The other day, I told my mother I got a piece of fiction accepted in a magazine. When she asked if I was getting paid for it and I said no, she yelled at me for being a published author giving away work for free. Fellow writers: are we giving away our work for free?
From a financial perspective, probably. Most lit magazines are not momentarily paying markets. Those that publish traditional paper magazines pay in copies, a rough retail value of $5-$10. Those that are electric pay nothing but are very easy to access by all. It’s easier to point people in the direction of your online publication through social networking sites like Twitter & Facebook rather than encourage people to pay $5-$10 for a magazine that contains one of your poems or stories.
From a reputation perspective, hardly. Reputation is more important than money. A good reputation leads you to amazing people and amazing opportunities that can lead to financial gain if you play your cards right.
What would it be like if all of us only submitted to paying markets? What would the literary landscape look like from an editorial perspective and a content perspective?
Keep giving it away “for free”. You’ll be surprised what you really earn in the long run.
Instead of looking at it as giving something away freely I prefer to think that I am doing two things; getting my name out there (HI!) and supporting the literary scene that I love. Wouldn’t you hate it if all the little indie mags fell apart because writers stop submitting to non-paying markets? Me too.
Amen to that. McFiction would clog our arteries.
you know, this applies to photographers too.
i used to agree with you. i used to think, hey, if i bust my ass and work for free, even if i only get name credit, eventually someone will notice. and sure, they notice.
in addition to noticing the quality of your work, they notice that you don’t seem to want to be compensated for providing quality work. then they start in with the expectations. in my case, several different monetized blogs with huge readerships wanted my work. they wanted hours of my life, both shooting and editing, and overnight turnover, all for no compensation.
at this point, name credit is worthless to me. i’ve stopped shooting for all those big blogs. i give my work to one or two smaller publications. i wait for the paying gigs to come to me. and you know what? they do. maybe not enough for me to play full-time photographer to the stars just yet, but it will come.
i just don’t want you giving away your work forever. you’re far better than that.
Des,
I completely am 100% with you on this. The long term goal is to do what you love and get paid for it and believe me, I’m working on it.
LET’S GET FAMOOSE.
It is slightly different between photography and writing though. Those blogs won’t fold if they can’t get free photography. Many well known, well paid writers still make the time to throw a freebie at the little mags once in a while just to show their support. I like to think that the literary world is a community and functions as such. Photography is different in that sense.
Hi! Came here via Bloody Bridge Review and this caught my eye.
I got accepted in an anthology for no pay, and I’m assuming it’ll actually cost me money cos I’ll feel obliged to buy the book, if only to show my mother. I’m in my forties and she’s ancient but I still need the validation, I guess.