Would you pay $1500 annually for the privilege of writing for RollingStone?

Introversion

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https://www.theguardian.com/media/2021/jan/23/rolling-stone-magazine-culture-council-publication

The Guardian said:
Rolling Stone magazine is offering “thought leaders” the chance to write for its website if they are willing to pay $2,000 to “shape the future of culture”.

The storied magazine, which has published journalism by writers including Hunter S Thompson, Patti Smith and Tom Wolfe, approached would-be members of its new “Culture Council” by email, telling them that they had the chance to join “an invitation-only community for innovators, influencers and tastemakers”.

Emails seen by the Guardian suggest that those who pass a vetting process – and pay a $1,500 annual fee plus $500 up front – will “have the opportunity to publish original content to the Rolling Stone website”. It suggests that doing so “allows members to position themselves as thought leaders and share their expertise”.

...

Is this a new phase of publishing? Paying writers negative dollars for their work?? :Shrug:
 

Maryn

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A violation of Yog's Law? Hell, no.

I get paid to write. Once in a while I donate something I wrote. I never pay to write. That's ridiculous.

Maryn, solid on this
 

Introversion

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I confess the first sentence of this article set my teeth to grinding with its use of “thought leaders”. I spent a purgatorial time working for A Huge Company that used that phrase totally unironically, frequently.

Introversion, side-eyeing RollingStone with high-wattage laser beams.
 

mrsmig

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So Rolling Stone's "thought leaders" - those who can "shape the future of culture" - will be limited to individuals who can afford to pay for the privilege.

What a crock.
 

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I remember when pieces like this were called advertorials and set in narrow columns and 9 pt to set them off from genuine journalism.
 

frimble3

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Beware anyone who considers themselves to be a 'thought leader', 'tastemaker' or 'influencer'. In my head they all blend into 'some kind of scam'. If they really were any of these things, they wouldn't need to buy space in Rolling Stone.

If you need someone to lead your thoughts, make your tastes, or influence your decisions, you should probably avoid the Internet.

I prefer to remember 'Rolling Stone' fondly, from the song, and Steven King's 'Firestarter'. Alas, those days are long ago.
 

neandermagnon

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Aside from the extreme scamminess of the proposal, it's not going to lead to good quality writing. The people who are both wealthy and desperate enough to cough up will be selected, as opposed to the best writers being selected based on their writing ability.

Also, it comes across as quite desperate from the magazine's point of view... like they can't get enough money through magazine sales or advertising revenue to generate income so they're doing this instead? Sounds like a death knell to me...
 

Stytch

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Ugh. One of the local "culture" tabloids where I am does this, but they're up front about it being an ad sale. For X dollars, you get an ad and column space. People take them up on it. The tab is largely garbage, but it's the only "culture" weekly like it, so out works.
 

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https://www.theguardian.com/media/2021/jan/23/rolling-stone-magazine-culture-council-publication



Is this a new phase of publishing? Paying writers negative dollars for their work?? :Shrug:

Innovators, influencers and tastemakers, eh?

This sounds an awfully lot like "paid content," or advertising masquerading as articles. We already see tons of this stuff online, at the bottom of online publications (below the real articles). Instead of taking these "articles" from anyone who claims to know the vegetable leading gut doctors say you should never eat (yet never actually leads to an article about dangerous vegetables), they're being more targeted by "inviting" people who have upscale products, services, or cultural influences that cater to the kinds of people who read Rolling Stone so they can create clickbait that has a more highbrow feel to it.
 

frimble3

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They probably are desperate - or can see desperation from their front door. All print magazines and papers are. Their audience is going on-line, and whining about paying for content. Money's got to come from somewhere.:Shrug:

On the other hand, $100 a year for a 20-writer group would give everyone half-a-column each, for ads, or audience-building. Or, possibly more usefully, columns about books and reading in general - lists of suggestions, print vs. e-reader, or, indeed, the differences between self-publishing, trade publishing, hybrid and vanity. Not ads, just a general information.
For that matter, $200 a year for 10 writers would get you a column each, plus a couple of special issues, maybe 'Beach Reads' and 'Holiday Special'
This could be an opportunity to do good and not dodgy.
 

SapereAude

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Was that in their April 1 issue?

Pay to write? As someone said about something else, "Not just 'No' but 'Hell, no!' " They make money selling magazines. People pay money for the content, so Rolling Stone should pay the creators of the content.

I feel the same about much of what's backwards in life today. Such as, why should I pay $9.95 (or $19.95) for a Ford or Dodge or International Harvester baseball cap? The caps are advertising -- if the companies want me to advertise their products, at the very least they should give me that hat, and I think they should also pay me a stipend to wear it.
 

SapereAude

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https://www.theguardian.com/media/2021/jan/23/rolling-stone-magazine-culture-council-publication



Is this a new phase of publishing? Paying writers negative dollars for their work?? :Shrug:

It strikes me as being like when a large company sees business falling off and they have a lot of unused space in the corporate headquarters building. They're not ready to sell the building, so they rent out the unused offices to smaller businesses and individuals who need office space.