WWeek: Going Daily But It's Not a Blog, Dammit!

Submitted by LynnS on Wed, 11/01/2006 - 11:20pm.

We got this WWeek email sent out to its freelancers today; the leetle birdie who sent it chirps, "Isn't this special? You can write FREE for WW while they make money off your writing. I feel so loved." From WWeek Arts & Culture editor Kelly Clarke:

We are launching a new version of wweek.com (http://wweek.com/) Monday, November 13th that will feature our distinct brand of journalism, updated daily.

But it ain't a blog, dammit. It's breaking news, cultural commentary, multimedia and other stuff done daily with the same attention to detail and rigor that you're used to in the print WW. (Finally!)

And we're inviting a handful of choice freelancers to have the option of posting on wweek.com too.

As it stands, it's a no fee operation, it's more a chance to have a larger audience view your writing and reporting on a more frequent basis. It's also our way of covering topics that get short shrift in the print edition of WW. If the website starts attracting more ads and traffic then we may reevaluate the compensation question in the upcoming months.

As a person whose voice we already love and respect, we'd be excited to have you be part of our new daily WW. There's no minimum time commitment or word length or anything. Just the promise that when WW gets you free tix to an amazing arts event, you consider posting a short live review later that night or the next morning. Want to comment on how a national
news story is affecting Portlanders? We've got a place for you to do it. Got some hot gossip, we wanna help you spread it. Considering creating your own weekly column, slideshow, podcast…let's talk. We're open to all ideas.

Heaven forfend anyone should call it a blog.

Like this post? Add it to del.icio.us!

LynnS's blog | quote

( topics: Willamette Week )

Better late than never

Submitted by Anonymous Source (not verified) on Wed, 11/01/2006 - 11:52pm.

I wondered when WWeek would finally grasp the importance of the web.

But daily updates? Woooo. Gosh. That's sooo frequent.

C'mon folks. News sites need to be updated multiple times and HOUR to keep people coming back.

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Heh

Submitted by Anonymous Source (not verified) on Thu, 11/02/2006 - 12:19am.

Sounds like WW is a bit cranky that the Merc, Trib, Metroblog, bojack, and b!x are stealing all their former readers...

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To be fair, I don't much

Submitted by theonetruebix on Thu, 11/02/2006 - 2:18pm.

To be fair, I don't much steal readers from anyone these days.

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FURIOUS nads! by The One True b!X
http://www.furiousnads.com/

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Hmm.. funny they left me off

Submitted by FoodDude on Thu, 11/02/2006 - 12:53am.

Hmm.. funny they left me off of this email list. Could it be that I announced the same idea six months ago, and now have some really good writers?

It's one thing to ask people to write for a blog... err site, that not for profit, but another thing entirely when you are a for profit corporation. The sad thing is, folks will take them up on it, WW will make money, and 'try out' new writers at no risk to their bottom line.

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WWow

Submitted by Anonymous Source (not verified) on Thu, 11/02/2006 - 1:07am.

They were as quick to embrace technology as they were to figure out that the Chasse story was something worth paying attention to.

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Gimme a B!

Submitted by Anonymous Source (not verified) on Thu, 11/02/2006 - 1:16am.

Gimme a B!

Gimme an A!

Gimme an L!

Oh nevermind.

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Calling the Portland Mercury...

Submitted by Anonymous Source (not verified) on Thu, 11/02/2006 - 1:28am.

...because it's not a question of whether they're going to mock this, but just a question of how, and how much.

Man alive. Imagine what the WW would say if the Oregonian hatched a plan not to pay its writers.

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I don't even know where to start

Submitted by Freelancer on Thu, 11/02/2006 - 2:27am.

I am at a loss about this.

Seems as though the writers who take them up on their "offer" will be too.

You get what you pay for guys.

If you don't have a budget for a project, um, why start it?

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My favorite part

Submitted by Anonymous Source (not verified) on Thu, 11/02/2006 - 9:04am.

It's breaking news, cultural commentary, multimedia and other stuff done daily with the same attention to detail and rigor that you're used to in the print WW.

Detail and rigor? Really? In the print WW? What have I been missing....?

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My favorite part

Submitted by Betsy on Thu, 11/02/2006 - 9:13am.

...with the same attention to detail and rigor that you're used to in the print WW. (Finally!)

Detail and rigor? In the print WW? Really?

I must really double-check those reading comprehension skills of mine, 'cause I can't think of two words least likely to describe the current incarnation of WW.

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My favorite part

Submitted by Anonymous Source (not verified) on Thu, 11/02/2006 - 10:43am.

Betsy writes:

Detail and rigor? In the print WW? Really?

Oh, they didn't say they HAD any; they just said that the online WW would have the same amount. The amount being left as an exercise for the reader.

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This is nothing new

Submitted by Anonymous Source (not verified) on Thu, 11/02/2006 - 12:38pm.

Man alive. Imagine what the WW would say if the Oregonian hatched a plan not to pay its writers.

How much do you suppose Oregon Live is paying its blogger?

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The pathetic thing is

Submitted by Anonymous Source (not verified) on Thu, 11/02/2006 - 1:43pm.

that the pandering to this "select group" will probably work. The WW chose them and thinks they're talented and special! They'll jump at the chance to contribute, kiss ass and make fools of themselves, all while thinking they're god's gift to hip exclusivity.

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It isn't surprising they

Submitted by theonetruebix on Thu, 11/02/2006 - 2:11pm.

It isn't surprising they don't want to call it a blog.

http://www.oregonmediainsiders.com/node/314

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FURIOUS nads! by The One True b!X
http://www.furiousnads.com/

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Writers are a penny a dozen

Submitted by Anonymous Source (not verified) on Thu, 11/02/2006 - 3:40pm.

Writers are a penny a dozen in this town. If WW's freelancers don't jump at the bait, I'm sure their interns will.

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And worth the penny

Submitted by LynnS on Thu, 11/02/2006 - 7:33pm.

There are always "lots of writers." There are very few GOOD ones. The trick is finding and using--and paying for--the good ones.

I heard this canard over and over growing up. It was pretty clear early on I was "doomed" to be a scribbler, and I was encouraged to find a Plan B; writers were "a dime a dozen," no one wanted to pay them, and there was always another writer who'd work for free.

Contrary to expectations, I have worked as a writer almost my entire life from age 17 when I picked up my first check for a story. I took two short detours: One into mortgage banking (don't ask, it's the family curse); and one into programming/web development. I wrote throughout the second detour and it was an integral part of what I did.

I've always been able to find paid work as a writer because I'm good at it. If you're good at it, you will too. If a publication isn't paying people it's either exploiting a young writer at the beginning of his/her career--and so won't have that writer long--or it's using people who can't write and thus can't get paid to write. On my other site I haven't been able to pay people for a long time. The articles I get there for free are usually people needing to build up their clip files; I was the first clip for one gal, and now she's written a couple of books. Guess what? She doesn't write for me any more. ;)

Most blogs are written by people who aren't getting paid, but they're one-horse operations; no one's asking them to do it, they're just out there doing it because they want to. It's fun. If by chance they happen to attract ad money, the blogger gets it--not some publication.

Maybe that's what WWeek doesn't want to call it a blog?

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Lynn Siprelle * Fairy Blogmother

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Twain in vain

Submitted by Anonymous Source (not verified) on Thu, 11/02/2006 - 4:59pm.

Did that idea come from new WWeek editor Tom Sawyer?

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This took way longer than I thought it would

Submitted by LynnS on Thu, 11/02/2006 - 7:17pm.

The Merc weighs in.

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Lynn Siprelle * Fairy Blogmother

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I check your site about once

Submitted by Amy Jenniges on Thu, 11/02/2006 - 7:38pm.

I check your site about once a day, but I cannot for the life of me get the RSS feed to work (I use bloglines... it says I'm subscribed. But nothing comes through. And I've "resubscribed." No dice.). Or I would have seen your post yesterday...

-amy
----------------
News Editor
Portland Mercury

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weird!

Submitted by LynnS on Thu, 11/02/2006 - 7:42pm.

Really? What url are you using? http://www.oregonmediainsiders.com/node/feed should work.

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Lynn Siprelle * Fairy Blogmother

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Let me try that one

Submitted by Amy Jenniges on Fri, 11/03/2006 - 12:29pm.

Let me try that one specifically—I think I had been asking bloglines to just find a feed at oregonmediainsiders.com.

----------------
News Editor
Portland Mercury

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Who cares?

Submitted by Anonymous Source (not verified) on Fri, 11/03/2006 - 5:55am.

This is Willamette Week for Christ's sake and they have held the golden carrot in front of people working for little or nothing for years. I pity the poor souls who will put their soul into anything these neo-hipsters hang in front of them. It's all about the bottom line folks!

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Truly shameful

Submitted by Anonymous Source (not verified) on Fri, 11/03/2006 - 12:20pm.

Alternative weeklies, much more so than big newscorps, behave in the same manner that led American workers to form unions in the first place.

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No surprise

Submitted by Anonymous Source (not verified) on Fri, 11/03/2006 - 12:40pm.

It's the great unspoken at alt weeklies that they rail against the system, while working under a system that sucks even worse. They pay crap already and now want to pay nothing. Want to save the world kiddies? Great, but find some time to save yourselves.

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stupid

Submitted by Anonymous Source (not verified) on Sat, 11/04/2006 - 6:52am.

i cannot believe that ww is doing this. it's bound to work out about as well as when they bought the rocket.

interesting that someone should note that 'the merc weighs in' when amy jenninges wrote the merc's post. i'm just saying...

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that "somebody" was me

Submitted by LynnS on Sat, 11/04/2006 - 11:29am.

so what exactly are you saying?

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Lynn Siprelle * Fairy Blogmother

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WW Retracts !

Submitted by Anonymous Source (not verified) on Thu, 11/09/2006 - 11:59pm.

WW backtracks on asking freelancers to write for free.
Its retraction was brief and without explanation. Does this mean their non-blog/blog will pay EVERYONE who submits?

I'll bet that doesn't last long.

Here's the backpedaling:

Date: Tue, 07 Nov 2006 12:15:17 -0800
Subject: WW online freelancer update
Dear WW Freelancers,

On Friday I sent you an email soliciting you to contribute to wweek.com on an unpaid basis. Wrong! Your writing for wweek.com will be treated as a freelance submission and will be paid accordingly. Contact me if you'd like more details.

Best,

Kelly Clarke

Kelly Clarke
Arts & Culture Editor

Willamette Week Newspaper
2220 NW Quimby St.
Portland, OR 97210
phone: 503-243-2122
fax: 503-243-1115
[email redacted--I'm sure Kelly doesn't need any more spam than usual.--L]

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