“No man but a blockhead ever wrote, except for money,” declared Dr Johnson.
Boswell did not like the maxim and explained it away as an example of Johnson’s lazy nature. “Numerous instances to refute this will occur to all who are versed in the history of
literature,” he puffed.
If they were numerous in the 18th century, they are legion now. Take the contributors to the Huffington Post. They sided with Boswell, as they blogged away. The thought of payment never entered their pure minds. I wonder how they felt today when they heard that Arianne Huffington had taken the website, the fruit of their unpaid labour, and sold it for $315 million. Light-headed? Dunder-headed? Bone-headed?
People write for all kinds of reasons, and there are many good and interesting bloggers, whom no editor will ever pay but are worth reading nevertheless. But let’s not be too democratic about this. Show me a writer who does not worry about money and I will show you a dilettante with a day job. As a rule of thumb, anyone with anything worth saying should always demand some compensation, however small, so that they have the financial means to devote the necessary time and energy to their work. If they’re good enough, they will find an income of sorts eventually. If not, they won’t.
Clearly many talented people, who deserved to be paid, and whom she could afford to pay, wrote for Huffington. Why they let her milk them is a mystery until you realise that nearly all writers are insecure at some time in their careers and worry in their hearts if they’re up to the job. She has become a very rich woman by exploiting their insecurity and offering them “visibility” instead of payment. They must know now that they have been taken for fools. The site’s rather leftish stance may have convinced them that they were fighting “the man,” while all the time they were being ripped off by “the woman”. If they have any self-respect left, they should resolve never to contribute to the Huffington Post again.
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