Many web content writing markets are operating on a shoestring.

This guest post by Darrell Laurant responds to a recent article in the LA Times.

James Rainey has a lot of pertinent — and sobering — things to say in his recent commentary on the current state of freelance writing.

My first impression upon reading it, however, was that he was actually talking about two very different diseases: The galloping slippage in freelance pay rates and the current trend toward watered-down articles light on investigative depth.

Whether a writer sees both of these as his or her problem depends upon that writer’s artistic conscience. Obviously, the lower pay affects everyone who writes. But what if a writer is offered decent pay for what will be an inherently inferior piece of work?

Freelancers are notorious for a lack of self-confidence that often borders on paranoia. To many, a “rejection” e-mail or note doesn’t just mean the editor in question has decided to go in another direction to fill space in an issue, but amounts to a rejection of the writer’s idea, style and very existence. And it’s tempting, given the “kick me” mentality of the freelance world, to look at lower pay as a vast conspiracy to suck the lifeblood from potential contributors.

What Mr. Rainey fails to mention, however, is how many Websites and on-line “magazines” have come into the world on a shoestring. With the arrival of the Worldwide Web, basically anyone can create a publication, but most of these wing-and-a-prayer entrepreneurs  have no money with which to pay their writers. They’re not evil, just broke.

There are still plenty of markets that pay well, but they have been all but submerged in the deluge of on-the-cheap operations. Moreover, editors remain who value quality in what they print. You just have to look for them.

How Freelancers Can Overcome The Obstacles

Here are just a few suggestions on how to deal with the obstacles that Mr. Rainey mentioned:

1. Getting mad about it is a waste of energy. Nobody is forcing you to write an article for $10. If this isn’t something you would apply for, simply ignore the ad and move on.

2. Know what you can do. If you are a fast enough writer to knock out four of those 500-word, $10 pieces in an hour, that’s $40 an hour. Think of every job in those terms, and it will become more realistic.

3. Use Google searches, etc., as much as on-line jobs newsletters and Writers’ Market. A lot of good-paying markets don’t want to advertise themselves to the entire freelance world, because they don’t want to be inundated with query letters and submissions.

4. Carve up your ideas. Often, you can take one good idea and pitch different aspects of it to multiple markets. That way, you get maximum mileage out of your interviews and research.

5. Use rejections as a goad. Whenever you get one, set to work immediately to send a query on that same idea to another market. You’ll feel better.

6. Find a niche and establish yourself as an expert in it. That will make you a lot more marketable.

7. Realize that freelancing is hard work. We all love the concept of watching the sun come up (or set) with a cup of coffee at our elbow and a cat in our lap, but this is more like fishing or hunting — a lot of what seem to be useless hours have to be spent for the elusive reward. Trust me: It can be worth it.

Darrell Laurant runs The Writer’s Bridge, a service connecting writers with editors and markets.

(Photo credit: Vurnman)