Should you work for free?: a quick Q&A guide
Guest post by Rachel Hills
February 04
By now, you’ve probably seen this handy flowchart by Jessica Hische, answering that age old question plaguing creative types: should you, or should you not, work for sans renumeration? I’ve written on this subject before, specifically in relation to large media companies that try to save money by not paying for online content, but following debate on Twitter this week, I thought it was worth returning to it.
Should you work for free… if you’re still learning your craft?
Well, you don’t have to – Linda at The Renegade Writer often asserts that even beginning writers can get paid – but it’s often not a bad idea. Just choose who you do it for carefully. I wrote sans pay for three years before it even occurred to me to start sending my work to paying publications. I was cool with it, and still am, because I was writing for student publications and indie websites. Those three years of writing and editing also improved my writing abilities dramatically. And honestly, while it wasn’t terrible, my work probably wasn’t good enough to sell until around six months before I started selling it.
Should you work for free… if you’re doing someone a favour/it’s for a good cause?
Maybe. It depends on how happy you are to do the favour. Will be it be fun? Will it require huge amounts of time and energy? Is it a gift for someone you care about, or contributing to a cause you believe in? Will be it be fulfilling in some way?
Should you work for free… if the person you’re working for genuinely can’t afford to pay you?
How broke are they? Are we talking a totally volunteer run operation, or someone who could probably scrounge up the cash if they really wanted to, but would prefer not to? Not saying you should do it for the latter group, but if you do, consider it a ‘favour’ or ‘gift’.
Should you work for free… if you just really love the project and don’t mind being paid?
Yeah, sure. I do it. This only really works if you genuinely love the project, though. Otherwise you might start to feel resentful, burnt out and realise that, actually, you do kind of mind not being paid.
And the biggie… Should you work for free… because it will be really, really good ‘exposure’?
It depends what you mean by ‘exposure’. My advocate/activist friends tend to write for free regardless of the outlet they’re writing for, because for them, exposure is about building the public’s awareness of the issue they’re advocating for. And it works for them. If you want to make your creative endeavour your profession though, and are hoping working without pay will open the door for you, I’m not so convinced about the payoff. In my industry, at least, mastheads tend to operate as a kind of symbolic capital. In other words, if you write for the New Yorker, everyone will answer your calls, but telling someone you write for [insert name of publication everyone in the industry knows doesn’t pay] doesn’t have the same effect. There are some exceptions here, though: for example, if you write for a publication (including your own blog) the editor loves. Or if the work you did for free was just really that good.
What about you? Fellow creatives, what are your rules when it comes to unpaid work?
Cross-posted from Musings of an Inappropriate Woman
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Comments
04 Feb 11 at 10:32
Working ‘for free’ is tricksy – it’s never for free, anyway: mostly it costs – time, materials, transport.
Work that is done freely – now that’s something else. Volunteer and volunteered work that is gifted, truly is a beautiful thing.
That doesn’t mean it all has to be ‘one way’. I’ve used working freely as a way to gain experience and build my confidence, but there comes a point when you know it’s time to step into professionalism and be remunerated. And it seems that there’s a mindset of respect and faith in a professional who have the courage to charge ‘what they’re worth’.
...04 Feb 11 at 10:33
has
...04 Feb 11 at 12:28
Regarding free work in writing and publishing specifically:
Working for free to gain experience can be a rewarding experience, especially if one is a student. But, if at all possible, no matter how modest the payment or what in-kind offering such a payment could take the form of, a writer, editor, proofer, or project manager should be paid.
The more ‘apprentices’ are willing to work for nothing, the more that will be expected and/or budgeted for by those whom are doing the employing. And this can be a dangerous pattern to reinforce. Asking people with professional degrees and a good amount of previous work experience to work for free is often the only option. Yes, margins on the bottom line in the arts, books especially, are miniscule. To break even is a great success. But it is also insulting.
Relying on ‘free’ resources (typically interns) to edit/proof a manuscript or perform other critical production tasks in ushering writing from raw into a salable form (eg, a book) exacerbates frustrations of the already poorly-paid professions that publishing relies on.
...04 Feb 11 at 13:32
From the commissioning editor’s POV, the problem with asking people to work for free is that you have no moral authority over them. You can’t ask them to keep to a schedule and you can’t ask them to edit. You are completely at their mercy. It’s a guarantee of unprofessional behaviour. So I always make sure that collaborators are paid for that reason.
...08 Feb 11 at 18:07
Re: Jon Walker’s comment. I guess this might be true – but the idea of ‘moral authority’ over workers (through a kind of economic sway) is quite a challenging one for me. Many interns, for example, work hard and aim to please – and I know many volunteers in schools who put in a lot of work above and beyond ‘the call of duty’ or ‘the call of the pay packet’ as it were. The thing about being a volunteer or unpaid intern, though, is that if it’s really not working for you, or you feel you’re being exploited, or you get offered paid work somewhere else and no longer have the time … you can just leave – no obligation.
...09 Feb 11 at 13:22
I think it’s probably different where there is a defined (corporate) structure within which internships have a specific role, and (at least theoretically) defined benefits, which in the long run are supposed to compensate you for unpaid work. Or perhaps, as an assistant, you get access to a highly successful person whose work is an inspiration to you. Volunteer work is something quite different I think.
I’m talking about something different again: asking mates and acquaintances to collaborate on a personal creative project. In my experience, if you need people to behave professionally in that context, i.e. if you need them to do the work properly, you have to pay them.
And that is as it should be.
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