Wait… Did I miss something?

I was recently approached by an online magazine (I’ll leave the name out, at least for now) to write for them. Initially I was honored, flattered and wowed. Really? They chose *me* to write for them? I thought.

Then I looked more closely at the offer. They want me to pay them for a membership to get my articles published with them. WHAT?

Since when do magazines no longer pay contributing writers, and instead charge them? Not a magazine I’m willing to write for… or read for that matter, now that I know that it’s not a magazine but an advertisement system.

Is this the way that many magazines have gone? Or have I encountered the odd one out?