This is a public-interest archive. Personal data is pseudonymized and retained under GDPR Article 89.

Re: Freelance contract

>I think what you're not grasping is the feeling among writers that they are losing ground--making less money for the same amount of work as the years go on. <

Nan, I'm fully aware of that problem. I've been a fulltime freelancer since 1980. That's all I do---along with associated work, such as my email corresponence course in how to freelance.

And, like you, gardening is only one of the things I write about---and certainly not the most lucrative. I'll write about any subject for anyone prepared to cut a check in the right amount. To me, the pinacle of English prose is found in the words, "pay to the order of."

But you have to choose your battles. And I don't think this contract is the place to fight. That Boston group just spent how many years in a futile effort? And ticked off their markets in the process. So what did they gain out of it? I don't know the parties involved, but I'd be willing to bet they never sell another word to the Boston Globe.

I don't know what the average per word payments were, then or now. I never pay attention to that, because the only meaningful measurement is time. That $350 column I mentioned was a better media than any mainstream magazine precisely because of the hourly rate. If I could get that steady I'd probably only work two days a week. :-)

I'm very glad you were able to crack Reader's Digest, Time Inc, etc. But the fact is they do not represent typical freelance markets, either. To say that the second rights markets have dried up, and then cite non-typical markets overstates the case. In an average year about 1/3 my income comes from resales and shorts & fillers. If anything, this is a slightly higher percentage than when I first started, because I didn't realize, at first, how much money can be made reselling the same stories.

I'm curious, too, about the logistics of Time providing medical coverage to a freelancer. How did that work?

At any rate, as I said repeatedly, every writer has to make his/her own business decisions. For me, well, I just can't get excited about giving up rights that weren't important in the first place---such as granting electronic rights to a newspaper so it can post on its own webpage.

Finally, I do not have the knee-jerk reaction that many writers and photographers do to the words "work for hire." If the check is big enough, they can own it, and I'll go on to another project.


Brook



_______________________________________________
gardenwriters mailing list
gardenwriters@lists.ibiblio.org
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/gardenwriters

GWL has searchable archives at:
http://www.hort.net/lists/gardenwriters

Send photos for GWL to gwlphotos@hort.net to be posted
at: http://www.hort.net/lists/gwlphotos

Post gardening questions/threads to
"Organic-Gardening" <organic-gardening@lists.ibiblio.org>

For GWL website and Wiki, go to
http://www.ibiblio.org/gardenwriters
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index