Happy Writers Worth Day 2009! I didn’t know that May 15 is the second annual Writers Worth Day until it was listed as a “Rockin’ Freelance Resource” in The Urban Museletter. 
Writers Worth Day is an online campaign created by blogger and fellow freelancer Lori Widmer. It’s designed to promote the fair market value of writers through education, awareness, and ongoing support.
Lori said this day was “established in response to the increasing amount of job postings that offer little, if any, compensation for the amount of work expected.”
Since most of my clients are through referrals and closely connected to people I know, I don’t have to convince people I work with that writers should be paid. I consider myself very lucky that I get to write for the clients I have – and they expect high-quality, creative work from me. They value it.
However, when I’m searching lists for freelance writing or editing gigs, I am shocked at the rates I see offered. Just today, I saw a posting for an “accomplished advertising writer” that paid $11/hr. While that’s certainly better than expecting the writer to work for free, once you take business and self-employment taxes out of that, it leaves you with very little.
Over at Writers Weekly, Angela Hoy has a great piece about how some writers are being paid to produce a high-volume of articles for an average of $1.46 per article. (I promise that’s not a typo!)
“It hurts all of us when writers devalue themselves and operate on the mistaken notion that they must accept nonpayment or low payment in order to establish a portfolio,” Lori said.
Talent is priceless. For more information and tips, visit Lori’s blog Words on the Page.
Jesaka Long 
Stunned is a perfect description for my reaction, too, Lisa! Thanks for stopping by and helping to spread the word.
Great post! When I first started seeing how little people were being paid for some online articles, I was absolutely stunned. I still am actually. Hopefully joint efforts like this will make a difference.
Hi Lori ~ Thanks for visiting and sharing your soapbox. I applaud you and the work you’re doing to educate new freelancers and aspiring writers. Keep up your amazing work — and let me know how I can help!
Jesaka, I thank you for this. I so appreciate your help getting the word out! And Susan from Urban Museletter is the best, isn’t she? 🙂
It’s exactly as you say – when searching for jobs, we find more and more crap. Why? Two reasons I see. First, there’s an influx of people entering the web monetization food chain with the idea that if they can score cheap content, they can make a fortune. Second, there are hungry, uneducated or just plain foolish writers who take these “jobs.” It’s stupid because it serves only one person’s goal – that of the pseudo-employer who gets work for practically free. Because we can’t convince people to stop posting these lame-assed jobs (sorry, I get a little heated on this topic!), we need to educate within our ranks, shake a few people into reality, and promote fair pay for decent work.
There I go on my soapbox again. 🙂 Thanks again for the help getting the word out, hon. I appreciate it!