Mar 212007
At Last! Writer Beware Blogs! A.C. Crispin and Victoria Strauss Reveal All! It’s about content sites like Associated Content and why they don’t deserve your (virtual) ink. A lot of the newbie writers pitching me are writing for these sites and I wish I could warn them all away. Especially because many of them are too talented to be there and they don’t know it; they’re just so happy to get published. But I think having work on there really sticks a writer with the “inexperienced” tag (sez Dawn, who is deeply ashamed of her archived-forever Suite101 work). Just say no to content sites like these! You deserve better!!!
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Okay, here’s where I out myself: I desperately want to be a writer. (Join the million member club, right?) But I don’t know where to start. Do you have any recommendations for where I should go to get myself educated? Are there good “how to” books? Or websites? Thanking you in advance for taking a minute to hold a newbie’s hand…
Meagan has a good (but not updated very often because she and Toni are BUSY) site: http://www.diaperstodeadlines.com
I think the best book for magazine writing is The Renegade Writer (they have a blog, too).
It gives a really clear overview about what it takes to do consumer writing.
But also, feel free to ask me questions. I don’t know as much as some writers out there but what I do know I’m happy to share!!!
Dawn, thanks for posting this (and for the linky love! It’s true, we are BAD about updating the blog, but we have a plan for making sure it sees more action).
Anyway, I was so glad to see that you posted this because I have stumbled across a few message boards for writing moms where they were talking about Associated Content, spam writing and other “opportunities”. I wanted to jump in and warn them away, but since I wasn’t a regular there was no graceful way to do it.
Bottom line: if a publisher is making serious money off its writers, shouldn’t the writers be getting a serious cut of that, too?
OH, and for all the reasons you mentioned in a previous post, too, Dawn–if writers never have to go through any back and forth with an editor they miss out on a very important part of the writing process. And, in many many cases, it shows.
Dawn, would you lump About.com into that category? Since I like clips that look snazzy, I tend to judge sites according to how professional their layout is and Associated Content doesn’t get too many points from me.
I don’t think of About.com as a great place to showcase WRITING but it’s a great place to create platform because it establishes the “host” as an expert in that field. So I think it depends on what the editor WANTS. Are they looking for a great bio? Or are they looking for a great writer?
Also, you have to apply to get a guide slot at About.com but at places like Associated Content, you just show up. It doesn’t say anything about your value as a writer — that you’re a great writer, that you’re an expert, that you beat out other writers. It just says you’re willing to write for very very very very little.
i’m wondering the same thing about art – do you sell yourself out and make/sell/exhibit at places that are less than professional, or build yourself up more and wait until you can be super-professional about it. i guess, like you said, it depends on your goals and what you want. but still a dilemma for anyone starting out.