Why we decided to not accept articles from fulltime freelance journalists
The other day I read a piece on Medium called “Dear Every Editor Who Has Ever Asked Me To Work For Free” by Stephanie Rice, and it resonated with me way too much. The freelancing world is a tough one, I definitely had no idea at first.
I founded Words in the Bucket when one of my closest friends started writing, for free, for a magazine. So I said, “hey, instead of writing for free for someone else, why don’t we write for free for us? Maybe it leads somewhere”. And it did! We now have a big team of 8 people, and many contributors from all over the world.
We currently don’t accept articles from full time freelancers and I would like to explain why we made this choice. Though it will probably be questioned by many, this is what we have decided for now.
The reason is quite simple: we cannot pay them.
My first thought as an editor of a really small platform that needs to gain traction before we can even think of ads or applying for grants was to find a way to have interesting content, gain visibility, without exploiting professional freelancers.
. We accept instead, pieces from researchers, activists, academics, concerned citizens and students. Most people who write for us are not used to writing for a large audience, and therefore need a lot of guidance to make the important issues they want to talk about accessible to a wider audience.
It is also an editorial choice. We want to help these people raise their voice and raise awareness about important issues. I have found myself following up with writers as an editor. Every freelancers will know why this sounds VERY “non-editory”.
One of the reasons we decided to do this was that I myself entered the freelancing world in the last three years. And that’s when it hit me.
One day, I made the mistake to post “Hey we’re looking for writers, for free for our website” on a professional journalist group on Facebook. I was bombarded with criticism, put my tail between my legs and deleted the post.
I also learned the several times I was asked to work for free. It pissed me off, and it still does, to be offered low rates for the work that I do. It is not sustainable. As Ms Rice rightly said, how do we pay our rent, our food? Where do the editors, who get a salary, think we get the money to do our research, transcribe our interviews, call internationally?
So after being attacked by fellow colleagues, and spending some time as a freelancer out into the world, I got it. I got all the anger and the frustration of a world that is crumbling and needs a very rapid and drastic change.
Our team is made of all volunteers, that have full time jobs and spend their extra time on this, as a choice and because we believe in this project. We are not a team of editors that earn their living on this and then expect not to pay freelance writers. Our writers are either full time students or have jobs, doing this on the side, because they want their voice heard, and they want to share what they are discovering as researchers and activists.
Some may argue that if people choose to write for free then there is nothing wrong, because they are getting visibility. I do not agree, I think that simply by giving that choice you are contributing to something.
You work with what you have and you make it stick to your principles as much as you can. It is your responsibility.
