Comments for The Renegade Writer Blog

Comment on Planting Seeds by Rachel

Rachel — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:34:23 +0000

This is just what I needed to hear - excellent post, thank you!

Comment on A New Term: Writer Mills by Mark Mays

Mark Mays — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 22:22:35 +0000

Here’s the thing . . .

(Just as an aside, I made $500 for my first paid published piece, too, which was about 8 years ago. I think it’s an anomaly. However I do see the point about the slow death of print journalism)

As Gannett and other publications continue to slash and burn it’s clear that freelance opportunities are drying up (I went from 8 features a month to only 1 a month over the last 8 months, and I’m lucky I’m not one of the journalists that were laid off). With that in mind, I didn’t look to other print opportunities to shore up the missing income, I looked to the Web, because I agree the future is online . . . if the greedy bas***** can figure out a model that works.

If the market is weak for writers, especially for specialists like myself, and the Net offers nothing but mills, what are we to do? I have no desire to go from profiling A-List musicians to writing how-to pieces about interval training, but I do have a desire to save for my kids’ education.

Also, I used to write for an alt.weekly. The hourly rate was super, but in real dollars — what writing for them added to the balance sheet at the end of the month — the pay wasn’t so hot. I think talking in terms of hourly rates can mislead new writers, especially when available assignments are shrinking.

Comment on Planting Seeds by LindaFormichelli

LindaFormichelli — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 18:28:24 +0000

Thanks for your comments!

Rita, follow-ups as fertilizer…great point.

Comment on Planting Seeds by Rita Colorito

Rita Colorito — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 17:53:53 +0000

Absolutely, Linda. Well said. And while I hate to use the term “especially in this economy” it really does apply to marketing more than ever and to the business of freelancing writing more than ever. Lots of editors and publishers are in flux, so it might take even longer for these seeds (our LOIs, queries, etc) to sprout and bear fruit. Patience is definitely a crucial component, as you said, but so is following up, which you also do so well, but not every writer does. In the seeds we are planting, we should all consider our follow ups as the fertilizer.

Comment on Planting Seeds by Gwynneth

Gwynneth — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 17:32:05 +0000

Thanks for posting this article! Very timely.

Comment on A New Term: Writer Mills by Pat Curry

Pat Curry — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 14:57:21 +0000

I give props to anyone who’s making $4,000 a month writing, but man, what a way to have to do it. According to Associated Content’s Web site, their upfront payment is $1 to $20 per story. Demand Studios pays something like $15 a story. Even at $25 a story, that’s 160 stories a month — eight stories A DAY in a five-day work week — to hit $4,000. I do most of my writing for online, I’m making at least as much as Cassandra, and I’d be surprised if I write eight stories a month.

If it were me, I’d take one day a week off from cranking out copy and use it to drum up better-paying gigs. You might not wind up making any more money, but your hourly rate will soar and you’ll have some semblance of a life.

Comment on A New Term: Writer Mills by LindaFormichelli

LindaFormichelli — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 13:56:49 +0000

Cassandra, I’d rather churn out many, many fewer articles per month and earn much, much more. Print articles typically pay me $1-$2.50 per word, and even in this poor economy with “print dying” my income has remained steady. I also have the satisfaction of knowing that my articles are well-written and well-researched because I have the time to craft them that way.

Comment on A New Term: Writer Mills by Ron S. Doyle

Ron S. Doyle — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 13:53:11 +0000

Cassandra,

According to your blog, you’ve written over 1000 articles for Associated Content in the last two years. At $1/word, and let’s estimate 500 words per article, that’s over $500,000.00 that should be sitting in your bank.

That’s right, you should have earned half a million dollars for your work, over a quarter a million each year. Instead you’re making $1200 per month with Associated Content—which I assume is your current earnings for this month and not an actual monthly rate—and you must continue to slave out more content to maintain pageviews.

With all due respect, I’ll keep living in the past.

Comment on Planting Seeds by Dwayne Phillips

Dwayne Phillips — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 12:51:58 +0000

Ahhhhhhh, p a t i e n c e. I won’t label anything as “necessary” to be a writer. Patience, however, comes really close to being a necessity.

Comment on Planting Seeds by Susannah Fisher

Susannah Fisher — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 12:46:07 +0000

Oh, Linda, what a timely post! Thank you - I’m actually printing this one out and hanging it up on the bulletin board that sits right above my desk as a reminder that good gigs sometimes do come to diligent, yet patient freelancers.