Funny that, Paula. You stuck to your price point and here you are. They cheapened up and where are they? LOL I think that’s the best lesson any writer can take away from that story. You don’t survive if you cave in!

Doesn’t it, Joy? It’s the moment when you understand their lack of compromise is a lack of respect.

This had to be about 20 years ago, and a business newsletter that had been paying me 50-cents/word (which back then wasn’t bad) per 500-word article was bought out by a new publisher. My editor was fired, and the new editor tried to assign something. She focused on the fact they they wanted longer articles—600 words—so they’d need more sources. (She wanted me to include 12 sources in a 600-word piece, I told her that was too many people for one piece—their titles and company names would eat up most of the word count.) When she mentioned the new pay rate was 10¢/word, I burst into laughter. She attempted to justify the lower rate because it was such an “easy” job (12 interviews? easy?). I wished her a sarcastic “good luck with that” and hung up.

That publication folded. I think the company did, too. I’m still here.

As they should! They use those standard contracts and, while indemnity matters for lots of other contractors, who are able to get the insurance coverage required, it doesn’t always apply to writers. And good luck finding an insurance company that will cover you for the usual $2 million in liability that these contracts state!