I blame the Internet
First Conde Nast shut down four of its magazines and ordered all the rest to cut their budgets by 25%. Then Time Inc. brought out the budget axe and lopped off a bunch of employees, including the entire staff of Fortune Small Business, one of my favorite clients. It’s been a rough few weeks in freelancia, and Magazine Death Pool is the new FuckedCompany.
There’s been a lot written out there about how and why the Internet is killing print media. I won’t recapitulate it. I just want to point out, for the benefit of people who don’t work in the putting-words-end-to-end business, that unfortunately for those of us who do, a lot of the writing opportunities we’re losing aren’t moving online. Oh, sure, there are lots of websites in need of consumer content. Some of them compete directly with magazines; some are adjuncts to existing magazines. But almost without exception, these sites pay less than the print media. A lot less.
Compounding this problem is the fact that with the advent of, well, blogs, everyone thinks that anyone can write. So the perceived value of being able to put words end to end has dropped — which means that when those of us who make our living that way try to say, “Hey, we can’t afford to write for these low, low online rates,” publishers are all too apt to reply, “Fine, we’ll find someone who can.” And then they go out and find someone who’s thrilled to write for a pittance, even if that someone isn’t a particularly good writer. And then the quality of the available writing goes down another notch, which in turn reinforces the idea that being able to write well is of no particular value, because after all, look at what’s getting published. And around and around we go.
Don’t get me wrong. I love the Internet. There are amazingly thoughtful sites out there, incredibly well-written blogs, grass-roots work that blows me away, more good stuff to read than I’ll ever get through in a lifetime. I’m just starting to wonder whether writing for a consumer audience now requires, in addition to talent, either a trust fund or a second household income — neither of which I happen to have at the moment.
Filed under fears | Comments (4)4 Responses to “I blame the Internet”
Leave a Reply
sing it, sister.
sigh.
I hear you. Trained as a typesetter and now a graphic designer, I have seen similar devaluing of my artistry due to technology and a false perception of, “anyone can do this”.
I know. And the brief bit of hope you enjoy in telling someone, “Fine, go find some hack and see how you like it,” is quickly dashed when you realize that they really don’t give a fuck if it’s good.
Fawn -
Well said. I, at least, have an employed husband with a decent salary and benes. But we also have a child in Montessori school, which in New York costs an absurd amount.
I flirted with the idea of Demand Studios during a few desperate moments, but it’s difficult to go from writing for Smithsonian, Sierra and National Wildlife at $1.50 to $3/word to writing stupid blurbs for overstock.com for the likes of $10-$15 a post.
Demand Studios rejected my copy editor test because my standards were too high. Nuf said.
Had lunch with a longtime editor from Sierra who’s now freelancing from Istanbul. She gets $25/post from Treehugger.com and supports herself with part-time copy editing.
No, I think the path to the promised kingdom is to latch on to one of your best ideas, build a brand and a community around it.
The tricky bit is to figure out how to pay the bills while developing that business/brand/project.
Pray/hope/light a candle for us all. It’s not just our individual careers that matter, it’s also that quality, thoughtful reporting and commentary is key to democracy. We’re sliding into a world of neverending Jon & Kate plus 8 and “Where is Tiger Woods?”