The rush of information and comments following my appeal to freelancers to let me know what they are paid and how they are treated continues. Here is a table summarising the latest data. It adds to the one published on this blog yesterday.

Underneath this are some of the comments received in my Inbox today. Keep it coming to margaret@margaretsimons.com.au

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Last week I used my blog to ask freelance journalists to nominate what they are being paid by different publications. The result was overwhelming. There were 103 responses with information coming in about over 50 publications, lift outs, online sites and magazines.

I have summarised all this information in a table, which you can see here. It covers more than 50 publications, including newspapers, magazines and online. I am not claiming it as the last word, and do feel free to keep sending information to me (on a confidential basis) at margaret@margaretsimons.com.au. I will update as necessary.

The good news is that the top of the market is $1 to $1.25 a word, and there are a few publications paying this amount.

The middle of the market is between 50c and 70c a word. The most  common payments are in this range.

And the bottom of the market? Zilch. Nothing. Rank exploitation.

Conclusions? Some publications are ripping writers off and being less than honest. While responses suggest that certain magazine houses have fairly fixed and consistent rates of pay, other publications – and Fairfax newspapers in particular – are all over the shop. Read More »

Mark Day’s column in The Australian today makes a few good points, but includes a few fundamental misunderstandings of how the internet works. He is alleging the internet leads to a double standard, in that things are allowed online that are not allowed in old media.

Now, when it comes to the viler forms of pornography I don’t have much disagreement with him. If you can make laws banning child porn enforceable, then they should be enforced no matter what the medium.

And I have no problem with the laws of defamation, copyright and so on and so forth applying irrespective of medium. The challenge is the enforcement, not the principle. Read More »

What a response! Last week I used the blog to ask freelancers to provide me with information – with all anonymity preserved – on what different publications pay for contributors’ copy. The inbox has been inundated with information, starting as a trickle moments after the blog post appeared, and building to a gush by lunchtime. I now have over 100 responses, and am trying to write it all up in understandable form.

Keep it coming. 

Meanwhile the Media Alliance – the journalists’ union – has stated that its recommended freelance rate of 89 cents a word or $219 an hour is:

Based on a J5 Grade under the Metro Daily award (an amalgam of the Fairfax Media and News Ltd J5 graded rates) and is based on the assumption that a freelancer can producer two 1000-word features in a week – it also includes provision for annual leave, sick leave, etc plus costs related to running a freelance business (not including superannuation). The recommended rate is increased on January 1 each year based on the average percentage pay increase set down in the Fairfax and News Ltd agreements.

But does anyone actually get that amount? A Media Alliance survey of freelancers conducted in 2008 found that one in five earned $300 a week or less from their craft – although there were also sizable proportions earning amounts of between $1000 and $3000.  The Alliance found that corporations and governments were the best payers, followed by big publishing houses. Australian Consolidated Press was the best payer after Government, closely followed by Fairfax. At the time of the survey, Fairfax was paying an average of 65c a word, with some contributors getting $1.10, and News Limited was paying an average of .54 cents a word, peaking at $1 a word.Here’s the table of wordage and hourly rates,  compiled by the Alliance,  but sadly I fear their information is out of date, and misses out some of the higher payers.

Patience, I will get the data from my call for info up ASAP. 

In my previous post, I called for information on what freelancers are being paid by different publications. There has been quite a lot of response, and I will write it up soon. In the meantime, I had three freelancers ask me for tips on how to get paid – at all. Sadly, they felt too embarrassed to ask for money, and were hoping that editors would simply do the right thing. I fear they will be waiting a long while. Here is the guts of my standard response to these queries: Read More »