Comments on: Perks Are More Than Just Coffee

By: Joseph Hayes

Joseph Hayes — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 22:41:36 +0000

Unfortunately, freelancers gotta ... free. Editors know there's a dozen people within cat-swing who will do the job for pennies, and it doesn't seem to matter that what you get for nothing is nothing. I know one editor who spent a year doing multiple rewrites on a dreadful writer's work rather than pay more for someone who could actually do the job -- perhaps it's their insecurities we're fighting against, not our own.

In any case, creatives seem to be dealt with as "oh I suppose we have to use you, but you're the bottom of the pay stack, so get used to it." Actors in town will work for peanuts (almost literally) just for a chance to act. I stunned a musician I'd asked to play in a show I was producing when I said, "And we'll pay you."

It seems the only artistic people who get away with asking for, and receiving, respectful rates are designers. Let's ask them how they do it.

By: Paula

Paula — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 15:19:51 +0000

One reason I said "get" instead of "earn" is because every writer I know puts in enough effort to earn far more than what we're paid.

I wish there were a way to enforce union pay rates for writers. Other unions have real power - a threat to cease work carries more weight for teachers, autoworkers, etc... In writing, publishers just go out and find one of those people willing to work for pennies on the dollar, which drives down rates for all writers. It's a twisted cyclical thing.

Even copywriters' incomes are being jeopardized by the plethora of bidding sites. Not all businesses will go with the lowest bidder, but desperately low bids still bring down the average amount those businesses will be willing to pay.

I really like Devon's last sentence, above: "That doesn't mean working for crap rate, but it means seeing how every single project fits into your overeall career."

That's definitely what I try to bear in mind each and every day.

By: devonellington

devonellington — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 12:35:36 +0000

Since I only worked in the 9-5 world as a temp, learning early that I could not function well in an office environment, I never had to give up perks.

We don't get bonuses in theatre; we do get raises, as per our union contract, but they are under the cost of living most of the time.

What we get to do is pick and choose our clients. We get to look at a publication; if we're passionate about it, they treat us well, and, in the big picture, working for them serves the overall career, there's wiggle room in the rate to a certain extent, for a short period of time.

If a client offers a rate we don't like and we feel there's not enough outside of the money to make it worth our while, we don't take the gig.

We need to stop buying into the mind-set that because print publications are struggling, we have to play by their rules. One of the reasons they're struggling is because the content has gone so far downhill because they're not always hiring the best people, and their subscribers feel the publication is no longer a necessity.

Let those publications fail. Let new, inventive publications rise out of the ashes, publications that offer outstanding content and treat their writers well.

It's cyclical. It takes time, but it will happen.

I'm delighted that there are lots of people who love niche-specific work. That means I don't have to worry about it, and I just hunt down and land assignments in a variety of fields that interest me.

I weigh each opportunity individually across a wide range of factors, and I see how it fits in with my overall vision of my Body of Work.

Everytime I've made a decison based SOLELY on finanical factors, either positive or negative, I've regretted it.

That doesn't mean working for crap rate, but it means seeing how every single project fits into your overeall career.

By: Eileen

Eileen — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 11:59:19 +0000

Lori, you said it yourself. "We try to combat this by setting our own rates. That works well until you get to magazines."

That's precisely why I don't write for magazines, with one exception. I have one gig writing executive profiles that works out to about $150-$200 an hour because I can work so quickly. But other than that, magazines are simply not worth my time. All my other work is niche-specific copy, and if someone doesn't want to pay my rates, I just move on to the next prospect.