Issue of Pay for Bloggers Bigger Than Just Arianna’s Windfall

From another perspective, a nation that overfloweth with writers is a happy problem. It means that many more people are not only participating in the national dialogue but are also realizing their creative potential. Sure, they’re generated by the new outlets that the web provides us. But, equally to the point, they’re  a product of word processing technology such as Microsoft Word, which represents an exponential advance in ergonomics over the typewriter. (I know the latter was a creative boon to many. But trying to make corrections and revisions on them probably stopped as many aspiring writers in their tracks as typing first drafts enabled others.)

Of course, with word processing technology, as with music-making technology, the risk is run that creators will soon outnumber consumers. In fact, I experienced that sense of seldom being read with fiction, on which I worked first as a writer. When I migrated from fiction to political analysis and commentary, though, I felt like I was welcomed into a community and, while under-read, at least read to some extent.

Nevertheless, we still deserve to be paid. Though it’s not one that addresses the eternal capital v. labor dialectic, especially since we’re obviously locked out by the likes of the Huffington Post, a solution may exist. I’ve seen some plans for payment by readers, but, traffic-incentive based, they’re so complicated that they require a learning curve. As an editor, who’s witness to how few of Ms. Word’s capabilities — not even page numbers! — most writers use, not to mention disdaining concern for traffic builders like SEO-friendly heads, I’m fairly sure that neither many writers nor readers will take the time to familiarize themselves with such a payment system.

How about this instead? A reader deposits $10 in a PayPal-like account and then, via a widget on various sites, instead of just Facebook-”liking” articles or clicking on the links to engage in the time-consuming process of promoting them to other social networks, he or she clicks on a dime icon and sends it into a fund for that writer. That’s 100 dimes to drop for each other. One thousand dimes equals $100 (presumably minus a small administrative fee) for the writer. Simple or what?

In the end, though, it must be said that it’s to Huffington Post’s shame that it never set aside — never mind money — even staff resources to devise a model for attracting funds for contributors.

First posted at Scholars & Rogues.

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