Freelance Pay

Every so often, I check to see what kinds of freelance writing jobs are available for remote writers. I check linkedin, upwork, indeed, and other sites. And frankly, I’m shocked by what some of these job listings pay content writers.

Just the other day, I ran across a listing for a blog content writer that paid $5 for 1000 words. How much does this equal per word? Well, not much. Divide $5 by 1000 and you get .005. That’s one tenth of 5 cents! I don’t know any writer who would write for that pay.

In the late 1980s, Rob and I started as freelance magazine writers. This meant sending out a number of queries each month  to various publications (in the days before the Internet). Even back then, most of these magazines paid AT LEAST 5 cents a word, many paid 10 and 15 cents a word.  Magazines like OMNI paid a buck a word.

Writing anything isn’t just about putting one word after another onto a page. If it’s fiction, there are characters to consider, plot, motives, emotions, descriptions, conflict, you know, the stuff of  ordinary life. If it’s non-fiction, what’s the hook? The purpose?

Writers are like architects. But instead of brick and mortar,  wood and nails, they build with words, sentences, paragraphs that convey ideas, emotions, experience, humanity in all its complexities.

Stephen King, for his first book – Carrie  – was paid only $2,500. Not much in any era. Not enough for him to quit his job teaching. But up until them, it was the most he’d made from writing.

JK Rowling, for her first Harry Potter book, was paid about $2000- 1500 pounds, along with a grant of 8000 pounds from the Scottish Arts Council. With both her and King, passion for stories kept them writing. That’s true for the  writers I know personally and it doesn’t matter if it’s fiction or non-fiction.

So, is that passion worth half a cent a word?

That depends on the writer.