As I wrote yesterday I was disappointed in the fact I was let go because someone charged a cheaper rate. As I thought about it more, I think the culprits to blame for companies paying minuscule wages to writers is because of the ease of being a writer. You don't need to have an advanced degree to be a writer. A guy with a GED can be a writer. I chalk it to up to the fact that with technology today it's so easy to make websites and work off of adsense. People assume that makes them qualified to be a writer. Sure, it works sometimes, but in the end, they're really hurting the people who truly work toward writing as a career. A friend once told me he designed and created an online magazine in one day and asked for writers to "build their freelance portfolio" with articles to be published on the site. While my friend was making adsense money, he was essentially screwing his writers. He didn't ask for the writers to know AP style or MLA style formats. It didn't matter. Good marketing can make a site look legit, sans the proper writing style.
Is this a problem? Yes, it's a big problem because there are genuine writers who write correctly to writers who don't know the difference between AP style or MLA style. It's maddening knowing that "writers" can be anyone. ANYONE. Not everyone can be an engineer, and not everyone can be a doctor, etc. But the one field that I tried so hard to get into, anyone can be. I think I got the short end of the stick on this one.
I have more to say, but I'm going to take a few days off because it urgs me thinking about it. Maybe I'll have a much happier post tomorrow.
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