Comments on: Worthy Tip: Use Your Head

By: Lori

Lori — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 12:23:32 +0000

Ashley, if you write an article about staring at the wall for an hour in protest, I bet you could get more than 25 cents for it. :)

I remember getting Glimmer Train's first issue and invite to submit. I didn't back then, but I was duly impressed with what they were trying to put together. Proof that lit mags CAN do well with a bit of planning and effort.

Agreed on all counts, Devon.

By: Devon Ellington

Devon Ellington — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 12:12:54 +0000

There are a lot of prominent lit mags that don't pay, and a lot of struggling but good mags that don't pay their writers or their staff.

I can understand a start-up with a great idea and trying to get grants (many lit mags are sponsored by universities who apply for funding -- yet they teach their students that their writing isn't worth anything).

If the mag starts out not paying and then works its way into paying and then paying higher, I'm all for it. Places like GLIMMER TRAIN pay very well, in fact, at this point. But when a magazine has been around 5, 10, more years and STILL doesn't pay? Something's wrong with that scenario.

I appreciate a lit mag that makes an effort to pay SOMETHING rather than NOTHING, but I also feel that, after a certain number of years and advertisers and grants, they need to up the pay scale for everyone -- staff and writers.

By: Ashley

Ashley — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 19:57:18 +0000

That's really horrific. I can find a million things better to do for free for an hour, even if it's just staring at the wall. Even if you were desperate for money, what will that 25 cents buy you? A stick of gum? Yea, I'll keep my hour, thanks!

By: Lori

Lori — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 17:43:07 +0000

And Krista, you might make more at the recycling center for all that aluminum. :)

Superb point - connect with the right people and you've built a great foundation for a career. It's not hard. It takes trying different things and really networking, but it's not hard.

You're welcome, Jake. :) That's the kind of byline I get excited about, too. LOL

Paula, great ideas! I hope to have the time to put that together. Could work quite well!

By: Krista

Krista — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 17:31:20 +0000

For 25 cents an hour I'd just go pick up cans on the side of the road. At least then I wouldn't have to pay tax on it.

I think I got extremely lucky in that one of my very first freelance contracts was also one of my highest paying. I knew right from the start that it was possible to make a good wage if I could connect with the right people.

By: Paula

Paula — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 15:18:26 +0000

Oh – I got off track, as usual. I meant we could target the places that post job and market listings by encouraging them not to include listings that don't meet certain criteria – a minimum acceptable per-word or per-assignment rate, and a minimum acceptable hourly rate.

By: Paula

Paula — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 15:15:04 +0000

Maybe for next year's Writers' Worth Week it might be interesting to target various legitimate writers' e-zines and websites that share market and job listings. A lot of them have limits - maybe the listings have to pay at least 10-cents a word; maybe they have a "no content farm" policy; one won't list jobs that pay less than $10/hour (and even then stresses how low that is). But how often do you see listings at those places that are $1/word or more? Not very.

Granted, the number of markets paying over $1/word isn't huge, but sometimes I get the feeling that the writers posting those weekly listings hoard the better paying markets for themselves and only share low- and mid-level markets. (Yet another reason to ignore job listings.)

By: Jake P

Jake P — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 15:11:33 +0000

Thanks for the hat tip, Lori!

I long ago stopped caring about seeing my name in print (other than in the "PAY TO THE ORDER OF" line on the check). Even my mom doesn't care anymore, ha.

In any event, I think it's a pernicious combination of name-in-print and not-resourceful-enough. I liken it to the girls who go to Hollywood to become actresses, but resign themselves to "I'll wait tables and get discovered." Newsflash: No one is a good enough writer to simply "get discovered," and plenty of hacks make a ton of dough. There's a happy medium in there somewhere, but you gotta hustle at least a little bit.

By: Lori

Lori — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 15:07:46 +0000

Shocking, isn't it Wade? What shocks me most is that people accept this kind of mistreatment willingly. I know times are tough – they're not THAT tough!

By: Wade Finnegan

Wade Finnegan — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 15:01:39 +0000

The chart was unbelievable. What is wrong with American writers? I was looking over the Writer's Market and the lowest rate was about 25 cents a word, so these other writers weren't included in their survey. I concur with Lori that these writers aren't professionals. Unfortunately, they give true professionals a bad name. The idea to take away from all of this is don't settle for less. Do the work, dig around, and fine the good paying markets. It's not easy. I'm struggling with it right now, but I'm not going to work for peanuts regardless of how desperate I am.