Deflation & Freelance Writers
December 21, 2006 – 7:30 pmWhen I first started writing for the Financial Post in 1997, I earned 50-cents per word. I wrote 700-word articles (one or two interviews per article) and made $350 per article. Then Conrad Black bought the Financial Post and renamed it the National Post. I hoped for a modest raise, but continued to earn 50-cents per article. Within a few months, my editor asked me to interview three to four people per article and file 700 to 800 words. But the pay remained $350. It was extra work and more words, for the same rate.
The work for the National Post became intermittent over the last few years and there were no rate increases. In fact, last time I wrote for the National Post (now owned by CanWest Global Communications), assignments were 900 to 1,000 words. And the rate per article? Still $350.
I could not help but contemplate the deflation that I have experienced. More words and work for the same pay. Factor in inflation, and it’s more words for less pay. That is what I was pondering when I met a freelance writer who used to earn what is often considered the holy grail of freelance writing — a buck a word for magazine articles.
That is what he earned in the early 1970’s. And it still is (with few exceptions) the top end for periodical (newspaper and magazine) work in Canada today. Add 30+ years of inflation to that buck a word and the writer is currently pulling in the equivalent of community newspaper rates, while toiling for some of the most prestigious publications in Canada.
Talking to him reminded me of that old tale: I used to complain that I had no shoes, and then I met a man who had no feet… Deflation is driving experienced writers with powerful, compelling, knowledgeable voices into the hands of corporate work, or out of the writing business. (And it even drives writers like me — no powerful, compelling, knowledgeable voice — into the hands of corporate work and business training.)
The declining rates seem systemic now. Yet there are more outlets and more demand than ever for words –especially with the Internet factored in. What a truly bizarre state of affairs. But at a buck a word, how can we expect to keep employed the magnificent, experienced freelance voices that brilliantly tell our stories? And how can we expect to develop the new independent voices that will inform, entertain, and inspire us in the future?
It is sad that many independent journalists simply cannot afford to do the work required to produce solid investigative articles or long, luxurious features. It is sadder still, as newspapers and magazines produce shorter, fluffier entertainment and advertorial, that articles about our home and native land, about our people and their affairs, about politics and culture and business, about the issues that matter to us as Canadians, are written far less often than they once were. And many of the intriguing, controversial, critical issues that we should know far more about simply go unreported.
It is a sad state indeed.
5 Responses to “Deflation & Freelance Writers”
Feels a little strange posting a comment in my own blog, but David Hayes, a successful and respected freelance writer sent my blog post to an email list he runs, with a preamble that is worth sharing:
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Here’s a cheery little post from Paul Lima’s blog. For the most part, Paul is dead right, of course. Thankfully, the higher end publications pay somewhat higher rates these days, at least to experienced pros.
Reader’s Digest with its sliding scale that, for pros, is $1.50 per word & up. Getting $1.50 per word is possible at Chatelaine, Toro, enRoute, ROB magazine, Canadian Business. That’s what I made at National Post Business but things have probably changed.
The Walrus, according to everyone I know who has worked there, pays on the upper end of the scale but should factor in a bonus for headaches. Anyway, getting upwards of $1.50 per word isn’t some kind of lottery-winning bonanza. For the most part, the stories I’ve done for these publications are anywhere from 2,500 to 6,000 words & routinely involve 20-plus interviews, not to mention reporting that involves hanging around with subjects getting scenes to build a narrative.
The in-depth reporting, the time exploring people’s lives & issues, the narrative writing – it’s all what makes this livelihood worth living for me. (Who wants to not get paid enough for doing unstimulating, unfulfilling “content-providing” when you can get paid lots for that kind of sausage-stuffing in the corporate world, or seek out other, more stimulating work in another field?)
This debate over how much freelance magazine feature writers get paid (not enough has been the consensus among editors as well as writers ever since I started freelancing in 1981) seems unresolvable, doesn’t it. A revolution, anyone? — david
By Freelance Writer/Trainer on Dec 21, 2006
And therein lies the conundrum. Many of us I suspect started our writing careers as freelance journalists. And still each year as I review my priorities (a kind of business plan, Paul!) I come back to my desire to do, primarily, investigative environmental stories (not only the black & grimy stuff). But media outlets for same are shrivelling as are the fees for freelancers. And so I turn more to corporate stuff. Some of it (and I include government & non-profits) is fine work and financially rewarding. But we are losing a battle. And it means not only is our work increasingly underpaid, but we’re simply having to choose other work. Byte-size, fast-food fare. Would be interesting to know whether there’s another professional group in this same situation, or is it just writers.
Alison
By Alison Dyer on Dec 21, 2006
Canadian writers, like anyone involved in the arts in this country, seem to be ignored on the whole. There’s little in the way of government support for arts and so, like drama, poetry and ballet, good writing is in short supply – not because there aren’t good writers, but, as you’ve all touched on, the remuneration simply isn’t there. And the media giants don’t seem to care. From national newspapers to well respected magazines, it seems they want to churn out the words, but quality isn’t their number-one concern (but the bottom line just might be). Unlike auto workers or civil servants, we can’t ask (demand?) cost of living increases each year for our specialized work. One would hope we are all reading more (and learning mroe) but perhaps that isn’t true. It would be interesting to see if Canada’s book publishing industry is suffering, too.
Mark
By Mark Pavilons on Jan 2, 2007
Wow. Well, at least I wasn’t the only one who felt that way. (Actually, my problem was less deflation that it was no payment — when magazines or papers decided they simply weren’t going to pay you on time for your work. That was the killer for me.)
I don’t know what the way out is, or what the quick fix is, but I’m hopeful that things can only get so worse for so long before they finally begin to get better. Maybe social media will open some new doors and some neat opportunities. After all: that’s a global marketplace that can be tapped into, which goes a lot further than local papers and national magazines. Let’s keep our fingers crossed.
By Zachary Houle on Jan 13, 2007
Wow. January 9, 2010 and the story is the same: deflation, severely late payment and not infrequently, nonpayment. I’m a design writer and editor (architecture, interiors, furniture, product) based in New York where magazines of all stripes are going under, paying (even) less (sometimes in installments), or just loading in-house staff with extra work instead of assigning out. The client that was keeping me afloat this past year (a European book publisher) has required me recently to switch to a baroque system of project-based payment that essentially makes me cost less to them. Negotiation (pay rates, terms of contracts, etc.) doesn’t exist in my experience; negotiating is simply grounds for no longer working with a writer. Apparently, we are viewed as hobbyists, not specialists – and yet text (dumber, faster, shorter) is needed and commissioned more than ever. As I begin to transition out of this field, I regret that I’ve given my work, time and reputation to publishers and editors who believe that they are entitled to receiving content for free. Too late, I begun to refuse to work for less than a fair wage. And yet I loved my work, and I can’t blame the young writers for doing the same all over again.
By shqs on Jan 9, 2010