Every writer or would-be writer looks for his name in print somewhere at some time, whether he writes for pleasure or for pecuniary benefit. The internet has made it easier for anyone willing to do so. Not that easy, you’d agree.
Many writers promote their writing through blogging, which is one of the means to make you known to others, publishers included. Blogging is most of the time writing for free. Well, almost. There are many professional bloggers out there who make it to the dollars. I won’t dispute.
But there are lots of considerations before we decide whether we’ll write for free or for the bucks. This is the dilemma many writers find themselves in when they start on their writing project. Well, there’s no need to worry.
I just came across an article “The Writer’s Dilemma: Should You Write For Free” by Angela Booth, which I want to share. Angela highlights some of the problems associated with paying writers’ markets and gives an insight into some of the benefits of writing for free. “Writing for free can help you to discover how creative you really are”, she says.
Incidentally there’s another article “7 Reasons You Should be Writing Articles” by David McKenzie. “Writing articles is a very successful internet marketing technique,” David advocates. “It costs nothing and can increase your traffic and sales tremendously.”
I hope these two articles offer some food for thought to those still wondering whether writing for free is a waste of time.
Mauritian residing in Rodrigues, Amanoola Khayrattee (pen name Alfa King) is contributing writer and journalist to La Gazette Mag de l’océan indien and This Week News Mauritius.
Retired, former meteorological cadre, trade unionist and OSH consultant, Amanoola has written for in-house union and other journals, publications and magazines. He runs two blogs since 2007: “Alfa King Memories”, and “Le Journal d’Alfa King”. When he is not reading or writing, he is on a 10+ km daily hike in anticipation of his monthly trails.
Amanoola may be reached at [email protected].