In a nutshell, for profit sites like the Huffington Post want contributors to share content for free with the promise of increased exposure which will generate riches in the future. Ritholtz crunched the numbers and found this to be a load of crap. In reality, you are working for free and increasing the site's bottom line. Ritholtz calls this The Big Dangle.
Designers and Illustrators fall for The Big Dangle all the time. Client has insufficient budget but promises more work in the future. The other pitch is no money but increased exposure. If this is the pitch from a potential client to my rep, the answer is usually no.
This is not to say we won't do a project for a charitable cause or a special situation. I'm talking about a client asking for a project intended to increase his bottom line. There has been the rare situation where our instincts told us it was worth the gamble. We've been lucky and those rare cases paid off.
My agent and I are no Charlie Brown.
The football trick is not going to work.
1 comments:
As a professional photographer, I get this request often. And you're right, it rarely-- if ever pays off.
Some of the people doing the asking should know better, too.
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