Per-piece sports writer - $10-$12 per piece

Tony is wrong, no matter how he justifies the argument.

 

did i miss something?

 

Trust me when I say I've had people who paid less and I took it because I needed the work. I've worked for .10 a word, $5 a post, $3 a post and if you work for Textbroker, they pay you less. Like I said if it's offered to you, and you love what you do, you take the money and run because it's HARD to find a job at major company. There is no rule stating that you have to stay at that company forever, but if you need a good jumping off point, you take what you can get and you keep looking. When I was younger I worked for a major conference as an intern for free and a few months later it helped me get a paying job as an assistant in a major division II conference.

 

And with all due respect gentleman some of your comments may be why these companies never post on here again because some of you are so cynical it may turn them off. You may be running off people who are offering legit work because of how YOU feel not because you actually have worked for that company before. That's why I have said to any young person looking to work in the industry to do the research on a company before you send your resume'; don't let anyone make up your mind for you because you may not know what their motives are.

 

People usually have a reason to say a company sucks. It's not something decided on a whim.

 

I worked at a daily newspaper for 13 years and at a weekly for eight years before that. That's 21 years of experience in the business and what it taught me is that you get what you pay for, which is why I will continue to maintain that offering someone $10 to $12 for a story is offensive and embarrassing. It's as bad as how most newspaper companies have treated us writers for years. Take the post if you want, but there's a reason the guy who posted this job has been scarce around here since doing so.

 

This job isn't like interning for a major conference. This is like sweeping the floor at McDonalds and thinking it will help you become an executive in the fast food biz.

 

There is no such thing as a "major" D-II school.

 

Oh please. To call these places "a company" and "legit" is embarrassing. They're just like loan sharks, preying on desperate people. What are you really learning, working by yourself cranking out garbage like this for next-to-nothing wages? $10-12 per piece for what they're asking isn't even minimum wage, once you factor in self-employment costs. No one is saying that you should get rich as a writer. But to accept what they're offering? It just continues to help cheapen our industry.

 

That's easy for most of you to say because you all have jobs probably good paying jobs but I don't see most of you offering any kind of advice or jobs for that matter for those trying to break into the industry that's why I said hell if it's offered to you, you take it until you can find something better because quite frankly let's be real here, what big name sports company you know pays inexperience freelance writers big time bucks for articles? It might be an insult for YOU if you have made it but for those of us out here struggling TO make it, you take what you can get.

 

And I didn't go back on my word I did try Journatic and you guys were right it is a lousy company. Here is the run down: I was suppose to get a 2 wk trial, I got one. I was suppose to get eight stories, I got three and one of those stories was the editor's that she asked ME to write for her; that was my first assignment. Most of the stories weren't to be sports related they were community related. All my stories had to do with covering little league organizations and I covered ONE athlete. Oh and I was just told "I wasn't a fit for them." that was it. Even though I was told by my editor that my second story was exactly what they were looking for, now with that being said just because it didn't work out for me, doesn't mean it won't work out for someone else, but at least now you know what you would be getting into.

 

If you haven't broken in, you aren't trying hard enough. Plenty of people want to be sports writers, but not all those want to be journalists. There are jobs out there if you are wiling to work anywhere in th country covering anything, which probably won't include sports.

This "job" does nothing for your career. If you place little value in your work, no editor would want to hire you. If you don't have the talent to freelance for a local paper, you don't belong in the industry.

Your post reeks of ignorance if you think we all have good-paying jobs or you think a D-II conference is a big deal.