What's a typical pay for freelance work on a single game?

That first example is the top end of the top end of the pay scale.

 

I'm lucky to get $40 for a high school game in my podunk part of the country.

 

At a 20K paper I was SE at, freelancers got $25 per story.

At a 35K paper I freelanced for, I got $100 a story. That was the same amount at a huge metro paper I freelanced for as well.

At the paper I'm at now, a 35Ker, we give $40-50 for freelancers.

 

One mid-sized paper I worked at used stringers routinely for college game coverage. Would pay $75-100 for a gamer, notes and/or a followup. That seemed about right if the person had to travel at all. It usually worked out to a 6-7 hour deal to get it all done.

High schools probably pay less, particularly if there is less advance or followup work involved. Just go to the game, write it and be done. Takes maybe 3 1/2 - 4 hours, tops.

 

I would say anything between $75 to $150 is normal for a few hours' work -- either covering a game or reporting a feature from a game. I'm much with Mizzou, in that anything less than that, you're probably doing it for the clip if you have to leave your house and report something.

 

We give $45.

 

I wouldn't dispute that. They pay rather well, expect a lot and have very tight deadlines. I also have a history with them, so I can't confirm they pay all their freelancers the exact same rates.

 

Maybe they've read your stuff...

 

Used to be that trusty freelancers were highly valued SE's and could get work at the drop of the hat ... neither seems to be true anymore ....

 

Who ends up taking the $45 gigs? And how much more time do you have to spend editing compared to a staffer?

 

Like many, I try not to take less than $100 because it's rarely worth the time.

I would take $75, but it has to be for something that is contained in terms of a timeframe. I have done WNBA games for $75 before as it isn't much more than a 3 hour window (get there 30 before, game lasts less than 2 hrs, hack out a gamer in an hour).

I feel like I need to be making at least $25/hour. Otherwise they are getting way too good of a deal for a gamer in a metro area.

 

this thread is brutal. i've been out of the journalism business for more than a decade. did a lot of stringing in a major city (one with all four major pro teams) from 2000-2003 and never got less than $100. it ranged from $100 up to about $250. the best rate i ever got was $1/word for an nfl sidebar from the newark star ledger.

it's depressing that in 10+ years the rate for this work has remained stagnant.