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Writers'
pay stay the same as publishers' income soars
 March
27, 2000 - As advertising earnings -- the principal source of income for
most consumer magazines -- set new revenue growth records from 1998 to
1999, writers did not share in the bonanza. According to information from
the venerable Writer's Market, the fee offered to freelancers by
publishers for articles remained unchanged.
In the random sample of consumer magazines we scrutinized, not a single
magazine reported making any changes to their freelancer pay scales from
1998 to 1999. All numbers were exactly the same.
The twenty magazines we included in our sample - and their reported pay
per word rates - are:
| Magazine |
1998 |
1999 |
| American Homestyle
& Gardening |
$1.20 |
$1.20 |
| Boys' LIfe |
$1.00 |
$1.00 |
| Cooking Light |
$1.00 |
$1.00 |
| Family Circle |
$1.00 |
$1.00 |
| Metropolitan
Home |
$1.00 |
$1.00 |
| Outdoor Life |
$1.00 |
$1.00 |
| Smithsonian |
$1.00 |
$1.00 |
| Arizona Highways |
$0.55 |
$0.55 |
| Glamour |
$0.50 |
$0.50 |
| Popular Woodworking |
$0.42 |
$0.42 |
| National Parks |
$0.40 |
$0.40 |
| California Journal |
$0.33 |
$0.33 |
| Texas Parks
& Wildlife |
$0.24 |
$0.24 |
| American History |
$0.20 |
$0.20 |
| Cat Fancy |
$0.13 |
$0.13 |
| Astronomy |
$0.11 |
$0.11 |
| American Jewish
World |
$0.10 |
$0.10 |
| Catholic Digest |
$0.08 |
$0.08 |
| New Moon |
$0.08 |
$0.08 |
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|
| Average pay
per word: |
$0.57 |
$0.57 |
Most often there
was a range given, both in pay and in the requested length of articles.
Our standard procedure was to use the higher number in both cases, so
that we arrived at a single per word rate.
To arrive at a totally random sample we employed the most random device
known to humankind, a teenager. We borrowed the neighbor's son and asked
him to open a drawer in our files and pull a magazine out. It took a little
doing (and bribes) to arrive at a list of twenty titles, which were included
in the Writer's Market both years and listed actual dollar amounts
and article lengths. Fortunately, our teenager's patience (and our bribes)
didn't run out until we had a complete list.
Jocularity aside, the results are dead serious for those who try to make
a living providing what all publishers want: "Content".
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