

Well, now. That's another story.