Getting to grips with rates of pay can be a tricky business. There is no set minimum wage in the world of freelancers and pay scales can vary wildly – even within a publication.
How much does a freelance journalist earn? It’s almost like asking what anybody earns. It all depends on how much work they do. There is no set answer. Or is there? If you’re a worker/employee in Ireland, you’ll know what the minimum wage is. You’ll also be aware of guidelines or minimum rates of pay set by unions.
However, when it comes to freelance journalism there is no set minimum wage: in Ireland there’s no official guide to minimum rates that a freelance journalist should receive on a per-word, per-article or daily basis. Under a Competition Authority ruling, this is not allowed. As a result, there is no official fees guide for freelance journalists in Ireland.
Set rates
Freelance journalists often enter the market blindly, not knowing what rate of pay to expect or what rate of pay to walk away from. Many publications and media companies have their own set rates, usually set per 1,000 words or per word. Sometimes rates are set by line or sometimes there’s just set rates for set pieces. There may be certain rates for certain journalists or rates can vary by section or editor.
One freelance journalist noted the Sunday Tribune rates vary from €100 to €200 per 1,000 words, depending on the section and the editor.
Business Plus has an interesting breakdown of payment: for the first 700 words, the journalist receives €25 per 100 words, the next 800 words earn €15 per 100 words and anything above that gets €8 per 100 words.
Mostly, if you want the work, you’ll accept the rate or you’ll have a personal threshold you won’t work for less than – despite the promises of “accept the lower rate and we’ll give you more work”.
In decline
Some of the freelance journalists that shared the rates they have been paid commented that rates were falling. One said they were receiving less for the same amount of work – not because of falling rates but due to a redesign that made articles shorter. Is this a deliberate, cost-effective design or just a sign of man’s increasing appetite for shorter articles?
Journalist.ie surveyed a number of freelance journalists in early 2010 to get an idea of the rates freelance journalists are experiencing. At best, writing for science magazines in the US is the most lucrative at $1 to €1 per word. Yes, that is per word! At worst, some of the small publishing houses that produce trade magazines pay freelancers 10c per word.
It’s doesn’t really matter exactly how rates are calculated but we were also told by a freelancer that one newspaper calculates its rates according to the number of lines the story takes up on the printed page. “Arcane or what?” was that journalist’s reaction.
Below are the full results of the Journalist.ie freelance rates survey.
If you are a freelance journalist – in any journalistic medium from web to newspapers, radio to television – or a student journalist, we would like you to submit rates you have recently been paid. If you are an editor or publishing company wishing to add updated rates, fill out this form.
| Publication/Company |
Rate
|
Rate per word
|
|
Less than 20c per word
|
||
| Sunday Tribune |
€100-€200/1,000 words |
10c to 20c |
| Ocean Publishing |
10c/1 and 20c/1 word |
10c and 20c |
| Ashville |
€150/1,400 words |
11c |
| Irish Medical Times |
€130/1,000 words |
13c |
| Irish Examiner |
€130/1,000 words |
13c |
| Irish Skipper |
€50/300-400 words |
16c to 13c |
| Irish Times Innovation magazine |
€320/1,800 words |
17c |
| BusinessPlus magazine |
First 700 words €25 per 100 Next 800 words €15 per 100 Anything above, €8 per 100 |
25c to 20c to 17c |
| Irish Times motoring section |
€200/1,200 words |
17c |
| Whitespace Publishing |
18c/1 word |
18c |
| Woman’s Way magazine |
€150/800 words |
19c |
| The Examiner |
€150/800 words |
19c |
|
20c per word
|
||
| Sunday Tribune |
€100-€200/1,000 words |
10c to 20c |
| Ocean Publishing |
10c/1 and 20c/1 word |
10c and 20c |
| Construct Ireland magazine |
€200 per 1,000 words |
20c |
| BusinessPlus |
First 700 words €25 per 100 Next 800 words €15 per 100 Anything above, €8 per 100 |
25c to 20c to 17c |
| Irish Independent travel section |
€200/1,000 words |
20c |
| Whitespace Publishing |
18-20c/1 word |
18c to 20c |
| Sunday Business Post |
€200/1,000 words |
20c |
| MediaTeam magazines |
€200/1,000 words |
20c |
| Irish Times special supplements |
€420/2,100 words |
20c |
|
21c to 25c per word
|
||
| Irish Times business section |
€185 for 900 words |
21c |
| Sunday Business Post commercial feature |
€260/1,200 words |
22c |
| Computers in Business magazine in the Sunday Business Post |
€233.95/1,000 words |
24c |
| Irish Times feature |
€350/1,400 words |
25c |
| Irish Independent Weekend magazine |
€250-300/1500 words €350/2000 €250/1250 €300/1400 €200/900 |
17c to 22c |
| BusinessPlus |
First 700 words €25 per 100 Next 800 words €15 per 100 Anything above, €8 per 100 |
25c to 20c to 17c |
| Irish Times Weekend Review |
€300/1,200 words |
25c |
| You and Your Money magazine |
€300/1,200-1,300 words |
25c to 23c |
| Image magazine |
€350/1,400 words |
25c |
| SilverCircle.ie |
€125/500 words |
25c |
| Sunday Independent |
€250/1,000 words |
25c |
| Dyflin |
€250-€300/1,000 words |
25c to 30c |
| Irish Times Innovation magazines |
€250/ 800-1,000 words |
32c to 25c |
|
26c to 30c per word
|
||
| Sunday Times money and business supplements |
€300 for 1,100 word feature €500 for 1,400 words plus case study |
28c 35c |
| Irish Times health supplement |
€220-€250/800 words |
28c to 32c |
| The Law Society Gazette |
€500/1,700 words |
29c |
| Irish Independent business section |
€330/1,100 words |
30c |
| Evening Herald |
€190/700
|
27c
|
| Dyflin |
€250-€300/1,000 words |
25c to 30c |
|
31c to 40c per word
|
||
| Irish Examiner news feature |
€250/800 words |
31c |
| Irish Times health supplement |
€220-€250/800 words |
28c to 32c |
| Irish Times Innovation magazines |
€250/ 800-1,000 words |
32c to 25c |
| Irish Times health supplement |
€80-€100/250-350 words |
32c to 35c |
| Mail on Sunday |
€500/1,500 words |
33c |
| Enterprise Ireland magazines |
€500/1,200-1,500 words |
42c to 33c |
| NUI Maynooth’s magazine |
€400/1,200 words |
34c |
| Irish Times science page |
€250/600-700 words |
42c to 35c |
| Sunday Times money and business supplements |
€300 for 1,100 word feature €500 for 1,400 words plus case study |
28c to 35c |
| Sunday Times opinion piece |
€250/700-750 words |
36c to 33c |
| Mail on Sunday |
€300/800 words |
37.5c |
|
More than 40c per word
|
||
| Technology Ireland magazine |
€600/1,500 words €500/1,200 words |
40c 42c |
| Irish Times science page |
€250/600-700 words |
42c to 35c |
| Enterprise Ireland publications |
€500/1,200-1,500 words |
42c to 33c |
| US science publications |
$1-$1.50/1 word |
$1 to $1.50 |
|
Other sample rates, word count not included
|
||
| Global Post feature print stories for online |
$400 |
|
| The Guardian print story with associated video for online |
£300 |
|
| The Star – page lead |
€100-€150 |
|
| The Star – news briefs |
€15-€20 |
|
| Independent (London), news story (exclusive) |
£150 |
|
Word rates are rounded to nearest decimal point
Please note, these rates are submitted by individual journalists, reporting what they were paid for articles published in these publications. Therefore, some rates vary from publication to publication.
Now and again freelance journalists may come across an editor or publisher who asks: “What’s your rate?”
What is yours?