Ovittore's Cherry
Yeah, we took Ovittore's cherry.
And no, we didn't pay him for it.
You got to keep these guys hungry and lean — helps 'em keep their edge.
Seriously: we don't pay for Local Vocals as of yet -- remember we're only a few months old and have not yet blossomed into the media giant we will eventually become. That'll probably take two or three more weeks. The Local Vocal is, however, a very good way to break into out pages.
I told Jay the other day that the first few clips are the hardest to come by -- at least that was the case with me when I started as a freelancer in 1994. Someone at the GambitWeekly in New Orleans gave me my first break and I cut it out and lugged it all over town. But clips beget more clips, and by the time I had about 30 or so I was able to prove to editors that I had the goods and I could meet deadlines every single time.
I, too wrote for free at times in the early stages of my career (against the advice of many of my professors, by the way) and I also wrote for very little. I did a story on panhandling once (unposted) where I actuallty begged for change in the French Quarter for eight hours. I got paid $20 to write the piece. I made $40 panhandling. It was a real eye-opening experience.
And no, we didn't pay him for it.
You got to keep these guys hungry and lean — helps 'em keep their edge.
Seriously: we don't pay for Local Vocals as of yet -- remember we're only a few months old and have not yet blossomed into the media giant we will eventually become. That'll probably take two or three more weeks. The Local Vocal is, however, a very good way to break into out pages.
I told Jay the other day that the first few clips are the hardest to come by -- at least that was the case with me when I started as a freelancer in 1994. Someone at the GambitWeekly in New Orleans gave me my first break and I cut it out and lugged it all over town. But clips beget more clips, and by the time I had about 30 or so I was able to prove to editors that I had the goods and I could meet deadlines every single time.
I, too wrote for free at times in the early stages of my career (against the advice of many of my professors, by the way) and I also wrote for very little. I did a story on panhandling once (unposted) where I actuallty begged for change in the French Quarter for eight hours. I got paid $20 to write the piece. I made $40 panhandling. It was a real eye-opening experience.
posted by Brian Clarey at 10:52 AM
5 Comments:
Yeah, so you didn't get paid much, but you got to live in New Orleans!
Blog tip -- If you are going to have multiple contributors to the blog, would y'all please let us know the author of the post?
Jay's piece was an editorial, right? I'm not aware of many papers that pay for editorials unless the author is already a big name. I hope no one thinks ill of you for this as that's pretty much the way it works.
Of note: JW is right in saying multiple authors might want to sign the blog just so we know who we're talking to. This is Brian, right?
I meant op-ed instead of editorial.
I am just thankful for the chance to show my stuff. My pay is the exposure in print and a foot in the door of print media. We all have to crawl before we walk and this got me started. Thanks Brian and YES.
I have to echo Jay. I enjoy writing, and my first published piece was in the YES! Weekly. Since then I've been published in the Carolina Peacemaker, the Greensboro News and Record (I think), and actually got paid (gasp!) for a piece I wrote for a think tank called Foreign Policy in Focus.
As a young person, I find it incredibily difficult to break into opinion writing. This is especially true in the area that I want to write about, foreign policy and international affairs. Versus, you know, Facebook. Somehow people seem to believe that because we don't have a PhD., that means young people don't have a stake in the issues.
So thanks to YES Weekly, I'd love to write for you again!
Post a Comment
<< Home