Should You Ever Write for Free?
You hope to write professionally, which means getting paid for what you write. So should you ever write for free?
I sure hope so.
Disclaimer: I’ve worked for a publication that paid writers well. I’ve worked for a company that paid a token amount (for one-time rights for blog material.) But now I work for an all-volunteer organization whose magazine doesn’t (and can’t) pay writers.
Given that range of payment structures, why give away your work?
I advocate the position I learned from my father: “Charge what it’s worth or give it away.” No discounts. But be willing to donate your work for the right reasons.
People in the organization I now work for all get the volunteer-written magazine. In its pages they benefit from others’ experience. So it only makes sense that when they have a story to share, they offer it freely.
Beyond writing for an organization you support, I see several other reasons to give away your work:
• Practice. If you’re a new writer, the best way to learn your craft is by writing. So you write regularly for your own blog or website. You volunteer to write for not only an organization you support, but also places such as a community newspaper or your church newsletter.
• Ministry. You take a strong stand for your beliefs, and you want to encourage others to do likewise. Look for likeminded organizations and offer to write specific, on-target pieces for their publications or their websites. You’ll not only improve your writing, make a name for yourself on this topic, and also help an important cause.
• Samples. There’s a reason companies give away samples to promote a new product. If people try it, they might like it. Even writers who’ve established themselves as book authors on a given topic realize not everyone knows about them or has read their work. So they offer to magazines articles based on a chapter from their new book they want to promote. Easy, free advertising, for the cost of giving reprint rights to something they’ve already written.
Should you every give away your work? Sometimes — when the reasons suit you mission as a writer.
