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Topic: How Low Can You Go?
| Author | Message |
| Astera | Posted – 7/18/2007 2:18:59 PM | show profile Like many of you, I am distressed at the low wages being offered to journalists and copywriters. But besides venting on this forum, is there any action we can take to express our displeasure at laughable salaries? Or is it not worth getting worked up about? I used to figure that these companies who were offering such low rates would get the shoddy quality that they paid for, but I'm starting to wonder. I am in California and I am a freelancer with some good experience under my belt. Although I have been looking for freelance and fulltime opportunities for several months now, everyone I have made contact with wants me to work for cheap. I had one woman offer me 2 cents a word for certain projects or "as much as" (her words) $50 for a press release. Cat Fancy and Bird Fancy are offering $30,000 for associate editor positions. One guy just canceled a marketing copywriting contract with me because he's a Realtor who hasn't closed any deals lately and so could no longer afford the least expensive rate I quoted him. And then on Craigslist, there are companies like Niurka, Inc., some sort of corporate coaching/laws of attraction company, which is looking for a copywriter to "develop and maintain online support content for customers, facilitate weekly email marketing campaigns, write and edit customer-facing sales content for customers, administer online forums and social networks, perform QA for new content and project implementations, assist Website Manager with other project-related tasks as needed, and develop and maintain sales copy for recruiting purposes." Here's what's required: "professional writing experience necessary, with customer-facing content (please include 3 samples of your work), must live locally to Costa Mesa, CA [not a cheap area, I'd like to point out], Web design or Internet management experience a plus, excellent verbal and written communication, organizational, interpersonal, and analytical skills, detail-oriented, excellent follow-through, ability to multitaks, manage projects and workflow, and work well under tight deadlines in a fast-paced environment, must be a self-started who is comfortable working independently, high proficiency in MS Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Project) required." I could do all that stuff, and even though the company seems a little fishy, I thought about applying. And then I got to the bottom, where it said "compensation starts at 8 cents a word and is negotiable based on experience and your commitment to your craft as well as your alignment with our purpose." On the one hand, I need work. On the other, I think the pay is absurd. But what do you do when so many of the companies that hire writers share this lowball outlook? I branched out into marketing copywriting because I thought it would pay more, but I haven't yet been able to get the high-paying corporate gigs. I guess I should just ignore these jokers and keep my eye on the prize. But does anyone ever tell these companies that 2 cents or 8 cents won't get them high-quality writing? |
| Metro Writer | Posted – 7/18/2007 9:19:17 PM | show profile | email poster Keep your eye on the prize, but don't totally ignore people who offer you tuppence. Tell them that the going rate for someone with good credentials is higher than what they're offering and ask them to talk to their decision makers and get back to you. You have to be willing to walk away. Also, when it comes to contracts, you can strike out what doesn't work in your favor, such as giving up all rights forever and ever. The fact is that some people do make a decent income from writing and some people make a fortune. Good luck. |
| Linda F | Posted – 7/18/2007 10:23:42 PM | show profile Astera, it sounds like you're approaching companies without having an idea of what they pay. This can be a huge waste of time if you play the back-and-forth game with them only to learn that they pay two cents per word. Can you make a list of the businesses that you *know* pay what you're looking for, and approach them? It can be hard to divine what a company or magazine pays, but there are ways...for example, you could post here or on other writing forums asking what magazine X pays, check Writer's Market to see how many dollar signs a magazine is rated at (not perfect but it's a start), ask your network of professional writers, etc. Also, in general there are certain categories that tend to pay more than others, for freelance writing anyway. For example, national newsstand magazines tend to pay the most in my experience, followed closely by custom pubs. Trades tend to be a bit lower. Finally, don't forget that it's not the per-word rate that's important, but your per-hour rate. You may earn more writing an article for a magazine that pays $.50 per word than you will with one that pays $2 per word, because those higher-paying mags also tend to be more research-intensive and require more revisions. I've been writing for a lot of trade magazines lately, and I know I'm earning more per hour with them than I do when I write for, say, certain national women's magazines. Good luck! Linda -- http://www.lindaformichelli.com The Renegade Writer Blog: http://www.therenegadewriter.com http://www.writeformagazines.com |
| dribbledrive1 | Posted – 7/19/2007 12:26:00 AM | show profile The issue seems to me that you are approaching low paying publications -- like Fancy, which publishes Dog Fancy, and Craigs List. There are good paying gigs out there. You just have to work to find them. |
| Astera | Posted – 7/19/2007 12:00:13 PM | show profile Thanks for all of your replies. I now realize that I am taking a scattershot approach to freelancing, whereas I instead need to be more methodical about finding clients that pay better. Two interesting things happened after I posted this. One place that originally offered me low pay called me back and said they were in a better position to meet my salary requirements, so I had an in-person interview with the VP there. She had been impressed with my application from the beginning, so we'll see if that pans out at a higher rate. I also got a call from someone at a bank who saw my resume on Monster.com and wants to bring me in for an interview for a contract copywriting position. It's too soon to discuss pay, I think, but my salary requirements are on Monster, so I don't think my rate will come as a surprise to this potential client. Now, I need to start doing some better market research to identify the companies and publications that might pay for my services. Has anyone had any luck with a direct-mail package to cold contacts? |
| fake.it.til.you.make.it | Posted – 7/19/2007 8:25:50 PM | show profile Hey Astera, I'm in the OC area too and have been coming across the same insane ads as you on craigslist as well. With freelancing and staff jobs in the industry, I've come to the conclusion that nobody wants to pay for our skills anymore, but there have got to be SOME well-paying jobs and gigs out there... I haven't gone about trying to get copywriting gigs, but you may want to check out the book, The Well-Fed Writer. He goes into approaching Fortune 500 companies and convincing them to give him some (well-paying) freelance copywriting assignments. |
| maphop | Posted – 7/20/2007 1:15:56 AM | show profile Astera, if it makes you feel any better, the regional glossies for OC - the quote/unquote luxury pubs like Orange Coast - pay around $.25-$.30 word even as your writing gets to be surrounded by mega-ads for Mercedes dealerships, teeth whitening professionals, plastic surgeons and matchmakers at $25K/pop. I don't know a freelancer living in OC who can afford to live on what the local publications pay, much less wait 60 days+ for their checks. The really sad part is that there are regionals all over the country in smaller, cheaper areas that pay far better...there's no rhyme or reason. |
