Newspapers carried locally made poems and didn't pay for them

The Introduction to Samuel Laycock's Collected Writings says "Deeply moved by the acute suffering which surounded him on every side, the spirit was kindled within him, and he began to write his Famine Songs. Week by week they were published in the local papers, and large numbers were issued as broad-sheet ballads. Many of these were learnt by heart and sung by lads and lasses in the streets of the town.

It dosn't say if he was paid or not but the Wikipedia page on him says "Laycock was one of the thousands unemployed and tried to earn a meagre living by writing verses which the unemployed could set to music and sing in the streets for pennies."