Hey Fellow Freelance Writers,
I'm soliciting some opinions and advice about a magazine I sometimes write for.
Here's the thing:
This magazine, is run by very good people, the owner and publisher is a good acquaintance of mine, and has been good to me in a lot of ways—except monetarily.
What I mean by that is that this magazine (with a webzine component) pays $25 per article regardless of word count.
For example, I could a write a 500 word documentary review in the print-zine and get paid $25 for it. Then I could write (which I have) a 12,000 word complete coverage of a major local pop-culture convention and still only get $25 for it!
Granted, the latter of those two I got free unfettered access to the event for all days (including the celebrities and afterparty there), and free parking, which is a value in and of itself.
However, after 21 hours of coverage last year (no per diem for food or transportation costs), a ridiculous amount of interviews, and a ridiculous amount of writing hours afterwards, that $25 seems a little too low-ball for all of that work.
I don't want to sound ungrateful, and there was a time that going to these things for free and getting paid a few bucks for doing some fun stuff was great but after 4 years of this getting paid peanuts for all of this work, I'm kind of tired of it.
And I have tried to get them to come up with more money but they refuse, refuse, refuse.
There was a time that I thought that writing for this magazine was a great boost to my career but really it hasn't gone anywhere because of it.
I don't know how it is for some of you freelance writers out there but I'd like to get some opinions.
Shouldn't I be getting like a few cents a word or something like that?
Also, they only call me when this convention comes rolling around. It's been a long time since they've tapped me for other articles. And they sure don't need any editors, so there's no career path there.
I'm thinking about declining this assignment for the first time in years, which could end my relationship with this publication.
How do I nicely do that?
And is it still worth it to be writing for this magazine?
Thanks,
Nick
I'm soliciting some opinions and advice about a magazine I sometimes write for.
Here's the thing:
This magazine, is run by very good people, the owner and publisher is a good acquaintance of mine, and has been good to me in a lot of ways—except monetarily.
What I mean by that is that this magazine (with a webzine component) pays $25 per article regardless of word count.
For example, I could a write a 500 word documentary review in the print-zine and get paid $25 for it. Then I could write (which I have) a 12,000 word complete coverage of a major local pop-culture convention and still only get $25 for it!
Granted, the latter of those two I got free unfettered access to the event for all days (including the celebrities and afterparty there), and free parking, which is a value in and of itself.
However, after 21 hours of coverage last year (no per diem for food or transportation costs), a ridiculous amount of interviews, and a ridiculous amount of writing hours afterwards, that $25 seems a little too low-ball for all of that work.
I don't want to sound ungrateful, and there was a time that going to these things for free and getting paid a few bucks for doing some fun stuff was great but after 4 years of this getting paid peanuts for all of this work, I'm kind of tired of it.
And I have tried to get them to come up with more money but they refuse, refuse, refuse.
There was a time that I thought that writing for this magazine was a great boost to my career but really it hasn't gone anywhere because of it.
I don't know how it is for some of you freelance writers out there but I'd like to get some opinions.
Shouldn't I be getting like a few cents a word or something like that?
Also, they only call me when this convention comes rolling around. It's been a long time since they've tapped me for other articles. And they sure don't need any editors, so there's no career path there.
I'm thinking about declining this assignment for the first time in years, which could end my relationship with this publication.
How do I nicely do that?
And is it still worth it to be writing for this magazine?
Thanks,
Nick