Who are these writers prepared to work for 1p per word?

One of my colleagues has become a fan of Copify, the ‘word mill’ that charges clients £14 per article and pays the writer £3, if he/she’s lucky.

He uses Copify to produce (mediocre) blog posts and copy for company websites. He’s a lovely guy but I wish he’d stop.

As a professional writer, I’ve been bleating on about “turkeys voting for Christmas” ever since I came across these ridiculously low paid writing services a couple of years ago. Why would any professional writer work for 1p per word? It’s not as if you even get a by-line. You’d be better off stacking shelves at Asda. At least you get your name on a badge.

Looking at some of the Copify writers’ profiles (beauticians, engineers, poets and service desk managers – whatever that is) I can see that ‘being a writer’ is high on their agenda and the chance of being paid to write (albeit for a measly 1p per word) probably makes them feel good about themselves. But it won’t help them become worthy professional writers. Unless they see it as an almost-free training course with virtually no feedback from their ‘tutor’.

When I started out 30 years ago, I wrote for free, I wrote for pennies but I always wrote with the big picture in mind. The free stuff carried my by-line, the low-paid stuff got my foot in the door (and free meals when I wrote ‘wine and dine’ features) and everything went into my expanding portfolio that led me onto bigger and, yes you’ve guessed it, better paid things.

There are numerous blog and social media posts from professionals who feel as I do, most of whom putting their points across far more succinctly and memorably than me – so I won’t say much more. (I’m being paid zilch to write this.)

Only I really do want to know, who are these writers? If you are one, were one or are thinking of being one, I’d love to hear from you. Then I’ll tell you all about the turkeys…

 

(Image courtesy of Mystic Arts.)

Chess? What woman has time to play chess?

So UKIP treasurer Stuart Wheeler thinks women are “nowhere near as good as men” at games like chess, bridge and poker.

Of course, following last week’s “Bongo Bongo land” comments, the media had a field day and Wheeler was forced to point out that what he actually meant was “there are some things men are better at than women, some things women are better at than men and we shouldn’t be imposing a minimum of either sex on the board”.

Okay, far be it from me to support the average racist, sexist, xenophobic member of UKIP, but the old git does have a point.

I have known very few women in my time who are better than men at chess, bridge and poker. But not because they are less intelligent but because most women (or certainly the women I know) aren’t terrible interested in playing games. In fact, I’d go so far as to say most women I know aren’t really interested in playing anything.

That’s not to say they don’t enjoy themselves. Have you ever watched a bunch of women on a night out? They just don’t see a lot of point in playing when there are so many more productive ways to spend their time.

While the boys are perfecting their poker face or working out if moving their Queen from d1 to h5 will be more effective than moving their Bishop from f1 to c4, the women are reconciling the bank statements, emptying the third lot of washing, taking an Open University degree course, turning last night’s leftover Bolognese into lasagne, checking little Jonny’s homework and making Tabitha an angel costume out of an old sheet.

What is this obsession our media has with questioning why women can’t or aren’t allowed to compete in the same arena as men? Why does nobody question why men aren’t measuring up to women? Can you imagine The Today Programme dragging some woman into the studio and demanding to know why men are being prevented from dominating the home?

So the world’s top chess players are men? Big deal. I prefer being a grown up. As do most of my female friends.