Articles $.35 - 1.00 / word DOES THIS INCLUDE PLANE FARE??????

It depends on your skills as a writer, your skill and expertise at plumbing, and the publication.

You can possibly pitch something to ThisOldHouse.com, Better Homes and Gardens, or The Family Handyman. If you have a plumbing/home improvement/remodeling idea, the ability to sell that idea, and the skill to write an article on that idea, I'm sure you can get a very good rate from those publications.

A great idea would be something like "Is This a Job For Drain-O vs Roto-Rooter?" that allows readers to determine if they have to pay a plumber or if they can get by with an over-the-counter product for their plumbing problem.

People are constantly complaining about plumbers' prices, so something on bargaining with the plumber would be excellent. BUT it's all about where the buying market.

Fourteen years of experience in any field is excellent. To capitalize on that experience through writing, you have to think beyond DP and generic web content articles.

 

I thought it was interesting that you brought up a travel article. Yes, you could hire Wendy Writer on DP or through [insert freelance board/service here] to write something for 3 cents a word, but it wouldn't be anywhere near print-level quality for a travel article.

That industry in particular is competitive as all hell. You've got to be able to write extremely well and let's face it, you've got to get a little lucky too. And yes, when you're a travel writer, you're going to the destination.

Not to go off on a tangent, but most travel writers need to start out covering stuff close to home until they get noticed--if ever.

The difference between what you get for 4 cents or less around here is MILES, yes MILES, below what you get from print-level professionals. Sure, what you get might be just fine for your needs, but if you were running a credible print or online publication, it's nowhere near good enough.

A-Rod gets paid about $25 million per MLB season, yet some guy in Pawtucket playing in the minors is being paid $34k. Why? Because the talent level between the two and the ability demanded in the MLB is greater.

It's really as simple as that.

You're a plumber--for 14 years. Let's assume you're a good one. If I had a complex project, do you think I'd pay more for you or less for some amateur?

I hope you didn't pick the amateur.

 

Here. Now maybe people will quit asking how, how, how all the time. I doubt it. Like everything else in life, it takes hard work and talent. Nothing's going to be handed to anyone. I work my ass off to get paid what I do for consulting, writing, and anything I do, as do others here and elsewhere. But here's the most important step that's not in the article... quit complaining b/c you're not earning at the same level and quit asking how to do it, and just DO IT if that's what you want. If it's not, well, why waste time on the subject?

 

Does the fact that I have 14 years hands on plumbing experience make my articles worth $1.oo per word?

Not necessarily. Your experience would make your insight more valuable but your writing skills would determine the pay level.

$1.00 a word is not unusual except here on DP.

Dee

 

Really ,

Show me three places people pay $1.00 per word....

 

Network with professional writers and editors, and you'll find a hell of a lot more than three markets that pay $1 / word. Since I already post them elsewhere for members and readers of my sites, I'm not going to do the legwork and post them here for you. But you're free to look at www.sixfigurewriters.com and www.allfreelancing.com (need to be a member with a certain post count to see the highest paying markets). Or just get a membership at www.writersmarket.com and you can find plenty. Or better yet, join MediaBistro's Avant Guild for the "how to pitch" articles to find plenty of high end markets at $1+ / word, including what they look for, and how to pitch your stories to them. We all do our own research and networking to find these things. People aren't just going to hand them over in a forum b/c you don't want to look for them. It's a part of the job, and why we're able to make more to begin with.

 

Pay is at least $1.00 per word This is a small, small, small sample.

Ms. Kathryne V. Sagan, Senior Articles Editor
Family Circle
375 Lexington Ave.
New York, NY 10017

Ms. Lisa Lombardi, Features Deputy Editor
Redbook
224 West 57th Street
New York, NY 10019

Ms. Stephanie Abarbanel, Senior Articles Editor
Woman’s Day
1633 Broadway
New York, NY 10019

Ellen Levine, Editor in Chief
Good Housekeeping
250 West 55th Street
New York, NY 10019

Paula Chin, Articles Editor
Ladies Home Journal
Meredith Corporation
125 Park Avenue, 25th Fl.
New York, NY 10017

Ms. Dawn Raffel, Executive Articles Editor
The Oprah Magazine
1700 Broadway 20th Floor
New York, NY 10019

Ms. Peggy Northrop, Editor in Chief
More
125 Park Avenue
New York, NY 10017

Esther Crain, Senior Articles Editor
Cosmopolitan
224 West 57th Street
New York, NY 10019

Geraldine Sealey, Articles Editor
Glamour Magazine
4 Times Square
New York, NY 10036

Teenage girl
Susan Schulz, Editor in Chief
CosmoGIRL!
224 West 57th Street
New York, NY 10019

House, Garden and a little travel

Amy Wolf
Sunset Magazine
80 willow Road
Menlo Park, CA 94025

Stephen C. George, Deputy Editor, Features and Family Matters
Better Homes and Gardens
1716 Locust St.
Des Moines, IA 50309

Business Magazines
Karen Axelton
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur Media Inc.
2445 McCabe Way, Ste. 400
Irvine, CA 92614

Mark N. Vamos, Editor
Fast Company Magazine
375 Lexington Ave.
New York, NY 10017

Charlie McCoy, Features Editor
Business 2.0
One California Street, 29th Floor
San Francisco, CA 94111



Do you see a theme here?


Dee

 

You obviously aren't very versed in the professional writing world or you would not believe that $1/word is out of the ordinary. Is it out of the ordinary in the webmaster market? Yes, it is. But that doesn't mean professional writers can't earn those types of rates.

 

Entrepreneur mag pays $1 per word.

And as you can see, there are plenty of sources. Some writers do nothing but the magazine circuit.

However, let's not kid ourselves here. Print-level articles of the magazine variety are not done in 5 minutes or even an hour or two.

 

No, they're not. But there are also online markets paying these rates if they just dig like the rest of us do. Those also take closer to print quality work, but the time it takes depends a lot on your niche. For example, when I write a business piece on a subject I'm experienced in that doesn't require much outside research, it's pretty quick, and never more than a few hours at most. When I was doing $200 pieces last summer, I was turning those out in 30-60 minutes (not a bad hourly rate in the end). I'm planning to confirm a few things and then pitch a story to a scientific magazine paying more than $1 / word, and that piece on the other hand will take probably 2-3 weeks to complete. You just have to know your niche, how you write, and how much research you'll have to do, and then take gigs or send queries only if it's something that would work out in a business sense for you.

 

i woudnt pay that kind of money, even if he was to go to spain, or w.e it is and get me updated content. everything's on the internet.

 

That's kind of the point people are making though... you're talking about a general webmaster's need, where they're often fine with recycled info. But there are a lot of publications, online and off, that need truly original work published by industry experts (and unique doesn't just mean the exact text hasn't been used... it means unique information or info told in a way it hasn't been told before). So even though paying that kind of money wouldn't fit in with your needs and usage of it, plenty of others would, and do.

 

Right. You (or whomever) wouldn't pay that kind of money, because you don't own a media outlet (paper, magazine, etc) like the ones we're talking about.

These outlets have certain quality requirements.

 

I heard jhmattern say, "networking" and target your clients..

Moreover, if you could tell us specific niche markets which give a higher rate per word. Please enlist them.

 

I do some travel writing now, and I don't know that I'd even try the print market. It's not a lack of confidence, but the amazing quality of the writers already in it. A lot of well known or even truly famous writers show up in travel magazines. Is someone going to hire me when Paul Theroux or Jon Krankauer is available? "The Perfect Storm" and "Into Thin Air" started out as articles in a travel/outdoors magazine called Outside. I'm not quite at that level LOL.

What has changed in the travel market is that there are a lot of web sites that want material, and in some cases prefer things that are not quite so slick and polished as what you find in travel magazines. Some want things that are more personal, and that read more like blog entries than articles.

That part of the business is fairly indicative of how much the internet has increased the size of the market and the variety of material that can be sold.

 

You can't just pick a niche based on higher rates. You have to pick a specialty based on your experience and credentials, b/c the people with the expertise in the subject matters are the ones who are going to be getting paid those high rates. So what kind of background do you have? Then work from there.

In a more general sense, these markets can pay very well:

copywriting (not article writing)
technical writing
medical writing
business writing (especially private company writing like reports)
health / fitness markets can pay surprisingly well (but you'd likely need a medical degree or have to be a personal trainer or something to compete well in the higher paying markets in this niche).

 

I think I have heard enough non sense, Mods please close thread.....

 

Le sigh.

Some people refuse to "get it" even when the proof is right there for them to see.

 

There are two sides of the argument. Is it necessary to charge that much or not? According to the ones that are getting paid that much, yes, it is necessary. According to the ones that are not going to pay that much, no, it is not necessary. I heard, though, that some big time newspaper conglomerate guy just outsourced a thousand Indians to write him ten articles a day each. And I don't think he is paying ANYWHERE near a dollar a word. The point I am trying to say is that the market depends on the person. In ten or fifteen years, there will not be anymore $1.00 or $2.00 a word articles except for the extreme elite which will make up a .1% of the population. Why? Because companies will find that there are talented writers out there that know what they are doing who are willing to accept payments far smaller than a buck a word. Either way, I don't care. As said previously, I am in the market for cheap writers because that's what I need. Take care.

 

Newspapers never seem to pay top rates. It's not the same thing. The point going through this was that someone flat out implied that my rates might just be made up or "a joke" or whatever, and when they do that (especially b/c I know SundayBrew's smarter than that) I'm going to back it up. No one ever said most writers here on DP will, or even can earn as much as I and a few others here charge. But that's also why I said in the beginning that I don't advertise those rates to try to snag webmasters for article writing gigs. Just b/c some writers haven't seen huge payments doesn't mean others aren't, here and elsewhere. But hey... let them be naive... more money for the rest of us.