The Language of Freelance MarketingWritten by Mridu Khullar
For freelancers, knowing basic terminology “before” they begin can be a valuable lesson in earning a few extra dollars in that initial stage. When I started my freelancing career, I knew nothing of rights, simultaneous submissions, querying or varying payment rates. All I knew was-- I could write. Everything else, I learnt on job. You will too. But just to make your stay a little less frustrating, and a lot more enjoyable, I’ve listed a few concepts that will help you immensely as you contact editors and try to make them pay you for your words. Copyright ----------- It’s yours as soon as you have those words on paper. You don’t have to register copyright to claim it, though if you’re writing a novel or book, it’s a wise investment. Registered copyright is proof enough for a court of law, and is extremely valuable in cases of dispute. However, for short materials like articles or essays, copyright needn’t be registered. You can however, club a number of essays and register them together. Reprints ---------- Reprints are articles, essays or pieces that have already been published. If you own copyright (more on that later), and want to sell piece again to another publication, it will be termed as a reprint. Most publications pay much less for reprints and some don’t accept them at all. However, for a freelancer, sometimes reprints bring more income than original articles do. Rights -------- Earlier, magazines asked for all rights to articles. Even today, in many countries, including my own (India), most magazines want to keep all rights ensuring that articles in their magazine remain unique to them. However, this trend no longer exists in America, Canada and England, and is making headway into other nations as well. Now, almost all magazines in these nations refrain from asking for all rights to work. Others have opened their doors for reprints, which is a boon for writers. Let’s look at some of different kinds of rights. * All Rights: This means that article must not have been published before, and cannot be used again after it has been published in this particular publication. Never give up all rights for a measly sum of money. If you’re selling all rights, make sure you’re being paid what you deserve. * First Serial Rights: These usually pertain to some country. For e.g., First North American Serial Rights, or First British Serial Rights. Although article mustn’t have been published in country prior to this, you are free to submit elsewhere after publication. * Electronic Rights: As more and more publications archive their articles online, they are asking for electronic rights. This means that they can carry your article online. Usually a time-period is specified. Also, electronic rights are usually non-exclusive, meaning that you can sell this article elsewhere although it will continue to appear on this publication’s website. * CD-ROM Rights: A fairly new addition to list of rights, this means that publication is free to use your work on a Compact Disk. * Anthology Rights: Some publications publish yearly anthologies (collection of articles or stories). In such cases, they ask for these rights for possible inclusion of your work in their anthology. * First-time Rights: Your article must not have appeared anywhere worldwide. You are however, free to sell your work elsewhere after publication. * One-time Rights: Your work may have appeared elsewhere. Publications asking for one-time rights require that you let them use your work once. It may or may not have been published before and you are free to use it after publication.
| | Negotiating Right: Get What you DeserveWritten by Mridu Khullar
If magazine publishing worked like any other business, writers would fix their rates, and magazines would run around trying to hire best writer in lowest possible cost. Sadly, that’s not case. In this bizarre business, writers trying to compete with each other not only have to prove their worth once, but again and again, and each time they want an assignment. You’ve got clips. You’ve written perfect query. You’ll even deliver best assignment. But then again, you’ll have to ask for more money and negotiate your way into getting what you deserve.If you’re a writer whose only source of income is writing, then you have to negotiate. It’s whole lifeblood of your business. Don’t get paid less simply because you didn’t ask. Don’t worry. You’re not going to sound greedy. You work hard, and you deserve to be paid for it. When a magazine puts “pays $50-$700” in their guidelines, what can you do to be writer that is paid in higher range? If you’re a beginner, you probably won’t even think of getting into high-paying slot. You’d think those places were reserved for regular and more experienced writers, right? Wrong! Admitted, regular writers are preferred, and their pay rates will usually be much higher than yours. But you don’t fall into that lower category because you’re a beginner; you fall into it because you fail to negotiate. If you’ve got a sparkling query, an article proposal that editor simply loves, and good writing skills that leave editor craving for more, she’s not going to bail out on you simply because you asked for more money. In fact, she’ll be glad to arrange it for you. Not having a dozen clips on your resume does not entitle you to less pay. In fact, if you act like a professional, and give editor what she wants, money won’t even be an issue. Spot Loopholes -------------------- Whenever you find a magazine that has a variable pay rate, be sure there’s room for negotiation. Why else would they have such a broad category? A very well known magazine mentions in their guidelines that they pay their writers anywhere from $50-$1000 based on experience and length of article. What I also noticed was that they’ve specified length of pieces in their columns and departments. So, reading between lines, I’m thinking—negotiation! What about all those magazines that pay fixed rates? Do you just settle for what they have to give or is there room for something more? If you’re looking to be paid more, there’s a very remote possibility. However, there are other things that you can ask for. For one, there are rights. If you could use one piece in more than one publication, it would get you more money, though indirectly. Even so, another publication means another name added to your list of growing credits. Wouldn’t you much rather sell one piece to ten different magazines, than get paid only once? Other than increased pay, you’ve also added to your list of credits. That’s bound to bring in more money in future. Other than that, kill fees are a definite must. You don’t want to spend hours on your research, only to have your article removed off publication list. You deserve payment for time you put in. Talk to editor about this before you’ve actually started writing process. Normally, kill fees are around 20-50%. It’s very unlikely that you’ll get more even if you have a working relationship with editor. Another issue is payment on acceptance versus payment on publication. Magazines have very long lead times. In simple words, this means that there you could have to wait as long as six to eight months after acceptance to see your article in print. If you’re an international writer, delay is even longer, sometimes leading to getting payments months after you’ve written article. Do you really want to wait that long? Can you? What else? Bios. Short blurbs after our names that could point to a website, have contact information or simply mark us as experts. A few magazines give them, but if they don’t, you could ask for one. Or you could ask for a bigger bio or a photo alongside. This is much easier to do if your article is appearing online. If editor is unwilling to pay you more, this is your best bet.
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