But after you get (or got already?) substantial income, I think you should buy them a beer, at least.

I have bought more than a few of them lunch / dinner when they're in town, some of the top writers I've written recommendations for and helped them find jobs.

But it wasn't because of any substantial income, those nice lunches & dinners probably got me a net operating loss for the year...

How did you pitch it to them?

They were interns looking to fill out their resume and clips with writing samples. There wasn't much of a pitch, some of them started contributing before they even responded to the ad