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.)