Here's a publication that we stumbled upon yesterday at the grocery store:
It says it's issue no. 7, which means this monthly has been going for a while. Good for them, especially in these tough times.
For those readers who find this blog too cynical, may we suggest that you find yourself a copy of the Portland Upside and cheer up. Or just check out their website, here. They're nice to people, so we don't have to be.
We'll resist commenting too extensively on the fact that they're based in Damascus, Oregon.
Comments (8)
Not quite so nice to their writers, though. They don't pay them.
Of course they can, but beginning writers are vulnerable: they desperately need experience and clippings, so they'll work for free if they have to. It's only fair to pay them a little something, since it is difficult work. (Especially if you are claiming to be all about niceness.)
This is like the arguments around performing artists and Equity, which has determined that it's better that there be no shows and no acting gigs than it is to have people work below scale or for free because they love it. Better that people never learn to express themselves at all than to have them do so without "a little something."
Where that "little something" is going to come from is never quite explained -- since the Upside is free, it would have to be from ads or the publisher's pocket.
Bloggers blog for free -- are they exploited? Or are they only being exploited if you write a post for someone _else's_ blog (or penny paper)? The Upside looks like a dead-tree blog to me...
I'm reminded of the observation about media corruption and how it's hard to say that they've been corrupted when they seem to enjoy it so much.
Maybe we just have to accept that there are whole realms of human beingness that aren't adequately described by or limited to (thank goodness!) market forces and be glad that people continually find new ways to express themselves simply for the joy of doing so. And note how much less of that joy there would be if we insisted on the "fairness" of compensation for all.
Many of us in media production started out volunteering 20 hours a week in local origination cable programming along with working a regular 40 hour work week. What we didn't get in dollars then we have in careers now. Anyone remember, "Do what you love, the money will follow?" No one's getting abused here. Just smart self-investment.
Look at it this way: Everyone but the writers has to pay to have their stuff published in the Upside. The publishers by printing it and the advertisers by buying ads. If the publishers are ahead on this thing at all, it's probably not yet to double digits.
Sounds like you agree with Samuel Johnson that "None but a blockhead ever wrote but for money," and thus you shouldn't write for the Upside.
Charamba, Douro 2008
Horse Heaven Hills, Cabernet 2010
Lorelle, Horse Heaven Hills Pinot Grigio 2011
Avignonesi, Montepulciano 2004
Lorelle, Willamette Valley Pinot Noir 2011
Villa Antinori, Toscana 2007
Mercedes Eguren, Cabernet Sauvignon 2009
Lorelle, Columbia Valley Cabernet 2011
Purple Moon, Merlot 2011
Purple Moon, Chardonnnay 2011
Abacela, Vintner's Blend No. 12
Opula Red Blend 2010
Liberte, Pinot Noir 2010
Chateau Ste. Michelle, Indian Wells Red Blend 2010
Woodbridge, Chardonnay 2011
King Estate, Pinot Noir 2011
Famille Perrin, Cotes du Rhone Villages 2010
Columbia Crest, Les Chevaux Red 2010
14 Hands, Hot to Trot White Blend
Familia Bianchi, Malbec 2009
Terrapin Cellars, Pinot Gris 2011
Columbia Crest, Walter Clore Private Reserve 2009
Campo Viejo, Rioja, Termpranillo 2010
Ravenswood, Cabernet Sauvignon 2009
Quinta das Amoras, Vinho Tinto 2010
Waterbrook, Reserve Merlot 2009
Lorelle, Horse Heaven Hills, Pinot Grigio 2011
Tarantas, Rose
Chateau Lajarre, Bordeaux 2009
La Vielle Ferme, Rose 2011
Benvolio, Pinot Grigio 2011
Nobilo Icon, Pinot Noir 2009
Lello, Douro Tinto 2009
Quinson Fils, Cotes de Provence Rose 2011
Anindor, Pinot Gris 2010
Buenas Ondas, Syrah Rose 2010
Les Fiefs d'Anglars, Malbec 2009
14 Hands, Pinot Gris 2011
Conundrum 2012
Condes de Albarei, Albariño 2011
Columbia Crest, Walter Clore Private Reserve 2007
Penelope Sanchez, Garnacha Syrah 2010
Canoe Ridge, Merlot 2007
Atalaya do Mar, Godello 2010
Vega Montan, Mencia
Benvolio, Pinot Grigio
Nobilo Icon, Pinot Noir, Marlborough 2009
Portuga, Rose 2011
Revelation, Chardonnay, Pays d'Oc 2010
Beaulieu, Cabernet, Rutherford 2005
Monte Alto, Tinto Reserva 2005
Chateau Ste. Michelle, Cabernet, Indian Wells 2009
Espiral, Vinho Rose
Vin-Koru, Pinot Gris 2011
14 Hands, Hot to Trot Red 2009
Rodney Strong, Cabernet, Sonoma 2009
Abacela, Vintner's Blend #11
Portuga, White 2010
La Bourgeoisie, Red 2009
Januik, Red 2009
Three Rivers, River's Red 2008
Kirkland, Alexander Valley Merlot 2008
Muga, Rioja Rose 2010
Quinta das Amoras, Vinho Tinto 2009
Mauro Molino, Barbera d'Alba 2009
Garda Chiaretto Rose
Columbia Crest, Two Vines Vineyard 10 White
Chateau Ste. Michelle, Pinot Gris, Columbia Valley 2009
L'Hortus, Rose de Saignee 2010
Maculan, Pino & Toi 2008
McKinley Springs, Bombing Range Red 2008
Trader Joe's Pinot Gris 2009
Montes Alpha, Cabernet 2007
Gran Sasso, Sangiovese, Terre di Chieti 2009
Garda, Classico Chiaretto Rose
Beaulieu, Cabernet, Rutherford 1999
Picos del Montgo, Tempranillo 2008
Chateau de Montmirail, Vacqueyras 2008
La Granja 360, Syrah 2009
Montgras, Carmenere Reserva 2009
Lange, Pinot Gris 2009
Columbia Crest, Horse Heaven Hills Cabernet 2008
Kirkland, Pinot Grigio 2010
Trader Joe's Coastal Syrah 2009
Columbia Crest, Horse Heaven Hills Merlot 2008
Trader Joe's Coastal Chardonnay 2009
Vieux Papes Red
Domaine de l'Aujardiere, Chardonnay 2009
Santa Rita, Cabernet, Medalla Real 2007
Penfold's, Koonunga Hill Shiraz Cabernet 2008
Guild, Red, Lot #02 2008
Dievole, Dievolino Sangiovese 2008
Laforet, Burgogne Chardonnay 2009
Columbia Winery, Merlot 2007
Bonterra, Cabernet 2008
Elk Cove, Pinot Gris 2009
Maquis Lien 2006
Scott Paul, Pinot Noir, Le Paulee 2007
The Occasional Book
Hope Larson - A Wrinkle in Time, the Graphic Novel
Rudyard Kipling - Kim
Peter Ames Carlin - Bruce
Fran Cannon Slayton - When the Whistle Blows
Neil Young - Waging Heavy Peace
Mark Bego - Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul (2012 ed.)
Jenny Lawson - Let's Pretend This Never Happened
J.D. Salinger - Franny and Zooey
Charles Dickens - A Christmas Carol
Timothy Egan - The Big Burn
Deborah Eisenberg - Transactions in a Foreign Currency
Kurt Vonnegut Jr. - Slaughterhouse Five
Kathryn Lance - Pandora's Genes
Cheryl Strayed - Wild
Fyodor Dostoyevsky - The Brothers Karamazov
Jack London - The House of Pride, and Other Tales of Hawaii
Jack Walker - The Extraordinary Rendition of Vincent Dellamaria
Colum McCann - Let the Great World Spin
Niccolò Machiavelli - The Prince
Harper Lee - To Kill a Mockingbird
Emma McLaughlin & Nicola Kraus - The Nanny Diaries
Brian Selznick - The Invention of Hugo Cabret
Sharon Creech - Walk Two Moons
Keith Richards - Life
F. Sionil Jose - Dusk
Natalie Babbitt - Tuck Everlasting
Justin Halpern - S#*t My Dad Says
Mark Herrmann - The Curmudgeon's Guide to Practicing Law
Barry Glassner - The Gospel of Food
Phil Stanford - The Peyton-Allan Files
Jesse Katz - The Opposite Field
Evelyn Waugh - Brideshead Revisited
J.K. Rowling - Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
David Sedaris - Holidays on Ice
Donald Miller - A Million Miles in a Thousand Years
Mitch Albom - Have a Little Faith
C.S. Lewis - The Magician's Nephew
F. Scott Fitzgerald - The Great Gatsby
William Shakespeare - A Midsummer Night's Dream
Ivan Doig - Bucking the Sun
Penda Diakité - I Lost My Tooth in Africa
Grace Lin - The Year of the Rat
Oscar Hijuelos - Mr. Ives' Christmas
Madeline L'Engle - A Wrinkle in Time
Steven Hart - The Last Three Miles
David Sedaris - Me Talk Pretty One Day
Karen Armstrong - The Spiral Staircase
Charles Larson - The Portland Murders
Adrian Wojnarowski - The Miracle of St. Anthony
William H. Colby - Long Goodbye
Steven D. Stark - Meet the Beatles
Phil Stanford - Portland Confidential
Rick Moody - Garden State
Jonathan Schwartz - All in Good Time
David Sedaris - Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim
Anthony Holden - Big Deal
Robert J. Spitzer - The Spirit of Leadership
James McManus - Positively Fifth Street
Jeff Noon - Vurt
Road Work
Miles run year to date: 29
At this date last year: 66
Total run in 2012: 129
In 2011: 113
In 2010: 125
In 2009: 67
In 2008: 28
In 2007: 113
In 2006: 100
In 2005: 149
In 2004: 204
In 2003: 269
Comments (8)
Not quite so nice to their writers, though. They don't pay them.
Posted by Carol Wells | November 23, 2009 9:06 AM
Are they chained to their computers? If not, I suspect the writer can go elsewhere if this volunteer effort is not to their liking.
Posted by mp97303 | November 23, 2009 10:00 AM
Of course they can, but beginning writers are vulnerable: they desperately need experience and clippings, so they'll work for free if they have to. It's only fair to pay them a little something, since it is difficult work. (Especially if you are claiming to be all about niceness.)
Posted by Carol Wells | November 23, 2009 10:49 AM
This is like the arguments around performing artists and Equity, which has determined that it's better that there be no shows and no acting gigs than it is to have people work below scale or for free because they love it. Better that people never learn to express themselves at all than to have them do so without "a little something."
Where that "little something" is going to come from is never quite explained -- since the Upside is free, it would have to be from ads or the publisher's pocket.
Bloggers blog for free -- are they exploited? Or are they only being exploited if you write a post for someone _else's_ blog (or penny paper)? The Upside looks like a dead-tree blog to me...
I'm reminded of the observation about media corruption and how it's hard to say that they've been corrupted when they seem to enjoy it so much.
Maybe we just have to accept that there are whole realms of human beingness that aren't adequately described by or limited to (thank goodness!) market forces and be glad that people continually find new ways to express themselves simply for the joy of doing so. And note how much less of that joy there would be if we insisted on the "fairness" of compensation for all.
Posted by George Anonymuncule Seldes | November 23, 2009 11:39 AM
Some of the ad revenue that goes to pay the publishers should also go to pay the writers.
Take my word for it, when I started out as a professional writer working for pennies per word, the joy factor was pretty small.
Posted by carol wells | November 23, 2009 12:18 PM
Many of us in media production started out volunteering 20 hours a week in local origination cable programming along with working a regular 40 hour work week. What we didn't get in dollars then we have in careers now. Anyone remember, "Do what you love, the money will follow?" No one's getting abused here. Just smart self-investment.
Posted by PDXLifer | November 23, 2009 12:31 PM
Sounds like an internship to me. Gain some experience in your chosen field and move on to a better job.
Posted by mp97303 | November 23, 2009 12:46 PM
Look at it this way: Everyone but the writers has to pay to have their stuff published in the Upside. The publishers by printing it and the advertisers by buying ads. If the publishers are ahead on this thing at all, it's probably not yet to double digits.
Sounds like you agree with Samuel Johnson that "None but a blockhead ever wrote but for money," and thus you shouldn't write for the Upside.
Posted by George Anonymuncule Seldes | November 23, 2009 11:17 PM