Globex Corporation Newsletter

People love free stuff, and who can blame them. If you're able to acquire goods and services without paying for them, well, hell, that's a pretty good deal. Of course there's the other side of it, the person providing the goods and services. They don't make out quite as well on the deal. Oh, some people will give their goods or services away in a attempt to receive further business down the road. That's good business, it's a gamble, but when it works it can be really great for business.

Then there's the suckers who just give it away because they don't know any better. In addition to writing blogs, I tried my hand at fiction a while back. I posted anonymously at a website. The reviews were pretty good, I managed not to piss too many people off. Basically, I trotted my work out against that of others and I was pleased with the results. Could I make a living as a writer? I don't know, I was comparing my work to other amateurs, but mine was above average. A few weeks ago I was contacted by a Canadian publication about publishing some of my work. I wouldn't receive any payment, but I would be published. I had to agree, of course, which I did. No payment, but that wasn't the point. I did it, that was the fun thing. Does it mean anything? No, not a damn thing.

Most of the readers of this blog know about my political "blogtoons" and about BOJ News Service. The "blogtoons" started as I posted on a political blog run by the local newspaper. One of the moderator liked my stuff and posted them quite often, using them to start political discussions. Why did I do this? The only reason was because I thought it was fun. Then some graphics positions came open at the newspaper. I thought I'd apply, maybe doing graphics for a career would be a hoot. They were happy enough to use my stuff for free, I figured maybe they might want to pay me for some of my skill. If I had gotten an interview, a letter saying I wasn't qualified, fuck, even acknowledgement of my application, I'd have been happy. Nothing, not a God damn thing. I applied more than once, always with the same result. After a particularly tough week I decided to quit it. I let the moderator who I sent my graphics to know my reasoning. To be fair he didn't ask me not to quit, he even offered to give me help, to allow me to drop his name. I was grateful for that (I still am though it still hasn't done any good) and began to rethink giving it up. He also told me that there had been some discussions about using my graphics in the "dead tree" edition of the paper on a freelance basis. It wouldn't pay much, but it would be good exposure. So I started doing stuff for the political blog again. Sufice it to say that I'm not doing any freelance work for the paper. They get my shit for free, so why should they pay.

So the other blog started after that. I'm really pleased that a lot of people took the time to look, that they seemed to like what they saw. I particulaly thank the political bloggers who found my stuff amusing, who linked my blog to theirs. They generated most of the traffic, the 1000+ hits in the last 3 days. So 2000 people took the time to look at BOJ News Service over the last month. What does it mean? Nothing. I do it because I think it's fun, but nobody takes it seriously. Nobody realizes the skill it takes to do it. Think those skills would translate to the advertising or graphics fields? Me to. Apparently nobody in the advertising or graphics fields seems to think so.

So I'll never be a writer or a graphic artist. Big deal those were never dreams of mine, just things I thought I could do, things other people thought I could do. Things I give away for free. I give music away for free too. I know I can't do that for a career, I do it purely for the joy of it. I play with a professional musician from time to time. He gets paid, I don't. So, in a case like that, well hell, I just don't take it very seriously. I'm getting paid the same whether I'm flawless or a fuck-up, ziltch. But I gave it away for too long, pro musician copped some attitude with me the other day about me not getting something. Look, I play to the best of my ability, if it's not good enough, well, find someone else to play for free. I appreciate the opportunity, but you get what you pay for.

I know I sound like a whiny bitch. "If you love these things that should be enough," I hear you saying. The truth is you're right, I engage in these activities because I love them. At some point, though, it should count for something. Self satisfaction is fine, but I'm looking for a career.

BOJ