Sinatra hates Ellison's shoes, but the Chairman's been a little under the weather.

Offtopic holiday sex joke.

Very very true.

Had several situations here in Israel where I thought I was doing pro-bono PR work, and found out I was basically replacing a for-pay copywriter.

Similar situation with graphic artists - the market is so saturated that people undercut each other and sell themselves short.

This guy just sounds like a whiny little bitch. I don't see what he's complaining about. They have the right to ask him to give away his work; and he has the right to say no.

Apparently there are so many writers out there that it's easy for big media companies to get writers to give away their products for free. If he doesn't like the way he's being treated it he's free to not deal with those companies, or; change professions.

So what's the problem?

Perhaps you, Mike Hunter, aren't often asked to work for free.

I'm frequently amazed by people who write me for advice but say "Don't use this in your column."

The thing is, I choose to give free advice, and try to answer every letter I get (at least by e-mail -- and if you're 10 and mail me a letter, I'll mail you one back). But, if you, from the start, are coming from the point that I'm going to work for you with no possible benefit for me, I'll tell you you'll have to put money in my PayPal for me to answer your question.

It really is amazing. I sometimes ask those people if they work for free, and if so, would they be at my house at 4 with a dropcloth to paint my living room?

Also, Harlan Ellison isn't just any old "schmuck with an Underwood."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harlan_Ellison

And it's rude to ask people to work for free.

I'm pretty sure that the character James Ellison in the TV show Terminator the Sarah Connor Chronicles was named after Harlan Ellison.

Believe me computer geeks and professionals definitely know this problem.

"But it is such a simple little problem. It will only take you five minutes!" 2 days later after spending hours on it, they asked perturbed if you are finished yet they need to check their email or whatever. Yet you are to be satisfied with a drink and couple of cookies.

Or if you do ask for money. Let's say your rates are a bit expensive and you are asked to solve a problem. Which you do and it is done and quickly. You get the classic line "Was that it?". They then feel reluctant to pay for an hour of work for a five min job,

Actually even as an ESL teacher we get the same crap.

Believe me computer geeks and professionals definitely know this problem.

I've been there -- done that. That is why there are very few freelance consultants; especially now days. Good geeks get a full time position in a few days or weeks. Bad geeks get a few months off. Really bad geeks find another profession. ;-)

I think it is true of many, maybe most, jobs. A friend who is a bartender often gets asked to bartend at peoples parties for free. My friend who is a cook at a restaurant gets asked to cook for parties and what not. My brother got asked to work on people's cars for free -- or at least a very discounted rate when he was a mechanic.

Mr. Ellison does seem especially cranky, but I see his point. I've also been on the receiving end of requests for my services for little or no money, and I can appreciate how insulting it is for someone to suggest that your time and talent isn't worth money. It happens a lot with freelancers and people who own their own business.

At the same time, I think his beef with young writers who don't hold out for more (or any) money is a different story. There are a lot of hungry newcomers in his field who are dying to catch a break. I think it's safe to assume that there's a lot more clutter to cut through now than when he was starting out. An established writer such as Harlan Ellison can afford to take a stand. The struggling talent who is trying to build a career will do whatever it takes to get started. I'm not saying one shouldn't put a value on their time and talent. But clearly Harlan Ellison isn't going to pay the rent of that unknown writer who lost out on a job because he held out for more money.

Any hungry newcomer (writer, composer, etc) who does work for free isn't getting a break; they're getting exploited. They're forever known at the person to whom a company can turn and receive work for free and on-notice when the usual for-hire professional aren't available, or when this quarter's budgeted allowance has nearly expired.

The freebie-providing-artist is not respected within the organizations who prey on them - they're usually regarded with contempt as desperate, pushover artists who provide less-than-best work[1] rather than as serious, businesslike professionals.

Poll various people who've fallen for the work-for-free trap and have subsequently started asking for pay; there is a high probability that you'll find that their phonecalls and emails were never again returned. Once you're known as a freebie, you're known as a freebie. And you're probably known as someone whose work wasn't up to standard anyway.

Holding out for some money isn't bad for your career; it is essential. By all means, do whatever it takes to get started! But working for free isn't getting started. It isn't "exposure", or "great for your career". It's pulling someone else's butt out of the fire when they blew their budget or screwed up their scheduling of their current for-hire roster.

Holding out for pay isn't the same as holding out for MORE pay. The latter implies that there was some pay involved in the first place!

It also is not, and never will be, business. When no money exchanges hands for a good or a service, it isn't business, by definition.

Finally, if you're work is good, eventually you will get paid for it. Really! And when you're starting out, do whatever it takes to get your work out there and get paid for it! Find some competitive advantage you can provide that makes you more attractive a hire than your competitors, and *get paid*.

[1] the price of a good or service weighs heavily on its perceived quality. E.g., "It's free? What's wrong with it?"

ugh.. your [work is good], not you're - my apologies for the typo

Ellison raises good points, but I don't think there's anything wrong in asking. It sounds like the woman who approached Ellison had gotten everything else she needed for free, so maybe it works 9 times out of 10 and Ellison just happened to be the 10th. Asking someone if you can reproduce their work without payment is a little different then asking a gas station for free gas or Amy for free advice. If the gas station gives you gas for free, they've lost the revenue from that gas. If Amy gives advice for free, she's lost the time used to formulate the advice. But if Ellison had allowed his essay to be used for free, he wouldn't have lost revenue-because they weren't intending to pay for it anyway-and he wouldn't have lost any additional time. Of course he's still well within his rights to refuse, but I'm sure there are plenty of people out there who don't need the money, do want the publicity, or just don't care.

Shannon wrote "he wouldn't have lost revenue-because they weren't intending to pay for it anyway".

Intending to *not* pay is the same thing as telling Ellison his work is worthless. He doesn't believe that.

Eh, I still say it doesn't hurt to ask. I remember in high school for student council we asked local business owners to donate gift certificates, vouchers, etc for some fundraiser. They *could* have thrown a shitfit about how we didn't value their establishments, but no one did. And probably 25% did donate, so the outreach was well worth it.

There's probably also a difference between soliciting the advice or using the work of a professional versus an amateur. If Amy for some reason asked to quote an essay of mine in her upcoming book I'd be ecstatic and wouldn't dream of expecting to be paid-being published would be cool enough. Ditto if someone solicited my legal/medical/relationship advice--I'd just be flattered that they wanted my opinion. But I can see where if that was your livelihood you would get sick pretty fast of people asking for your expertise for free.