Thank you for any advice you (or your readers) can offer.

I don’t have a problem with people disagreeing with me, even about things like content mills where I’m pretty passionate in my opinion. The only time it becomes an issue is when I see supposed professionals convincing new writers that these are the best gigs they can expect because they’re the “wave of the future” and other bullshit because they don’t know how to separate a single market from the overall marketplace. Or better yet, actually discouraging them from thinking for themselves and making critical decisions based on facts rather than hype and false promises (again, coming from someone who’s been not only on the writing side but also the recruiting side knowing damn well what does and doesn’t actually happen for the bulk of writers involved).

Even though I’m accused of it often enough, I don’t believe I’ve ever said that writers flat out shouldn’t write for content mills. I’ve said quite plainly that they might be perfectly fine and dandy for hobby writers for example and that there’s nothing wrong with that. But writers get enough info from people supposedly interested in helping their careers that’s littered with bad business advice, and my emphasis here is giving them the other side of the story to level that BS before they make decisions of their own.

I don’t really know where your own posts fall on that spectrum, so I can’t say whether we do or don’t agree on those particular points. Used to love the old blog though – was a sad day when you unloaded it. I didn’t even realize you had another — that’s what you get for giving up the branding. ;)

Yet here we are, agreeing on something.

Gotta love it!

Freelance writers need to realize and understand that they are in the business of marketing and problem solving; you are not in the business of writing. When you’re asked, “…what do you do?” avoid answering, “…I’m a freelance writer.” If you’re specialty is web copy, create a 30-second elevator pitch around it. This will set distinguish you from other writers.

@Carson – 2006 was 2006, and things definitely change. I vaguely remember your old blog, but don’t remember any specific debates. That would have been around the time I was either an editor with one of the content mills / networks or shortly after leaving perhaps. Not only did I see the garbage being used to suck in writers but I was a part of it. I drank the Kool-aid. I learned the hard way. And I got the hell out of it. I was a lucky one in that the editing and writing then was just part-time for me while I had a full-time PR firm bringing in the vast majority of the income. Many of the writers with these types of sites now don’t have that same benefit. That past is one of the reasons I’m personally so strongly opinionated about the content mill / low pay issue. I didn’t just experience it first-hand either. I saw not only how the writers working under me did with the network but how quite a few thrived as soon as they left for better things — still keep in touch with a few.

It’s why I despise content mills and probably always will. It has nothing to do with them not paying enough. It’s the fact that these kinds of sites will feed writers any kind of garbage they can think of to convince them that they’re great for the writer’s career. It’s one thing for hobby writers to write for these sites — absolutely nothing wrong with it. But the sites and their advocates go beyond that. They prey on the new and naive, furthering the myth that this is just how it is writing for the Web and that good rates are somehow “old school” thinking in freelancing. I call bullshit.

I don’t like seeing people manipulated, and many (although not all) are. I used to really pity the writers who ended up in these situations, watching one after the next begging for ideas to get out and get higher paying work only to find themselves stuck in the rut. But I don’t have time for pity anymore, so I’ve turned my attention to helping those who are willing to get out there and help themselves. I can give them the information. I can encourage them to think critically. But I can’t make anyone apply themselves. That’s where responsibility for one’s own career comes in.

That’s the gist of where I came from sometime around ’06 and how and why my opinions on the issue are what they are today. In the end, it’s all just basic business sense, and my only regret is that I didn’t apply what I already knew through running my firm to my freelance writing work much earlier and encourage others to do the same.

I don’t mention that to pick a fight… I do so because I think it’s a good example of how folks who may not agree on everything regarding the best way(s) to make a living as a writer can still find some common ground.

And Jake is right x100. Dealing with virgin clients guarantees weirdness, messiness, clinginess, indecisiveness and just about every other annoying -ness possible unless you’re ready to be an educator as well as a service provider. Maybe we should all have a separate rate card for “beginners”.