I got a press release last week suggesting that freelance journalists were the “backbone of the press”. I know plenty of publications where 60-80% of content is derived from freelancers, so this is obviously quite true. However, whenever I attend events PRs seem much more interested in publications than freelancers. As a freelance it's easy to find yourself out of the loop and frankly, not treated as well. There's something wrong with this picture...
I remember back when I reviewed graphics cards, despite doing pretty much all the graphics cards reviews for a magazine, they would stipulate quite clearly that the invite was for “editors only”. So the editor gets shipped out to some foreign country for a fancy event that involves more drinking than working, while the copy monkeys sit at home. All they are doing is educating someone that will never write anything about the product – an exercise in futility.
And then, finally there is the phrase that “product allocation is one per publication”, which once again stiffs all the freelancers who mostly go home empty handed. Chances are, the sample will go into personal use and they will get a freelancer to review the product – who will have to get in a sample, with delay..
If we're the back bone of the press, why not treat us so? When I was working full time at Trusted Reviews, I was invited to all sorts of foreign, high budget trips. As a freelance, I can't remember the last time I got anything better than a free bar in Soho. We don't get paid holiday – so, you know, do us a favour?
As far as product allocation is concerned, as a freelancer you tend to write for several publications so the chance of your products being included are much greater. We also need products around for comparison and long term features. For instance, I'm reviewing a lot of Symbian apps for KnowYourMobile.com – it's a good thing I happen to own an N95...
Now, being empathetic towards PRs, there are a hell of a lot of freelance writers – and thanks to the web, a fair amount of publications too. But I can't help but wonder if working on a per publication basis is just, well, lazy?
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