Creativity Killers: Local Folk Who Frustrate Free-Lancers

I have really been enjoying being a correspondent for a US magazine. They want more than the ‘vague, slanted’  media take on our region, even if it hurts. Their professionalism, compared to some local publishers, surprises me. I am also happy to be writing for two local magazines now, who are absolutely on par in terms of integrity, creativity-cultivation, and on-time payment.

My friend with the awful mother has her own free-lance nightmare, which reminded me of a post I drafted awhile back. She is obviously coming out of a bad time personally, but none of the families she tutors knows that. She does her job of helping kids and tawjihi-takers study and memorize what they need to know. She comes home from work hoarse after hours of effort, she encourages these kids and empowers them to do more than memorize.

She charges 15JD an hour. A good price, especially for tawjihi students the week of the big test. One family, who lives quote well and who spend the weekends in Aqaba at their second home, were her sole employers for the week. Their daughter was taking the test for the 2nd time, her future depended on it. After the first day, the mother said:  “We will pay you the full amount at the end of the week”. Friend usually takes pay daily, but agreed, as long as she could get it by the 25th to be ready to pay her rent. No problem, said the mother. Except that they argued about the price, have never paid, don’t answer her calls, and took off to Aqaba.

She has no money for rent or food. Nothing. She will be evicted, back to homelessness, because her new landlord is a jerk too. While they party away, celebrating their daughter’s confidence in high marks to come. It has taken a toll on her energetic, creative spirit.

It amazes me how the wealthy kill off incentive and creativity in the working class to save a few dinar. I don’t depend on my income to eat or pay rent, but how about Jordanians who do?

Blogger Ehab gives a list of clients to avoid in his photography business

I blogged about a now-defunct magazine who chose not to pay their writers

The subject of my old draft on free-lance frustrations:

I had been very excited to begin contributing to a well-known mag here, through a blogging connection, the temporary acting editor was great. I would be paid the going rate for a feature. Cool, I thought. That worked for the first three submissions, then when receiving payment for the fourth, the envelope contained half of what I had been paid.

I called the new editor, who had become a new fav,  and asked what the deal was. She cleared her throat, and said something like “He really should have told you, this isn’t right”. No one from on high chose to tell me my rate had been dropped to half before I submitted another piece.

Assuming there was some mistake, I called the power-that-be.

No mistake: I was told I should be happy they honored their initial commitment for the first articles (hhmm, honoring commitments is a base-line minimum of financial integrity in my book, not a special bonus), should be delighted at my new rate, as they start some new writers start at 25JD.

25JD for a 1,500 word feature that requires interviews, research and fine-tooth fact-check? Hey, I know I am raw writer, and a piece of work for an editor, but seriously, that was an insult.

I told him had I known he had changed the rate, I never would have submitted it for 50JD, my time is worth more than that. I could have been working on a current article I am getting paid $1,000 for. I told him that even Luxury pays 40JD for a yahoo cut-n-paste about make-up, he pays his car-detailer more than that, and then charges 100x that for the advertising across the page? I’m done with you, thanks.

Yea, almost forgot to mention, this illustrious publication has never paid me within 60 days of print, either.

Wow, that is a real incentive for new writers to get out there and produce quality content.

Hey, she’s just a wasta-less foreign free-lancer, throw her a bone, yeh? Free-lancers, ya know, they are dying for work, she’s expendable, plenty of fish in the journalist sea, sa7?

I’d rather write for 7iber for free than suffer the humiliation of having to follow-up for weeks to get paid peanuts. Somehow the privilege of seeing my work in a premiere magazine should be worth it? No. 7iber even says ‘thank you’.

Just another creativity-killer in Jordan.

How in the world will the journalistic standard ever be raised if writers have to fight for their rights with their publishers too?

How in the world will this region ever progress if the rich just keep feeding off the poor, deceive and delay and use their positions of power to suppress the middle class?