What is speculative, crowdsourcing or pitch work?
In this Tips and Tricks post, I will cover the integrity of speculative, crowdsourcing or pitch work so that prospective clients and creatives understand the practice. Maybe you’ve been tempted to enter an award with an entry fee, run a pitch or heard about them in peer conversations.
It could be hidden as a writing competition run by a well-disguised vanity press or a design award from a company whose words sell or an agency that uses social media to get photographic submissions and claim copyright in the small print. Maybe you've been tempted to run a competition, encouraged by a thread on social media from peers which tempted you into thinking about pitches.
What is speculative, crowdsourcing or pitch work?
It’s creative services completed for free or without guaranteed compensation in the hope of being paid. These approaches can be hidden as competitions, contests, free advertising, or published openly on platforms that encourage working for free. It is rife in creative industries such as publishing, writing, illustration, photography and design.
A crowdsourcing model is when someone will send the work out for a 'bid' with the fee details. Any number of entrants can submit work for consideration, and those who do not 'win' the bid are not paid. Some platforms profit from this setup. Designers who are 'successful' in their application to join their site are allocated a level that determines their payment rates. Here's an analogy - someone orders five meals in a cafe and only pays for the one they like.
Fans of these systems believe it's a free trade system that allows portfolio growth, allowing new designers to create a range of work. It can create opportunities to network; if the work is chosen, they may be paid, and clients can feel like they have more choices.
Opponents claim it devalues creative industries. It puts professional services at risk of explotation by not being paid for genuinely good work, ideas, problem-solving, and time. Speculative work requires the designer to give away all these with no guarantee of payment. Often the rates do not reflect the cost of living and can work out at less than the national minimum wage.
The Emperor’s new clothes
Here's some red flags to watch for.
Any competition that involves an entry free makes me suspicious. If there's a prize-winning fee too, even more so, why pay entrant to win? Nobody should pay to enter any honorable award. It's a poor business model.
Design work for pitch work is not based on research, communication or development of the brief in collaboration with the client. It is guess work and untested.
Paying a company to publish, do check they are not a vanity press.
Awards that require votes from the contestant's network is free advertising for the awards organisers. It's unfair to those who don't have vast networks or do not wish to spam clients, family and friends daily for votes. It's not a talent award, but a popularity vote. Size isn't everything.
Be wary of corporate sponsorships that exist in colleges and internships. Yes, they can provide real-world exposure and many are themed around a case or social responsibility. This may not be on-brand as demonstrated by Robyn Waxman from FARM who challenged Kraft when they offered support for her nonprofit farm by giving her seeds, soil, and a gardener (all donations that Waxman had covered through her volunteers). For Kraft, it was free publicity and ticks a box for social responsibility, but Kraft is a large company whose food products are not healthy and at odds with an organic farm that promotes a healthy way of living. Check the ethics!
How to be ethical as a client or creative
Authors can join the Alliance of Independent Authors who will check competitions for ethics and compliance. They also offer advice on their free website including advice on spotting a vanity press.
Read the small print and look up the organisers. Who are the sponsors? Are they ethical? Have a rummage on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook and ask in the industry.
Work with designers or suppliers direct. Many platforms do not permit communication outside their website (Reedsy, People Per Hour, Upwork and Fiverr all restrict the sharing of URLs and any message that could result in the client and their chosen supplier identifying each other). For this, they take a cut from the supplier. It can be more ethical to work directly, allowing for more communication options.
Talk honestly about budgets from the start to save wasted time and money.
Be upfront about deadlines and champion a healthy work-life balance.
Understand the advantages of a solid relationship between client and supplier. That could be retainer fees, priority services, or VIP days for exclusivity and a collaborative working relationship.
Feedback?
I've had similar experiences. I have turned down free cover design in exchange for exposure from a first time author with no marketing plan in place (which would have been pointless anyway as exposure does not pay bills) and an exchange of skills that were in no way equal.
How do you deal with speculative work?
Have you worked in this way?
Did you know that pitches that did not win were not paid?
By the way, here's my policy on pitching and my code of conduct.
Featured image photo by Nic Rosenau on Unsplash