Today at work I had an unannounced caller.
At first I thought he was trying to sell me something, which happens from time to time, normally it’s over the phone, but sometimes it’s in person. I’m a pretty patient person, much more than my boss, which is why she’ll usually have me deal with advertising.
The unannounced caller came in just after lunch, and caught me completely off guard. Gave me a cryptic sales pitch, only for me to figure out he wasn’t looking for paid advertising, he was looking for me to write content. Free content.
I tried to explain providing content to a publication, even if it promotes our organisation, still costs money (my time) and it’s something we already do a lot of, so I’d need to see examples of said publication, distribution lists, other organisations involved, etc.
At the mere mention of other publications we already provide content for and the idea that we should be paid for our articles this man went off on me. The bubble of personal space invaded, hand waving, expletives thrown about.
I stood gobsmacked.
It literally took me a full minute to compose myself, not have my voice shake before I threw him out.
The funny thing is, I do a lot of writing for “free” to advertise events, etc. Yet if you expect me to write 500+ word articles for free, when you speak to me like that, I’m sorry, not bloody likely!
People getting paid for what they write?
What a concept!