(ThyBlackMan.com) Writing is a profession. Publications cannot exist without writers creating content. Doing this manner of work takes hours of research, staying current on local, national and international event, and of course piecing the articles together. It’s bad enough that many freelance writers don’t get paid what they are worth. Several begin volunteering for a publication before they begin getting paid for their work. The writers must build a name for themselves from the ground up based on countless articles. When a writer believes in a publication that is smaller many of us are willing to work for less. However, there are publications that are household names with machines behind them, and there is absolutely no excuse for them to shaft their writers by not paying.
EBONY MAGAZINE ought to be ashamed of themselves as they have allowed many of their writers to go unpaid. Twitter exploded when a writer shared their story of not being paid by Ebony Magazine for their work. This led to many freelance writers comin
g out to share their experiences of not being paid by the magazine. The hashtag #EbonyOwes began to flood twitter as writers begin to speak on being owed thousands of dollars; some stated the grievances went back as far as 2013.
Ebony is said to owe at least 20,000.00 in unpaid wages to writers. When I saw this I was totally disappointed in Ebony. It didn’t matter that it was no longer black owned; the bottom line is the treatment of these writers is unacceptable. Ebony has removed its original tweet response, but it showed just how much Ebony didn’t care about their writers…nor the treatment of the writers they owe.
“Yea well, your little twitter rant isn’t going to change the way the media business is run. Y’all acting like its 100’s of people. Its 10.”
What Ebony doesn’t realize is it doesn’t matter where its 100’s of writers, or one…they are without integrity because they haven’t paid what they owed. What’s heartbreaking, given Ebony’s origin, is there are plenty of black writers that have been fighting to get paid for articles that have been published, but Ebony acted like it was deaf until its white writers also complained about non-payment. It’s an ugly situation on many fronts. When writers began to tweet about how much they were owed of course the question began to arise “Who would pay that much for an article?”
Let me explain something…first of all regardless of the price if Ebony agreed to it they need to pay it. Secondly, writing is work. Unfortunately, some of the people that chose to comment are not writers. There are publishers out there that have never written an article outside of college. The problem is there is a misconception that freelance writing is a hobby for many, and it’s not work at all. This is not truth. There are many freelance writers that feed their family, and pay their bills, off what they write. It time consuming, and can be research intensive. When you pick up your favorite magazine, newspaper or log in to your favorite site we are the ones behind the content. The work warrants respect.
Writers that have been denied pay by Ebony are looking to sue for lost wages, and they should. No one deserves to have their work stolen, and used…that’s what has happened to these writers. Ebony STOLE…bottom-line. Writers, of all genres, are artist and its heartbreaking to have to fight to get paid when you may have thought your breakthrough had arrived. So many writers want to see their work in mainstream publications…they want to be able to put that on their resume, some aspire to become staff writers, so this is devastating for those involved. The unfortunate truth is Ebony may not be alone in their antics. However, to those writers affected, and all those in the writing community, don’t let anyone steal your passion for writing. Please don’t put your pen down and, quit writing based on this situation. Know that you aren’t alone, and many writers are standing with you. Ebony do what’s right, and f PAY your WRITERS.
Staff Writer; Christian Starr
May connect with this sister over at Facebook; https://www.facebook.com/christian.pierre.9809 and also Twitter; http://twitter.com/MrzZeta.