Journalism Research and Random Meanderings

Friday, March 19, 2004

Freelance Journalism Rates part 1 

The two pubs I write for regularly (but not often enough) both pay better than $0.30/word but since the rate complaints seem to centre around much lower rates I arbitrarily calculated at a rate of $0.25/word and stuck the results at the end of each line.

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"Shannon Lee Mannion" wrote;

Here are weekly rates for the editorial department at the Citizen as stated in the Agreement between the paper and the Ottawa Newspaper Guild (local 30205 of the Newspaper Guild-CWA [CLC, AFL-CIO]) July 21/00 to July 20/03

E-3 Reporter July 21/02

5 years experience $1,165.28 4661 words
4 years experience 1,033.56 4134 words
3 years experience 982.42 3930 words
2 years experience 932.26 3729 words
1 year experience 884.67 3539 words
To start 809.81 3239 words

Columnist $1,217.91 4872 words

Imagine how many stories at ten to twenty cents a word one would have to write in a week to make the top rate.
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As you can see measuring the output on a per word basis shows that the more experienced reporters have to put out more (words that is). When you think about it though it might make more sense to say the more-experienced reporters words have more value. Then we're saying that everyone is expected to produce the same amount of words per unit of time. The real answer is probably somewhere in between the more-experienced reporters put out more words of more value.

A bit of business negotiation gained from years as a computer consultant: sometimes the best deal is the one you _don't_ get. Always be ready to walk away. One time I lost a bid for a large quantity of computers to a bids that was $1/machine lower. I heard afterwards that the client was a nightmare and the only reason the vendor hadn't taken action is that he couldn't decide between murder and suicide.

A polite way to tell people the rate is too low: 'I would like to work for you but I can't afford to work at that rate. Thank you.'

The best thing to do immediately after saying that is - nothing. Maintain your silence (this is harder than it sounds especially face-to-face). I was surprised to see the silence technique come up in interviewing class but silence is as effective in negotiations as it is in interviews.

The reason I moonlight is so I don't have to devalue my work as a writer to stay in the field. My strategy is to continue moonlighting until I can build my freelance business to where I am self-sufficient. I figure on having to continue for a couple of years. Unless switching from nights to days every week and no days off kills me first. :)

Disclaimer: If you have an enlarged political correctness gland stop reading now (and then get locationally challenged).

How many publishers does it take to screw in a light bulb? Three. One to screw in the light bulb and two to hold the the writer down.