All about freelancing archive

2022 Freelance Science Writer Compensation Survey

This report is a NASW member resource. Log in with your member credentials to access this survey report.

Press Credential Statement

NASW urges conference organizers to accept NASW membership as a sufficient credential for granting press privileges to freelance writers at scientific, technical, and medical conferences.

Is Magazine X late in paying you again? Unsure how much to charge for Project Y? We've all been there. We've collected some strategies for dealing with these situations — and preventing them in the first place. We even have some example emails you can send to editors, for different situations. Available to NASW members only.

Member compensation survey results

Results are now available from the NASW-funded Science Writers Compensation Survey, conducted by the Freelance Committee. NASW members can check out the Spring 2014 issue of ScienceWriters magazine for a summary of results or use the "read more" link for details on the survey and a link to the full report and two tables of highlights. Thank you to all the volunteers who worked on this project during the last year.

Order the Science Writers’ Handbook

It isn't being published until April, but you can order this NASW-funded guide now at a discount from Amazon.com by using this NASW bookstore link. In the Science Writers’ Handbook, 35 science writers "share their hard-won wisdom and illuminating stories, going beyond the basics to cover everything else you need to survive and thrive as a science writer." Also, direct orders for 10% off the cover price will be available soon to NASW members.

Sallie Randolph handout

Handout from ScienceWriters2012 session: "Freelancing is a Business — Tips for New and Experienced Freelancers

From freelance journalist to digital entrepreneur

The digital media age serves up uncertainty as well as opportunity. One solution to the anemic job pool for science writers is to grow beyond journalism into entrepreneurship, specifically into digital publishing. Training for this kind of career growth is exactly what the Knight Digital Media Center offers in its intensive, weeklong workshop called Independent Journalist. From the Fall 2011 ScienceWriters.

Get a handle on home-office deductions

Thinking of taking a home office as a tax deduction? Not so fast, says ScienceWriters columnist Julian Block. Just because you can walk 20 feet from your bedroom to your work area and conduct business in your bathrobe doesn’t mean the nook with the computer qualifies as a bona fide office. Excerpted from the Summer 2011 issue.

An update on copyright class actions

An appeals court has (for a second time) tried to reject settlement of a long-running U.S. Copyright class action suit over unauthorized use of freelance magazine articles in data bases. Meanwhile, if you have written for Canadian magazines or newspapers, you should check out terms of a Canadian class-action settlement for similar unauthorized use of freelance articles. For details, see this update from NASW member Jeff Hecht.