Blogging: Working for Exposure

Every day my inbox, spam and junk folders are jam-packed with – erm – job opportunities offering payment in “exposure”.

And just what is meant by “exposure” you ask? Usually a mention on social media, a credit byline and occasionally (if I’m really lucky) a link to my blog. Never, ever an offer of monetary payment.

working for exposure by the oatmeal
The Oatmeal’s absolutely brilliant (& easily understood) explanation of working for “exposure”.

For some incredibly bizarre reason multi-million (and billion) dollar companies find it impossible to provide payment for the creative talent and hours of work involved in creating the content that they so eagerly reach out to commission.

Would you do your job for free?

I’ve gathered together my fave Blogging: Working for Exposure themed articles, opinion pieces and clever posts from around the ‘net to help you better understand this strange online phenomenon and just why it shouldn’t be accepted as the norm:

geek love in the 80's

Wil Wheaton, my heart pumping teenage crush, shares his experience with being asked to work for exposure as well as his fabulously honest opinion with: You can’t pay your rent with “the unique platform and reach our site provides”

Work made for Hire’s excellent How to Not Die from Exposure has fabulous tips & tricks for asking for the payment you deserve.

Selena Rezvani shares her awesome People Don’t Respect Free Work, So Charge Them for It over on Forbes.

Web Design & HTML Expert Jennifer Kyrnin has written an interesting piece for About Tech including her take on when you should work for exposure with Working for Free: Is Getting Paid in Exposure Such a Bad Thing? 

Jessica Hirsche’s wicked infographic flow chart helps you decide Should I Work for Free?

The Arts Don’t Work for Free is an online community where creatives can share their experiences, know how and advice on this topic.

Zulu Alpha Kilo created and filmed an awesome experiment when they took the idea of working on spec (creating a piece of work for a client for free) into the real world:

Jacob Duarte Spiel wrote a hilarious bit of satire for The Beaverton: Local Artist paid with, dies from, Exposure 

Beezly also has a chuckle inducing satirical article: ‘Exposure’ Now Legal Tender for Photographers

Ted Forbes from The Art of Photography channel shares his fantastic opinions and advice on working for exposure in his Should I Work for Free webisode:

and, of course, my very own detailed look at the honest amount of hard work versus payment that goes on behind the scenes of blogging: Time vs Money:

Stay tuned for more of my backstage of blogging series and feel free to request a behind-the-scenes topic that you’d like to learn more about in the comments below.

6 Comments

  1. So sad, it’s happening everywhere. Sadly, the exposure has not translated into anything rewarding!!

    1. I simply cannot understand how anyone can think that “exposure” will pay the bills in any way. That video so perfectly illustrates the sheer stupidity of doing a job for free – if “real-world” businesses scoff, laugh and (most of all) aren’t expected to work for exposure why the hell should online jobs be any different?
      Are the talent, time and creativity it takes to do a job online honestly worth so much less than the same work done in a brick and mortar shop or office? (and if so, why?)

  2. Cathy H says:

    When I saw your title, I immediately thought of Will Weatons post.

    Love the video!

    1. It’s incredibly frustrating that “exposure” is somehow seen as equal to (or better than) monetary payment online. In all honesty, in the past I have indeed done work for “exposure” (twice, for massive, international publications), foolishly believing that it would bring more traffic (& thus possible business/opportunities) to my site but the hard truth is, it didn’t.
      The huge sites, companies and brands that commission and feature creative work in exchange for the “vast exposure” it will bring use every trick in the book to keep visitors on their own site and scrolling through their own content.
      Social media mentions that link to the content I have provided on their own site do absolutely nothing to increase visits to my blog – unfortunately most people online rarely take the time to click a writer’s byline link or search for the content creator’s own site…especially when there’s loads of eyecatching articles featured in the mega-site’s header, sidebar and footer.

  3. Awesome, awesome, awesome! I loved going through the things you linked up to. So, so true! 🙂 Lisa

    1. yep, very sad but very true…

Comments are closed.

Check out these fab posts too!