(YC) Yahoo Contributor (formerly Associated Content) routinely offers assignments. Seldom do I see a title I am interested in or can write about. When I have seen something I thought I was capable of doing, I checked out the details. Across the board, YC does not offer payment for the articles. I use the example: they want me to go interview the mayor, but do not want to pay me for it?
Basically Yahoo executives in charge of their new acquisition want writers to bring more people to the site, to up their site views, thus enhance their standing with search engines and advertisers. Writers who have a large fan base ~ be it family, offline or online friends ~ will get more article page views, thus more of that paltry page view bonus pennies. I am not one of them.
Wednesday night when I went to YC to publish a book review, I checked assignments. I decided to claim Who Is Your Favorite Author, due today. Instructions said to include a brief author bio with the article. Yikes, not much time to contact author for bio info, write and edit the article, all for no pay. But, since Walter Mosley is a Facebook friend, went ahead and wrote the article. It was a hard article for me to write. What if the man reads it? Oh my.
YC wanted a snappy, attention grabbing headline. Not my forte, headlines. I considered: Walter Mosley Rocks! or Why Walter Mosley Rocks! or Is Walter Mosley an Angry Black Man? But Mosley is not a musician, he is an author. The angry black man thing came from a quote in another book I read: Twelve Angry Men (True Stories of Being A Black Man in America Today). Mosley was not among those twelve, he was quoted regarding his youth and interactions with L.A. cops.
Mosley wants peace on earth, harmony, so I could not justify turning him into an angry, black man for the sake of a few page view pennies. My title is lame: Why Walter Mosley is My Favorite Author. Like who cares!
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