Frontlines

Why Money Gigs Are (Almost) Always Better Than Prestige Gigs

By Nicholas Pell May 28th, 2015

Years back, when I was duking it out for $15 per page for content farms, I often dreamed not of riches, but of prestige. My goal wasn’t to make a million bucks—it was to be Norman Mailer.

Then something strange happened. I actually started making real money writing. But I wasn’t writing witty quips or hard-hitting exposes; for the most part, my money gigs were boring, dry and, above all else, easy. These opportunities gave me more time to work on stories for prestigious publications, but I found myself taking fewer and fewer of them. It didn’t take long for me to stop caring about being a “serious” writer who received many accolades.

Given the choice between money and prestige, I’ll always take the money. Let me tell you why.

You can’t eat prestige

I recently came across a list of “dream” publications I had compiled years ago. At this point in my career, I’ve been able to cross a slew of items on that list, which is neat and everything, but you know what? Dream gigs can be a total ripoff. Slick magazines that are read across the world pay rates competitive with B-level digital magazines. Alt weeklies have offered me a princely $50 for 1200-word reported (print!) pieces, because I write about music and music is cool, so I’m willing to work for free, right?

Compare that gig to some of the most boring work I get on a consistent basis, the kind that lets me to knock out $900 worth of work in four hours. Who needs prestige when you can make a quick grand and spend the rest of the day watching Netflix, taking a nap, lifting weights, playing with your dog, working on your car, and hanging out with your wife? Not this guy.

Prestige from whom?

The big question not enough writers ask is “Where does the prestige come from?” Other writers? Great. Maybe they’ll pick up your bar tab.

Here’s the reality: Once you clear a certain hurdle of professional credulity, you’re in. Time and Newsweek and Rolling Stone are cool and everything, but I know people who have written for them and are still elbowing it out in the trenches, grinding out blog post after blog post, and wondering how they heck they’re going to pay their bills.

I can count on zero hands the number of times someone I didn’t know approached me about writing for their publication on the basis of my prestigious clips. They just don’t seem to open many doors that less flashy but better-paying clips don’t already.

Referrals pay

In my experience, editors at pubs with name recognition tend to jealously guard their writers. On the other hand, all of the lesser-known clients that hired me for copywriting and content marketing had no problem recommending me to Fortune 500 companies, nonprofits, and New York Times bestselling authors.

All told, the referral work I’ve gotten from these jobs has added up to tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars over the years. Prestige gigs have never paid my rent, though they have paid for a few nights out at the bar. My bar tabs tend to be the stuff of legend, though, so it’s not all bad.

One would think that, given their relatively low rates, prestige gigs would have a less-than-stellar bar for quality. On the contrary, those who give out these assignments expect the world of people that they’re not paying much. And while sometimes I get an offer that’s too good to pass up (like hanging out at Frank Zappa’s house with his widow and daughter) for the most part, I pass on prestige gigs for one simple reason: they lower my hourly rate.

It’s not that copywriting gigs don’t have high standards. It’s just that, like Denny’s, it’s less about making the best product possible and more about making something comfortable and predictable. So after you’ve done one gig for a month or two, you’re more of a cog in a machine than Norman Mailer.

Chug some coffee, put on some speed metal, bang it out, see your hourly rate skyrocket, and stop wondering where your rent is going to come from. Maybe even use the financial stability to justify the occasional prestige gig you’ve been trying to take on.

Stick to security

If you prove yourself competent, your well-paying clients are going to want to hire you time and again. Indeed, they’ll probably start shoveling all the work at you that you can handle. The more work you do for them, the more they depend on you, the more secure your position is.

On the other hand, prestige gigs put you in constant competition with the hungriest of reporters. Getting to the front of the line for esteemed editorial work takes years of grunt work, rejection, and luck. I’m not above hustling to get an extra assignment here and there, but I’ve come to hate pitching, and I’m glad I’m in a position where I don’t have to do it much anymore.

It’s not that I don’t get a thrill out of seeing my name in print. It’s just that, after swelling with pride from dozens of bylines over the years, the thrill no longer lasts very long.

If you’re young and looking to get established, renowned publications can give you a decent clip to show off, along with the self-confidence required to flog it high and low. But once you’re established, get paid in dollars and cents, not prestige.

Image by Ovi M
Tags: , ,