Bulletin Board Blab 5.26.06
Here are the topics hottest on the boards:
“Someone contacted me through a referral asking me to do a 125-page informational booklet for advisors to give to their clients. It would be about 480 words a page. He said that other freelancers have charged in the ‘very low four figure amounts.’ I am not sure what that means. How much should I ask for this job? It is supposed to take two weeks to complete.”
“I was wondering if you experienced editors could give me some short insight into what editors (whether it be at magazines, newspapers, etc.) really expect from writers they work with.
I’m pretty familiar with the fact that us writers are not always perfect, and that we can sometimes hand in material that contains grammatical errors, confusing sentences or paragraphs, and even spelling errors.
Though every time I hand in an article, I’m always thinking that certain changes in my wording, sentence structure and other parts of the piece mean I did a less-than-adequate job….even when, realistically, it was a decent job.
“I have a question that I probably should have asked a long time ago. I am currently doing freelance copy-editing/proofreading work for a “small” publishing company (it’s international but supposedly considered small compared to other publishers of similar subjects). They paid me per page at a rate that was really low (which they set; it’s gone up a little since I started), but I took it as I was desperate to get my foot in the door and get more experience–I only have about 2 years of it now. How much should I be getting per page with my experience? I read somewhere that per-page rates can range from $1 to $3, but the experience level wasn’t specified. I’d appreciate any advice–Thank you!”
“I just graduated with a bachelor’s degree in business and am having the WORST time finding a media/entertainment job. I have done several internships (with well-known companies), but all the job postings I see on this site and others require YEARS of experience.
I am looking into NYC temp agencies now. Is this my only option?”
Join Baratunde Thurston (left), The Onion’s Director of Digital and author of How to Be Black, for an entertaining look at creative social media campaigns in our 
