Content Farm Writing

There is always room at the bottom

   If you agree to write for next to nothing – novelists excepted, because they are a special case of crazy - you might be in the wrong profession.

   This has always been my belief, and an opinion I read this morning on something called Story Board* about something called content farm writing only reinforces my stand on this.

   I know little and care less about content farm writing, but a scan of the Story Board opinion and another blog post by someone who did content farm writing and wrote about it on Rob’s Blog** was enough to turn my stomach.
   Apparently there are companies that sucker so-called, wannabe and neophyte writers into cranking out crap for as little as a fraction of a penny a word, with the promise of earning as much as $10/hour if they can sustain a writing rate of two 500-word articles an hour.

   This is abusive. Too, any normal human who can sustain that speed is not writing in any traditional sense. They are merely stringing together words.

   Who would do this? Blogger Rob writes that he was a journalism school graduate so desperate for work that he decided to try Gulag, I mean, contract farm writing. Some might say, “Bully for him. At least he’s trying to get a writing gig going and get some stories under his belt.”

   But there is so much wrong with this picture that I hardly know which way to turn. First, it’s sad that Rob graduated from journalism school so ill prepared to enter the profession. What in heaven’s name were they teaching him? Second, if I read his post correctly, he was working full-time in this Gulag Hyperpelago and couldn’t even earn $400 a month. That’s insane. Why not use the month to locate one decent outlet for one decent story and make a few hundred bucks?

   This willingness to write garbage words for garbage pay has another cost - a huge cost. It probably wouldn’t occur to a hungry beginner and, I wonder, journalism schools might think themselves too above such a street-level nicety to bother warning their students about it.

   What is this cost? Rob refers to some dingdong, an Ingram-who-evah at GigaOm, who claims that content farm work, “bypass[es] the traditional barriers that used to encircle journalism.” This is pure nonsense, utter codswallop, nothing more than a rubber worm dangled in front of hungry fishies who don't know any better.

   Journalism of the kind practiced by legitimate editors and writers for magazines that deliver usable content is all about careful research, thoughtful interviews, well-crafted articles and content that can withstand scrutiny by expert readers. Do not even dream that we barf the stuff out at a rate of 1,000 words an hour. That can only happen in the pretend universe of pretend journalism.

   I’ve worked with at least 50 editors, and I am a contributing editor myself. I can’t imagine a single one of them giving the time of day to a writer, or rather “writer” who can only show them nonsense articles they've pounded out, with no better measure of quality than that they abet the optimization of search engines.

   An aspiring writer would be far better off tracking down legitimate forums to practice in, even if it is a community newspaper or a canoeing newsletter. Write well, get your words on public paper, somewhere, and keep a patient eye on the professional ball.

   It so happens that there is room for good writers in the magazine world. There is no room for poor writers, and writers who bash out crap all day long will not learn how to be good writers.

   Sure, freelance magazine writing, my specialty, isn’t quite what it was years ago. Pay rates, on the whole, have been stagnant for decades. Travel budgets are virtually nonexistent. But you know what? Good computers, long distance phone plans, fast internet connections and digital cameras compensate a lot for that. There is good, respectful work out there.

   There is room for good writers, careful writers, professional writers, expert writers, educated writers. And oh yes, you don't have to be a journalism graduate to be any of these. It might even work against you. Maybe there isn’t room out there anymore for legions of writers to earn living wages, but you know what? If you can’t make the grade, find a different line of work.
   Volunteering for digital slavery is not a good idea.

   Another thing is for certain: 100,000,000 content farm writers will never pose any threat to a professional writer. That, my friends, you can take to the bank.

* <http://www.thestoryboard.ca/content-farm-writing-rates-hit-a-new-low/>

**< http://loudandskittish.tumblr.com/post/33276310200/content-mills-and-diminished-dreams>

Copyright © Carroll McCormick 2013

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