dear companies/brands that try to undermine bloggers and take advantage of them: stop it.

if you seek us out, don’t get pissy when we won’t do something for free. free doesn’t pay my bills. it’s so frustrating to hear so many bloggers talk about how they did this partnership for free or how this brand had a shit fit when sent a blogger’s fees. (FYI bloggers - working for free and agreeing to stuff like that only makes it harder for OTHER bloggers to make a living) i’m not emailing you asking you to sponsor my blog. i’m not hounding your PR to give me opportunities. you wouldn’t get a free advert in a magazine would you? no. and stop trying to get every single blogger to work for you for a fraction of their going rate. asking for my rates and agreeing to them then saying “how about half” is not acceptable. it’s rude. blogging may not bring the street cred that a lot of titles do, but it’s still work. from this point on i will not work for free at all, EVER. END RANT. #firstworldproblems