What Is Your Freelance Writing Rate
Writing jobs are evaporating for many reasons, but freelance rates were really bad long before AI came around.
When I celebrated a decade of writing on Medium, many people reached out to share their stories of writing success. Reading about how The Writing Cooperative inspired confidence and helped people achieve their writing goals was so cool!
A few people who have been around since the early days even recounted getting paid by The Writing Cooperative. Our early payment model launched before Medium's Partner Program, giving many writers their first writing payments. While our rates were limited by Patreon income, it helped writers believe in themselves.
One person shared that those early payments helped the writer start seeking other paying gigs, and now, they're capturing $1 per word. I'm really happy for this person and anyone willing to chase their dreams!
While my experience in the freelance arena was short-lived, most writing gigs paid fractions of a penny per word. It wasn't uncommon to see rates of $5 to $10 for a 1,000-word piece. Achieving $1 per word or higher was the ultimate goal.
I can't even imagine what freelance writing rates look like in today's world of generative AI and a collapsing media industry. It's really hard to fathom how they could have gotten worse from the already low point pre-AI.
What if I told you that $1 per word was the same rate Ernest Hemingway garnered in 1944?
Hemingway signed a fresh contract with Collier’s in early 1944 that would pay him $3,000 per 2,500- to 3,500-word article and cover “reasonable expenses.”
According to a 2019 Columbia Journalism Review article, Hemingway was ultimately offered $1,000 for each story he filed, which reduced the rate from $1 per word to $0.33 per word. When adjusted for inflation, however, that $1,000 paycheck was $14,000 in today's money. I don't know about you, but I'd take a $14,000 paycheck for 3,000 words in a heartbeat.
My experience paying writers in The Writing Cooperative exposed a truth about the writing industry: There isn't enough money to go around. In those early days, we kept 30% to cover our overhead. But even with 70% going directly to writers, our funds were limited, and there were a lot of writers to pay.
As the attention economy crumbles and ad revenue dries up, I'm sure that writing rates will continue to fall. There isn't enough money in the industry for everyone who deserves a cut. Thankfully, subscription models are a potential solution.
I know people are fed up with how many subscriptions we all carry. However, directly supporting writers and artists you enjoy is essential to keeping them afloat. Most writers aren't getting paid much, if anything, for their writing, and a subscription makes a huge difference.
As someone who offers subscriptions, I'm not naive enough to think everyone should pay. Writing should not be limited to those with means. However, I do think it's important for those who can and are willing to pay writers for their time.
Ironically, being a patron of the arts is practically ancient. Yet, thanks to the platforms trying to capture our attention and our dollars, we've been led to believe that directly paying writers is gauche. It's not. It's a time-honored way to ensure artists can continue to create.
I pay many writers/publications because I enjoy their writing and want to help enable them to continue doing so. It's a little selfish of me because I benefit from their continued writing. I also know that I can help enable these writers to continue publishing by paying them.
We pay for all kinds of things we enjoy. We should also pay writers.
