Forget Bitcoin, I make my writing income in exposure
Recently there’s been an increase in people talking about cryptocurrency.
It’s all well and good, and i’ve actually invested in some crypto currencies myself, but that’s not where i’ve made my trillion-billion-zillions. My chosen currency is: exposure.
Today I want to tell you a story. A story that details my journey of being paid in this wonderful currency and how you can too.
It was a sunny day a few years ago and I applied for my first writing job. It was for a technology company. I was super stoked. Having had no previous experience, I created a test sample introduction and outline for the type of content I’d produce for the particular client.
They were thrilled, then came the topic of budget.
We had the following conversation.
No budget. Okay then. But lots of exposure…that had to be good right? After all, I was a no-name writer with no prior experience other than a hunger for technology.
So I took the role. And so began my life time journey of being paid in exposure.
The reality
I’m pleased to say the previous story was a fallacy. It didn’t really happen. But the worst part is, stories like this do exist. There are companies who do try to use writers for their talent without offering any sort of remuneration.
Then there are the companies who feel as though they’re doing a writer a favor by offering a fee….except the fee looks something like this:
Your eyes aren’t deceiving you. This client is actually offering to pay $1.20 per 500 words.
Let’s look at how that would work.
Assuming you have an average typing speed of 50 words per minute, it would take you around 10 minutes to write said article.
But.
That doesn’t account for the research time needed, the time it takes to do keyword research, the time it takes to source images, or the time it takes to edit.
No one writes a perfect blog post first time, especially not for $1.20 per 500 words.
My advice to companies looking for writers
You need to pay your writers. Don’t promise them exposure. If your company is doing well enough to get hundreds of thousands of readers every single month, then your company is doing well enough to pay writers a fair fee.
Especially if you’re using the content as a way to attract, convert and wow your customers, your writers should be paid accordingly. And at market rates, if not higher.
Writing is a skill that many spend years honing. Don’t belittle them by offering them subpar contracts in the vain excuse that you’re giving them some sort of ‘exposure’.
Where free work counts
This isn’t to say you should be paid for every piece of content you write. Not at all. There are use-cases where producing guest posts for popular blogs in your industry can improve your domain authority and establish yourself as an industry expert.
However, these should be adhoc guest blogs and not long-term ongoing work.
A message to writers who are considering taking on a long-term unpaid gig…
You are better than that.
There are better clients.
Don’t sell yourself short.
