Diana and Linda at The Renegade Writer clued their readers into a great article by Michelle Goodwin, author of The Anti 9-to-5 Guide: Practical Advice for Women Who Think Outside the Cube. The article is called "When to Work for Nothing" and is featured on The New York Times "Shifting Careers" blog.
In the article, Goodwin discusses being approached by those hoping to garner her writing or consulting skills offering "great exposure" in exchange for her work. She translates this exposure as writing for free. She goes on to discuss when it may be a good idea for new freelancers to write for free.
Goodwin says you may want to write for free if you have no portfolio. That makes sense for those writing copy for corporate purposes. You want to show potential clients that you have the skills to do such work. My focus is not in that area. I am currently working to write articles for online or print publications and/or blogs. Should I write for free? I'll confess that I did do quite a bit of writing for free or next to nothing revenue shares as a way to garner clips and get exposure. My experience is that, while I may have enjoyed such writing, it ended up being rather time-consuming, keeping me from pursuing paid writing gigs. I did, however, form relationships with some of the folks I wrote for. Which made it even more difficult for me to make the decision to stop writing for them. Eventually I did decide to cut most of my non-paying gigs. I felt a great sense of relief when I did so because, as a mom of three, my time is very limited. I'm now able to work toward garnering paid work.
I don't regret that I wrote for free. I learned about networking and made connections. I gained confidence from the positive feedback I received. But I knew I couldn't continue writing for free forever. I also knew that I could choose to put more time into my own blogs, establishing my brand and credibility. I, ultimately, chose to work toward making my own exposure.
On a side note, I'm listening to a webinar on marketing your blog as I type this, with Lynn Terry from Self-Starters Weekly Tips. Lynn mentions guest blogging as a great way to increase your exposure. That's something I can agree with. If you guest post, you get exposed to another blog's readership. By having a guest blogger on your site, you offer your readers new perspective and expertise. It's a win-win, and, for me, it's more easily managed than commiting to regular posting gigs simply for exposure. What are your thoughts? Have you had similar experience to mine? What's your advice?
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