Journalism Research and Random Meanderings

Friday, March 19, 2004

Discussion of Freelance Journalism Rates part 2 

This rates thing is a hot issue with me right now. This is a true story. I want to get my freelance business to the next level. I'm hungry and eager. I see an ad for freelance work and I pounce......and by that I mean I make up some b.s. about needing to verify the address and call the guy. We have a great conversation. I spend a few hours updating my c.v. and putting together a package to send out. They reply.....

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Thanks for sending your package. Here's a bit of info:

We pay $100 per news/feature story with a related photo or photos. Story length is generally in the neighbourhood of 800 words. We're looking for people to take on work on a monthly basis in the Niagara, Peel and York regions.

Story ideas are endless and we're open to a wide variety. The ideas you mentioned in your package are on par with the type of happenings we would cover.

We also profile various companies which are setup by our marketing dept. and assigned to staff and freelancers.

These profiles much like advertorials, are setup by our marketing department and the business. Basically, they tell the story of the company including how it was started, history, type of company, scope of work etc. They require photos, although many companies supply their own to us. The length runs about 1,500 words. The current pay is $175 for this type of work.

The profiled company reviews the story, has the authority to request revisions and then once the copy has been approved, it is sent to us.

If you're still interested let me know.
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I'm torn. I want the work but the rates are too low. Maybe there's some wiggle room. I put my lack of money where my surfeit of mouth is.....

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I am interested but the rates you mentioned are around 1/4 to 1/3 of what I am currently getting for pieces of that length. Admittedly I am worth more as a techno-journalist and I will have to accept less until I learn more about the but I'm not sure I can afford to do the work at those rates.

I don't like to bang out some tripe just to get the dough. I don't want to sound high-handed but I have a standard of quality of research and accuracy I set for myself (especially as regards pix you haven't seen my photo portfolio). I don't want to put my name on something sub-par. I can accept that I will have to do more work because I know less about this field than I do about high-tech and that it's on me to carry that weight. Still, $00.08/word for news and $00.11/word for profiles is rather low. Anybody hungry enough to take the work may be too weak to finish it :)

You make no mention of expenses. Is there a travel or long distance telephone allowance? We either have to go or call - either one costs money.

I hope we can come to some sort of accomodation.

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As it turns out there was no wiggle room. Every once in a while I wonder if I should just shut up and take the work. Sigh, it's like when the only things that are right about your blind date are the gender and body temperature. My hormones are all for it but my brain insists I'm not going to be happy about it afterwards. Maybe I should start charging the editors for the packages. Sort of like a kill fee. Assign me something or pay the enclosed invoice for $100.