There's a definite line between a good freelance gig and a crappy one, and that line isn't always drawn with fringe benefits. Quite often, the difference between a gig that's worth your time and one that's designed to give desperate college students a little extra pocket money is quite simply, money. Many writers feel that in order to remain a successful freelancer, they may only take freelance gigs. They obviously didn't read our post on keeping your day job. Taking (or keeping) a day job does not make you any less of a freelancer. Need we remind you? Being able to remain a full-time freelance writer is nothing short of miraculous. There is absolutely no shame in being a part-time freelancer.
With that in mind, hopefully you kept your day job. If you didn't, go get one unless you're making a lot of money as a writer (and by "a lot" I mean "more than 60k/year.") Part of being a good freelancer is knowing what you're worth. Despite what some people will tell you, there are a lot of gigs out there that don't pay jack or shit. Even if you're just starting out as a freelancer, there are some gigs you should steer clear from. I know that the urge to work is powerful and the urge to take any payment, no matter how minuscule, is equally powerful. Believe me when I say that you need to resist this urge. Here's why you should NEVER take a gig that pays an less than 8 cents a word (and even that is pushing it.)
1) You won't get paid jack. Let's take a look at a fairly common example, say, 5 cents a word. You are contracted to write a 350-word article. 350x.05= $17.50, $14 after tax. Not terrible, but you can certainly be doing better. Get the current copy of Writer's Market (or check it out at your local library!) and you'll see that most reputable publications pay at least 10 cents a word. Some large publications like Popular Mechanics pay up to ONE DOLLAR per word! Granted, getting your work into Popmech is like pulling hen's teeth but hey, it could happen.
2) Companies that don't pay well won't treat you well. If you sign on for a gig that pays a penny a word (or worse, even less...) you can expect to give your blood, sweat and tears along with those words you just shelled out. Companies that don't pay their writers well are just looking for a source of cheap content and honestly couldn't give a shit about where it comes from. They probably have some hack in-house who is getting paid a hell of a lot more than you are to do a quick rewrite. And I'll bet you every cent I've got that the hack hates their job. Good deal? Hardly.
3) You can do better. Again, even if you're just starting out, the modern world will ALWAYS have a place in it for freelance writers. The hard part is finding the place in the world that works for you. That's why there are resources like the Writer's Market (plug plug.) Nobody should have to settle for .5 cents a word!
4) Acceptance. In almost every gig you'll get, your articles need to go through a process of revision before they can be accepted. Depending on the company, the revision process may or may not involve you. More often than not, it does. If the company likes your work enough to ask for a rewrite, you may find yourself doing more work than you bargained for. Is a day's worth of work worth it for three cents a word? Not unless your day is twenty minutes long.
5) Don't believe the hype. A lot of writers will tell you to take whatever you can get. That a shitty, low-paying gig is better than no gig at all. This is simply not true. Talk to the same writer in a year or two and ask them how their freelance life is going. You'll hear them say either "it's over" or "lousy." Why? Because if you settle for less than you're worth, you're going to get frustrated at doing good work for jack shit. You're going to burn out and you're going to can a potentially successful writing career.
There are a few minor exceptions to the rule, the most notable being stories. Most of us can't pull this off (yours truly included) but if you can manage to make a living selling stories, you can settle for less than 8 cents a word. Most publications, even reputable ones, don't pay more than seven cents a word for fiction. But that's ok! Your average short story runs around 5-6,000 words, possibly up to about 10,000. Let's take a mean, say 7,000 words. At 5 cents a word, that's $350, $280 after taxes. Not too shabby. That's a whole week's worth of working retail.
Think of it this way: you always have a choice in jobs, just like in the real world. You can either endure some rough times and wait for a job that pays what you're worth, or you can be miserable flipping burgers and scraping by. Resist the urge to take crappy jobs! Nobody should have to work for a penny a word unless they're getting paid to transcribe the Library of Congress!
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