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Topic: I don't understand pay ranges for freelance work
| Author | Message |
| crackersncheese | Posted – 5/12/2006 11:05:24 AM | show profile I've only been freelancing for the past four months, so maybe this is something that will slowly make more sense to me, but I just don't get where the figures come from for freelance work. I'm talking specifically about fact-checking and copyediting, the two kinds of work I do to supplement my writing. A big consumer mag in Chicago offered me $25/hour but it's sister magazine (owned by the same company) offered me $12 and yet another sister magazine offered me $15. The $12 and $15/hour magazines are both steady clients and the magazines are the biggest names I have on my resume AND it keeps my foot in the door for future writing assignments, but it's hard to feel good about getting paid so little. It's not just this magazine family, either. I don't understand why smaller mags are able to offer me $25 while larger places (like an international publishing house in the area) want to pay me $12. What gives? And how low should I work for, if I think there are fringe benefits of opportunity involved? |
| overthehillwriter | Posted – 5/12/2006 12:37:27 PM | show profile | email poster I can't understand a magazine expecting someone to do this work for $12 an hour. Even my poorest paying media client -- a major newspaper I write small pieces for for $75-90 -- pays better on an hourly basis. Are you sure the editing keeps your foot in the door for future writing assignments? You already have the publication name for your resume, but I would worry that working for $12 might just confirm someone's false suspicion about your low worth. The advantage, of course, is the steady paycheck -- so I guess you have to weigh that. I charge $25 an hour, except for one client who said they pay $15-$20 an hour and I accepted them at the upper end of the range. For the huge benefit we provide, we're worth a decent hourly rate! Some of the things I catch (and some of the things I see that get through) remind me of that. |
| pob | Posted – 5/12/2006 2:41:57 PM | show profile When you say larger places "want to pay" you $12/hour, how does that happen? Are you asking them for a rate? Are you letting them dictate the rate? You already sound like you're in a passive position, just by the way you describe the situation in your post. It ought to be you saying something along the lines of "my standard rate for this type of work is $25/hour." Don't let them tell you what the rate they pay is. Over time you will learn how to better control the conversation about money. I've been freelancing full-time for a little over a year, and have learned from every experience. Every once in a while, I have found it worth it to sacrifice a little bit on the money to get my foot in the door somewhere. But it's very difficult to then get more money out of that client. It's only useful in that I can now go to another client and, by dropping the name of the other client, have the clout to ask for more money than I otherwise would have felt comfortable doing. I've been reading these boards for years, and while I haven't freelanced as a copyeditor for mags, I've read countless posts about $25 being the standard rate for the work you describe above. I'm not saying you're always going to get that rate, but getting such a significantly lower amount ($12 is less than half!) seems wrong to me. In fact, I don't think any of us should be working for under $20/hour on any assignment. Think of how much money these large corporations are making. Collectively we always have to push on the money front; they are never going to do it for us. And as long as they can find someone for $12/hour, it makes it more difficult to get the average pay rates higher. Good luck. |
| crackersncheese | Posted – 5/12/2006 3:27:31 PM | show profile I should have been more clear - copyediting I'm making $20-28 an hour/which is fine. It's the fact-checking that seems so scattered and weird. The first time I was offered $12 from a big-name publication (in an email, simply "It pays $12/hour") I didn't negotiate because it was one of my first gigs. I thought that client would be a fluke but since than a large book publisher in the area asked for my portfolio (which is massive and impressive, honestly), was obviously tickled, and than when I asked "Is there a standard rate you pay?" she answered "Twelve dollars an hour." By this point I'd realized that $12 an hour freelancing is like $7 (after health care, phone bills, internet bills, taxes, etc) and told her that was too low. She said she'd talk to her boss and get back to me but I still haven't heard anything. Then another big-name magazine contacted me and offered me $15 and there didn't seem to be much room for negotiation ("I'd love to be able to offer $20/hour but I can really only pay $15"). Maybe I need to learn to fight more but if $20/hour is most people's basements, where are all this low numbers coming from? |
| overthehillwriter | Posted – 5/12/2006 4:54:53 PM | show profile | email poster Here's a possible negotiation deal I have used: "We can only pay $xxx an hour." "My clients typically pay between $22 and $35 an hour. I'd really like to help you out. How about meeting in the middle -- would $xx be satisfactory?" |
| Suet | Posted – 5/12/2006 8:51:33 PM | show profile People offer $12 an hour because someone somewhere accepts it! |
| crackersncheese | Posted – 5/12/2006 9:57:50 PM | show profile Well, I won't accept it any longer. For day jobs I'm awesome at negotiating salary but with freelancing I'm so much more tentative. It seems like there's always a long line of other people will to do the work and I've worked hard to get the few clients I've got. I guess I'm just afraid of losing one of them if I say I'm not willing to work for less than $20. How often when you suggest meeting in the middle do they just say no? |
| overthehillwriter | Posted – 5/13/2006 1:23:00 AM | show profile | email poster I don't accept sweatshop pay -- I just work harder to attract and keep clients that pay decently. The time I might spend trying to get blood from a turnip? I invest it somewhere they appreciate quality and will pay for it. It's like gardening in a bed of stones -- look for more fertile ground. |
| dribbledrive1 | Posted – 5/13/2006 1:50:13 AM | show profile Fact-checking is generally considered entry-level work. It's probably akin to proofreading -- magazines see it as a necessary evil but they don't really perceive the person who's providing this service to be too valuable so they don't pay too much. Copyediting is higher up the food chain, since this is perceived as improving the end product. Personally, I don't think it's wise to try to develop a niche pursuing entry-level work. I'd rather spend that time moving higher up the food chain, targeting say corporate clients to provide editorial services. Will this work be fun and make your pulse race? Probably not. But instead of $12 an hour for fact-checking, you can end up making $100-300 an hour for writing. <> |
| Suet | Posted – 5/13/2006 11:27:59 AM | show profile I guess the type of publication influences the rate for factchecking too. A fluffy magazine that's not taken seriously could probably justify having an entry-level person do factchecking for $12 an hour than could a more serious, high-profile magazine. (I bet the New Yorker doesn't have entry-level people do factchecking, for instance.) |
