Let Writers Know When You Appreciate Their Work

Hello, everyone! Thank you for carving out a piece of your busy day to investigate and discuss the state of music journalism with us. We have been meaning to run the following piece for a few weeks, but for whatever reason we woke up today knowing the time had come to finally push it live. It’s a bit of a personal piece, but there is a message everyone can learn from as well.

This blog exists to promote the future of the entertainment industry, and to do that we need input from people like you and your entertainment-loving friends. If you have any questions about the content in this article, or if you have an artist you would like to see featured on this blog, please contact james@haulix.com. We can also be found on Twitter and Facebook.

The funny thing about making a career in music journalism is that you have as many personal struggles to overcome as you those facing the industry as a whole. You have to get over your own ego, find a way to retain some semblance of self-confidence in your work even when the world doesn’t seem to agree, and nail down the same basic grammar concepts that have tripped you up since high school all while worry about whether or not there will even been room in the entertainment business for you to make your mark and support yourself. Job growth has been shrinking while the number of blogs, zines, and similar publications has grown profoundly, and it’s not great secret that trend shows no signs of changing anytime soon. All this weighs on writers at every level, from those Judy starting out with a blog or Tumblr all their own, to those crossing their fingers the next morning editorial meeting at their publication doesn’t come with a fresh round of layoffs. Even those that seem to be riding high on a string of popular articles and a booming social media following are typically stressed over increasing their monthly income and more often than not have taken up a side gig offering PR and/or marketing services to artists on the rise.

I don’t mean to take the wind out of anyone’s sails or turn a truly passionate person away from their pursuit of a career in music writing, but it would be wrong of me to not make light of the stress, hard times, uncertainty, and other not so pleasant things that often come with this line of work. There are days it all presses on you to the point it’s impossible to create, and other times it may not bother you at all. Your friends in writing will go through this as well, though how each experiences this stress and tries to cope will vary from person to person. Some eventually decide they have had enough and move on to other careers, but others find the persistent risk of complete failure too enticing to resist. The chance things could all fall apart if their creativity one day gives out actually drives them to work harder, which is both insane and somehow incredibly admirable. They’re willing to put it all on the line for their dreams, regardless of the outcome.

The reason I bring all this up is because we live in an age where there are far too many people who wake every day with the drive and talent needed to be a professional writer, but none of the external support needed to make their dream a reality. Talent will get you far in this business, and a willingness to bend your ethics may get you even further, but without a support system even the best writers will eventually fold under pressure. And trust me, everyone feels the pressure. It’s present in every hour of every day, whether it be brought on by a rush to grab the latest headlines as fast as possible or a desire to finish your latest feature before the subject falls out of Twitter’s trending topics. It’s present in the up to the minute reporting available from Google Analytics, as well as the presence of every new music site that appears online, and you should already be well aware of the fact it’s found in the social media follower count of each writer and the publication(s) they contribute to. The pressure for success, let alone continued improvement in a situation where the odds are stacked against you, is enough to drive even the most brilliant minds to their breaking point. There is very little anyone can do to make lighten the weight of all these matters, but you can be a beacon of hope for writer’s that gives them the strength needed to forge ahead.

You may think writers and content creators receive an outpouring of support from people who read their work because they have a large Twitter following or because they always sound cheerful on a podcast, but in fact that is rarely the case. The vast majority of writers working today, especially those trying to make their way through the often impossible to overcome world of unpaid labor, rarely receive messages of support from people they do not know. In fact, even the people they do know only support their efforts in passing. After all, they have their own dreams and goals to be concerned with, which is perfectly understandable. You have goals as well, I’m sure, but you also spend time browsing music news, reading reviews, listening to podcasts, and sharing all the media you only know exists because a music site brought it to your attention. The only reason you’re able to do all that without putting a large amount of time and effort into research yourself is because someone – a music writer – took the time to review the latest round of press releases, select the most interesting material, craft original content to describe and accompany that material, then published their creation onto the world wide web. Those efforts may have taken anywhere from five minutes to several days or weeks to complete given the depth and quality of content being shared, and nine times out of ten it’s only one of dozens, if not hundreds of posts that individual had to create that particular month. If they’re lucky, and I mean really lucky, they may see some small compensation of this work, but more and more often the people creating the majority of content found on music sites do so without reward or payment. They create because they’re passionate about discussing music, and they hope that with enough traffic someone will give them the opportunity to do that for a living. They may also work in music already and simply be hoping to retain their position in life. Either way, they’re very much focused on trying to further chase their dream of writing professionally and they need your support to make it happen.

Everyone is busy these days, but when you find time to browse music sites and enjoy the latest entertainment headlines you need to also make time to appreciate the people responsible for making that content available to you. It’s true there are countless other blogs that will likely run a lot of the same stories found on whatever site you choose to visit, but for whatever reason you enjoy that particular site’s way of presenting information and you should let them know you feel that way. Writer’s spend their days crafting digital creations out of ideas they made up and push into the world wide web without any idea who, if anyone, would see the final result. They tell themselves people who visit their work enjoy what they find, unless of course they complain, but truth be told writers have no real way of knowing whether or not their efforts matter to anyone unless someone speaks up. A simple “Thank you” would suffice, or even a share of their content across your personal social networks. Those few key strokes and/or clicks require essentially nothing from you, yet may make a world of difference to someone sacrificing time and sanity in pursuit of music journalism.

The next time you’re reading an article online and you find yourself enjoying the words presented by the contributing author, please do me a favor and let that person know you enjoyed their work. It doesn’t have to be a profound or lengthy message, just reach out and let them know whatever it is you just read was an enjoyable piece of content. It may seem like nothing to you, but it will make their entire day. Hell, you may even make their entire week.

James Shotwell