I came here because of Colin True and The Rockfight. I sold my first story in 1983 to Explore, a Canadian publication (sorta the 'Canadian Outside') and was paid $350 for 1200 words. Last week, I published a 3000 word piece (a 'passion project, I will admit) for a mountain resort newspaper for $350. Hey, nothing's gone up in the past 40 years, eh? I dabbled for about 10 years before making the jump, and for the first 5 years I was all good; made more $$$ than my old job delivering mail. Then, well, the internet happened. One of my first stories was for a "website" that WIRED magazine was putting together. My former editor who was now working there said, "it doesn't pay a buck a word, but there could be lots of work." Well, turned out that I worked just as hard for .30 as I did for $1.00 and no, work didn't really come my way because even WIRED wasn't sure if this 'new thing' was going to work out or not. Anyway, I feel your pain, but it's never been easy. Don't feel guilty if you decide to go down another career path. Just don't let it be anything to do with the 'outdoor industry', because there aren't any paths to riches or security in any aspect of the field, that I can see.
I came here because of Colin True and The Rockfight. I sold my first story in 1983 to Explore, a Canadian publication (sorta the 'Canadian Outside') and was paid $350 for 1200 words. Last week, I published a 3000 word piece (a 'passion project, I will admit) for a mountain resort newspaper for $350. Hey, nothing's gone up in the past 40 years, eh? I dabbled for about 10 years before making the jump, and for the first 5 years I was all good; made more $$$ than my old job delivering mail. Then, well, the internet happened. One of my first stories was for a "website" that WIRED magazine was putting together. My former editor who was now working there said, "it doesn't pay a buck a word, but there could be lots of work." Well, turned out that I worked just as hard for .30 as I did for $1.00 and no, work didn't really come my way because even WIRED wasn't sure if this 'new thing' was going to work out or not. Anyway, I feel your pain, but it's never been easy. Don't feel guilty if you decide to go down another career path. Just don't let it be anything to do with the 'outdoor industry', because there aren't any paths to riches or security in any aspect of the field, that I can see.