I just had the most wonderful day at the BlogWorld and New Media Expo talking to freelance writers from around the country. This is the first year I met so many people who were actually looking to break into writing in addition to blogging. I also met quite a few veteran writes with impressive backgrounds. We discussed so many issues and topics of interest to freelance writers today. The most interesting conversation we had was when we discussed a “livable wage.”
Before I get into my opinion of a livable wage, I’d like to say the discussions we had were always congenial. They were also respectful. I wondered why things get out of hand during blogosphere debates. Is it because of the anonymity? Is it because when words are written instead of spoken they’re left up there forever for people to twist to their benefit? It left me with interesting food for thought.
So …a livable wage.
When I first started doing this, I posted all the jobs I came across on a regular basis. After a few weeks it occurred to me that some of them didn’t pay a livable wage. You can’t support yourself on $5 an hour. I wanted to only post jobs paying a wage writers can use to support themselves. I thought about it long and hard. I settled on $10 an hour because I felt that writers can support themselves on $10 an hour. Now, I’m not talking about a desirable wage. I’m not talking about what each writer feels he’s worth. I’m talking about a wage a writer can use to support himself. $10 is above minimum wage.
Of course there are those writers who feel their time or words is worth more that that. That’s fine. My goal for this post isn’t to discuss levels of writing. It’s not to discuss rate increases or the worth of a certain piece of writing. It’s not to discuss the types of writing. It’s to discuss the definition of a livable wage. For example, some writers say $15 isn’t a livable wage. During my discussion yesterday, one former New York Time journalist said he’s making roughly about $12 an hour as a writer for a local newspaper. He supports himself fine even after taxes. I met an editor for a technical writing firm who earns $14 an hour. They both felt they made livable wages. Did they want to earn more? Absolutely. Could they support themselves? Yes. Thus, a livable wage. They paid the rent, they paid their taxes, they put food on the table and more. A livable wage.
Now, and again we’re talking about a livable wage, it’s up to each individual writer to determine what his writing is worth. Sometimes though, there’s nothing wrong with taking a job paying a livable wage if it pays the bills. Sometimes a job paying a livable wage means the difference between food on the table or the welfare line. $50 an hour is more than a livable wage. It’s what many writers would like to be paid. It’s a desireable wage. A livable wage is the lowest you can go and still put food on your table and pay the bills each month. What I strive to do here is to bring jobs paying at least a livable wage. Not everyone approves of the lower paying jobs. However, as long as I know there are options keeping folks afloat in rough times, I’ll post them here. We all want the desirable wage, sometimes though,we have to take the livable wage.
I’m not going to pretend writers aren’t going to take the lower paying jobs and I’m not going to insult them for their choices. I will continue to post jobs for ALL levels of writing , from those paying a livable wage to those on a higher end. As writers we make our on decisions, but in this economy we can’t knock others for doing what they have to, heck, what they WANT to in order to make a living.
A livable wage – what’s your definition? Again, this isn’t about a desireable wage. What do you feel is a livable wage?
I’m more than happy to take $10 an hour jobs, provided they are around 30 hours a week for a few weeks. Or, that they are quickies I can write in between other things, as fillers. A buck is a buck. Of course, I’d rather do a project that takes only 4 hours, but pays $50 an hour. But those don’t come around as often. It’s a balance between how long it will take, how difficult it will be, what else I have on my plate, and how crazy my children are being that week. I usually trust my gut when it comes to taking a job or not.
Bravo! Bravo!
Is $10 an hour a livable wage? You bet it is. We all desire better pay for our work and we go after that each and every day. But there will always be that one client or company that you know you can rely on for steady work. I hear of writers that make $50-$100 per hour but they do not have the volume needed to support themselves. Would I like to make above $10-$15 an hour? Sure I would, but until that happens I am fine with what I earn.
I think $15 p/h is a livable wage. You can’t just say yes I pay bills, taxes, and can eat with maybe $100 left to spare at the end of each month. You have to take into account saving money, helping support other family members (I pay my bills and my mother’s from time to time), leisure activities. I mean, this is what living is all about.
Then again, money isn’t what makes you live. You can simply live better if you have more of it. Some people can do more with less. Some people can’t. So $15 p/h, I think that’s a bare minimum starting for a livable wage.
Personally, I think this is the wrong question.
In my opinion, we shouldn’t be asking how little we can get by on, but rather how we can demonstrate the value that we add so that we can earn what we are actually worth.
Many clients view writing as a commodity simply because they don’t understand the true value of written material. It is up to us, as professional writers, to market our services well and to educate the clients.
In my area minimum wage is around $7.00 an hour, so I suppose that must be considered the lowest liveable wage where I am. However, the local brand new warehouse store that opened last spring pays folks $11.50 an hour (plus benefits).
When given a choice between taking a $10.00 writing gig and the retail store job, the retail store job is probably the better deal (because of the benefits).
Has anyone else experienced an increase in client contacts because companies are more ready to hire a freelancer than an employee?
Hi Laura,
You make a wonderful point. I agree with you. However, in the past few days many freelancers are talking about certain places and sites that don’t “pay a livable wage.” My exploration wasn’t about value (a whole other issue, one that I agree with wholeheartedly) it was about the idea of a livable wage and what each individual writer needs to survive. There’s a difference between a livable wage and getting paid one’s perceived value of one’s worth. When I read a comment or post saying, “well they don’t pay a livable wage,” I wonder what that person considers to be a livable wage. I know what I consider a livable wage, but others may not agree.
Truthfully, I don’t feel any writer should just get by. I think we should constantly build and grow our careers and become our definitions of success. I may suggest writers start low and endorse some good places to start, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want experienced writers to break away and go for the gold.
It’s a date! 🙂
This is obviously an “it depends” question. It depends on what you need to live; whether you’re a primary breadwinner; whether you’re combining writing with another regular job. I’m a primary breadwinner with a husband, 2 kids, a nice home, 2 cars… so livable to me is very different now than it was when I started back in 1992 – on my own, one car, and a little apartment!
That said, there are many ways to think about pay. For example, when someone says “we’ll pay you $10 per post – that is, $10 per hour,” they’re assuming it takes me an hour to write a post. What if it takes me 20 minutes? In that case, I’m making $30/hour. And since blogging can indeed be very quick work, I really can turn around more than one blog in an hour.
Meanwhile, I get paid much more than that for some types of work that are less creative, more technical, and require more training and expertise. Those types of jobs are less fun – but also less competitive and more lucrative.
These days, as top writers are getting laid off at major publishers, I find my challenge is to differentiate what i can do that others can’t… and also to find niches where I can either work very fast or make more by the hour or day or project.
Lisa
The definition of a livable wage varies greatly depending upon where you live and who you live with. I’ve become a big fan of small towns (that’s why I write about small town life in my blog). The cost of living is tiny compared to that in many cities. For example, where I live you can rent a small house for about $350 a month. Gas has been below $2.50 most of the year and auto repairs cost about 1/3 of what my kids pay in Seattle. All that is a big help if you’re trying to live on $20,000 a year.
Interesting, members of LinkEds & writers group are having a similar discussion on Linked In.
To strictly answer the question, I do think $10 is a livable wage. For one person. Not for a family. Not for a single mom who would have to pay for daycare or preschool.
When my husband the breadwinner and I separated, I desperately tried to get a job for months. Nothing. I couldn’t even get an $8/hour job. So I went back to writing. I live off child support and my writing. Sometimes I work for less than 2cents/word, but it always equals more than $10/hour. Plus I don’t have to pay for gas, childcare, or lunches out with co-workers.
I do admit that when I come across a $50/hour gig, it makes me feel bad for going back to $15/hour work.
I guess right there is the livable vs. desirable wage dilemma.
I live in CA and my liveable wage would be $20/hour. My desirable wage would be in the $50 – $100/hour range and like someone mentioned above, those gigs with higher hourly wages are harder to come by, but they are not impossible to obtain.
That’s not to say I haven’t accepted lower-paying assignments. I currently write a couple of blog posts a week for a friend at $10 a pop, but it’s a friend I can trust, the posts are quick and easy, I know I’ll get paid and I won’t be required to do any extensive rewrites. I personally would not accept more than 1 or 2 of these short, low-paying regular projects per month because it’s really hard to keep cranking out lots of shorts like these. Some people can do high quantity, but I’m not one of them.
That being said, I am currently working a full-time proofreading job until my husband finishes school next year. Once he gets his “real” job, I’ll be freelancing again and working on sustaining my business with regular higher-paying work. I prefer to have fewer better-paying projects than having a lot of small ones going on (it’s hard to keep it together and stay motivated for me).
I think it’s great to start off with the smaller-paying work at $10 each, because, hey, you’re getting paid to write. But I wouldn’t stick with it for too long because you can easily get stuck there. My advise is to take a shot at the higher-paying gigs just to see if you can get those better rates 🙂
I really think that a liveable wage depends on each person’s circumstances, like where they live, how they grew up, how they perceive their place in the world and their amount of debt.
Last night and today, I attended sessions at the National Writers Union (Boston Chapter) Digital Media Conference. We were freelance writers, bloggers, journalists and others talking about the low pay to freelance writers, lack of jobs and what are the solutions. It was a very interesting conference and I mentioned this website as one for people to visit to see similar kinds of issues being discussed by many other writers.
The critical word here is “wage.” You mentioned some newspaper employees earning $12-$14 an hour. But the employer pays 7.5 percent toward SS+Medicare. When self-employed, you pay that themselves. Though there have been cutbacks, they likely have employer-supported health insurance (plus a better plan than the self-employed can get), life insurance and 401(k) plans. Additionally, employer pays for cost of office, phones, utilities and the like. These are not insignficant. We could get by on much less if these expenses were covered.
My health insurance alone is $700 a month, and isn’t one of the so-called Cadillac plans.
Plus, as you mention, I believe a person just trying to get by is missing the boat. Do you want to take vacations, have money set aside for emergencies, have retirement funds, send your kids to college, etc? Though I do take on projects that pay a lot less, I’m no less a professional than a plumber ($75 an hour), accountant ($90+plus per hour) or similar person. So those are the fees I’m looking for. A lot of our time has to be spent finding clients, doing billing, etc. Employees don’t have those non-paid duties.
Since the talk is about Demand Studios, I wanted to mention that I saw an ad of theirs that offers insultingly low rates for translation: $5 to translate articles of 300-500 words to various languages:
http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/doc/wri/1397168874.html
As a professional translator who translates about three news articles per day, I can tell you that translating three articles of this type is about five hours of work…if you are fast, skilled, and use translation tools. Even if you could do it in three hours (if the articles were exceptionally easy), this works out to $5 per hour, which is most certainly not a livable wage, much less a desirable one.
Demand says they provide content that has been through a “translation tool” – the implication being that you will only need to do light editing to the articles. Most translators already use translation tools to some extent, and they do not produce quality translations. They are only used to help the translator get the gist of the topic and make suggestions on phrasing.
The offer from Demand is just wrong on many levels.
I hope you publish my comment so more people become aware of the low rates Demand is offering to professionals.
I agree that it all depends on the writer’s individual cicumstances, such as where they live, how they live, if they have kids, if they have a spouse that works and how much debt they have. I know that if me and my husband each made $10 an hour, we probably would not be able to afford our family of 4 right now. For some people, though, $10 is liveable. Since I am not the sole breadwinner and I only freelance part time now, I would say about $12-$15 is a liveable wage, but I definitely aim a lot higher!
I have to admit that I am perplexed by the premise of this article.
Despite what the lobbyists in Washington say, the minimum wage is not a living wage. Not even close.
Folks, we are the literati. We can read, write, spell and some of us can even do ‘rithmetic. This puts us in the top 5-10% of the national workforce and probably the top 3% of the global workforce.
The demand for writers has never been greater. It is simple supply and demand – there are more pages then words to fill them.
Sure, if I want to make money from a site, and I need 100 or 1,000 pages I want to pay as little as I can. Good for you.
But from my perspective it is possible that those folks are excessively greedy. Or hopelessly naive. The fact that lots of people have business plans based on you or I working for nothing is their problem, not oours.
No one that I know lives the freelance life because it is easy or secure. They do it because they are rewarded for the risk they take and the expertise they offer. They go it alone not because they want to make a living wage, but because they want to do much better then the average bear.
Give yourself some love. Recognize that if you are a capable writer, you do something most people can not do – and not only can they not do it, they hate to do it. So get paid accordingly.
Remember that there are three reasons that a company or individual can be successful. In each situation, one is always dominant. They are superior creative (be it wordsmithing or widget design), superior customer service and superior value (usually a more complete product, not a less expensive one).
Pick one. Even if you want to be the price leader, do not commoditize your services. Once it is only about price, its game over. That’s why a lot of people would rather do a project for free (and have the client owe them one) then establish a low price point and never get a raise.
Visualize the life you want. Then charge enough to head you in that direction.
Well, it’s all a question of lifestyle. I inherited a family trait for being able to live on a tiny amount of money. As a beginning teacher in the Bay Area, I was able to sock away $1,000 per month of savings while other teachers higher on the salary range struggled to get by.
I know my lifestyle could not suit everyone, though–no cable, vegetarian/vegan food, bookstore and cafe dates, no drinking, and little to no shopping. Now that I make way more than a living wage as a writer (about $25 per hour is my minimum, but that doesn’t include if I get hit with a huge amount of edits or obscure photo requests), I find my tastes have not changed much, except for the occasional mojito!
I won’t work for less than $50/hour and am usually at closer to $100/hour. I’m rarely short on work and sometimes have to turn it away. It wasn’t always that way. Early on, there were times I was tempted to take low-paying jobs. But I learned to resist the temptation, because:
1. If you’re filling up with $10/hour jobs you don’t have time to get together professional looking queries to land better work.
2. People who pay you two cents a word don’t respect your work and are going to be a major hassle.
Hi Colleen,
I appreciate your thoughts, but that’s not what this discussion is about. I often see bloggers discussing a livable wage. All freelancers place a different value on their work, but what I’m wondering is, what is a livable wage? Of course we want to earn $50 an hour – that’s a desirable wage and not what I’m looking for here.
I often hear of people who are able to make something like Demand or Examiner really turn around big $. While I personally haven’t seen this happen, I will say that I appreciate the fact that I receive even small bits of “royalty” money for hits on blogs I wrote six months ago.
I’ll also say this about that: it’s a wonderful feeling to be able to write what you want. I’m quite excited to say I’m the new “Green Home” Examiner – which means I now have the opportunity to build my chops (and knowledge) as a “green” writer while getting paid for it.
I don’t expect Examiner (or Demand, or any other aggregator) to offer me a “living wage.” But what they do offer is an opportunity to develop a new knowledge set on their nickel.
IMHO, it’s a win-win.
Lisa
Deb – If there is one thing that this thread confirms it is that there is no single number that represents a livable wage. Who, how, where and ‘how many’ all enter into it.
Since we compete in a marketplace, I think that it is helpful to think in terms of replacement costs rather then living wages; since that is the thing that actually determines what an employer has to pay to get the work done.
I spent a couple of minutes Googling writers and found a range of about $30K/yr – 65K/yr. This was for three categories, technical writer, writer and content writer with 1-4 years experience. You can safely assume that it costs the employer another 15-25% for payroll and benefits, some of which you have to pay yourself as a freelancer and the rest of which you simply don’t get.
But wait there is more…
It is very clear that charging by the hour is a losing strategy. You will do better charging per project, and in my experience, clients much prefer a flat figure to budget with.
Steve Slaunwhite did a “Schedule Of Copywriter Fees” for the 2008 Copywriters Summit. He lists everything by the project – a very casual analysis suggests that the average is about $50-75 hour for most kinds of work – ie brochures, speeches, newsletters. Note that Steve is very clear that this pricing is for mid-range talent – not the newbs and not the rock stars.
Figure that on average you will be able to bill 25-30 hours a week (say $1,250-1,500). There are a lot of activities that are not billable, there are projects you take that are below average and there is time needed for marketing and administration.
Based on all that I would say that assuming a 40 hour week, $25-30/hr is a livable wage ($1K-$1.2K/wk) – about $50K/yr which is pretty much in line with what you would get on staff less benefits.
FWIW in my experience, if you have the discipline and skills to stay that busy you will make much more.
If you’re talking about a living wage, you’re talking about a profession, not a hobby or a supplemental income. Professional writers need a college degree. We may not be certified (IABC and PRSA certifications have little to do with just writing) as some professionals are, but all writing jobs (as opposed to gigs) require degrees. I got my degree more than 30 years ago, and even so, I’d have to work a lot of hours @$10 to break even. With today’s college costs, break even could take years @$10/hour.
Freelancers must pay income taxes, social security taxes, and health care or insurance costs unless insured by a spouse. Subtract that from $10/hour, and then think about paying back student loans.
I know of no other profession that requires a degree that pays as little as $10/hour. Few pay as little as $20/hour.
If you work for $10/hour, you are hurting the profession. Please don’t. We need to establish the value of our services. Working at the poverty level contradicts that.
John – I disagree. Writers don’t need a degree. It helps but it’s not necessary. Many excellent writers didn’t complete college. I agree it’s helpful but it’s not necessary.
I’m a reporter for the most important newspaper in my state and I’m paid $10 an hour. My wife earns $15 an hour as a copywriter for a nearby advertising firm. We pay our bills, taxes and healthcare and still have money to spare at the end of the month.
We would love to earn more money but the jobs aren’t there, at least not where I live. I’m sorry to we’re hurting the profession but it’s either that or the welfare line. That’s what I wish some writers would understand. What are we supposed to do while between higher paying jobs, starve?
Remember that as an employee, the employer still pays half of SS and Medicare and provides workspace overhead (light, heat, ac, phone, etc.). Even if you pay all of your health care, if employer provides the plan, you are likely to get a group rate better than independents can, particularly if you have any pre-existing condition (a successful surgery of 42 years ago keeps me out of many plans, so my choices are limited). You also get sick days. We get them too, we just don’t get paid for them.
This isn’t to disparage employees. I worked in newspapers for 13 years, and at a magazine for one. But the income as an independent (if working “full-time”) needs to be more than that of an employee
Insurances are other factors. For now, I don’t have to worry about it because my husband works and his insurance plans (dental, health and life) are far better than anything I could get through companies offering self-employment. It’s a rare company that even offers life insurance policies for spouses and children of employees, but his does, so we are all covered.
That’s a factor for many though. I have a friend whose husband would love to work from home by becoming self-employed, but they need the insurance coverage, so until their daughter is grown, they don’t want to risk it.
If I didn’t have that insurance coverage, I’m not convinced I’d still be working from home.
They actually did a study on this in Vermont earlier this year. To live in this state, someone must be earning $18 an hour, that’s figuring the person is single. Families need more than that, I’m not sure what the study found but a local family center said they find families earning less than $60,000 a year tend to hit up their organization for assistance. And I find it also depends on the season.
Winter around here seems to have arrived early. It was 19 when I got up and I’m just not ready for it. In the winter, you look at additional bills for heating, electricity because you need lights before 7:30am and after 4pm and snow removal if you don’t do it yourself. Not to mention trying to start a car in 20 below weather that ends up in costly jumps or oil hose thawing for some. So I know our bills are going to skyrocket from here until March/April.
I write for my living and live in Australia. I have a wife, five children and a mortgage. I also contribute to private health insurance for us all ($81 month)although I don;t need to as our public health system is pretty comprehensive. I have my own Super (401(k))which also gives me sufficient life insurance to pay off the house should I die. I have tried oDesk and while not getting any work, I quickly realised I can’t compete with Indian and Filipino writers willing to work for a buck an hour. I nearly fell for http://www.essaywriters.net but twigged early enough on.
Basically for me a living wage is $10 an hour but only because we get government assistance for the kids (everybody earning under $150K a year gets the benefit on a sliding scale)and so on so I could actually make nothing and still afford to live. Mind you we live on a budget, don’t smoke or gamble and we save and pay cash for everything, no loans or credit cards. We also save the first 10% of every dollar we get and I run our house like a business.
So I consider myself a wealthy man, and free to boot. I shudder when I read how my American brothers and sisters have to pay $700 a month for healthcare or stick at lousy jobs just in case a loved one gets sick. As for having a degree, last year I did a Master of Arts in Writing, was paid while I studied and will only ever pay the tuition back by installments when my taxable income exceeds $40K pa. Given I had robotic mitral valve surgery this year where we spent more on visitor parking than medical expenses I really would be wasting my life and my good fortune to be an Australian if I didn’t follow my dream and write fulltime. So for me it’s not so much a case of what is a living wage but how can I not afford to write?
I haven’t considered $10 a livable wage since I was 21 and in college. I have no idea how someone can live on $10/hour. The 16-year-olds at the local grocery store make more than that.
I think $10/hour is an insulting wage (nevermind whether or not it’s livable). Good writing, especially when paired with other skills, such as marketing, design or SEO, is worth much, much more than that. Years of experience plus graduate-level education should warrant more than $10/hour. But I understand this post is about a livable wage.
For me, a livable wage is nothing less than $25/hour. Of course, that’s only because I’d like to continue paying bills on time, save for retirement, save for a rainy day and maintain good credit. But maybe that’s just me.
It seems to me that $/hour is a poor way to determine the value or worth (even the PERCEIVED value and worth) of a person or profession.
Here’s why: we are NOT alone in earning less than we feel we’re worth. And we can make choices that will radically increase our income.
Re Not being alone:
In theory (for example) we see care of our young children and infants as so important that many women leave their careers to be available to their little ones. Yet preschool teachers make $10-$15 per hour.
Clergy, in general, are paid poorly (many, with masters degrees and years of experience, make $40K or less).
NonProfit managers, educators, writers, fundraisers, etc at museums, theaters, social service agencies and even health care institutions make less than similarly credentialed people in for-profit settings.
Re doing better financially:
I’ve seen many peers do better than me financially, because they actively chose a more lucrative career (law, medicine, business). I certainly could have chosen to go into those fields, but I didn’t. I had my eyes open – and could easily see that the arts, social service, and science typically are less lucrative than business.
We can make different choices if we so choose! In fact (just fyi) – a writer who specializes in, say, pharmaceutical sales brochures, can make a WHOLE lot more money than a writer who blogs exclusively. Same goes for ad copy writing, and even grant writing.
I personally want to do it all – and as a result, I make a moderate to good income. I could easily imagine someone doing a whole lot better than I, though, just by specializing differently.
Lisa
Perry hit the nail on the head. It’s a livable wage if you are paying for food and housing and necessities and don’t live a lavish lifestyle… and I don’t mean a rich lifestyle either. It’s “livable” because you only need food and water and shelter and minimal clothing to live. To survive. To be a human and get by in this world. When your budget gets whittled down to nothing due to divorce, layoffs, or death… you learn then what real living is.
Diane (and all), having died once this year I have to confess I see the term ‘livable wage’ in a different light to many friends and associates. While undergoing robotic surgery to repair my mitral valve I died, lost total kidney function, was revived and placed into a coma for 8 days with a 20% chance of coming out OK (you can read all about it http://www.tunglewood.blogspot.com). I also lived and worked in the Philippines for several years and feeding a family there can be hard graft at the best of times. So yes, the benefits we are entitled to in Australia are a great thing and should be used and never abused. If you want to share them, just migrate. As an American you already have a basic grasp of the language, just shoulda oughta work on your spelling :o)
Livable all depends on what you feel is important to you and for me that is waking up every morning and being well enough to hug my kids, kiss my wife and let the chickens out of the pen. After that, it’s all a bonus. Cheers Perry
PS… where do I sign up for the Australian lifestyle? Dang… nice benefits!!
I like it that you see the difference between a desirable and a livable wage. Is $10 a desirable wage? No, it isn’t. Is it livable? Certainly. And it’s acceptable in my book.
Also, everyone has their own needs. I don’t like people telling me how I must handle my freelance writing business and what type of wage I’m supposed to accept. It’s my career after all. People are quick to offer one-size-fits-all “solutions” which will supposedly increase your writing income. But they are slow to understand different people have different lifestyles.
How can we even have this discussion, when we all live in different circumstances? A 21-year-old writer just starting out with a tiny studio apartment is going to have a very different outlook on what a livable wage is than a parent of several children, particularly a single parent! Could 20-year-old me have survived on $10 per hour? Maybe. $15, sure. Now, though? No way! I’m one of two working adults in a family of five (two teens and a preteen). We have a house and two cars, one of which is still being paid off. We go on vacations. The kids have activities. My husband and I are both self-employed, so we pay our own health insurance and taxes and social security. Not to mention, writing is a skilled profession, not a minimum wage job that should pay a “livable” salary. So I see what the discussion is supposed to be about, but I’m not sure how a livable wage is relevant to what wages writers should be paid.