28 June 1995
EFA95\NWURATES.MS
475 words
Twenty dollars invested in this book should more than pay for itself. For example:
A high-end trade magazine offers me $500 to write a 1,000-word article. How much are they really willing to pay? From this book I would calculate $500-1,000, maybe $1,250.
Look at the rates the magazine charges its own advertisers, the Guide advises. Trade magazines charging $20,000 an ad page pay a "prevalent range" of $.50-1.00 a word, sometimes $1.25. That's 2.5-5% of the page rate. Trade magazines with lower ad rates pay higher percentages, up to 15%. They can't get writers for under $.25 a word, even if their page rate is under $5,000. Professional publications also pay higher percentages.
But the high-end consumer magazines with $200,000 page rates top out at only $1 or $2 a word, sometimes $3, which is 0.5-1.5%. Writer's rates aren't proportional to ad rates, but there is a strong relationship, and this book's tables show you the range a magazine is in.
This book is based on an extensive survey of writers. The NWU has always been telling us to cross out "all rights" and insert "one-time North American print rights" in our contracts. Now they can say that 80% of magazines ask for syndication, electronic and other rights, but less than 50% insist on it. However, only half the magazines pay kill fees.
Strangely, the median annual freelance writing income in this survey was $6,000-10,000 (with 30% under $2,000 and 15% over $30,000). In contrast, the 1992 EFA Professional Practices Survey reported median freelance income of $25,000 (with 25% under $10,000 and 30% over $30,000). These are obviously different populations. Writing is not the primary income of many Union members.
The book publishing section deals with advances, royalties, and contracts in similar detail. Tables give earnings for books of different types, and tell you, for example, that 95% of fiction hardcover contracts give royalties based on a percentage of list price and 5% are based on wholesale.
Other sections deal with high-paying markets of ghost-writing, technical and corporate writing; and low-paying markets of literary magazines and academic writing. Chapters on the politics of writing are mostly on the left--and rightly so. Republican policies, like the sabotage of Clinton's modest health reforms, hurt writers in particular. But the Union fights censorship from left and right.
To some writers, the NWU's aggressive negotiating positions are abrasive and unrealistic. This practical book shows you how to pull it off, and sometimes get a better deal than you thought possible. The NWU Standard Journalism Contract is reprinted.
"Always ask for more money," they advise. "You will be surprised how often you will succeed."
--Norman Bauman