I Don’t Write for Exposure
Or, why you should get paid to write
In my efforts to become a freelance writer, I have pitched a few publications in the past couple of months. Some of them have really strict admission guidelines. One, no joke, requires writers to have a PhD to submit. I skipped that one.
I submitted pitches or spec pieces to several normal-level-of-education places, and for a few, got a no-response rejection. That’s normal.
I received a few acceptances. One, I was really looking forward to, because they were right up my alley. They liked the pitch, but there was a slight problem: I had mentioned something about payment. If I agreed to let them publish my work for free, they’d take it.
Really?!
Would you say that in any other profession?
Imagine going into a restaurant and saying to your server, “This food looks good, but I won’t order anything unless it’s free.”
Or getting your car fixed and saying to the mechanic, “Instead of paying you, what if I just tell people how great you are?”
Writing takes time. Time to research, draft, and edit. Articles don’t exactly fall from the sky, you know? I can just put them up on my personal blog if I want them to be free.
