Going rate for freelance articles?

Former sportswriter here that now helps oversee freelancers for a trade publication in another industry.

I’ve been asked by the higher-ups to gauge what the going rate is for freelance articles these days.
Our publication simply asks freelancers for 400-500-word articles that honestly take probably 90 minutes on average to write.

We paid $50 for these in the past but are now getting pushback from most freelancers.

So, what’s the going rate for a 500-word freelance articles in 2022? Any insight would be greatly appreciated…

 

Not sure there is a "going rate", with differences in pay that can be expected in different areas. No driving/mileage involved, I'm guessing.

From what you said - a 500-word article that takes 90 minutes on average - I could see $50 being too low. That feels like a $100 pay rate.

I have a former ME who reached out for some freelance help, and he was looking for someone to cover a HS football game, and shoot photos, and floated a $35 offer for it. He was absolutely stunned when I told him there's no way in hell that was going to happen. You ain't going to get anybody good by offering them $7 an hour.

 

I had the same experience when someone asked if I wanted to cover a high school football game after taking my current job. Would have been $50 a game, which is absurd considering you're a) giving up a night off b) spending a minimum of five hours prepping, covering, writing. Unless I had a strong urge to stay in the game, there was no way I was working for that rate.

I manage a budget of freelancers for my magazine, and I think we pay a fair rate, without getting into specifics. Usually in the .35-.40 per word range But we're also a non-profit, and I have to make freelancers aware that we're not a Golf Digest or a national magazine with a huge ad base and/or editorial budget. I've had writers ask $1.00 per word, and we simply can't afford that with the budget I've been given. Most of our stories are in the 1,000-1,200 word range.

 

I've given up on the industry paying good rates for freelance work. They often pay shit, and if someone turns it down there are others who will take it.

The editor of a new site offered me $25 for 1,000 words and photos. Said those could be original content or "reworked" - old stories given an update, make sure no one's dead, whatever - and their new site didn't have the budget. I have seen others offer $250 for 1,000 words and photos. They offer it because people accept it.

For a 400- to 500-word story in a trade publication, you should be offering at least $200. If you require photos, those should not be included in that and should be paid extra. Or more depending on the freelancer's experience and ability, and-or your publication's finances. They sound like they can pay but just don't want to do so, like a lot of them today.

Our industry is fucking broken over pay rates and not enough writers, photographers and videographers say "No." to shitty offers.

 

.50 per word is the low end of fair.

 

I actually would like to add to our writers' budget for next year, as we are doing extraordinarily well financially as an association and I'd like to reward some long-time writers with better rates. It will certainly be part of my budget request for 2023.

 

Does the writer need to do research or conduct interviews before that 90 minutes of writing begins? That time needs to be taken into consideration, too.

I freelance quite a bit, and for the type of article you described, my most reliable client would pay $300 or thereabouts. I have two other regular but less frequent clients that pay 85 cents or $1 a word. I wish they were much more frequent.

 

I most recently freelanced pre-pandemic, in 2020, Houston metro area. But then...

- Local weekly paid me $75 for covering a HS football game. No photos required, just a 400 to 800 word gamer, whatever I thought was appropriate. Had to be done on deadline, but overall, I thought it was relatively fair. (Usually, I'd be in the press box by 6:30, 6:45 for a 7 start IIRC, two hour game, two hours roughly for writing and interviewing. Around $15/hour, plus the fact I had no experience with this geographical area? Seemed fair to me.) This was similar to the rate a daily on the RI / CT border was paying me before I moved to TX (2018), but they'd happily throw in $50 for a sidebar / profile on a player, if I could do it, which upped the hourly rate.

- An online only outlet paid me $25 for a 300 to 400 word blurb. Wasn't happy with it, but, I didn't have anything else going on at the time. I turned down future work with them when 1) they wouldn't budge on their rates and 2) it took them *forever* to pay me $25 anyway.

 

For a national magazine (I'm presuming your trade magazine is that), $50 for a 500-word story, no matter how little time it takes, is extremely low. From $250-$300 should be the minimum. I do freelance work for a regional consumer pub and the going rate is $400 minimum for 450-500 words; $200 for a photo. Last year, a national website paid $500 for a story and added mileage, which I hadn't seen for a while.

Locally, a newspaper will pay less for a high school game. It ranges from $50-$100 in this area, depending on the publication, with weeklies at the low end, but if you can swing a two-fer, covering one of the teams for the weekly and the other for the daily when the games cover two circulation areas (and the sports editors don't mind), more power to you.

 

Wouldn't even put my keys in the ignition to go to the game for $35.

 

In the real world, you're spot on. In the world publishers live in ...

I won't go out for less than $100. But I'm happy to do some one-hour phoners for $75. You have to figure out your hourly rate. If you're doing HS football, the game alone is 2.5 hours. Travel, writing, etc., can push that to 5 very easily. Working for $20/hour (or less) when you have to pay twice for FICA? No thanks.

If you want to cover sports, have at it. If you want write, and make money doing it, get as far away from sports as you can.