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I was reminded today of a time that someone emailed me about taking a piece I had published on my blog and asked to put it in an anthology they were publishing. I was like “Ooh, my words will be in a book!” I agreed with no questions about money and compensation. 1)
The person putting together the anthology emailed me multiple times with additional requests. I had to sign a release form, fine. I had to provide candid photos of me and my kids, ok fine. I had to agree to do press and radio interviews, uhm ok. 2)
Then this dude hit me up with a couple rounds of edits, which if I am being honest where probably needed. I was writing a blog, not a term paper. I did them and sent back revisions. 3)
Then the guy went radio silent for awhile. Eventually he emailed me to let me know they ran out of room and I wouldn’t be included in the anthology. Fine, I’m not worried about rejection. I was a mediocre writer. It’s what we do. But I was a little bugged. 4)
Anyway, as I gave the news some room to breath I went from a little bugged to very bugged and then felt embarrassed and bugged that I was bugged. Still, this dude reached out to ME. He emailed me and called me and asked me for work without any offer of compensation. 5)
What I eventually realized was that he had taken advantage of me. Not just me, but everyone in the anthology. And everyone who had invested time and effort at his request that was cut before publication. It was a pretty useful punch in the gut. 6)
Six years later, aside from salty tweets, I don’t write much anymore. Being a dad takes up all the time I used to use to write about it. 7)
But since in my career I have helped build and grow a bunch of websites that employ close to a hundred writers. And you know what we do?
We pay them. 8)
We pay them. 8)
When someone makes a video for us.
We pay them. 9)
We pay them. 9)
When someone manages our social media accounts.
We pay them. 10)
We pay them. 10)
SEO?
We pay them. 11)
We pay them. 11)
You deserve to be paid for your work.
