Opinion: How Valuable is Exposure?

Not as valuable as actually getting paid.

Penny for your thoughtsPhoto byCartoon by Lambert-King

Depending on the type of writing you do you may have someone offer to give you exposure for your work. There may be occasions when that could benefit you, but generally speaking I think the expression that comes to mind is, “Run Forrest, Run!”. Or maybe, “Danger Will Robinson, Danger!” So what’s the danger? You probably won’t see anything for your work. If you’re writing for fun, that’s okay. If your thinking of writing as a career, it likely won’t be much of a boost. At least that’s been my experience.

I wrote quite a few comedy bits for a radio station in Oklahoma City and they would give me an on air plug. As I recall, I got zero work as a result of those plugs.

Another offer I had involved doing some work for someone who was a connection on Linkedin. He explained how being seen being involved with his projects would encourage other clients to offer me paying gigs. I wondered why those other guys would think my work was worth paying for when he didn’t.

I write a lot of comedy and was fortunate in that back when I was starting to dabble in comedy writing there was a couple of publications that would let you submit material and if your material was considered the best, they bought it. It wasn’t a matter of being up voted by your peers, or influenced by social media, it was a matter of if editors thought the material was funny.

The market the publications went out to were radio stations, comedians and public speakers. The pay was minimal, but it was pay and helped build a resume. It was also a confidence builder because there was a feeling that the sale was merit based.

When you are starting out as a writer, regardless of what type of writer, you want to see your work in print, hear in on TV or hear it on the radio. If you get paid for your work, it makes you feel like your a professional. I’ve sold hundreds of jokes and other content over the years, but I still remember the first sales I made.

The first jokes I ever sold were a couple of one liners. The first was: I’m not a born loser, I had to work at it. The second was: I saw an unusual Elvis impersonator the other night. He came out on stage, laid down and played dead. Hey, I didn’t say they were my best, but they were my first.

One measure of the quality of your work is how well it’s received on social media, but another metric is ,“Will somebody pay for it? Personally, that second metric is more important to me.

As for exposure, I remember what exposure did for Anthony Weiner.