Tired Of Getting Paid Peanuts From Magazine

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

Thanks a bunch everyone!

I think I know what to do now with this magazine and assignment.

Time to move on, in a respectful way, and seek out better writing opportunities.

Best,
Nick

Hey Everyone,

So I just got a voicemail from the owner & publisher of the magazine that I was talking about in my original post.

This is the magazine where he'll pay $25 whether you write a 500 word article for the print-zine or, in my case last year, a 12,000 word article for the webzine.

I had already gracefully declined the job (2 jobs actually: a pre-comic con preview article, and then a full on comic con coverage) with his editor (or my editor from the freelance writer's perspective).

However, now he's called me personally to find out why I'm not covering comic con this year for the magazine. He said he was incredulous as to why I wouldn't cover it since I'm such a comic con fanatic and loved doing it every year.

I've done the Rhode Island one since the very first in 2012 but I'm just so tired of getting paid $25 for thousands of words and epic hours of coverage.

For example, last year RI Comic Con was 3 days. I was there from beginning to end all three days walking around non-stop across multiple convention venues talking to everyone: the organizers, the celebrities, the vendors, the artists, the fans, and the cosplayers—everyone! And then I wrote a 12,000 word article. All for $25.

The only thing that was comped was my parking (for the first time, in years past I had to pay myself sometime $20 a day to park).

No food was comped, which I was okay with. No transportation was comped, which I was also okay with.

But after years of doing all this work—and you all know as well as I do that with covering an event the doesn't stop there; there's tons of research afterwards, follow-ups, and the actual hours of physical writing that go into an article.

I don't want to be ungrateful. Having access to the celebs and all the fun stuff (including the after party) is great, and I'm a total comic con lover (been to San Diego Comic-Con 3 years in a row!), but I feel like I'm getting too old to write for peanuts with this event.

How do I gracefully tell this guy, who is a friend of mine, that I just can't do it anymore?

We've already discussed a pay raise many times over the years and he's said, "no, no, no."

So at this point I'm willing to give up the Comic Con beat and hand it over to someone else, which will probably end my working relationship with this magazine.

I don't want to hurt his feelings but I really don't want to write up another epic coverage of comic con (even for one day) for $25.

Am I in the wrong here? Should I just suck it up and do him a favor?

Would love your thoughts on how to let him down easy because he really is a nice guy and his magazine is a really great publication.

Thanks!
Nick

Thanks Everyone for your advice!

I just left a message on his (the magazine publisher and owner) voice mail respectfully declining the job. I basically said that it was time for me to hand over the comic con beat to someone else as I really want to go as a fan, which I've never been able to do.

I thanked him profusely for giving me to opportunity to cover the event for the magazine and wished them all the best of luck.

Hopefully that will be okay.

I hate to burn a bridge but I just feel that after 4 years of doing this for really no money (it ends up costing me money in the end!), my heart's not in it anymore—even if Stan Lee is going to be there tomorrow!

And I agree with RightHoJeevs, "On normal freelancer rates, you'd be getting paid thousands of dollars for this, seriously."

He's right, especially after the 4-day coverage of San Diego Comic-Con in 2012 (which cost me thousands of dollars to attend and he only paid me $100 for 4 articles daily $25 per article, and nothing more), and the 3-day coverage for Rhode Island Comic Con in 2015 where he wouldn't let me do a 3-article coverage, it all had to be in one article for a scant $25 which topped out at 12,000 words, that's right twelve thousand words!

And still it cost me money in transportation and food to cover Rhode Island Comic Con 2015.

It's just not worth it to me anymore.

And it's true, I really, really just want to go to next comic con (probably San Diego next year) now as a fan, and someday as an artist at my own table promoting my own sci-fi/fantasy books.

Now I feel a little guilty but also relieved.