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Subject:RE: pay per word From:"John Locke" <mail -at- freelock -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Wed, 20 Jun 2001 22:40:50 -0700
NC Techwriter asks,
> > Anybody have any idea what a good rate for pay per
> > > word is?
And John Posada responds...
> Run away. Run very fast. Not good. Sweatshops work this way. There
> must be a reason.
>
>[snip]
>
> OK, if you insist...how about a dollar per word?
Actually, a dollar a word is a medium rate, at least in the national
magazine market. Other, non-tech-writing writing gigs often pay by the word.
$1/word is basically the bottom rate for writers successfully making a
living off of publishing--though that's usually for the assigned word count,
with a margin of about 10% either way.
Regional/special interest publications often pay around 35 cents per word,
but with any kind of portfolio, you should be able to get to around $1/word.
$2/word is not unusual for business/corporate writing, and as the writing
gets shorter (as in advertising copy), I've heard of rates as high as
$3-4/word.
This from my experience writing magazine articles, five or six years back...
You don't get paid for your time, or for multiple drafts... Oh, but also pay
attention to the rights you're selling, especially if you're getting less
than $1/word--you can probably sell the same words elsewhere! Generally,
more rights mean more $$$--another reason corporate writing is often in the
$2-$4 range...
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