What astounds me these days isn’t that the job offers are so pathetic; it’s that they are rampant across all genres.
If you’ve not noticed, far too many of my posts lately have been This Job, Not That Job posts. Why?
Because there are far too many lousy job postings lately.
This one comes from chum Devon Ellington, who writes plenty of fiction and plays. As she put it: “I love writing serial fiction, and heard great things about (publisher), so this ad pissed me off.”
As well it should. Read on:
Freelance Fiction Writer-for-Hire
(PUBLISHER), a mobile app for serialized fiction, seeks freelance writers for (FEATURE), our daily serialized stories produced in-house. Writers will be matched with a genre fiction project and be responsible for writing a minimum of 5 chapters (each 1,500 words) per week based on a detailed outline. Compensation will be $50 per chapter. This is a freelance, project-based position with long-term potential. In order to find the best writer for each project, we are reviewing prose writing samples that demonstrate your proficiency in writing serialized fiction with a strong romantic element.
Applicants should have the following skillset:
- Ability to write in a serialized style
- Ability to write fast-paced action and snappy dialogue
- Ability to write in a commercial and dramatic style
- Interest in romantic fiction and other genres with romantic elements (Paranormal, Fantasy, YA, Thriller, Historical, etc)
- Ability to write high-heat scenes
- Availability to write a minimum of 5 chapters (each 1,500 words) weekly is a requirement
Approved applicants will then be matched with a project and compensated for a sample chapter. We recommend that you read the (FEATURE) stories featured on our app to get a sense of the format, genre, heat level, and quality that we’re looking for. If you’re interested in this position, please send a PDF of your resume, a cover letter, and a prose writing sample (2,000 words in the romance genre) in your application. To learn more about PUBLISHER, please visit: (WEBSITE DELETED)
Fortunately, this one doesn’t have much to unpack, so let’s get right to it.
Writers will be matched with a genre fiction project and be responsible for writing a minimum of 5 chapters (each 1,500 words) per week based on a detailed outline.
Yes, you probably could knock out 7,500 words per week, but you do have to ask yourself if you want to. Depending on the chapter content, that could take quite a bit of time, even with the “matched with a project” mention. I’m proficient in writing, but coming up with five separate ideas in the same week could be a bit much.
Compensation will be $50 per chapter.
Oh, f&*k no, it won’t. So you kill yourself and take up all of your billable hours per week for what? $250? Is that really worth it to you?
If so, welcome to what appears to be the content mill of fiction writing.
Then there’s the laundry list of “should have” skills, which includes again that requirement of 5 chapters per week, but now adds another interesting word:
minimum
Ah. There it is. You’re being led to believe — and maybe correctly, I can’t be sure — that this job is just five chapters per week (which is already too damn much for too damn little). But now, they’re adding that minimum word, which suggests there’s going to be an increase in your output later on. Again, not sure of that, but the signs are there.
Want to sell your fiction? Try something like this instead:
Tin House Online
(note: currently not accepting submissions. Check back for updates on open calls for submissions)
—a daily blog featuring previously unpublished fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and more.
Submit only one complete story or essay (word count dependent on category), or up to three poems at a time. Multiple submissions will not be read.
Only previously unpublished works will be considered for publication. Tin House Online does accept simultaneous submissions. In the event that the work is accepted for publication elsewhere, please do us the courtesy of promptly withdrawing the submission.
Tin House Online pays as follows (varying per category):
$100 for Flash Fiction
$100 for Broadside Thirty
$300 for Nonfiction, up to 3000 words
That listing took me less than five minutes to find. While the publication is not currently seeking submissions, when they do pay, it’s more than what the five-chapters-per-week publisher wants to leash you to.
Writers, where do you find your fiction markets?
What do you think is a fair rate and for how many words/pages?
7 responses to “Free Advice Friday: This Job, Not That Job”
As someone who loves to write serialized fiction and who had hoped to create an original project for this specific publisher, I was deeply disappointed to see this ad. A well-known author acquaintance had also been courted by this publisher. The red flags went up for her, because in the conversations, it seemed as though they expected her to bring her established audience to them, rather than working with her to grow her audience in general. But now they are looking for work-for-hire package writers at content mill rates? Huge disappointment.
There’s plenty of fiction I write and sell once it’s done and polished, without advance. I sell limited rights, and I get royalties. I’m on a contract schedule with a small publisher where I get a small advance, and then royalties.
I’ve also done plenty of work-for-hire, a little for book packagers/producers, and plenty of ghostwriting. My rate is MUCH higher on those projects, that are contracted by the publisher, with an advance ahead of anything written. In fact, it’s why I stopped ghosting when contracted by the ghostee, and only contract directly with publishers at this point. The “author” for whom I’d be ghosting tried to renege on payments or lower payments EVERY SINGLE TIME. So now I only do it through the publisher, with a substantial advance. When there are no royalties, even a higher advance, because it will be a flat fee.
On the SFWA website, they explain how they rate a professional publication, and the rate. Definitely worth checking out.
This gig is as bad as that romance writer ghost gig that was going around a few months back. It’s disgusting.
We deserve better, but there will always be some wannabe who’d rather get published at contract mill rates that bring us all down, rather than learn the craft and do the work, and fight for a reasonable rate.
It’s enraging.
Devon, you’re right — it’s nothing more than a content mill.
Bear with me as I attempt to do math (with a calculator): Assuming one could knock out 7500 words in one 40-hour work week. At $50 per 1500-word chapter, that comes to a whopping $6.25/hour. Prefer per-word rates? Three-cents per word. Oh, and who do you think will retain the rights to all of that work? Probably not the writer.
More Corporate get-rich-quick schemes involving slave labor. They would use AI if they could, so the next best thing is starving artists.
Paula, they’re hoping most writers won’t do the simple math. At those rates, it would be better — both financially and respect-wise — to work in fast food.
Gianna, exactly. If there were a way to make computer-generated stories that were actually good (or even remotely decent), this ad wouldn’t be here. Pretty sure that’s a bad thing, too. I’d rather they churn out garbage using a computer than pay garbage to writers who work hard.
Lori, exactly. Writers who take low pay should purposely churn out garbage. : )
Ooo, that’s deliciously evil! I love it. 🙂