Now it seems their dystopian vision has come true: culture workers are busily turning themselves into a sub-proletariat, driving down wages and living standards so precipitously that revolutionary conditions seem like a real possibility. Thanks, Internet.
Whether writing is, for a given writer, a passion or a career or both is beside the point. How to explain the new and (at least in my experience) unprecedented impulse to commoditize writing? My recent pokings and proddings of various job-hunting sites have revealed a category of work that is unlike anything we've encountered before: a need to string words together just barely well enough to be able to call them writing. The word-strings need not mean much of anything.
Consider Textbroker, where "our deep database of knowledgeable authors is exactly the right resource to solve your content solutions fast."
(Mockery break: how do you solve a solution? Now back to the blog.)
For writers, Textbroker promises, "the better you write, the more you can earn." That certainly sounds like an appealing alternative to the traditional method of determining writers' compensation, tushy-smooching. But Textbroker's five-tier payment plan tops out at five cents per word, or $25 for a 500-word article. Textboker calls this level "professional quality." Things go down from there to "excellent quality" (1.4 cents/word), "good quality" (1 cent per word) and "legible" (seven-tenths of a cent per word).
I don't know which is more ridiculous and distressing: that somewhere out there is a writer willing to work for seven-tenths of a cent per word, or that somewhere out there is a client whose project plan calls for a merely "legible" product. What's that company's vision statement: "To be more-or-less adequate in our industry"?
Content wants to be free, it once was said. So let it. At least then you don't have to file a W-2.
(Mockery break: solving a solution is like toasting toast.)
ReplyDeleteWhat you are experiencing is the commoditization of everything. That's what happens in a post globalization recession. But don't worry, as soon as the stimulus package kicks in and the global economy revives, well written words will be worth something. But don’t hold your breath. Other skills currently being off-shored will also be worth something, like x-ray reading, accounting, computer programming or hip replacement. I know you are not good with tools or funky smells, but have you considered other careers that can’t be off-shored, like say, plumbing? Or car sales? I hear it’s a good week for that.
I have also noticed used stuff, as in items that are for sale on Craigslist or eBay or at garage sales, or even at auctions is utterly worthless. But that will also reverse trend when the economy up-ticks. In the meantime, you want fries with that?