Why Freelance Writers Deserve More Grace 📰✨
my thoughts on social media & professional writing - welcome to The Slush Pile!
Welcome back to The Slush Pile for Issue 25, y’all! As we slowly move into fall, I look back at what has been a great summer for me in terms of my freelance writing. I was published twice by the L.A. Times, I wrote some of my favorite and most important investigative pieces of my career, I gave interviews about my job to journalism students (which I find a personal major accomplishment considering I’ve never taken a formal journalism class), and I grew overall as a writer. I’m lucky to have the job that I do and to do it in such meaningful ways that have uplifted my communities and exposed my writing to thousands of people for over two years.
At the same time, I’ve also been thinking about freelancing as a whole and its not-so-secret secret flaws that make this industry a challenge, and sometimes a heartache, to work in. The things that happen behind the scenes, behind the bylines and celebratory tweets that we don’t talk about. What we wish we could say but fear rocking the boat or being accused of being entitled or not knowing enough. I love this job, I do. But I can’t keep doing it unless I speak up.
I felt called to write this newsletter because of something that happened with a friend of mine who just started freelancing. She published an article in a huge name publication, an incredible feat for her first time and I was beyond joyful for her success. But as with many of my own pieces, it had not come without costs—hate comments from random people online, heavy editing, detriments to her original vision—things she’d never encountered before and that had happened to me way too many times. I found myself saying things like That’s happened to me too or don’t worry too much or it’s okay, that’s just how it is. At that moment, I realized just how much I had to normalize in order to stay sane and in this business. How much I hated to have to say those things to maintain a sense of status quo and normalcy instead of No, wait, that’s bullshit.
Maybe I’m biased but freelancers are arguably the backbone of today’s culture. Every time you see a review of any piece of media, an exposé or investigation into an important issue, a personal essay about our experiences, news pieces, we’re fueling the conversation. We’re what you read before or as you form your own thoughts. We’re where you go to get information. We put ourselves in the public eye to say something different, to open windows, to educate, to make known. We’re screaming at the top of our lungs without a guarantee that we’ll be heard.
And yet throughout the past two years, I’ve seen the industry let so many people down. Especially in larger publications, our work can be edited so drastically, so rewritten by the editor that it feels wrong to have our name in the byline or claim sole authorship. We’re not taught how to disagree with an editorial note or suggestion when we think the editor is wrong. Instead, we’re lucky if the core of the piece’s message isn’t lost, if there are a few sentences we remember writing. Many times the editor ends up being right and I’m beyond thankful for the work they do, for every time they’ve said yes to an idea of mine and made my writing better. But there have been other instances when I thought differently and felt uncomfortable speaking up. Even now, I don’t always know what to do in those moments, how to move forward with care and nuance so my piece doesn’t end up shelved (which has happened once and, considering how much prep work I’d done to write it, hurt like nothing else has).
Don’t forget about payment, too. No one likes to talk about money, including me, but it’s time to stop asking freelancers to work for free, even—especially—if they’re just starting out and finding on their feet. One of the things I resent about this work is how inaccessible it can be if you don’t have disposable or flexible income, not only because rates vary so much among publications but also because we’re rarely paid within a reasonable time frame. While most other jobs pay you within two weeks, I’m been lucky to get paid a month later and once had to wait a whole year for a payment of $25.
I know publications have many writers on staff, not just ones who work for freelancing rates, but that just isn’t realistic and it’s no wonder a majority of people can’t do this as a full-time job (and those who do find it impossible to preserve any sort of work-life balance that allows them reasonable time away from the desk and weekends off). It’s exhausting and taxing, and very rarely do we get paid on time or at all like we deserve. It’s even become a running joke among freelancers that we wish the payment would come out of the computer as soon as we submit a story.
Perhaps the wildest part of this job is seeing myself and friends of mine being punished in real time if, in an article, they share an opinion that people don’t like. I’ve seen people receive hate comments, rude direct messages, even death threats, most often targeting BIPOC writers, especially women. People will go so far as to seek out our personal social media and berate us until we have to private ourselves. Considering how journalists around other parts of the world are literally targeted and killed for doing their jobs, this shouldn’t be something we take lightly.
Yes, sometimes people leave me supportive messages in my inbox or simply share my articles on their own channels, which I appreciate more than they’ll ever know. But more often than not, we’re exposed to the worst of the Internet, the side that’ll leave behind fierce and frightening debates in the comment section of social media posts sharing our work, or the website itself, with an engaging headline and excerpt guaranteed to incite a reaction in people (which, by the way, we have little control over). Often, all this over an opinion.
I know that outlets do this for a reason, that sacrifices have to be made in order to get engagement and of course, to make money to pay writers. But at this point, I can’t look at those comment sections, whether it’s concerning me or someone I know, not because I’m afraid of being wrong but because I don’t want to see arguments completely ripped to shreds without even a sense of decency. Personally, I’ve published several pieces that have been seen as divisive and controversial and have almost been scared into never freelancing again because of the fear of what other people will think, especially if it’s published on a popular outlet with a large audience. Which begs the question: since when did sharing an opinion warrant cruelty? Why do people feel so comfortable behind a screen to not only criticize a piece but also the person who wrote it? Given what we have to fight for to be heard, why aren’t we as writers deserving of more grace?
If you’re not a freelancer, I’m sure it’s easy for many people to write this all off as nothing more than petty complaints about what is otherwise a very privileged profession. That in fact, we’re willingly putting ourselves in public view and therefore shouldn’t be surprised when we’re critiqued. I’m sure in some ways you’re right. But I’ve long since learned that this is a thankless job. The pieces we’re proud of rarely get read, rarely get positive support, or get torn apart by toxic people on the internet who probably didn’t even read the piece they’re so angry about all the way through. It’s hard to get paid and harder to make connections or build a living out of such a precarious industry if you’re not who the system was designed for (i.e. upper-class white men). So why do it?
Because I love to write. I love sharing stories. I love interviewing people and showcasing them and their work. I love teaching readers new things they didn’t know. It’s exciting to see your words published and your article on the front page for at least a day. As frustrating as this job can be, I still believe it’s worth doing and still encourage people to pursue it if they feel called to. Because I can love my job and also want certain aspects of it to change, for there to be more support and defense of writers and the work we do. Because we deserve to be protected, to be read, to be valued. If we’re your backbone, we’ve more than earned that right.
notes from the writer’s desk ✍️
my favorite recently pub’d pieces:
updates:
Exciting news! I was recently accepted to Syracuse University’s School of Information Studies and will be pursuing an M.S. in Library and Information Studies beginning in January 2024. Go orange!!
I’m so excited to announce the upcoming publication of my debut children’s book!! The book will spotlight past and present queer heroes from Latin America and the U.S. and is forthcoming from Jessica Kingsley Publishers. More info and details to come soon! In the meantime, please read this thread I wrote about the project.
The audiobooks for my self-published poetry chapbooks STREAMING SERVICE: golden shovels made for tv and STREAMING SERVICE: season two are OUT NOW! Experience my work on a different channel on Google Play now, with more retailers and platforms to come soon. If you still need your digital and/or signed physical copies, order from my shop site today! Thank you as always for your support :’)
Since January, I’ve been hosting creativity café, an ig live series where i feature, create space, and hold conversation with writers I love and that you should too! The next episode will premiere this week October 20th and feature special guest writer Sofia Fey so head to my Instagram to watch it then. See you there!
resources:
Looking for book recommendations? Check out my Bookstagram and TikTok to keep up with what I’m reading and loving right now! On TikTok, you’ll also get more snippets of my everyday writing life and lifestyle/fashion content. See you there!
other stories i’m loving 📖
currently reading:
Carmen and Grace by Melissa Coss Aquino
currently watching:
Ugly Betty S2
currently listening to:
“8:00” by Madi Sipes & The Painted Blue
all my love,
sofía xx
great and important thoughts. thank you for sharing these!