This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
Today's listener question is a little bit spicy. We're gonna kind of get into it here. I'll give you a very clear opinion, but I'll just tell you the question first. Should I write for Forbes for free? And I don't wanna pick on Forbes so much.
There are a lot of media companies that are, you know, inviting lots of people to go and write columns or write posts for them and they don't pay. So they're just kind of like, hey, write for us. And you get to be famous. You get to be like the person we talked about a few days ago with the viral video. But should you actually do this?
Like if you're in that situation, this is Amanda in central Florida. She's been offered an unpaid column in Forbes and this is not the actual magazine, it's the website. That's how it always works. And so she's weighing the pros and cons of accepting the offer. So, you know, what should she do?
And as I said, it's a little bit spicy. I'm gonna give you some pretty clear opinion about it. But I'll do my best to be fair and include both the potential benefits and downsides of, you know, giving away your writing on these kinds of sites in exchange for exposure, which is always the promise, right? Exposure, come and write for this or give us your work. And, you know, you'll get famous because lots of people will see your posts.
But meanwhile, like all the benefits accrue to the publication. Well, you can kind of tell what my opinion is. But like I said, I wanna get to the nuance of it. Detailed question and my answer in just 30 seconds. [Music]
Hey Chris, this is Amanda from Central Florida.
I've been offered a column in Forbes, but it's unpaid. I'm torn about whether or not I should take it. On one hand, it's a prestigious platform that could boost my visibility and credibility. On the other hand, I won't be compensated for my work. Should I write for Forbes for free?
What are the potential benefits and downsides of accepting this offer? I'd love to hear your perspective on this. Thanks for all the valuable advice on your podcast. [Music]
Okay, Amanda. So you might have noticed by my comments in the introduction, I do find this situation pretty frustrating just because I've heard things like this from so many writer friends.
And I don't mean to pick on the outlet that we're talking about here in this episode because it's a lot of media companies do this. And a lot of media companies are just in the business of like putting as many posts up, as many pages as possible for the maximum number of keyword stuffed terms, you know, questions, things that people are typing into search engines. And so they're happy to bring so and so on as a guest author, but that person doesn't get any of the money, doesn't get paid to write in the first place. So it's not just the payment for work, it's also the affiliate links that are clicked on, the advertising revenue, you know, whatever else happens. And it may not be much revenue in the first place, but whatever it is, the writer doesn't get any of that.
So I do find it a little bit frustrating. I think the question you always want to ask is, what are the real benefits? And is this actually going to do something for me? And if so, that's great. You know, I know somebody who writes for a very prestigious academic journal, and they would be the first to say, I'm mostly doing this because it's a very prestigious academic journal.
Like it doesn't actually bring in a lot of traffic, it doesn't pay very well, but her opinion is it's worth it because of that. For a lot of other situations, I think, you know, I don't know, maybe you write one column for them and then you can say you have written for this organization, but you don't necessarily make this part of your regular work because you're not going to actually get a ton of benefit from it. So that's my view on it. Obviously people might choose differently. I just want you to use your limited time and energy well.
And I think it can best be spent in building something that you have some control over, as opposed to just giving this work to one of these media companies in which they receive whatever benefit comes your way. So be wary of that exposure trap. I always say it's an interesting word because people die of exposure, right? So whenever they're like, the exposure, what a benefit? I'm like, I don't know.
I think that's something to be wary of actually. Okay, Amanda, as I said, giving it to you straight listeners, I always want to be as helpful as possible. We make this show for you every day. So let us know how we can continue to serve you well. Let me know your ideas, what you're working on.
And I'm also posting on social media most days, not on a column for somebody else, my own column. In fact, check it out, yearofmentalhealth.com, sidehustleschool.com, new episodes every day. My name is Chris Guillebeau. This is Side Hustle School. [Music]
From the Onward Project.
