There are three things certain in life: death, taxes, and the freelance writing rate. I remember, back in 1987, getting paid R1.50 per word to write an article for a financial publication. Now it may be that I was commanding a premium rate because of my vast knowledge of the financial markets, but I rather doubt it. I was still getting R1.50 a word in 1992 and here we are in 2002 and the freelance rate per word is…. surprise…..R1.50.
I am not about to ride into battle on behalf of freelance contributors, you will be relieved to read. In fact, I am heartily sick of listening to some of my fellow scribes complain about the low freelance rate. My callous advice is always the same: ask for more money and if you don’t get it find another job.
The point is that all freelancers are not equal. Some deserve (and get) far more than the going rate, although their employers beg them not to brag about it for fear of upsetting the rest. That is about as nave as asking a Hollywood star not to mention the huge amount of dollars they are getting paid for a movie. One ubiquitous local writer claims, Naomi Campbell style, that he doesn’t turn his computer on for less than R8 a word. It may be complete crap, of course, but the claim achieves two objectives: it publicly puts a price on his work and it irritates fellow hacks who are earning nothing like that and are green with envy.
Other freelancers of my acquaintance are prepared to shrug off the lousy R1.50 per word rate in exchange for exotic all-expenses-paid freebies. Having myself been on a few jaunts that were easily worth R100,000, I must admit that I am more than happy on such occasions to virtually give away my shimmering prose.
Journalism, I have found to my amazement, is a tall poppy syndrome environment. Coming from a background of financial markets, where the best are rewarded handsomely and the useless chucked out, I find it hard to get used to the high tolerance for mediocrity within the newspaper and magazine industry. A look at the content of some of the magazines on our shelves tells a pitiful tale. Evidently, the reason so many magazines exist in such a small market is due to our collective acceptance of the lowest common denominator as the benchmark of quality. Yes, some freelancers get paid as little as R1 a word but it shows in the writing. Management are happy because they are publishing on a shoestring and, providing the advertising doesn’t dry up, will make a small profit, albeit at the expense of quality.
While this situation continues, the chances of freelance rates rising are virtually nil. Publishers generally couldn’t give a fig about the quality of the writing (that’s if they even bother to read their own magazines, which I doubt) just as long as the bottom line looks OK. They would rather pay someone just out of Rhodes the lowest rate possible than court an established writer costing more.
Which is all rather sad for the industry because it can only mean that quality will suffer in the end. Like everything in life you get what you pay for. The reasoning that R1.50 a word is already generous on the basis of “how long can it take to write 700 words” seems prevalent in the industry. Actually, it takes very little time to write 700 words….it’s getting them in the right order that takes all the time and effort. Some people do that better than others.