I have been running my blog for about six months now, and recently I was approached by a fairly popular cooking site (not blog) and asked if I would be interested in writing a blog for the site.
Of course this was very exciting and flattering to me and I am in the process of working out the details, but because I am still a novice in the blogging world and have never blogged for anyone else I was wondering what issues to consider before jumping into this.
I have thought about discussing who owns the material I would write for the site; should I expect/request any rights or is it typical for them to use my material as they please?
I also thought about compensation; while I am not expecting to make money, I will be buying food, making recipes, taking pictures, etc for the posts. Is it reasonable for me to set a budget for myself and tell them that I will be able to produce a certain number of posts a month based on my resources?
The people at the site have been very friendly and open, and appear to be giving me quite a bit of creative rein, which is good. I just wanted to see if you other bloggers might think of some concerns I should consider before I start this!
Many thanks!
This Post was written by pastrygirl from Dessert First
6 comments:
Hi Andrew,
This site seems to have been operating successfully for about six years - there is an entire page full of mentions in the press, and it gets heavy traffic - much more than I do. Perhaps they think the main benefit for me will be more exposure? There was no mention of pay when I was first contacted, which is why I have been hesistant to bring it up yet, but I do feel that I should be at least compensated for my materials!
There are ads on the page itself but I don't know if there will be ads on my blog - that also has not been discussed...
thanks!
If you're writing for another site, you should be paid. At the very least, if that somehow makes you uncomfortable or they won't pay you but you still kind of want to do it, insist upon a link back to your own blog from every post and one on the main web site as well. Links = higher ranking in the search engines which should hopefully bring you more readers. Also, I would wonder about duplicate posts to both your blog and theirs. Can you post the same recipe but with different commentary? Are the audiences different? Don't just do it for free. They'll be making money off your content. A percentage of the ads, as Andrew suggested, PLUS a link would be my minimum.
I had the same request from an Italian site (I blog in Italy and in Italian), that sells food, and they told they would pay me, but they sent me a lot of pasta, oil, and other good food to write the recipes, so I don't think I will ever ask them for money!
I think you could at least ask for the compensation of the food you buy to make the posts...
As for as payment/expenses go, I think a good rule of thumb is that if a site/blog/publication is bringing in revenue they should be paying for services accordingly.
I'm certainly not a food-writing pro compared to a lot of food bloggers, but I decided a while back that I wouldn't write for another site that was making money unless I was getting paid. If they were giving me a budget to use to cook with, I would consider that as getting paid, since I have to buy food anyway. But I would not blog for a commercial site for free.
In another guise I have written for websites before and been paid very well - basically what the going word rate is for journalists or higher.
I think by not asking/expecting to be paid there are some wider issues to consider. That is, that journalists and others who write for a living are being squeezed out by site owners/editors getting other contributers to write for free.
Most of us blog for the love of it. But if a commercial site wants you to write content for them, I believe they should be paying.
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