Comments on: Giving It Away: The Impact of Free Labor

By: Giving It Away: The Impact of Free Labor « C O T O

Giving It Away: The Impact of Free Labor « C O T O — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 22:39:35 +0000

[...] Read article by Darrell Etherington here [...]

By: Give Something Back: Online Volunteer Opportunities

Give Something Back: Online Volunteer Opportunities — Thu, 21 May 2009 16:01:53 +0000

[...] and define the project scope so that everything is clear to both parties. Also, be aware of the disadvantages that can come with working on projects for [...]

By: tim

tim — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 16:56:40 +0000

Sometimes free labor is great for word-of-mouth advertising. For instance, if you, as a designer, work for free on a project for a local non-profit, exposure and a good taste in people’s mouths could be very good for business!

By: sb.treloar

sb.treloar — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 16:47:35 +0000

This reminds me of what my dad (an attorney) used to say, “Never give free legal advice. People think it’s worth what they paid for it.”

By: What is Blog Nosh Magazine to You? Creating a Twice-Baked “About.” | Blog Nosh Magazine

Fri, 20 Feb 2009 18:39:28 +0000

[...] referring to us as a feed aggregator. Or I feel a personal twinge of guilt when I read posts that deter writers from sharing their content for free, in exchange for a byline and free [...]

By: whiskey

whiskey — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 14:22:50 +0000

So many factors here:

- Do you believe in their cause?
- Do you honestly think they could not afford to pay for the job they request?
- Do they consider themselves too big and you too small to even consider paying you?
- Do they constantly ask for free work?
- Do they get interns only to fire them at the end of the internship and get new interns so they can monetize on their work and not pay a dime? (I know local, non-US, companies that do so).

Know exactly why are you giving them a deep discount or work for free, so the next client that comes along and doesn’t meet your criteria gets an explanation as to why they shouldn’t even be asking for it.

By now you should get acquainted with the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/us/

But I guess that if you really have something to write about and want to do it for free, you could start yourself a new blog. Let them pick up your writings and give you trackbacks or pingbacks. (e.g. Jay Hilgert from http://bittbox.com – His freebies have appeared so far in CNN, MSNBC, New Amsterdam on FOX and the trailer for the movie Inkheart).

By: James

James — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 00:55:47 +0000

I go back and forth on this issue.
I’ve taken on projects for free, or at a significantly reduced cost, in order to boost the portfolio – but to be honest, sometimes I do it because I like what the organization is doing (this mostly applies to nonprofits), and I know they can’t afford to pay full price. Does it lower the value of the work? Maybe. Though in some ways, it may raise it, too; if an organization decides that service has been important, it may feel justified in the expense on the next project.
Then again, I find that clients that don’t have *anything* invested in the project often take advantage of the work being done.

By: Tim

Tim — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 23:45:47 +0000

Darrell, you’re justified in feeling unhappy about sites soliciting free articles (and writers providing them).

These sites are ~businesses~ that exist to make money for their owners. If the site owners are not prepared to pay for content, they should write it themselves.

No-one should agree to provide articles or writing services for free. If an article is procured from a writer and published on a site with the intention of producing revenue, it should be paid for in advance by the site owner.

At this point I hear the site owners saying “But what if the article doesn’t attract enough clicks to turn a profit?”

My friends, there are few guarantees in life. That is the risk or gamble you take by being in business. Why should professional writers assume any of your risk???