How much do i have to pay for someone to write a journalism/newspaper/magazine articl

Hello,

WARNING: PLEASE DONT TELL ME IT COSTS MORE THAN 0.05 CENTS PER WORD

I need to know, if i need an article VERY similar to this: http://www.thestar.com/article/124850

how much would it cost me.

Yes, i mean hiring a professional with a journalism degree etc. etc.

THANKS.

PLEASE NO ONE COME ON HERE AND TELL ME THEY CAN DO IT FOR 20 DOLLARS. MANY PEOPLE IN THE SECTION THINK THEY CAN "WING" JUST ABOUT ANYTHING. NO YOU CANT. IF YOU HAVENT STUDIED JOURNALISM OR IF YOU HAVENT BEEN EMPLOYED FOR MIN 5 YEARS, THEN YOU CANT DO IT. JUST ADMIT IT.

The article does seem very simple, and it does look like anyone can do this but NO NO AND NO. You cant.

Thanks.

 

any more demands?--

 

No, thats it. I promise.

 

I think you'll find most professionals with journalism degrees will be looking for more than $0.05 per word. I'm sorry you didn't want to hear that....

Rebecca

 

You obviously have no idea why i said that.

I said that becuase the trend on this board seems to be that everytime someone asks how much professional article writing costs, the answer, "more than 0.05 cents per word".

You just did the exact same mistake.

I ask how much it is to write and article like that, and you say more than 0.05 cents per word. You didnt tell me how much it would cost. You gave me a lower bound. So it could cost anywhere x>0.05 cents per word, it could cost 6 cents per word, 25 cents per word, or 75 cents per word.

 

It really depends how much the journalist is willing to sell his/her time for

 

I agree with gr8liverpoolfan ~ pricing varies a lot from person person

And I also believe that most charge per hour not per word.

abc1234.

 

I understand your frustration. Many "professionals" try and wing-it when all they know about copywriting is what they have read online and what they picked up in english class at school.

I own a UK copywriting agency and for journalism your prices are bang-on. We personally charge .025 GBP so this translates as exactly the same price that you quote as being your maximum. We are also a company with expenses so of course you can find a person to work at home for less than those rates.

If you are interested in our companies services, rather than a freelancer then you will learn that professionals can be found online. Our staff have degrees in different areas, not just journalism. I find that someone with a social science background can easily adapt to journalism, but this does take time.

If you would like to arrange a sample then please contact coopermurphywebb and ask to speak with Craig Anderson.

 

Sorry man, but it seems like my post is really confusing.

I never stated a maximum. My first sentence in the first post was about how when i ask a question about how much is so and so, people always tell me its more than 0.05 cents per word, but never tell me how much.

DO you mean you charge 0.25 or 0.025?

Also, what is in that article is not copywriting. It is just magazine/newspaper writing on careers.

 

oops, sorry man.

Does GBP stand for great britian pound? Than that is only 0.05 cents canadian. Isnt that too low for a professional?

 

You just killed 99.99% of the writers here.

The article is your basic story written by a Journalist (beginner most likely). The article isn't using style properly. I'd also take some issue with some of the copy, but that's nothing you care about.

I'm guessing the editor was out to lunch.

As to price, it does depend. Do you need people interviewed? Will the writer need to travel (even within the city)? How many sources do you need?

The article is roughly 927 words. If you were to hire a freelance writer of equal or better talent, expect to pay anywhere from $90-$300--depending on the other items I mentioned.

A good editor could have polished the piece up nicely.

I'm sure if you had an important life-threatening surgery coming up, you wouldn't go to a surgeon that has a Philosophy degree, but decided to "try" doctoring, because it looked like anyone could do it.

 

Sorry to say, but Ellen Roseman is definitley not a beginner.
http://www.ellenroseman.com/

 

Are you Ellen by the way?

 

Do you look like Ellen to you? lol

 

He did say "most likely." If anything, having bad form when you're not a beginner is worse.

As for rates, like others have said, it depends on a lot of things:

1. How much experience does the journalist have?
2. What exact rights do you want to buy? Electronic? First Rights? Copyright? etc.
3. Will it be in a consumer publication, newspaper, trade magazine, website, some combination of them, etc.?
4. Do you only want someone with journalism background, or someone who has specific experience with your niche?

Rates depend on quite a bit. I would even say Jason's estimates are a bit on the low end. Depending on the things I mentioned here, you could end up paying several hundred more pretty easily.

 

According to wikipedia and any other source/opinion I have ever came across a journalist is also a copywriter. Despite this copywriter does usually refer to an advertising copywriter, rather than someone who writes copy for media publishing.

"Copywriters can work for themselves as independent contractors , freelancing for a variety of clients. They may also work as employees within larger organizations, including advertising agencies, public relations firms, advertising departments within larger companies, TV or radio stations, newspapers and magazines."

So we can firstly establish that a journalist is a copywriter. Period.

 

Everyone likes to appear as if they charge ski-high rates, so well done to those who do. What I fail to understand is why anyone would pay the rates suggested here for a journalist? If the question relates to using a journalist on a monthly-retainer basis then the rates suggested earlier are what we charge. If someone would like agency-support for a day the the rates increase dramatically. I was under the impression this was not what the person required.

Anyway I thought I could add something to this conversation by telling people what I know. Otherwise, how can the original question ever be addressed? I thought I had something valuable to say, so I decided to say it to compliment the somewhat dry and pointless posts that had been placed here so far.

 

A mistake on my part perhaps, but an easy one to make. You said, "WARNING: PLEASE DONT TELL ME IT COSTS MORE THAN 0.05 CENTS PER WORD"

I read that to mean you, like many others looking for writing on these boards, don't want people telling you quality work comes for more than $0.05 per word.

Best of luck with your project! (I'd offer you a SPECIFIC quote, but I'd hate to offend you further. My degree(s) are not in journalism.)

Rebecca

 

Try posting your project on freelance work at home jobs such as guru.com. Place your amount probably $50 -$200 I'm sure there will be enough bidders before you know it.

 

Let me clarify. I didn't mean a beginning WRITER. I meant beginning Journalist. Someone could be a fabulous writer (for whatever they are doing), but stumble around when it comes to writing a news piece. I also said "most likely," because there was no way for me to know without researching the writer. I only added that to help you in your hiring, so you didn't think you needed to hire someone with 10 years of experience.

Also, let me say that perhaps the newspaper you pointed out follows a totally different writing approach. It may also allow looser writing/construction for items going solely on their website.

Finally, the piece may have not been edited. Even the best writers need editors. Writers are supposed to write and editors are supposed to edit. It's a rarity to find someone who can do both very well (although most falsely think they can).