tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33813337.post5629197895345840525..comments2023-09-12T06:18:38.552-04:00Comments on The World in the Satin Bag: Pay the Frakking WriterAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13571452656553970472noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33813337.post-39919465715982589592009-07-26T22:54:09.967-04:002009-07-26T22:54:09.967-04:00Well, I suppose having a blog with multiple author...Well, I suppose having a blog with multiple authors and editors who all need to be paid puts a strain on the money. My blog is mostly solo, with the occasional guest post. I don't make much at all, but I'm not really in this for the money. I'm more in it for the content and the for the fun of the community. But you sort of have to be at my traffic level. If you start getting illusions that you'll be like the big guys, then you'll end up disappointed.<br /><br />Do you use text links and private ad sales? I'd think if you're hitting millions of hits you could have ad space for a high price. I'm no expert on that, though. I'm new to most of the net advertising stuff. PW is only profitable if you have huge hits, but text links tend to do real well, in my opinion.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13571452656553970472noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33813337.post-88767525664116474672009-07-26T22:46:42.980-04:002009-07-26T22:46:42.980-04:00"If you run a blog with millions of hits a mo..."If you run a blog with millions of hits a month, you should be able to turn that into a fairly profitable machine. If someone like me can make a few easy bucks off a small blog like this, someone with your traffic strength should be pulling in a lot of money on adverts and what not."<br /><br />I agree, I SHOULD be able to but the reality is that it isn't happening and it's not just me. Most of the large, popular blogs are in the same boat, that even includes a lot of the corporately owned blogs, though those are in a little better shape.<br /><br />I don't know how much you make off this blog or how much traffic you have, but you're wrong if you think that should you suddenly skyrocket up to having millions of readers you'll also suddenly have enough money to afford a large, paid staff. You'll be lucky to earn enough to pay yourself.<br /><br />The money in internet advertising revenue simply isn't there, even using the highest quality advertisers.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33813337.post-14336902019623832822009-07-26T03:22:38.854-04:002009-07-26T03:22:38.854-04:00Netta: It's not always true that you get what...Netta: It's not always true that you get what you pay for. Some writers/editors do a fine job, but perhaps lack the experience to get those high paying jobs and have to scrounge at the bottom. Unfortunately, there are plenty of people to take advantage of them, to exploit them...there is no minimum wage in freelance writing.<br /><br />I also disagree with the "do it for the love" argument. If you do it for the love, then there's no reason to get it published at all. Publication means getting paid.<br /><br />Anonymous: I'd like to know when exactly we stopped paying writers well. We used to pay writers pretty darn well for the work they did in quite a lot of the markets, but these days the frequency of crap-paying jobs has skyrocketed to absurd levels. Maybe if today was 1900 and the writing jobs paid $10 a month that would have worked out, but today writers are making less per job a month than the people in the Great Depression made.<br /><br />If you run a blog with millions of hits a month, you should be able to turn that into a fairly profitable machine. If someone like me can make a few easy bucks off a small blog like this, someone with your traffic strength should be pulling in a lot of money on adverts and what not. Plenty of bloggers make a living that way.<br /><br />And of course shouting this doesn't fix it, but saying "that's how it is" does something worse. It allows the problem to persist without raising awareness of it. Better to say something than do nothing at all...That sort of attitude is what got us here in the first place.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13571452656553970472noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33813337.post-89423067338105101612009-07-26T02:08:45.977-04:002009-07-26T02:08:45.977-04:00Who will pay them? What you're missing is tha...Who will pay them? What you're missing is that most publishers have no money to pay... in particular on the internet.<br /><br />The problem is that no one has figured out how to make money on the internet yet... if they ever will.<br /><br />I run a successful blog with millions of monthly readers, yet we barely make enough money to pay two people a living wage. Yet in order to maintain our readership we need at least 5 editors and 5 or 6 writers. <br /><br />The question you should be asking is why are writers working for free? The answer is because no one is making enough money to pay them anything. So it's either work for free and write, or don't write at all in most cases.<br /><br />There's precious little money to go around in the writing game, and if you're going to make any of it most of the time you're going to have to work for free to prove yourself first.<br /><br />It's a horrible, horrible system but simply shouting "pay the writers!" doesn't fix it.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33813337.post-22533946476713089212009-07-24T19:50:54.726-04:002009-07-24T19:50:54.726-04:00Dead-on correct. It's true you get what you pa...Dead-on correct. It's true you get what you pay for, and if you are paying dirt rates, that's what you're getting. Content may be king, but it's held cheaply (speaking of internet writing, specifically.) <br /><br />Anyone who thinks it's easy to write for a living evidently has no clue. I think it's a combination of factors; the transitory nature of the internet, the influx of people who will (or need) to take the low paying jobs, and a general de-valuation of the profession in general.<br /><br />Sad days. Yet, a writer doesn't do it for the cash -- they do it for the love because there ain't no cash. Maybe THAT'S the problem.<br /><br />Great post.nettahttp://www.wordwebbing.comnoreply@blogger.com