When a Freelance Writer Should Work for Free
Posted by Admin Team on Thu, Jul 15, 2010 @ 10:00 PM
By Rebecca Smith Hurd
Yes, you read that headline right. There are, in fact, moments in every freelance writer's career that warrant working for free, at least according to panelists who spoke during the recent Future of Freelancing conference at Stanford University. Working for low or no wages can actually benefit your business, if you choose assignments and negotiate non-monetary compensation wisely.
Michelle Goodman, author of My So-Called Freelance Life, said that "a good exposure situation" can pay off in spades when it comes to activities like selling books, building your name recognition, and keeping up various platforms. Think: marketing. It's OK to take on the occasional non-lucrative project if it promises to boost a personal product or brand. "You really need to be discerning," she cautioned, clarifying that working for free "has nothing to do with volunteering. I'm talking about the people who don't want to pay you."
For example, I rarely volunteer my services. But I recently started a travel website, AllAboutPuebla.com, in an effort to provide people who don’t speak Spanish access to reliable information about the city of Puebla, Mexico. A colleague asked me to contribute to an e-book that he plans to publish this fall about Latin America. My 300-word essay about Mexico would be featured alongside contributions from scores of other writers/bloggers in the region. In exchange for my unpaid submission, the editor promised me free publicity. “Below your entry in the e-book will be your name and a short description of your [site] and a link,” he wrote. “You’ll receive a copy of the e-book and may you distribute it as you wish.”
Three hundred words seemed like small price to pay for a book with enormous potential to reach a very targeted audience. Rationale: Other contributors are bound to tout and distribute the book to their readers, too, which for me means that my entry could be read by hundreds or thousands of people who I may never otherwise reach. So I took on the assignment.
Before you accept an assignment for little or no money, try to negotiate other things to your advantage. Ask your editor questions like:
- Where, exactly, will my story appear on the publication's website?
- Will my story be featured or promoted anywhere?
- Where else do you plan to run the piece?
- Will you link to my website, blog, Amazon.com page, etc.?
When you turn in your story, gently remind the editor of the terms you agreed to — and provide the appropriate supplementary information, such as the URLs you'd like linked.
Be careful not to overload your schedule with pro bono commitments. Limit yourself every month to the number of free and non-monetary projects you're willing to take on, advised freelancer Matt Villano, whose clients include GQ, TravelChannel.com and The New York Times. Paid work should always be your top priority. "Writing at ten cents a word at some point is offensive to us," he said.
Indeed, working for free is not an effective long-term business model and should be entertained only when the anticipated benefits (e.g., free marketing) outweigh the costs (e.g., not meeting your bottom line).
"It's important that we don't devalue our work," said Damon Brown, who contributes to publications as diverse as Playboy, Family Circle and AARP. Brown says he always weighs how badly he wants a job versus coming in with a bid that's too cheap. "Err on the high side. If they want to hire somebody of Craigslist at a nickel a word, then [let them] go for it."