It’s my blog and I’ll whine if I want to.
It’s no secret that travel writing is my dream job. I’ve gone from joining a “travel writer’s network” – a club, really where my fees went into the pocket of the guy that arranged the press trips – to publishing a tiny handful of pieces to some lesser known publications. This is progress and as I move ahead, I’ve been eyeing some bigger fish. All good.
Related to my aspirations, I’ve been following the posts at BlogHer by the travel editors with special interest. Twice now, they’ve posted “travel network” sites. The first was Boots n All, the latest is TangoDiva. Both have forums, the Diva forum looks newish, the one at Boots n All is mighty lively. Both networks give you the “opportunity” to write for them. Boots n All is quite clear that they don’t pay and gives their reasons up front; TangoDiva doesn’t mention compensation at all. They have strict guidelines about submissions, but their payback is that they’ll give you credentials – after they’ve accepted five of your stories. (Credentials, I am learning, are not as critical as tenacity and bravado.)
I recently sent a story to WorldHum. (World Hum is more a magazine than a network and doesn’t have a forum.) I’d bookmarked the contributors guidelines and wasn’t paying attention when I hit ‘Send’. Rereading them, I discovered that oops, they also don’t pay. World Hum looks to be a decent launching pad for some good new writing, as does Boots n All. I can’t tell with TangoDiva. The women behind it seem really cool, but I’m not (yet) convinced that it’s not a vanity site. (Before you pounce on me, I’m TOTALLY a vanity site, but I’m not pretending to be something else. And the jury is still out, okay? Let the 12 Angry Nerds decide, first.)
I am not totally against giving work away. I give stuff to Travelblogs now and then because it’s run by my ex-neighbor – I’m happy to help out a friend. I do like the idea of being published on World Hum, which has been reviewed as “the new Lonely Planet ” – being in World Hum would totally flatter the old backpack traveler in me. A friend of mine recently submitted a piece to a Lonely Planet anthology – also unpaid – and I think it would be a-okay to be in an “old” Lonely Planet publication, too. (He should get in, it’s a great piece of writing.)
But.
If I truly believe that you get what you pay for, then what am I saying about my own work by giving it away? These things aren’t charity causes, it’s not like a piece of writing is going to an auction where all the money goes to fight hunger or AIDS or any other planetary scourge. Also, ponder this business model for other occupations. “You get exposure to any number of potential patients when you perform surgery in our hospital.” Okay, that is totally ridiculous, right? How about, “You’ll have the opportunity to park your plumbing truck in a soon to be gentrified community.” Um, no. It doesn’t even work with my bread and butter writing work. “Your documentation will be read by thousands of frustrated users as they try to perform simple software tasks!” (Heh. That’s funny to me.)
Blogging has busted writing right open. It’s not that anyone can write, it’s that anyone can be published. Words about “me and my adventures” have flooded the market in such quantity that they’re totally devalued. No wonder sites that need content are cashing in on this. The streets are paved with content!
I recently read somewhere – damn, I wish I could remember where – about a writer who’s suspended his blog because he’s now making his living, get this, WRITING.
I totally agree with everything Pam says. Blogging has become so ubiquitous and everywhere that it has the potential to seriously damage the prospects for anyone who wants to write for a living. As new technology moves in, who says this won’t obsolete even such things as novels. People will just pass around their favorite links and perhaps creative people will go on to other pursuits where they can actually make a living.
But as the publisher or Travelblogs.com I also see the other side. I started the site with one of my main goals being to provide an alternative publishing stream AND revenue source for writers, including myself. Not being endowed with corporate dollars, I had to start small but promised those to who it was important that if revenue after hosting costs went above $500 a month, not a terribly high bar, revenue would be shared 50-50 with the content contributors (try and find even that promise on the commercially run sites). Well after 2 years of putting major effort in, the site is still making peanuts even as traffic continues to grow.
Although their scale is bigger I have no idea how the big sites like WorldHum and BootsNall are making it. Sure they have more revenue but they’ve also got to have huge overhead with paid staffs, etc. I know one new commercially sponsored site, J3tlag, initially started with the idea of paying writers at least a token $40 but quickly joined the non-paying crowd. Now they, like the others, trumpet that they’ll publish your travel writing for Free!
As internet consumers of content we’ve got to take some responsiblity for this as well. Hell, as consumers in general more and more we’ll buy the cheapest thing from Walfart even if it means screwing our local communities and overseas factory workers.
Now there’s taking a local issue and totally muddying the waters!
Have you tried Dutch and French magazines? There are quite a lot of them and they regularly publish translated articles.
Last time I checked, one can eventually die from exposure. Every time I get that ludicrous response I want to scream, “Why don’t I tie you to an ice floe and see how you like the exposure?”
I guess what I’m saying is, I love your post. I too, like to submit my work to paying markets…which are getting harder and harder to find, now that everyone and their dog is an instantly published writer.
All that being said, I still think travel writing is the best thing going. Nothing like a good challenge 🙂
Totally. I’d like to see more about how to command decent pay rates and less about how to get “stuff.”