NYT op-ed writer is so mad publications won't pay for his awesomeness

Wow ... what are the odds?

 

Why wouldn't you count the cost of Internet service and cable? Or the cost of the 60-inch HDTV? Or the cost of the IPad or the computer you use to access the Internet? Or the cost of the radio or IPhone?

This "but not enough to pay for it" presumes no one has a subscription to anything. And yet, in this day and age, these things called magazines and newspapers exist...

 

Nah, your outrage is overcooked.

A point I would have liked to see Tim make was this: It's not a talented person's job to help a struggling magazine, a struggling project, you name it. It's also not their problem. Too often, the problem revolves around one entity in need wanting something for free because they haven't figured out a better way to make some money.

 

What we have here is yet another case in which the champions of capitalism wish to gleefully reiterate (for the quintizillionth time) that in the current economic climate, the consumers of the product (journalistic labor) have the vast majority of the leverage in the transaction, and once again gigglingly point out how silly/naive/misguided/egotistical any of the actual labor providers are for demanding anything more than a pittance (or in many cases, anything at all) for that commodity.

A common theme repeated in many labor-transaction analyses these days. It creates a warm warm feeling for many when Uncle Pennybags can screw the unwashed grunts in the factory out of the last nickel he can get.


In the meantime, enjoy your 10 cents an hour and your cup of rotten rice.

 

Just for clarification because I am a tax lawyer - lawyers doing pro bono work cannot deduct the value of the time spent on pro bono projects so no, it does not result in "very nice benefits at tax time."

 

I've written an op-ed for free. I think of it as an extended letter to the editor.

What are the views here on writing for free for a hobby site like SABR or Fangraphs?

 

A second question for the panel:

Let's say the board consensus is correct. This guy, as he tells us, actually is John Steinbeck, J.D. Salinger, and H.L. Mencken, rolled into one. He's amazing, with an amazing college degree to boot. Market or no market, this is a man who needs to get P-A-I-D. Boo-yah.

All of that being the case, is this the proper forum to voice his complaints? We don't seem to like when sports writers complain about the job in print. We say readers don't care. Why would they, then, care about this guy's woes?

 

They don't.

 

Yes, on a certain level. This is the Times' opinion page. Not to play up the stereotypes but some of its readership will eat it up with a spoon.

You can also argue that it won't make for a blind bit of difference either. But who knows? Stranger things have happened.

 

I have never been willing to write for free.. I have -- on unique occasions -- taken a really low rate for the time involved. For example, I published a couple of things for the ABA Supreme Court Preview publication in 2012. I did it purely to have another publication listed on my resume and to do something a little more scholarly than newsy. The pay was pretty weak for the amount of time it took (at least compared to other freelance jobs), though I was able to squeeze out a slightly better rate for the second piece, which was more of a magazine-type feature. The relative prestige of the pub made it worth it for me to do it those couple of times, but I would have never done it for free and I wouldn't do it again unless they paid me a rate commensurate with my other work rather than the honorarium rate they give to professors, law firm associates, etc. who are really just looking for publishing credit. I don't hold it against them -- it was an interesting intellectual exercise and I didn't do it for free. Anyone who does write something for free expecting that they'll be paid next time is pretty naive.

 

I've been meaning to send the NYT an Op-Ed complaining about the fact that my awesome writing skills have been ignored to date by the assholes in the publishing industry.

I spent my own money to put myself through a reasonably prestigious university, and have spent the past 21 years proving my excellence with the written word. All of which means that I'm entitled to be paid very handsomely for writing a book. Why? Because I say so.

Look, on a basic level, I agree that it was ridiculous for newspapers to give away their journalists' product for so long. That singular mistake went a long way toward creating the current shitty environment. As a journalist, I know how badly it sucks to know that so few people value your work enough to pay for it.

But while it pains me to agree with Whitman, he's correct in that the value of your work is set by the free market. If you are truly a brilliant, insightful writer and still can't get paid a living wage, you're doing it wrong. Stop throwing printed temper tantrums, stop writing for "prestigious" websites, and start working for someone who has cash money.

 

Writers Should Work for Free