Why do I think they do the big push for Sundays? What better way to get a bunch of stories for your site? Who cares if those writers never write again – there are a bunch more to take their places the next Sunday.
When my friend told me what she actually made from her articles, I about died laughing – she would write about 3 hours a day, and her first check was somewhere around $17. She didn’t even make enough to get paid, because she said she had to have at least $50 of earnings to collect. She kept trying to believe in the dream, but she finally realized dreams don’t pay the bills. I’m sure there are some people who do well there, but they are the minority. Most people probably don’t make enough to pay for a can of air to blow out their keyboards. I told her she’d be better off just starting a blog.
Before she quit, she told me the owner had started this thing to hire a whole glut of new writers (something like 900 from what I saw on the internet), which means a whole lot less pay for the ones already writing.
Anyone who has ever worked for a paper knows that Sunday is the biggest day, and if you get a bunch of writers to crank out 6 articles in one day, then you’ve got it
I know you will probably get a bunch of the same stuff you got before, and for that, I’ll just say I’m sorry now. Nothing will change my opinion of this joke, though real hookup Lloydminster Canada.
I have a basic rule that anytime a market is recruiting hundreds of writers, you know it’s not going to pay well. There is no business model under the sun that is lucrative for writers en masse. Great-paying markets usually hire one or two writers at a time. Maybe a half-dozen for a big project launch.
Except this
Oh my goodness. I’m a longtime reader of this blog and was a Den member for a couple of months. I recently was prodded by a friend to join the Guardian LV (not as one of his “team,” just for the record), so I decided to Google the average pay. Surprise–nothing.
I want to say one thing, purely my opinion, feel free to delete with no hard feelings, but I strongly dislike the snarky “polite insults” that were flying back and forth. Sugar-coated disdain is so unappealing and I read it from pretty much everyone. I managed to get the information I was looking for but, ugh, what a fiasco.
Anyway, The Guardian LV seems great for writers who have a lot of free time on their hands. Or, as Carol mentioned, writers in their niche who have basically no paying opportunities. Or, people who write as a hobby and don’t much care what they actually make.
The company can tout their support and “opportunities” all they want. I don’t think they misrepresented themselves, necessarily. It’s just that Carol rightly advocates reliability and consistency. Seriously, did everyone forget what this blog is called? Make A Living Writing. A living is more than a number, it’s a sense of security.
Anyway, I’m off my soapbox. I was just stunned to come across such a heated, muddled debate. I may still sign up to write for GLV; but I know full well that the time spent there has a very high opportunity cost. However, churning out articles for “potential money” is better than refreshing Facebook and meeting the Guardian’s standards would take about that much energy (no offense intended, really, but we are professionals here and re-spinning news is NOT complicated).