Last week I mentioned that there would likely be little content on the blog until I was out from under this massive revision. I’d like to point out that may not apply to rants. I will always take time out for a good rant. Anyway…
This week I got a letter in my inbox from a respected writing organization offering me an Exciting New Opportunity. The email offered to pair me with an established writer who would help me strengthen my writing skills and achieve my writing goals. My very own mentor, the email advertised, for the low, low price of $50 a session.
At first, I rolled my eyes and sent the email to spam, but something about it continued to bother me. Thanks to all the writing mags I subscribed to over the years, I’m used to spam offering me all sorts of writing services, from the latest new writing software to pay-for-publication deals. This is not new, but something really bugged me about this. I get the organization’s newsletters with ads for workshops and confrences and critique sessions. What was different about this?
It hit me later that day when I was googling something for a friend and came across a website offering a writing mentoring program. Six weeks of working with an individual mentor was about $3,000. A less personal, group “mentorship” was offered for $1,500.
And there it was. The bee in my bonnet: Mentors for hire. It seems to be a growing trend in the writing biz and I think it’s a little misleading.
We all know mentors are awesome. I’m sure any of us pre-published writer types would jump at the chance to be taken under the wing of an established writer. There’s so much value in that. Just look at Sherwood Anderson and Ernest Hemingway. Or Laurence Olivier to Anthony Hopkins. Or Obi Wan Kenobi to Luke Skywalker.
But mentor is such a loaded word. By definition, a mentor is a trusted guide or coach. When most of us think of mentors we think of people with whom we’ve established (or tried to establish) a long relationship. We think of a mentor as a person who chooses to work with his or her protege because they see something special in them and want to help cultivate it. It is someone with whom we have a connection. Again, I bring up Obi Wan and Luke and I have to wonder, did Luke have to shell out $50 a session to learn about the ways of The Force? I think not.
These pay-for-mentorship programs are selling the idea of the connection, but can a connection be bought? I suppose you can take a workshop and really connect with a teacher and eventually become their protege. But that also strikes me different from the pay-as-you go mentorship. It’s clearly the money factor that bothers me. You shouldn’t pay someone to mentor you, I don’t think. And programs shouldn’t imply that they can provide the kind of special mentor-mentee relationship for $50 a session.
(For the record, I am totally not against paying for writing or editing services. Workshops, conferences, and professional critiques all cost money and they offer valuable resources for that money.)
And here’s the thing about this trend in the writing industry, especially when it comes to large, respectable organizations offering this service: We are writers. We KNOW the power of words. We know the different connotations between “mentor” and “critique services.” It’s our job to spend as much time as possible thinking about the meaning of words, which is why it feels even more dishonest to see them warped by our peers, especially for the sake of making money. I expect this of other groups and organizations, but I wished writers would be above that kind of thing.
Or maybe I’m just overthinking it.
/rant.
January 27th, 2011 at 1:29 pm
The writing industry is strapped for cash, just like every other industry in the world. The difference is, writers have never been paid well to begin with. Is it any surprise pro-authors are doing what ever they can to continue to stay at home and write just a little bit longer?
Perhaps there needs to be a respected organization dedicated to…well…making sure writers are paid for writing.
January 27th, 2011 at 2:12 pm
It’s no surprise at all. It’s hard to make a living as a writer and you pretty much have to find a way to supplement it. I want to clarify that I don’t begrudge writers for offering critique and editing services or for teaching. It’s advertising them as mentoring that feels a little false to me.
January 27th, 2011 at 2:12 pm
Ah, before you know it, skill itself will be up for hire.
January 28th, 2011 at 12:26 pm
I don’t think you’re overthinking it. It seems to be going in the “if it can be considered a service, you can charge for it” direction.
Its interesting – in my business world, you see the same thing in various ways.. for example, part of the value proposition some business schools put out there is the “cost of the mentors/network” on how they can charge so much. I guess it reiterates the “its who you know” argument. Internally at my company, though, its kind of the same, minus tuition. In order to get the best mentor, you have to be introduced by the right person.
February 9th, 2011 at 3:38 pm
I got a mailing from one of these things once, but they approached it a little differently so I wasn’t as put off by it. They actually had you complete a writing sample and answer a number of personal questions about your writing goals and aspirations, and then — presumably — matched you up with a mentor/writing coach that suited your work and goals. I don’t know what kind of algorithm they used, or whether they’d ever reject someone because there wasn’t a good enough match (I doubt it) but at least there was some kind of effort involved there.
But you’re right. “Mentor” is such a loaded word… it’s a bit frustrating that some of these companies through it around so lightly.