Comments on: If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys

By: Matthew Stibbe

Matthew Stibbe — Sat, 15 May 2010 09:45:08 +0000

I suspect that they knew exactly what they were doing, which was exploiting writers to get cheap copy.

By: Mark McArthur-Christie

Mark McArthur-Christie — Sat, 15 May 2010 09:36:08 +0000

Given the tone of that e-mail, I think Company X’s staff could do with a little help with their everyday writing – let alone their PRs.

A “tantalising” press release, eh? I think I’d rather persuade someone to buy than tantalise them. And did they swallow Dickens’ Collected Works? “We look forward to hearing your comments in regards to the above proposal.”

Sounds like the Curse of the Junior Marketing Client to me. MUCH nastier than the Curse of the Mummy.

By: S�ker avansert php coder til et stort gaming community! - Webforumet.no

S�ker avansert php coder til et stort gaming community! - Webforumet.no — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 23:18:22 +0000

[...] If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys — Bad Language __________________ 66.no min personlige blogg | Julegavetips [...]

By: Bad Language / How to budget for, plan and measure writing output

Bad Language / How to budget for, plan and measure writing output — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 08:10:28 +0000

[...] free pitching (i.e. free work in the hope of winning a larger assignment). See my previous rant: If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys. I said that anyone who agreed to do two days free work with no notice is either woefully [...]

By: Bad Language / How to make money writing for the web

Bad Language / How to make money writing for the web — Tue, 13 May 2008 16:32:08 +0000

[...] to say no. Not all work is good work. There are crooks out there who will try to get you to work for peanuts. Just say no. Also, try to avoid busy-work. Stuff that makes you think you’re working hard [...]

By: Peanuts and monkeys » blog.frei!

Peanuts and monkeys » blog.frei! — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 21:29:35 +0000

[...] stieß ich auf die Seite von Matthew Stibbe. Matthew schreibt PR-Texte und berichtet von den aberwitzigen Honorarvorstellungen einiger Unternehmen. Sein [...]

By: If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys « brisebois blog

If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys « brisebois blog — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 22:49:09 +0000

[...] 26, 2008 · No Comments A brilliant title to Matthew’s post. It is an excellent example of the speaking/talking [...]

By: David Bowman

David Bowman — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 18:58:47 +0000

We often find that potential clients don’t have a good understanding of the time, effort, and skills needed to write or edit. However, most clients, after seeing the work we do for them, realize that they have been charged a very fair price.

By: ourman

ourman — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 08:53:58 +0000

“If you were an experienced professional – say a lawyer or an accountant – and you received an email like the one below, you would probably find it somewhat insulting. ”

Maybe so but your average lawyer is infinitely more qualified than a writer. It costs nothing to set yourself up as a writer and you have no documentation to prove your skill. That might be why people choose to test it.

And let’s face it, these businesses wouldn’t get away with it unless it was common practice for people to accept these terms. Probably because the world is full of aspiring writers.

As for:

“It also takes a day or two to write a good press release, get it approved and proofread. ”

Absolute rubbish. That’s just what PR companies say in order to jack up their prices. It takes 30 minutes to write a press release – the rest is strictly admin. With a fair wind, and providing you make a decent stab at the first release, it can be done in less than two hours.

I’m entirely in agreement with you as regards people wanting something for nothing but you shouldn’t confuse that with the agency tall tales of the time involved or try to compare the chargeable time of a lawyer to a copywriter.

By: Sarah Dillon

Sarah Dillon — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 00:08:47 +0000

This post made me grimace because I could feel your frustrations across the blogosphere I face this ALL the time as a translator (in fact I wrote a post on it with almost this exact same title here http://nakedtranslator.blogspot.com/2007/03/what-are-you-worth-dont-be-monkey.html). If it’s any consolation, we’re even lower on the food chain than writers. After all, the writer has done all the work already and I’m just typing in another language, right?! LOL!

I reckon put a price on your time and stick to it. It can be really hard sometimes, but like you say, if you want to work for minimum wage, then at least go somewhere you’ll get your lunch paid…