It’s Hard to Focus On a Novel When You Can’t Pay the Rent

Invisible labor and the undervaluing of cultural criticism in the journalism economy.

The line between reading assignments on benches and sleeping on one is thinner than it used to be.

By Rebecca Bodenheimer

It’s a difficult time to be a writer. Independent of the type of writing you do, staff jobs are disappearing, mushrooming the ranks of freelancers and creating ever-fiercer competition. Freelance rates are not only sagging way behind…