As long as paying-site editors condemn non-paying sites, the battle of non-paying and paying sites will continue. Why not stop this tirade and call it a truce?

The war has begun! Writers, grab your mighty pens and keyboards and prepare for the nastiest battle this side of the net. Is there no let up? Will there be no justice? Whatever happened to the brotherhood of webmasters and peace in all publishing formats? As long as paying-site editors condemn their sister editors of non-paying sites, this battle will continue until someone puts his or her foot down and declare truce. But will that ever happen?

Much has been written about the pros and the cons of writing sites as far as pay. We have on one side, the editors of the paying sites bashing the editors of the non-paying sites because they are publishing writer’s articles without pay. Then we have the other side, the editors of the non-paying sites, who are claiming they are doing no wrong by publishing writer’s articles without pay, saying it’s a good way for authors’ works to be noticed.

Who is right?

I submit to both paying and non-paying sites and I consider this back lashing very unprofessional. We are all writers in a dog-eat-dog world. Why do we have to put up with battles amongst our fellow writers, too?

As editor of several non-paying ezines, I feel their rebuttal has merit, although they really don’t see the whole picture. I will not go into what has already been rehashed over and over again about providing the writer exposure and a place to ‘see’ their printed word come alive, blah, blah, blah. It’s all been said and done and still there is animosity amongst our fellow writers, the editors of paying sites.

Professionalism

What I want to talk about today is attitude. Yes, attitude. Let’s say I went into my neighbor’s yard and told him I hated his rose bushes because they were crowding out my petunias. My neighbor would say, ‘Dorothy, those rose bushes and petunias can all grow together harmoniously’. What if I were to say, ‘Neighbor, I might lose money on my petunias because everyone would buy your roses.’ Neighbor would say, ‘Dorothy, some people would buy rose bushes and others would buy petunias. Not everybody likes the same thing.’

The point I am making is, each article a writer writes serves a purpose. Maybe it is putting bread on the table; maybe it is promoting their book. If I wrote a piece that I had labored over for weeks, providing in-depth interviews and researched extensively, then I would save that piece for a paying market. Yes, my time and hard labor is worth something! However, if I had a book that I wanted to sell and being a fine promoter that I claim to be, I would take excerpts from it and send it to non-paying sites for the EXPOSURE OF THE BOOK. Now, do I stand to make profit from this? Of course!

Success Stories

A prime example of this is Wayne Perkins, author of ‘A Cheap and Easy Guide to Self-Publishing E-books’. “I have had around 100 articles actually published in other’s ezines and newsletters,” he quotes, “which may present business opportunities for another 2 years for my Microsoft Word and Adobe PDF formatted E-books.”

“I have articles posted to International Hypnosis Websites (most of my books are about hypnosis) that are still driving business to Amazon.com and my own website. I posted these articles over 3 years ago (TO NON-PAYING SITES)!”

“Chances are I am not going to get that exposure on ‘pay sites’. I write on a non-exclusive basis. If I were posting to a site that want exclusive rights and I didn’t sell many books, I would be ticked.”

Lisa Daily, author of ‘Stop Getting Dumped!’ and a regular columnist on a non-paying site, SoulMateMystique (http://www.soulmatemystique.com), agrees with this approach.
“The impact on sales is certainly cumulative,” she quotes. “It’s unlikely that publishing one article on a slew of sites has much impact on direct sales, but publishing an article each month on those sites helps to build familiarity with your audience, and that can have a serious impact on sales. Each month when I publish my articles, I notice a larger and larger jump in sales.”

When asked her views on posting articles on non-paying sites, she says, “Providing these articles for free allows you to reach a much wider audience than you would be able to if you only submitted your articles to paying sites. The editorial process is much faster, too. If you are submitting articles to a site to use for free, the webmaster will usually get back to you right away, and more often than not with a yes. Plus, each article gives you a bigger band. If you have a paying site to publish your article, they most likely will not allow you to publish it anywhere else for a set period of time. Which means you get exposure to their limited audience, and a $35 check. On the other hand, if you are allowing your articles to be published for free, you can publish them on as many sites as you like, reaching millions. Suddenly, you’re not a freelancer with $35 in the bank; you’re a ‘syndicated columnist’. Your readers don’t know (or care) if you were paid for your article or not.”

Janet Elaine Smith, Vice-president of Marketing for PageFree Publishing, author of 8 published novels, 4 non-fiction books and well-known magazine writer, has this to say about the issue. "I write for 8 magazines or newspapers every single issue,” she says, “Some of them pay me, and some do not. Or maybe I should say I get a paycheck from some of them. But when I have a new book out, I know I will get not only a very favorable review in the magazine, but usually a free ad as well. Besides, those people who read me every issue are already a captive audience for my writing. I know many of them will go out and buy my books. These are not on-line magazines; they are the old-fashioned paper and ink kind of magazines.
As the Vice-president of Marketing at PageFree Publishing, we encourage all of our authors to take advantage of every single possibility to let their book be known. If this means doing a "favor" for a non-paying site, that does not mean there is no advantage to it. I have articles all over the internet. I have never received a cent for them. But if you go to google and put in a search for Janet Elaine Smith, you will find not only those articles listed, but my books as well. And that familiarity does mean sales--and cold, hard cash. A person who writes and is read never writes for nothing. There is always a pay off."

Judy Cullins, author of Ten Non-techie Ways to Market Your Book Online and Write your eBook or Other Short Book-Fast!, believes online published articles are seven times more powerful than advertising, building your credibility as the expert, and leading the flock to your book-selling site. “Place your article on as many high traffic Internet sites and ezines as you can. People are looking for free information on web sites. That’s the reason they visit Web sites!” I spoke to Judy and asked her about submitting to non-paying sites for places to publish her articles. I asked her if was in her best interest to do this knowing she would not get paid for them. “Publishing has changed,” she says. “The traditional is a dinosaur. I am an author’s advocate. I care that we make money. The old game is out, and some won’t come along—I can’t help that. I help people who want to make more money and let go of what doesn’t work. Read my eBooks: Write Your eBook or Other Short Book—Fast!, Ten Non-techie Ways to Market Your Book Online, and Quadruple Online Sales in Four Months with Free Articles. I have one on sale each month on ‘Discounts of the Month’ button on my home page. I make over $3,000 a month so far.”

Not bad for submitting to non-paying sites, would you say?

Conclusion

The bottom line is after reading this is, how can editors of paying sites still make their accusations and their false claims that we are ‘stealing’ from writers? I think the real reason these editors are in an uproar is because they are ‘losing’ this content. If the writers are satisfied submitting to non-paying sites, why are editors of paying sites condemning their sister editors? Because they feel they are better than us? This would be a bad case of professionalism. And I don’t want to think this is the case. For free publicity? Well, now wait, there’s that ‘free’ word again.

I believe it is time for editors to come together, stop these schoolyard games and help the up and coming authors of tomorrow. We have to show them how to get their foot in the publishing door. We have to be mentors, not children. I will continue in my fight to help aspiring authors find their place in the publishing world. I will do everything in my power as an editor, whether it is for a paying or non-paying site, to uphold my stand that non-paying sites are indeed financially beneficial to a writer. Isn’t it time paying editors did the same and end this ridiculous tirade? Show your professionalism and get on with it. It’s hard enough for the struggling writer to get published; why not offer an incentive? Like, paying them more than 1 cent a word?

© Dorothy Thompson 2002