Show me the money: Should you write for free?

WOULD you expect a plumber or mechanic to do their job for free? No? So why do publishers instruct aspiring journalists to submit their finely crafted features without any pay? Linda Jones reports on a debate which is set to run and run.

Ask any new writer and they’ll tell you how difficult it is to ‘crack’ that elusive vicious circle: You want a job, editors want experience. You pitch a feature; they want evidence of a track record – cuttings of already published work.

So what can you do? Writing for free is a harmless way of proving you have what it takes, isn’t it? You must beware - for every publication offering you “exposure” as your sole reward, there’s plenty more experienced hacks who’ll tell you to tread carefully.

I have written for free in a limited capacity. My career in journalism, which began at the Wolverhampton Express & Star, now spans 15 years and has seen work published in dozens of publications. I’m now at the helm of an agency called Passionate Media, with five members of staff.

So why did I ever feel the need to ‘give away’ my work? All those years ago, it could be argued that I wrote for free during my time on work experience. But a sharp reality check tells me my ‘payment’ was the invaluable on the job training I received.

Years on, while at home with two baby daughters, I volunteered to write for a charity’s magazine. That helped me talk myself into the job of editing the magazine and doing the charity’s PR.

I also offered unpaid ad hoc PR work for my local Chamber of Commerce. The result? To this day, its divisional manager still recommends my services when contacted by firms wanting publicity.

Lichfield-based writer Nick Daws is the award-winning author of around 50 non-fiction books, including Living & Working in Italy and Start your own home-based business. He raises a key point campaigned on by the National Union of Journalists and many, many more experienced writers – writing for free devalues the profession.

He says: “I’ve always avoided writing for free. Writers should be paid a fair wage and those who routinely work for free are effectively undercutting those of us who depend on writing for our livelihood.

“I recently did a small job to allow a company to assess my style and I could assess what the job would involve. I wouldn’t adopt this approach for anything more substantial. I might be willing to accept a lower than usual fee for writing say, a test article, if I genuinely believed it was going to lead on to better things. I’d definitely expect payment if the job was going to take me more than half a day or so.

“You need to judge any offer carefully. If it’s just a small job to test your skills, and you’re confident it could lead to regular work, go for it. But if it’s more substantial, be prepared to negotiate. Point out to the editor that this will take a fair bit of work and as a professional writer you expect some recompense. If they are reasonable people, they should understand and accept this. If not, you’re probably better off not working for them anyway.”

Martin Drury, of Evesham, has written numerous articles for his university paper, tipped off the local press, appeared on student radio, and written reviews for various websites – but only started making a living from writing in 2005.

He now contributes to Yoga Magazine, The Liberal, the Readers’ Review, Gloucester Citizen, Evesham Journal, and Spill Music magazine - and says he never could have got there without building a portfolio of ‘free’ writing.

He says: “If your first writing opportunity is a paid writing opportunity, you’re very lucky. If people are waving pay cheques- however small- in your face before you’ve even penned a single word, take the money and don’t consider writing for free.”

For London-based Michael Hewitt, who has an impressive clutch of cuts from the likes of the UK broadsheet press and prestigious glossy magazines, writing for fun kick started his career – by accident

Finding himself bored in his specialist PR job, he began posting messages to a bulletin board which was a precursor of the Internet.

He says: “A few months in, I received an e-mail from the editor of a magazine called Personal Computer World, asking me to write a column for him.

“The resulting column ran for about nine years and I was twice nominated for Columnist of the Year. The then deputy editor of The New Statesman read one of my pieces and asked me to produce a similar one for his magazine. It just built from there.”

But Michael too urges caution.

He says: “Beware of any editors offering “jam tomorrow,” saying if you write for free now, when their publication becomes successful, they’ll start paying you. What often happens is that, if the publication takes off, they’ll dump you and hire some higher-profile, established journalist. Writing for free is fine at the very beginning – for college and local publications, say – but always bear in mind that you’re building a career.”

Are you being ripped off?

* Ask yourself is this publication ripping me off or do they genuinely have a limited budget? If so, why? If they can't afford to pay their writers, why is this and do you really want to write for them?

* Weigh up if the piece will genuinely have the possibility of leading to other work, building a specialism or boosting your reputation

*Be prepared to ask for a fee if a job is going to take a lot of work. Ask for expenses at the very least

* Do you care passionately about an issue you are reporting on? Will it make a genuine difference? (And even then some would say remember – the resulting warm glow doesn’t pay the bills.)

Comments

[Clare Lynch]

Great post! It never ceases to amaze me how little so much journalism pays - and that's partly because so many desperate writers are willing to work for nothing.

[Arpi Shively]

Linda, what a useful article and what a great resource your site is. The small Andalucian mountain town I call home is hardly media central, and your site is an excellent reality check.

Keep blogging!
Arpi

[Linda]

Thank you Arpi, that sort of comment is faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaab.

[Tim Dunkley]

Thanks Linda. Food for thought.

Tim

[Sue Moorcroft]

I write only a few non-fiction articles - mainly I write fiction: short stories, serials and novels. As a creative writing tutor I also write courses. I rarely write for 'free'. I occasionally write for exposure, though, such as a charity anthology, especially if I think bigger names will be in it, too.

I really think that writers should think very carefully before writing for no fee. ESPECIALLY IF YOU THINK THE PERSON GIVING YOU THIS 'OPPORTUNITY' IS BEING PAID!

[Domenic Pappalardo]

Free? I won't even give the characters I write about anything free. I had this one character,I don't even know why I had him in the darn story anyway. He wanted to have a main part, and that's like getting paid. I said,"No. It's my book," and I wrote him out. Next chapter I was in, here he is again. The guy just would not leave. He would pop up here, than he would pop there.He was taken over my story. After a time I gave in. Maybe it was because he reminded me of myself. But I kept him poor in the story. I'm still the boss of what I write. Most times anyway.
Remember my name
Domenic pappalardo