Rick Reilly of ESPN gave a speech at a convocation for a journalism school and spouted off comments that all bloggers should be interested in. Essentially, he said that we are saps if we write for free. However, I'll let you decide for yourself.
"When you get out there, all I ask is that you: DON'T WRITE FOR FREE! Nobody asks strippers to strip for free, doctors to doctor for free or professors to profess for free. Have some pride! What you know how to do now is a skill that 99.9 percent of the people don't have. If you do it for free, they won't respect you in the morning. Or the next day. Or the day after that. You sink everybody's boat in the harbor, not just yours. So just DON'T!"
Several thoughts are rushing through my head when I read this. The unabashed ego in me is screaming yeah, preach on brother. Then, I remember that Rick Reilly has the cushiest job in journalism. He has an iron clad five year contract with ESPN for 17 million dollars. All he has to do for that money is write a monthly column in ESPN the Magazine and appear on ESPN every now and again with something pithy.
Let's ignore those facts for the time being and focus on the meat of the message. First, there is the logical fallacy that all things are created equal. You can measure whether a doctor is successful or not. You can measure if a stripper is successful or not. You can measure if a professor is successful or not. If they suck they won't be doing it for very long.
The notion that 99.9% of the country couldn't do what I am doing right now is beyond arrogant. It's flat out wrong. This country was built on the free exchange of ideas. Notice I didn't say expensive trade of ideas or even ideas for sale. There are a lot of writers out there and not all of them are good. I have to have the faith that if I am good at what I do then someone will take notice and pay me. In point of fact, I'm already at that point.
Naturally, our benevolent host should not read anything into this column, There are other benefits to writing even when you aren't paid. Through the forum here and on other sites, I now have numerous people I count as friends that I wouldn't have had without the forum. No matter your religion, we are all called to share our talents with the world. Of course, I'm willing to bet that some people would question my talent.
Of course, people will question why we (in general) allow ourselves to be exploited. My answer would be that you are only being exploited when you are unaware that you are being manipulated or are powerless to prevent it. The reality is that the best writers realize it is a symbiotic relationship. They are using our talents to get free content. We are using their venues for free exposure. We at the Hurricane are in neither department. We use it as a personal outlet. Either way, it is a pretty pleasant exchange.
Now, if someone comes offering me 17 million dollars I'm not turning it down. If someone offers me 17,000 dollars I am all over it. In the meantime, I will continue to write for less than that and hope for the best. I do it with my eyes open and the realization that it may never happen. Rick Reilly can be as pissed off as he wants to be.
Hi RHM,
I'm with you on that...it's interesting...
ahhahaha. I've been reading help wanted ads lately. They want someone with a college education of at least 4 years, who has 3-5 years of experience, can demonstrate job tenure of at least 3-5 years on each previous job, who can type 85 wpm with less than 5 errors, who knows all the advanced levels of 2 different word processing pkgs, has high level of expertise in bookkeeping and in time billing, speaks spanish fluently, knows rules of civil procedure, rules of appellate procedure, can keep calendars and book trips, hotels, etc. for 3 attorneys, be able to work as relief on phone system, will run errands, knows shorthand and can do transcription from tape too, can draw up petitions, pleadings, answer rogs and deal with heavy client contact, dress professionally, have complex case experience (along with the required complex data base management), able to produce power point presentations and work in spreadsheets, knows ProDocs and other specialized legal software, no benes, no paid parking. Oh, and you must understand you are not an "employee" but a "contract worker" (illegal as all hell btw) and you will have to pay all your own taxes including SS, workman's comp, medicare. Of course, there are no insurance benes either. You must also be willing to make a lateral move - IOW - already HAVE a job! If you meet their criteria - you can make $8.00-$10.00 an hour! I'm thinking I'd rather be a greeter at Wal-Mart and let my 25 years of experience in the legal field just go fallow. (While that description is a little bit of an exaggeration, believe me - it really isn't a big one.)
RHM, if that's what they're looking for, you only need one word under qualifications: MOM.
You go, girl!
Hi RHM,
I'm with you on that...it's interesting...
Halfway expect to see the following:
"Looking for part-time carpenter. Preaching experience required. Must perform miracles on demand. Perfection required. Benefits include pissing off the powers that be. Long term benefits: none. Contract to last two years although some post-employment appearances are required."
ahhahaha. I've been reading help wanted ads lately. They want someone with a college education of at least 4 years, who has 3-5 years of experience, can demonstrate job tenure of at least 3-5 years on each previous job, who can type 85 wpm with less than 5 errors, who knows all the advanced levels of 2 different word processing pkgs, has high level of expertise in bookkeeping and in time billing, speaks spanish fluently, knows rules of civil procedure, rules of appellate procedure, can keep calendars and book trips, hotels, etc. for 3 attorneys, be able to work as relief on phone system, will run errands, knows shorthand and can do transcription from tape too, can draw up petitions, pleadings, answer rogs and deal with heavy client contact, dress professionally, have complex case experience (along with the required complex data base management), able to produce power point presentations and work in spreadsheets, knows ProDocs and other specialized legal software, no benes, no paid parking. Oh, and you must understand you are not an "employee" but a "contract worker" (illegal as all hell btw) and you will have to pay all your own taxes including SS, workman's comp, medicare. Of course, there are no insurance benes either. You must also be willing to make a lateral move - IOW - already HAVE a job! If you meet their criteria - you can make $8.00-$10.00 an hour! I'm thinking I'd rather be a greeter at Wal-Mart and let my 25 years of experience in the legal field just go fallow. (While that description is a little bit of an exaggeration, believe me - it really isn't a big one.)
carguy - You should have held out for a sixer of Bohemia.
Rick Reilly said that about strippers, not me.
hahaha...you got me on that one...just word from my daughter. I think what they do is rattle chains, and booooo and wailllll while one of them talks about their adventures. No, not really, I think they talk about the phenomena.
A "ghost hunting" group with a RADIO show???????
I guess you'd save a lot of money on "special effects".
by the way thanks for the tip...it was meant for Scott, but I'll take it for him.
No, I didn't but the head guy on that show has a looonnnngggg history in the field. He has been the managing editor of 'Fate' and 'UFO' magazines for a bazillion years. He comes off as a drama queen on the show but he is quite respected in the field. As for the other guys...don't know 'em.
A TV gig huh, now that would be the ultimate. Coincidentally, my ex's current husband has a ghost hunting group that has a radio show and they've auditioned for TV. In his spare time he's a mechanical engineer. I'm better looking than he is... :O)
And, I'll wrote a damn funny response to Des' posts for just $8.50 or a 6 pack od Dos Equis.
Scott wrote: "Nobody asks strippers to strip for free."
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Well, in the quest for truth...if you go to voyeurweb.com or projectvoyeur.com you'll see you're wrong about that.
Since "Project Blue Book" was closed, I don't thinkm anybody is making a living searching for UFO's. 'Cept for the "UFO HUnters" on SciFy. Did you ssend them an resume????
Hey Scott. Apart from God's reasons for why you have had trouble finding and keeping suitable employment, maybe the fact that Texas had a 4.4% unemployment rate before the great recession and now it's 8.5% has something to do with it.
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/09/25/us/unemployment-landscape-of-the-nation.html
And by the way, I really missed the "o" in my name, so I'm back to being "doug".
If I could just chime in on the conversation, I've always found it completely moronic to associate who one is, with what they do for work. If the cream rose to the top, would we have a world that is destroying itself environmentally? Would we have a world filled with wars if the smartest and wisest of us were the ones in power?
There's something really messed up with the economic order.
If I could have any job in the world...I would be a Ufologist. I've actually contacted a number of organizations regarding employing a sort of scientist.
They only want volunteers...kind of like your writing I reckon'.
I hear you...especially the part about being a deficient human being.
Now for the honesty part...
I'm lazy...very few subjects really motivate me to the point of excitement, motivation, and diligence. Software engineering is not one of them. Really, I would have been much better in the social sciences but that ship sailed many years ago. The single engineering field that 'might' have motivated me is space science but I tend to the fantastic (meaning fantasy) for motorvation.
The one thing that, for me anyway, underlies any chance of success is the understanding that one does not learn by osmosis...most normal human beings actually have to immerse themselves in their work in order to really excel. It's a very late lesson for me to learn (again with the honesty), and a lesson that I try to impart to my daughter with complete openness.
I lost my way early and spent many years just not caring about anything. It's hard to overcome a lifetime of bad habits.
That's the difficult thing. Whether one believes in fate, Yahweh, Allah, Krishna, Buddha, or Gilgamesh, when something happens over and over you know there is some sort of cosmic message at work. The question is what message. I have been laid off three times in education and dismissed once from another job working with adolescents. I could take take as the following:
1. God wants me to be better and that is the only way I can be convinced to improve.
2. God wants me to do something else and it took that many times to convince me.
3. God is communicating something else entirely and I don't know what that is yet.
I tend to lean number two or three at this point. While I do think there are things I can work on personally, I think public education has changed in the scant 20 years since my parents were in their prime. There was more honor and honesty in the profession back then.
I don't know if it is the sign of the times, an increase in pressure to perform, or simply a string of bad luck, but, I have run into very few supervisors who held to that level of honor. I have taken several lessons from it, but it is hard to take those lessons from mouth to soul.
1) My notions of honor and honesty are old-fashioned and antiquated. I must learn to adapt to the new world order.
2) I must learn to accept my position in the pecking order and keep my mouth shut until absolutely necessary.
3) As hard as it is, I am not my job. If a company or school does not deem me to be a fit with them it does not mean I am somehow deficient as a human being.
4) God has something in store for me. It could be something as grand as GM of the Houston Astros, feature columnist with a huge website or magazine, or something as modest as the best darn janitor anyone has ever seen. No matter what it is, I have to believe it is out there and I have to keep searching for it.
I like it...and very insightful.
Insurance huh. It's an honorable profession, I've tried it in one form or another through the years. It's as honest as we make it.
In truth, I'm somewhat disappointed that you seem ready to give up education. I have to believe you're a natural for that profession. Apparently, the cosmos has thrown you some challenges but that makes the rewards of success that much greater. Don't give up...make yourself better...that ultimately is the reason we encounter hardship...it's meant as a lesson only for you and for your journey to your spiritual essence.
I have an interview today. Looks like insurance. It's more making sure there is a cosmic separation between who we are and what we do. For so long in this country that has been one in the same. I'll call myself a writer even if that isn't what pays the bills.
Hi Scott,
I was just being silly...your posts are always so cheering...Nyuk! Nyuk! Nyuk!
How's the job search going?
On a sidenote...one of my pet peeves in life are the so-called scientists and engineers that adhere to conventional wisdom just as vociferously as fundamentalists adhere to their religious dogma. A case in point is the recent faster-than-light neutrino event. I posted to Sci-Guy's blog a note about a non-conventional field of physics called 'subquantum kinetics'. The post was actually deleted for what I can only speculate but I suspect because he considered it 'silly'. That really pisses me off.
His attitude really bugs me because he obviously is not a practicing scientist nor does he demonstrate any inherent brilliance. He just seems small minded. He refers to his cadre of other narrow minded scientists to laugh at those that prefer to regard the unknowable as a fascinating aspect of our existence.
"Penetrating so many secrets, we cease to believe in the unknowable, But there it sits nevertheless, calmly licking its chops.
- H.L. Mencken -
"There's something happenin' here. What it is ain't exactly clear."
- Steven Stills, "For What It's Worth"
I hope everyone doesn't think I was asking for thanks. This is more in response to sports blogging where a lot of people work for free. However, it brings exposure which should hopefully pan out. The Hurricane is just a blast, so I don't want anything in return.
I would too Des, but in some ways getting paid such a small sum would almost be worse. After Fanball, I wrote an Astros blog for Bloguin (Breathingorangefire). After six months of writing they said I had earned 90 cents. That was ridiculous.
I started with Bleacher Report and many people crack against the site for exploiting writers like myself. Some are paid but very few. Yet, I have gotten more hits there in two weeks than I did in six months at Bloguin. Hits means exposure which means others might recruit me.
I'd settle for $17.00
thanks...