Thursday, June 18, 2009
Books / Teh Internets Writing Advice From a Blogger
Posted by Paul Constant on Thu, Jun 18, 2009 at 4:57 PM
Want to be a writer, like this 24 year-old who wrote to The Reverse Cowgirl? Her advice is simple: Give up the dream.
If you think I make money off blogging, you are misguided. Once, I made some money off this blog by running some American Apparel ads featuring porn star Sasha Grey wearing some thigh-high socks and a thick genital shrug of pubic hair. Welcome to journalism 2009. It's an ugly world.Sometimes, I like to torture myself by thinking back to 2000, or whenever it was, before the dot-com bubble burst and we all died. It was an amazing, heady time. I used $20 as toilet paper and ate Chicken Kiev flown in from the Russian Tea Room for breakfast. Truly, I wrote for a website called Beer.com that paid me, like, a $1,000 for, I can't remember, a monthly 500-word column or something. That was a good time. Until it wasn't. And then it wasn't.
Thanks to Slog tipper Caroline.
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2
She's 24...and the dotcom 'bust' occured in 2000.
So she was working in high tech when she was...15?
So she was working in high tech when she was...15?
8
@2 @3 It's actually the person who wrote to the blogger that's 24. The blogger dispensing advice is older and, apparently, has grown a tad bitter over the years.
12
@9: can't find the actual ad, but here are some stills from it:
http://www.radarnois.com/blog/wp-content…
http://www.radarnois.com/blog/wp-content…
13
Remember that Al Franken character on SNL that ran around broadcasting with a satellite dish on his head, or those guys on Max Headroom? The only way to make money "blogging" in the future will be to get micro-payments for actual news gathering, since the newspapers are folding.
14
Oh, ok, so I can't get paid to blog. And the publishing industry is going downhill, so no book deals unless I get taken hostage or something. Journalism's right out. And since text messaging etc has hopelessly ruined the venerable institutions of spelling and grammar, I don't know why anyone would bother being literate. I'm going to teach my kids more useful skills, like, I don't know ... ?
I don't get paid to write, but I do get paid - and will continue to get paid for the foreseeable future, which is the important part - partially because of my ability to communicate clearly in writing. And I gained both those skills and exposure to people who would hire me for them by writing a lot (both blogging and fiction that will probably never be published), but whatever. Bemoaning the fact that you probably won't make money off your blog is shortsighted, in my opinion, as is defining "a writer" as only someone for whom that's their sole income. And obviously financial incentive isn't the only reason to be a writer, otherwise The Reverse Cowgirl wouldn't still be online, right?
I don't get paid to write, but I do get paid - and will continue to get paid for the foreseeable future, which is the important part - partially because of my ability to communicate clearly in writing. And I gained both those skills and exposure to people who would hire me for them by writing a lot (both blogging and fiction that will probably never be published), but whatever. Bemoaning the fact that you probably won't make money off your blog is shortsighted, in my opinion, as is defining "a writer" as only someone for whom that's their sole income. And obviously financial incentive isn't the only reason to be a writer, otherwise The Reverse Cowgirl wouldn't still be online, right?
15
Wow, I didn't realize I'd written such a long comment. For the short version, see Mr. Poe @ 11 :)
16
Did any of you actually read the article? Oh wait, I forgot where I was. Bitch first, ask questions later.
17
Okay, now I'm irritated that every time I post commentary on this site I'm providing free content for The Stranger. At the very least Savage could offer complimentary handjobs to those of us willing to contibute interesting (ha ha) material to his publication.
20
Quite frankly, as a "technical professional" who knows how to do things like program in real computer languages I hated the "Tech Boom" of the 90s. All it did was divert money to lots of obnoxious GenXers with little or no talent other than grandstanding who would 'leverage' the least little bit of javascript into the latest stock scam.
Quite frankly, as a "technical professional" who knows how to do things like program in real computer languages I hated the "Tech Boom" of the 90s. All it did was divert money to lots of obnoxious GenXers with little or no talent other than grandstanding who would 'leverage' the least little bit of javascript into the latest stock scam.
21
Around 1999, TV Guide.com paid $25,000 for 100-word capsule reviews of a couple seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. O tempora...
22
Around 1999, TV Guide.com paid $25,000 for 100-word capsule reviews of a couple seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. O tempora...
23
Huh.
I really enjoyed what she wrote. But then again, I am not a frustrated writer, so I don' take it personally.
I really enjoyed what she wrote. But then again, I am not a frustrated writer, so I don' take it personally.
24
@19 The article is not saying he should give up the dream of writing - it's about the realities of "the dream of writing" being getting handed money directly in exchange for stuff you wrote. I'm more bitching about how everything I've read by Paul Constant recently - and everyone else interested/involved in the publishing business - seems to be in a context of everything's gone to hell and words are now worthless because the industry has gone downhill. Which is BS, and I'm tired of it.
We (as in, young-ish writers) need more of what Susannah Breslin at The Reverse Cowgirl wrote (advice like "Stop churning out the same boring fucking copy that your peers are dutifully filing like a bunch of self-congratulating monkeys and find out what "beyond the pale" really means.") and less hand-wringing over the state of industry conventions.
We (as in, young-ish writers) need more of what Susannah Breslin at The Reverse Cowgirl wrote (advice like "Stop churning out the same boring fucking copy that your peers are dutifully filing like a bunch of self-congratulating monkeys and find out what "beyond the pale" really means.") and less hand-wringing over the state of industry conventions.
27
That ship sailed a long time ago. Now everybody thinks they can blog for money, and the money that was there is drying up. It's kind of like the end of the Colorado River, after it's passed all those dams. The water that reaches Mexico is barely a trickle.
28
As someone who is always in the market for something to read, but often finds himself thumbing through shit instead, I find this "writer's" plight unsympathetic. A world in which people are paid to write garbage for beer.com is not a world that I want to revisit anytime soon. My advice for her, and her correspondent, is to NOT SUCK.
The actual fact is, we live in a GOLDEN AGE of non-fiction, journalistic writing. The work being produced in books and magazines, and even a few blogs, is better than it's ever been before.
The actual fact is, we live in a GOLDEN AGE of non-fiction, journalistic writing. The work being produced in books and magazines, and even a few blogs, is better than it's ever been before.
29
Hope you all at least read her article – it's worth your time. Covers all points, is insightful, gives ideas and direction and also slams the "professional" world of "writing".
Snark is fun but reading what she wrote even better.
Snark is fun but reading what she wrote even better.
30
@16 @29 @23 @29: Thank you, people who actually read the piece. The rest of you just spouted knee-jerk, worthless reactions based on the usual Paul Constant drivel.
31
knee jerk? heck, i watched poor job hunters on CNN taking classes in how to blog for money - talk about teaching someone to fish, it's more like they're teaching you how to turn your bait into sushi, it's that dumb.
Well, other than poets. That's just an Epic Fail in terms of making a living.
Well, other than poets. That's just an Epic Fail in terms of making a living.
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