Wellsphere: Use the Content of My Blog for Free? (I Don't Think So ...)

I'm moving this post back to the top of my blog a couple of months after first posting it, because it continues to attrach comments from readers who have also been contacted by Wellsphere.

Every so often, I get an e-mail from someone who is starting up a new Web site and wants to use the content of my blog, for free.

I'm always pretty amazed by these folks--they want to use my blog, which I've spent countless hours writing, and not compensate me for it. This is my intellectual property, after all. It's how I make my living.

Their pitch usually includes something about how MY blog will benefit from the wider readership of THEIR Web site, but in fact, the reverse is probably true: Their Web site would benefit from having my content.

So I always say no, but, just for fun, I always tell them first that I'm willing to discuss it if they are willing to pay. I think a retainer of $3,000 a month is about right for the use of any and all content on my blog.

Here's the latest of these e-mails. Note the excessive praise in the first paragraph. That's always a tip-off that they want something for nothing.

Hi Jeanne,

I was searching for the best medical bloggers when I discovered your blog at http://assertivepatient.com/. I want to tell you I think your writing is fantastic -- I really liked your post on Life With Cancer, “Time to Come Clean”. My name is Dr. Geoff Rutledge, and I've taught and practiced Internal and Emergency Medicine for over 25 years at Harvard and Stanford medical schools. I'm also the Chief Medical Information Officer at Wellsphere (www.wellsphere.com), where we are building a network of the web’s leading health bloggers, and I think you would be a great addition.

Wellsphere is a fast growing, next-generation online platform that is revolutionizing the way people find and share health and healthy living information and services. Our platform connects millions of users with the valuable insights and knowledge from health leaders and knowledgeable writers like you.

We are now launching a new health community on Breast Cancer, and I would like to invite you to be a featured blogger for this community. By joining our network of hundreds of leading health and healthy living bloggers, you will be in great company, and will benefit from exposure to the expanded audience of the Wellsphere community. When you join, we also will feature you on our very popular WellBlog (http://www.wellsphere.com/blog.s), with a link back to your blog.

We will republish the postings you’ve already written for you (through your RSS feed), and feature them not only on the Breast Cancer community pages of the site, but also within a new dynamic magazine-like Wellsphere360 section, where we give users a comprehensive view of expert information, news, videos, local resources, and member postings on topics you write about. Your profile page on the site will give you special status as a featured blogger in the Breast Cancer community. If you are an active contributor, we also will feature you on our homepage at www.wellsphere.com.

By connecting to the Wellsphere platform, you will greatly expand the audience for your postings and attract additional readers to your blog. Also, your posts will link back to your blog, so you will benefit from Wellsphere's high ranking and large readership interested in your topic, which will give you more traffic, additional relevant audience, and a higher ranking for your blog.

If you would like to be a featured blogger in the Breast Cancer community, just send me an email to Dr.Rutledge@wellsphere.com. You can see a sample of a Wellsphere360 special section at http://www.wellsphere.com/Wellsphere360/diabetes-type-2.htm

Good health,

Geoff

Geoffrey W. Rutledge MD, PhD
Chief Medical Information Officer
Wellsphere, Inc.
http://www.wellsphere.com

Now, maybe for someone who is new to blogging, or to writing about cancer, this might be a good deal. And if that's you, feel free to contact the good doctor and tell him I sent you.

But it's not a good deal for me, and here was my reply:

Thanks. I'm really honored that you thought of me for this. Let me think about it for a few days and I will get back to you. I just got home from ASCO and I'm pretty exhausted.

Also, one issue, to start the ball rolling: I can't let you use my content for free, so you could start thinking about what you can afford to pay.

Thanks,

Jeanne

And Dr. Geoff's reply:

Jeanne,

You're welcome. We do provide distribution and access to a larger audience for a select few blogs on each health topic. We also include links on each of your posts back to your own site, and we feature good posts and active bloggers prominently on our homepage -- but we don't pay for the postings to our site.

We would be pleased to include you in our Wellsphere health bloggers network.

Cheers,

Geoff
--
Geoffrey W. Rutledge MD, PhD

And that, as they say, is that. Do you think Dr. Geoff is working for free? Highly unlikely.

I had a similar exchange with Dr. Lee, the oncologist from South Korea who I met at ASCO. He seemed to think that I would be flattered to have him translate my blog into Korean for the benefit of the patients at his new private cancer hospital.

He was surprised, and I think offended, that I asked to be paid if he used any of my content.

Now I'm going to have to monitor his Web site (in Korean!) to see if he is ripping off my intellectual property. Argh.

But I know my writing has value, and I refuse to give it away to enrich someone else. I DID have another conversation today with an editor who I've been working with, and it looks like one of the larger health Web sites wants my work--and will pay for it. So I think that proves my point.

More details on that once we have talked again and come to an agreement.

An update on this one: HealthCentral is the Web site, and they are paying their bloggers as little as $50 per post--I could probably get them to pay me more than that, but I wasn't much impressed by the editor I talked with, or by the Web site. So I won't be working for them.

More About Wellsphere

@ Jeanne Sather 2008.

Comments

[john]

I got the same thing from the same guy and told him the same thing. Our page rank would help his site gain popularity. Our content helps him build content he would not otherwise be able to do. He should pay! We ARE worth something!

[Andrea]

I am so glad you wrote about this on your blog. I just got the same email from the good doctor with "insert your name here" and "insert your blog post title here". I didnt feel completely comfortable about this myself when I first read it, it looks very similar to About.Com but focused only on health and About.com pays a minimum of $700 a month for content. I know because I just applied for the job of being the Celiac content provider. I agree with you, we have blogs that contain very good and useful information and we should be paid for it.
Thanks!

[Unknown]

Thank you for posting this. I am a former employee of Wellsphere and there's nothing good to be said about it, unfortunately. Don't let Geoff convince you of anything, but I can tell you won't be. And yes, I would monitor it to make sure they don't take any of your content.

[jeanne]

Thanks for the warning. I will keep an eye on them.

[Barbara K.]

This is very timely. I too got the same email and an invitation to be their chronic pain blogger. I think now I will say No Thanks.

[Roy]

Yep, we just got the same thing from Geoff at Wellsphere here at Shrink Rap (actually it came in thru My Three Shrinks).

My first thought was, "Oh, that'd be nice to get in on the next WebMD," but then I wondered how much we'd earn. I'll write him back now about it, but if it's nothing, then what's the point? I guess if we had tons of Google ads on our site then this would be a good thing to drive more traffic and thus more click-thru's.

But that's not what we do, so pay us (we certainly spend enough hours doing it for nothing) or keep walking. My guess is that Wellsphere will wind up being full of a bunch of those blogs with Google ads running up and down both sidebars, while they collect (and keep) fees from Stanford and other clients.

You get what you pay for.

[jodi]

Thank you so much for this post. I got the exact same email with my URL and one of my posts referenced. He thought my writing was fantastic also :)

I thought it was a little weird because we do baby product reviews, but I did one review that was a little health oriented so I guess that is how he found me.

I'm grateful that you posted about this so I now know to ignore this email.

[Diana Dyer, MS, RD]

Ditto!!
I usually immediately delete such inquiries, but his was intriguing enough to do some digging. Thanks to all for sharing your experiences and thoughts about this solicitation.

[Sandra Kiume]

Same form email here, and I told him pretty much the same thing. No free content. I get paid to write.

He claimed he's got 600 bloggers aboard. I hope the next 600 find this post and all the comments and think twice before signing on.

Did a little digging on him too; he's greatly exaggerating his background.

[jeanne]

Sandra--thanks for this info. Could you send me what you found out about Dr. Geoff? I'd like to know.

[The Neurocritic]

Here is the result of my digging for info on Wellsphere:

http://neurocritic.blogspot.com/2008/08/whats-with-all-this-scamming-for-free.html

I loved your post!

[Beth McHugh]

Hi Jeanne,
Thanks you for posting this info about Geoff Rutledge. I too received the same email that you and obviously many others have also received. His Stanford and Harvard credentials made me smell a rat, so I googled him and found your blog and several others and thus found out he was all for Geoffrey!Like you I have put hours of work into my site and he wants to replicate it for free while offering me the opportunity to ride on his coattails! He sounds like a narcissist to me. Once again, thanks for replicating his letter, mine's the same, he's definitely not into the personal touch! PS Love your website.

[Ann]

The fastest way to get your information out is to go viral. Most people in the blogosphere understand this. You aren't being used. You are being helped by being in more places...of course that assumes you want your information to a wider circle. Also, most bloggers pay for their time by putting ads on such as adsense. The more hits, the more you make. Many bloggers make a whole lot more than the number you mentioned but it will never happen if you follow your model which is not the way most work today. It is to your advantage to have your information in as many places as possible. Most bloggers put links on their blogs to other blogs to go viral. This is not narcissism. It is the way the blogosphere works.

[jeanne]

Ann--I don't agree.

I also don't agree on the use of ads, which I've written about elsewhere.

[Miz Liz]

I decided to take the plunge with Wellsphere to see if it would drive traffic to my site. Thus far, I've seen no returns. Have been thinking I'm pulling it - unimpressed.

[Jeanne Sather]

Miz Liz--thanks for letting me know. I don't think they have enough traffic that you would notice many people jumping from their site to yours.

[Marian]

So, today it was my turn. I got exactly the same e-mail as you, Jeanne. My very first impulse: Who is this guy?? I googled him and your - great! - entry here came up as one of the first results.

I'd certainly like to get "my message" out there, and money is not my biggest concern. But, well, "my message" IS out there - on my own blog. And if people are interested in the topic, I'm sure they'll find it. With or WITHOUT dear Dr. Geoff's support.

Thanks for posting this entry!

[jeanne Sather]

Marian--people who have gone with Wellsphere say that it hasn't increased traffic to their own blogs.

[melissa heather]

Ugh I just got the same letter. My 2 year old is a cancer patient and liver transplant recipient, I have a lot of content and pictures on this, I certainly don't want my child to be exploited in this way. I'm really glad I googled his name and found (this) site! Thank you so much for all the insight!

[Marian]

Thought, you and everyone else who has been contacted by Wellsphere might be interested. This is what happens if you, like me, choose to simply ignore their first e-mail to you (ignore them is what I usually do with e-mails I regard as "spam") - note the last sentence:

"YOU ARE OUR HERO - BE PART OF HISTORY!
Hi Marian, 
We are excited to recognize you in our new YES, WE CARE! Campaign that honors everyday heroes, like you, who put themselves on the front lines in the quest for a healthier, happier world by spending their time and putting their hearts and souls into helping others in need. We’re particularly excited to have this chance to honor you, for dedicating your time and writing to help people improve their health and well-being. We've nominated YOU as one of our Everyday Heroes! 
As part of the YES, WE CARE! Campaign, we are creating a special video to highlight some of the amazing stories we’ve heard that demonstrate that caring for others is alive and well today all over the world. We would love to include YOUR story in the video! If you would like to send us a short video (cell phone or webcams are just fine!) about what moved you to start your blog, or to share a moving story of caring that you were involved in or heard about, we’d be happy to include it in the video. You can also interview someone you think is an Everyday Hero, or tell their story. Please keep the length of your video between 20 seconds and 2 minutes. The video can be very casual and definitely does NOT need to be professional or polished - just be yourself! 
Please send us the video ASAP, and no later than Sunday, October 19th. 
We can't wait to see your videos and are looking forward to recognizing you and other Everyday Heroes you know for your extraordinary contribution to the world!
To submit your video, send us your video as an attachment via email to ... If you would like to send a video directly from your cell phone, just email me at ... and I'll send you the cell phone number you can send a video-text message to.

Good health!
Geoff
--
Geoffrey Rutledge MD, PhD
Chief Medical Information Officer
Wellsphere
If you prefer not to receive updates from Wellsphere, please just reply to this e-mail with 'Unsubscribe updates' "

I like, that I now WILL HAVE TO REPLY, if only to unsubscribe these updates, although I can't remember to ever have subscribed to them in the first place! I find this rather intrusive, and the whole thing appears to me more and more to be a DESPERATE attempt to get people roped in to work for them for free. This is going to be subject of a blog post on my blog, too.

[jeanne Sather]

Marian--thanks for posting this one. I got the HERO e-mail too, but didn't do anything with it. How many other cancer bloggers received this? Please let me know.

[Nikolai]

Well I agree, people should get paid for their writing. God knows, I'm a struggling writer (who still cant spell) and is still too young to be taken seriously by any major publishers. However, you guys are seriously the most self inflated group of writers I've never met. 3000 dollars a month for a health blog! Most novelists or historians, many of whom are far better writers than you, would kill for $3000 a month. Even the $700 a month from about.com is just the result of a blog bubble we are currently in the middle of. Give it 4 or 5 years and all of that will be gone. I dont know where we are heading in the blogeshere, but specialization in a serial format is a likely direction. Please, eliminate the pompous attitude and do things for the reward of potentially helping someone out there and not for the money. The whole point, a long time ago now it seems, was to put your voice out there either to help yourself (mentally) or to help your fellow human beings. Stop giving writers a bad name and ask for reasonable prices for reasonable amounts of work. $30 or $50 dollars a blog should be fine. A blog should not be your only writing if you're a writer. And if you're a professional in another field, you should be getting your main source of income from elsewhere and the blog should be a little something extra. You guys aren't the peak of the writing world, don't expect to get paid like it.

[Doug Bremner]

Apparently "he" (or whoever is writing on his behalf) is not reading this blog because I just got the same form email about my drug and health news blog. I was pretty flattered at first until I googled the name and this sites rose to the top of the list.

[jeanne Sather]

Nikolai--I hate to break it to you, but I am a professional writer with a master's degree in journalism from UC Berkeley, one of the top schools in the country, and 20 years' experience in print and for the Web. When I write for commercial sites such as MSN I am paid at least $1/word.

Reality check. That's what my writing is worth. It's been proved on the open market.

Also, your comment is over the line for the rules of engagement for my blog in that it is full of "should"s. Feel free to state your opinion, and tell us what you think you should be paid ($30/post), but please refrain from telling the rest of us what we "should" be doing.

Jeanne