This has been a hot topic for a while now but Twitter raged again after Imagine’s Now Gamer advertised their “competition” to win a blog on their website. You get exposure and they get free content. You’ll get no money and they will get ad revenue. Is it a step into journalism or a cheap trick to take advantage of budding new writers?

Outraged writers took to twitter to vent their frustration and John Walker, of Rock, Paper, Shotgun fame, posted this blog with his feelings on the subject.

This has left a lot of budding writers confused on what to do. Should they write for free for a semi-large website or should they stick to their guns and demand payment for their services. As someone who does both paid and free work, I thought I’d share some advice to confused new writers.

THE BENEFITS OF WORKING FOR FREE

I currently do paid work for several publications but I also do free work for an extremely large mainstream publication on a semi-regular basis. The reason I do it for free is because it’s requires minimal effort on my part and is fantastic exposure to an audience I’d have little chance of being exposed to. It gives me an insight into how they work, allows my work to be published to an extremely large audience and gives me that must needed boost to my CV.

Of course, this publication can very much afford to pay me and some people would say I’m a bit of an idiot to not charge them for my words. I approached them about the work and I very much see it as ‘work experience’ while I’m finishing my last year at university. It’s a position I will renegotiate once I finish university. I get basic advice and tips from the publication as a pay off and it also opens doors to mainstream PR and events I’d normally not have experience with. I’d gained something from it which in a way makes it worthwhile.

I also worked with smaller indie/community websites when I was starting out. This meant I was able to gain a bigger audience than my little blog would have and learned how to write for other people in different styles. These smaller websites most likely don’t make any money beyond paying off hosting charges and rely on volunteers to run. There’s nothing wrong with this and it’s a fantastic way to start if you’re not very confident with your writing.  You have to decide when your words are of worth and work towards making money from them.

Working for free is a great introduction and experience if you’re getting something for it. Review code or going to swanky parties are how some people “pay” their free writers and its an exchange you agree on. You need to be getting something out of it. If you’re not learning from your experience then you shouldn’t be doing it for free.

Internships are exactly the same. If you’re not being trained or taught something new then it’s not worth doing.

THE NEGATIVES OF WORKING FOR FREE

Not making money is an obvious negative but doing work for free not only affects your bank balance but also affects other people’s incomes. The people who work for free for companies that make money from their content devalues those who do this for a living.

I’m a freelance writer and that means I work with several publications producing content for internal use or their website, magazine, or newspaper. They can pay me by word or a specific rate for producing content. I do the work, invoice them and after a month or so they will pay me. It’s good work.

The problem is that if people are willing to produce the same kind of content for free then why should companies pay people to do it? Companies are there to make a profit and if they can cut out staff costs then there’s much more profit to be made. They’re not trying to “help” you raise to fame or expose your wonderful writing. They’re trying to make a quick buck out of your naïvety. At the end of the day, they are making money from your work. Why shouldn’t you be making money from your own work?

Exposure does help and a lot of us writers wouldn’t be where we are together without doing the odd job for free to get noticed. Not everyone has to do that though and there are plenty of people who’ve never worked for free. If you want to be on bigger websites or in magazines then pitch to them. It’s easier than ever to contact editors or staff writers on Twitter or social networks and sending an idea over is never a waste of time.

That’s not saying every idea you send will be picked up. As all good journalists know, selling 1 idea out of 100 is always good going. I spoke to a freelance writer who specialises in fashion and she pitches out to several publications daily. She’s written for VOGUE, Cosmopolitan, Elle, Company and many other fashion and woman’s magazines yet she doesn’t always get a reply. If your idea is good then editors are willing to take the chance on unknown writers just as much as known writers.

Of course if you fuck up and don’t produce what you promised then don’t expect much work from them.

Another thing is that if you set a precedent of working for free and then start asking for money, you will be dropped for some other young hopeful willing to do it for nothing. Working for free could mean there is no value in your work and no value in you.

Working for free should only be for a temporary learning process. If a company is making money from your work then you should be getting paid for it. It’s so much easier to expose your name than ever before. Learn to use twitter and social networks to get your name out there and always value the work you do.

Please feel free to add any advice in the comments below and good luck!

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