Survey Says
Have you wondered if the experiences of your fellow freelancers is similar to yours? Check out these freelance survey results, out of the University of Nevada, Reno. The entirety of the study is not yet available but this is an interesting preliminary look:
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: SURVEY OF FREELANCE JOURNALISTS
Doresa Banning, M.A.
doresabanning@sbcglobal.net
University Of Nevada, Reno
A Web-based survey of U.S. freelance journalists was conducted in Fall 2004. Data were collected for 605 surveys but analyzed for 473 cases, excluding incomplete surveys, respondents who primarily wrote fiction, respondents who worked outside the United States and respondents who did not consider freelancing their primary job. The survey addressed three areas: freelance journalists’ demographics, their work and career patterns, and their attitudes towards freelancing.
Demographics
In general, the typical freelance journalist is female (73.2% of respondents). She is, on average, 49 years old (65.1% fell between the ages of 40 and 60) and white (93.2% of respondents). She is married (65% of respondents) with at least one child (57.5% of respondents). She is highly educated, holding a college degree or higher (91.8% of respondents). She lives in a large metropolitan area-population of 1+ million (51.8% of respondents) in the Mid-Atlantic (33.2% of respondents). She has health insurance through her spouse (42.9% of respondents). She most often is paid by the piece (37.4% of respondents). She earns an annual gross income between $40,000 and $49,999. The following table presents reported gross salaries broken down into $50,000 increments.
Salary of Respondents in $50,000 Increments,
Salary, Number/(%)
Less than $50,000 306 (68.9%)
$50,000 to $99,999 106 (23.9%)
$100,000 to $149,000 18 (4.0%)
$150,000 to $199,999 9 (2.1%)
$200,000 to $249,000 5 (1.1%)
Work and career patterns
Most freelance journalists consider freelancing a long-term career (91.3% of respondents) and do not hold second jobs (77.8% of respondents). The majority quit jobs to pursue freelance journalism (56.2% of respondents), most often a media job (59.8% of respondents), but did not relocate to do so (92.8% of respondents). The average respondent has freelanced 14 years and considers getting started somewhat difficult. Becoming established as a freelancer required four to five years on average. The most common steps they took to become established were networking, sending out queries and cold contacts. Freelance journalists work full-time, 30 to 40 hours per week, writing most often for consumer magazines (68.7% of respondents) and newspapers (39.3% of respondents). They have at least one area of expertise in which they write regularly.
Attitudes
The vast majority of freelance journalists prefers self-employment (92.0% of respondents) and is very satisfied with freelancing. The aspects of freelancing they like the best are being their own bosses (51.6% of respondents), setting their own hours (48.0% of respondents), and working at home (36.8% of respondents). In contrast, the three aspects they dislike the most are the financial insecurity (64.1% of respondents), the rate of pay (44.4% of respondents), and workload fluctuations (37.2% of respondents).
The biggest challenges that freelance journalists face are finding new markets for their work (55.0% of respondents), landing assignments (50.1% of respondents), selling themselves (43.4% of respondents), negotiating (32.3% of respondents), balancing life and work (24.3% of respondents), and getting paid (24.3% of respondents).
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