Devaluing Writers: I Have a Thought
Posted on | June 4, 2009 | 10 Comments
So, there’s a new blog here in Portland. The blog started following me on twitter sometime late in the night. I clicked over to check it out because I happen to believe that community blogs are quite good and I gained a lot of friends and connections when I blogged for Metblogs in its salad days, which was exactly what I wanted when I started blogging there. I didn’t get a single penny for writing a daily post there, though the editors of the site did take us to drinks monthly and I’ve gotten several paid gigs from my time there.
It was worth it.
You know what made it worth my time to blog there? Getting a byline.
This new blog doesn’t believe in bylines. What’s more, they have no masthead and the authors or editors or whatever are totally hidden. I did a little bit of detective work and found out who’s running the show and it’s someone who I followed for a time on twitter. And then grew extra tired of his social media navel gazing. Oh social media experts…how you fucking exhaust me.
But it seems to me that one of the pillars of social media is transparency. And maybe giving authors bylines is a good way to be transparent (you know, like regular newspapers do — I know! I’m crediting print media!!). It’s also the only method of payment most blogs of this size are willing to cough up. So why not give it to the writers? Why not offer the people putting up the content some sort of acknowledgment?
I’m guessing because there aren’t writers or bloggers generating the content. It’s just some dudes with some keyboards thinking that because (like trained monkeys) they can press letters and make the words go on the magic screen, then they’re making a blog. Judging by the content on that site (intense purposes — blerg — which was only corrected after I tweeted about it, and there has been no gee thanks from the blog offered) they’re not aiming for a voice, or really anything interesting at all. And this, at its core, is the devaluation of writers. Just barf shit up on the web and hope the advertisers never notice that no one is hitting the POS site, instead of hiring people to provide the content, just like they hired someone to build the blog itself.
There are millions of blogs out there and so many of them never get a single hit a day. But people are plugging away at them. And there are other blogs who have a devoted following (like this one, thank you Fan Club) because the blogger has a voice, an identity. A BYLINE.
I think the value of a blog, whether it’s the time the blogger spends on posts no one reads, or something like my blog, the value of which is both monetary and personal, begins with the owner of the blog and what he or she believes voice is worth. A byline is a good start.
I won’t link to this new blog because I don’t want their traffic going up. Traffic is the only value these people place on blogging. Problem is, the audience has a different opinion. So in two weeks, when the site is gathering dust and we’ve all forgotten (mercifully) that it happened in the first place, and the owners blame the economy, or summer, or whatever. I’m going to do a little cheer that there is something inherent in all of us that wants to value writers, despite not knowing how. That no matter what our actions are for the moment in terms of not purchasing books, or supporting local bookstores, or buying a magazine now and again, we all want voice. So take a moment. What are you doing to value voice today?
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10 Responses to “Devaluing Writers: I Have a Thought”
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June 4th, 2009 @ 4:54 pm
I’ll give you a byline and buy you beers! That’s the least a publisher can do.
June 4th, 2009 @ 4:55 pm
This is my first response to anyone’s blog that I follow on Twitter so bear with me if I’m off topic.
I think valuing your voice is all well and good, but I think writers need to balance the craft of writing with the business of writing.
I disagree that value can be solely derived from the value one places on one’s voice in the din. It’s a start, but not the ends.
If you’re writing to express/emote then finding value in just the writing is enough. However some people write to communicate and if there’s no one reading your blog, if there’s no one that you’re communicating to, then the “time the blogger spends on posts no one reads” becomes a moot exercise.
Somewhere in there comes the business of writing–writing query letters, submitting work, commenting on other blogs and yes marketing…just not the way that particular blog is doing it.
June 4th, 2009 @ 4:58 pm
<3
June 4th, 2009 @ 5:03 pm
That site is BULLSHIT.
June 4th, 2009 @ 5:28 pm
Thanks for saying this, Melissa. I’m frankly terrified at the way things seem to be going for writers of all stripes (web, journalism, publishing) due to the kind of asshattery of which you speak.
Websites have to find a way to monetize their content so they can pay their writers a fair wage. My only comfort is that those sites that are written by the CEO who thinks it doesn’t really matter who’s pressing the keys will be dead in short order.
June 4th, 2009 @ 6:41 pm
Thanks, Melissa for recognizing what we were able to do right while at Metblogs back in the day. While I’d love to have paid you then (and would love to pay writers on OurPDX now), I couldn’t/can’t (hey, it’s that whole ‘negative cashflow’ situation we’ve got goin’ on right now.)
But I can still buy drinks, or appetizers at monthly meetups. Give credit where credit is due. Promote and showcase *your* good work. And create a culture and community that makes you feel valued, even if that doesn’t show up as dollars in your pocket – yet.
June 5th, 2009 @ 4:01 pm
What makes someone a social media expert? Is there a 6 second class on that or something where you get print a certificate at the end? I get that some people are actually experts on social media but the term is being used by every tom dick and harry with a twitter account.
You know coffee growers weren’t making money and they made a fuss about it and now there is “fair trade” coffee. Perhaps there should be come “fair trade” writing group.
June 6th, 2009 @ 1:29 pm
What am I doing to value voice? I’m reading your blog. What I mean is that I don’t (and I suspect most people don’t) waste my time reading bad writing. If a blog is well written, it will succeed.
And, while I agree that there is a “business of writing,” I think that one should be very hesitant to let business concerns impact one’s actual writing. The business side of it is trying to get published or whatever, but if you let business concerns influence your writing, it will become polluted and it will not be a true representation of you as a unique individual, which is what I think of when I think of voice. And voice is what we all love. Of course, I’m not published, so what do I know?
And yes, writers should be credited.
June 8th, 2009 @ 7:22 pm
That’s such bs (just found your site via Crissyspage). As a former journalism major (turned PR degree), I know the VALUE of a byline. It’s credit, your name in the sand, it’s what gives each blog post (in a community of blogs) its character.
Like a column in a newspaper, we visit certain blogs because we enjoy the content and writing style of that particular blogger.
Thanks for not linking to the site. It’s just pathetic.
June 15th, 2009 @ 8:08 am
hmm.. not giving someone credit for their work.
don’t we already call that plagiarism?