I just got the "Editorial Freelancers Association Rates and Business Practices Survey," which is based on 233 responses to their membership questionnaire.

This is the best survey of writers' income that I know of, and it's great for benchmarking. The *National Writers Union Guide to Freelance Rates and Practices* has some good general guidelines, but doesn't go into as much detail, and isn't as current, as the EFA survey.

Most of the members are in New York, and most of them are book editors, proofreaders or rewriters, who make a median of about $25-30 an hour, and a median annual income of $30,000.

But there was a cluster of 27 magazine writers, who seem to be doing the kind of work I do. Their median income was $20/hour. I don't think the EFA would mind if I used a reviewer's perogative to cite the data in this one table for magazine publishing:

Apparently, according to this table, one writer reported making $500 per hour.

Another respondent reported making $448,000 a year--but in my understanding that's gross, not net, income, and was probably a book packager or somebody who passed much of that along to freelance subcontractors.

Another respondent reported apparently $156,045 income and $156,000 in unpaid debts by a client--for a net of $45 annual income. 9% reported that one or more clients failed to pay. Only 11% had to wait more than 1 month for payment.

I don't want to give any more away, but this survey is a goldmine of information for freelance writers. It gives you an idea of what people are making, and which areas of writing are profitable (e.g. $75/hour for brochures). There's a tremendous diversity of writing markets.

In the last survey, Laurie Lewis, a medical writer, analyzed the responses and found that respondents who lowered their rates when work was slow, made less total income than respondents who did not. This suggests that it's a bad strategy to lower your rates.

The Editorial Freelancers Association (71 W. 23 St., Suite 1504, NY 10010, (212) 929-5400, (212) 929-5439 (fax)) sells copies of the survey to non-members.

They didn't indicate a price. They charge a lot. (And they should. You don't survive long as a freelancer if you don't know how to price your work at its full value.) Instead of buying the survey, it's probably more efficient to join the EFA directly, for $95 a year, and get a copy of the survey along with membership. I made my $95 back several times over every time somebody finds my name in their directory and calls me to offer me work (which happens frequently).