Duncan writes an excellent piece in response to the criticism of Weblogs Inc’s $4 per post pay rate that was revealed last week. I’ve similarly had quite a few comments here at Problogger on the issue in the past few days – many of them critical at Weblogs Inc. I’ve been trying to work out how to respond to the criticism myself (although I’m not in the habit of defending Jason – he’s a big boy). I think Duncan says it well:
‘You see, if I’d been asked by Jason Calacanis to write for Weblogs Inc 12-18 months ago for a gaureenteed $500 USD starting rate per month I’d be writing for Weblogs Inc., today and I probably wouldn’t be writing the Blog Herald. Sure, if he asked me today I’d be wanting more money because I’m now making more.
But it took me a very, very long time to get to $500 USD per month.
And the reality is that most bloggers will never get to see this sort of money, even if you don’t think its a lot of money.’
$4 per post or $500 per month doesn’t seem like a lot of money – but as Duncan says – it’s more than the majority of bloggers don’t earn this much from their blogging.
You might remember I ran a poll on Adsense earnings a few months back – it found that only 23% of those who responded to the question of how much they earned from Adsense earned more than $500.
I talk to bloggers every day who tell me their blog earnings – many of who are lucky to get more than one Adsense cheque per year let alone each month.
This week I also had email from four Weblogs Inc authors in response to the issue. None wanted to go on public record but all expressed their appreciation for Weblogs Inc as it has given them an income stream that they acknowledged they’d never have without it. Two of them told me how much they earn from Weblogs Inc and highlighted that the $4 per post figure might be true for some bloggers in the network but that its not the case for all. It seems that there are multiple factors in determining the pay rate at WIN including the topic, whether the topic is established, the profile and experience of the blogger, how many bloggers are working on the blog and probably how desperate they are to find an author.
I am not arguing that Weblogs Inc is for everyone. But I can think of quite a few bloggers who would do well to accept any offer they might get from them if it ever happened.
I totally agree Darren. People being upset by the rates really dont understand the world of Web Publishing (Ie Blogging) and so they should not say anything. And if you are getting more on your publication, I am very happy for you, but what it comes down to is being a little more free from the corporate world, by doing what you love to do.
I agree, too.
I agree, $4-$5 for writing blog posts is more than enough.
Searching and writing a post for lets say Engadget can be done in less than 10 minutes. If you can find and paraphrase articles quite fast then you should be able to earn lets say $25-30 an hour by writing for Weblogs, inc.
Duncan,
Great post!! It takes a lot to get to $500 per month. Tell ME about it!
Gonzalo
P.S. Just to mention a “typo”, you said “$4 per post or $500 per day” instead of $500 per month.
What’s really bothering about the Weblogs, Inc. contract is not the money paid, but the restrictions they impose, especially the exclusivity. Writing for one of their weblogs shouldn’t mean you can’t write on other topics in other weblogs. Look at print publishing, we have thousands of freelance writers, right?
But 500 dollars a month guaranteed is not small money, and earning it through blogging is not an easy deed.
The restrictions are negotiable – existing blogs can be exempt, freelance work also, just don’t duplicate content.
I don’t know why people are getting so worked up over this – it is an income stream. multiple income streams are necessary when freelance or as professional blogger I feel.
Andrew is right – from what I’ve heard from a number of WIN bloggers (and ones who got into negotiations with them) there are elements (including the exclusivity) that are negotiable. I’ve heard of a variety of deals – not just on ‘how much’ but on where else they can write – how many posts per month etc.
The problem is that only one contract for one blog and one blogger has ever been leaked. To me it looks like a pretty standard starting place contract from which negotiations start.
Blogging is fairly international, though most blogger speak and write English (France, though, has a huge blogging community). $4/post may not be much in some countries, but it sure is in others.
To look at it another way, one could go to a site like elance.com and outsource a 250+ word article (moderately well written) for about $5, looking at the average length and depth of Weblogs, Inc. posts (most, not all) – those bloggers are making a killing at $4/post…
Fair certainly is in the eye of the blogger and the blogmaster.
Just on Darrens comments I’ve heard the same thing, the contracts are negotiable once you get started depending on how you go etc..
As Thomas say it can take 5-10 minutes to write a good post once you get the hang of it in the format used at Weblogs Inc., so $4 a post is pretty good money, I was only hearing the other day on radio that Florida Restuarant workers got a pay rise to abot $3.20 per hour. Sure they get tips but that isn’t assured either. Its a good job people :-)
$4 is a good starting rate for newbies. I’m sure Weblogs do pay seniors more money
I’d say thats quite enough for the likes of me, a Mechanical Engineering student from the 3-rd World striving for part-time jobs :)
Besides, I have been doing intelligent yet burlesque blogging personally for next to nothing (except my tiny adsense earning possibly), this would be a breath of fresh air now that I’ve got a contract with them.