How Much Is Your Time Worth?
How much is your time worth? This will be both an existential post . . . and a practical one.
The really terrific Mark Terry recently did a 10-part blog series on freelance writing for a living. As such, he included resources for hunting down freelance work. Now, as an aside, I have supported a family of six as a fiction writer for years now, but I have kept a couple of really top-notch business or publishing clients, mostly because I've been with them so long and I have actually come to really enjoy the people I work with. Sometimes I get a big job, sometimes I don't hear from them for a while . . . and that suits my fiction career nicely. That's a freelance writer/editor.
Anyway, most of my regular readers and friends know I have an 18-year-old daughter who is going off to music school in the fall. Music school thus, if you don't know, falls out of the realm of "state college tuition." State school costs, around here, $15,000 with tuition, room, and board. We're WAY upwards of that. Oh, and I bought her an 18th-century Italian violin this year. And a new bow. Bows can cost the amount of money some human beings spend on a car. For a bow. I paid more for her instrument than the down payment on either of my first two houses. So, by necessity, I let it be known among my old clients that yes, I'll take work if they have it.
Anyway, while perusing Mark's resources, I was astounded by the audacity of some of the people advertising for writers. We're not unionized, but apparently they think that means we're all hacks and idiots. Or, more likely, desperate. Ads for COMPANIES--corporations--who want someone to write an entire self-help book for a flat fee of $1,000. I'll pick myself up off the floor from laughing so hard. Ads from upstart blog sites or online sites who will spend 2,000 words for an ad describing their completely arrogant, picky, condescending "requirements" with caveats like, "Don't apply if you're not a pro, don't apply if you're a flake, etc." They want Pulitzer-winning writers, but hey, we can only afford "for now" to pay you $20 for the entire assigment, "but that should change as we grow." Let me jump at this one.
The sad thing is, they will FIND writers who will work for what is, as a friend of mine put it, only a living wage in Sub-Saharan Africa (which in itself is a sad statement on the world, but . . . I digress). There's nothing wrong, as a writer, with starting small to build your clippings file, but . . . my own opinion is the business model some of these people have is at its heart corrupt. "I don't have enough working capital to pay people, so I will offer them nothing or close to it, then when I make some money, I will offer to pay them--but I will not offer any back compensation for the work they've already done which has now afforded me the capital to pay them."
If that business model sounds like some e-pubs that have gone out of business and screwed writer friends, then so be it.
Now the funny thing is, if you, like a friend of mine and I recently calculated, added up ALL the writing, all the workshopping, all the drafts, all the submitting, all the rewrites, all the reading and correcting galleys, all the promo, etc. that go into writing and having a book published, even with a decent advance, we probably make 5 cents an hour. We do fiction because we love it. And yes, you can make a living at it, even if you are not him. But you have to work hard at it. But at least, I think, the publisher, by giving you a REAL advance of a decent size, is recognizing that work.
So I set a price, bottom line, for editing or writing. When I first started making real money as an editor, I gulped at my price. But I practiced being able to say what my fees were. And then I thought about what DOCTORS charge per hour, what LAWYERS charge, what accountants charge. And I didn't feel so bad. At all.
The second part of this post is a more esoteric question. What is your time worth? If I had a dollar for every person who asks me "How do you do it?" I wouldn't have to work. Yes, I have four kids; yes I always volunteer; yes, I blog; yes, I write; yes, I have hobbies; yes, I love to read; yes, I do, indeed, have the infamous Demon Baby. But what I DON'T have is a lot of . . . well, crap. I don't feel some guilty compulsion to volunteer for every event at school--unless it's something I am passionate about. I don't watch television unless it's something I really, really want to watch. My time is precious. I shared about having Crohn's disease two posts ago. You learn just HOW precious time is when you've been deathly ill. My time is worth a lot more than . . . wasting it.
To that end, what I REALLY cut out of my life are negative people. More often than not, I walk away from angry people, from the people who cut a swath of hostility. I don't need to spend my time arguing with the jackass up the street, or my son's Evil Science Teacher. When she asked me for a conference to discuss my grievances, including that she apparently feels no need to try to make science fun and engaging, I told her I didn't have time. Not that I didn't have time to care about my son, or that I didn't have time to spend with him. I don't have time to spend with HER. Not even a minute. My time is THAT precious. I am not going to fundamentally change the negative people. I told her so. Yeah, the schools don't like me too much, but I feel my time is THAT precious. I guard it vigilantly.
So that's my post for the day. Underpaid writers . . . time-sucking negativity.
Thoughts?
35 comments:
I have a friend who has several websites. She pays next to nothing for her articles and most are written by people in places like India. They will work for $20 or so. Apparently, thats good money there.
How much am I worth? Yikes! I have no idea. My day job pays very well. Its a high stress job and I'm good at it. I think my boss throws money at me to make sure I stay. But when this job dries up-- I don't know where I'll find this kind of money.
Scary.
You make five cents an hour? Wow. I figure I'm running at about a half penny a month right now. =)
I try and not judge the computer time in terms of finances, but I'm not always successful. If it is bringing me pleasure and relaxation, I have to call it enough for now.
Of course I'd like to get up to that five cent an hour mark someday.
You do get what you pay for usually, but I think few get paid what they're worth. Those authors pulling in 6 figure advances..are their WORDS really worth that much more, or is it just their luck and marketability? A bit of both, I guess.
Hi Aimless:
About 75% of the production of books is getting outsourced to India. That includes copyediting, typesetting, etc. Most American production houses cannot compete. I understand that's the market . . . but . . . I have watched good friends get kicked out the door. And publishing ISN'T high-paying. These were people who worked for years for the love of it and low compensation, and even at that, outsourcing took their job.
As for throwing money at you, bank it for all you can!!!
E
Hi Lainey:
It's more than 5 cents an hour, but I made more as a book editor exclusively editing and ghosting. Not TONS more but more, for less work in terms of hours. In terms of happiness?? I don't know. I love what I do.
E
Aw shucks, ma'am. T'weren't nothin'.
But it's a good point. As I may have mentioned in that series, I once had a woman who was doing a start-up magazine about health policy really nagging me to work for her with exactly that, "I can only pay $100 now, but once we get going there'll be more money in it."
Literally, that's what she said. And in there she was talking about all her friends who worked at Newsweek who were acting as her consultants.
And I thought, "And I note that they're not writing for you for $100 an article."
I'm sure it's not just writing--musicians get it all the time, and your S.O. is a chef, so I don't doubt someone somewhere along the line wanted him to cook for them for nothing, but there sure are a lot of publishers who seem to be willing to suck your blood and pay you less than minimum wage for it.
I did a stint freelance writing, about nine months or so, and the pay scale most clients were willing to pay was ridiculous. A lot of writers I knew advocated upping their typing speed to up their pay, it was all about how many articles you could put out in a day.... umn, sorry, that's not writing. I couldn't do it. I couldn't turn in less than the best copy I could write, which meant I was very low paid indeed... which in turn made me salty... which in turn made me stop.
What I saw, what I still see, is a lot of horrible, horrible writing that people paid for - not very much, but they did pay for it... I've read news articles on reputable sites that are riddled with typos and grammatical errors, and I personally think it's because the writing field is full of people willing to take very low pay to be writers... and I'm sorry, you do get what you pay for - to make enough to eat at that scale, even a good writer couldn't hand in great copy.
I know a lot of freelancers that kept with it and continually upped their payscale with more clips and better references, so it's not like it can't be done - I think the freelancer has to know what their own worth is and demand it, though. For me, that kind of writing took away my drive to write - and nothing's worth that!!!! I'd rather write fiction with no sale in sight, and go get a desk job that's not writing, because I can still write fiction in the wee hours of the night until it starts paying enough that I can do it for a living.
Hi Mark:
Exactly. Like I said, the business model is always "I have no working capital, but I am going to milk you dry to get this rolling so then I am rolling in money when my idea hits big." The "logic" of it is utterly insulting.
E
Joe Eszterhas started with a blank page. Three weeks later his agent sold Basic Instinct at auction for $3 million.
Mark Terry started with a blank page. An unspecified amount of time later (months? years?) his novel Devil's Pitchfork sold to a small press for a $1500 advance (I only know this because he mentioned it in a previous comment).
Both guys are writers. Both guys spent years honing his craft. Why such a huge gap in price tags?
I'm no expert, but it seems to me luck plays a major role in whether or not a writer makes a fair wage. In that way, we're sort of like gamblers, with the odds stacked against us.
The sad fact is, most writers will never earn enough money to feed their cats. We do it because we love it. There's really no other reason.
How much is my time worth? The way I see it, every second I'm doing something I enjoy is time well spent. Even if no money is involved.
Merry:
Luckily, as a book editor, I never really had to do little articles. My clients have almost always been large companies used to paying for good people. But yeah, the solution isn't "type faster." It's "pay people what their craft is worth."
E
Jude,
You're right, although I think Erica in this case is focusing on nonfiction. Fiction is even more of a crapshoot. In the nonfiction world there are ways to make pretty good money, although magazines aren't typically the best ones. (There are exceptions).
A lot of it has to do with the type of nonfiction writing you do. If you can do technical--particularly in say pharmaceutical/biotech, computers--or business (analysis, research, company reports, marketing/advertising/copywriting) there actually can be a lot of money involved with per hour pay rates ranging from about $40 or $50 to $150 per hour. Getting there, like any job in that pay range, takes experience.
Nonetheless, you can go work at McDonald's flipping burgers for more money per hour than an awful lot of magazines and other publications are offering. To my mind it's often something of a con job (or racket, as I prefer to call it). These publishers and editors aren't working for the rates they're paying you. They get healthcare benefits, etc. In some ways it's like a sweatshop, and the reason it works is because there's people willing to do it.
Jude:
Luck and timing--definitely a part of it. I've never shied away, here, from talking about luck. Luck, persistence, timing.
I'm talking, though, largely, about people who create start-up publishing houses, or start-up anything, and want to pay the creative people who work for them . . . nothing. Not a living wage. Not a wage at all. I am in this to earn a living. Do I love what I do? Definitely. But the differences in what different writers earn as advances isn't exactly what I'm referring to. Grisham has a LOT more detractors now than ever, I think. A lot of people don't like his writing . . . but he makes HUGE sums, he sells and moves a lot of books. Some people, when you talk about luck and craft too, have their finger on some cosmic pulse of what the public wants. It may not be great art, but they've got "something" as far as a prediction on what the public will read and buy.
E
Mark:
EXACTLY!
The most money I ever made, translated to dollars, with inflation, was working for a Big eight accounting firm as a freelance editor. They had to churn out SEC accounting manuals, and their accountants couldn't write for sh*t. So they paid editors. A lot. To churn 'em out for them. They paid way BETTER than anyone else, at that time, because they recognized they needed smart talent who could do the work on UNGODLY schedules. They compensated me fairly. I have spent 15+ years or more building to that. As a ghostwriter, I get paid a lot . . . again, I didn't start out at that, but I am worth what I am paid because that author will either get a deal, sell a lot of books, whatever. There are creative start-ups who are just insulting, as far as I am concerned. Not only that, as magazines or start-ups or whatever, they have this air of "we're about the art" or we're about x or y" in which they feel JUSTIFIED in paying crap.
E
Here's my take on this ... there are VERY LOW barriers to entry to being a writer. Anybody can hang out their shingle and declare themselves a writer, thus the market at the low end is absolutely flooded with "cheap" talent. This isn't quite as true of professions that require more education and/or professional certification (doctors, lawyers, accountants, plumbers, trained monkeys, etc.).
Sure, it sucks. But where there actually are barriers to entry in this business, the writers make pretty good money. The people who write for Newsweek, Martha Stewart Living, New York Times Magazine, National Geographic, Wall Street Journal and on and on -- they do OK. I think the same is true of book publishing. That's why there is this awful system of agents and editors and gate keepers. It's all about raising the barriers to entry, so the comparatively few people who "make it in" are safer bets. It's basic, archaic, Spanish Inquisition-style quality control.
What happens after publication is a horse of a different whinny -- who knows how any product will fare in the marketplace? I would wager that the genius behind New Coke didn't think he had cooked up one of marketing's great failures.
Of course, I'm one of those people who complain all the time about the crappy pay offered to writers (often to my dear friend Erica), but that's because I'm a full-time, professional writer who hasn't broken into the top tier.
I also think there's a "glamor tax" involved in this profession. We give up some money in exchange for intangibles. I do what I love, and I usually do it in my boxers (or less--woo hoo!). Writing is a heavily romanticized profession compared to, say, cleaning out septic tanks or being a failed president.
So even though I complain about being underpaid, I'm not sure my heart is REALLY in my bitching. And Erica is absolutely right -- there are times I feel like I'm making about a dollar a day, and I did write two full novels last year without a single penny of income. But at least knowing there is a top end out there is comforting. Hope springs eternal ...
Jon "The Crank" VanZile
P.S. As for your take on "creative start-ups," I'm with you 100%. I ignore them. Screw that. I'm not shouldering anybody else's risk ... I can't tell you how many jobs I've turned away based on the premise that I'll help somebody build a business because I'm ... well, because I'm around and they need the help, and maybe after they're rich, they'll throw loads of work my way. Uh uh.
JVZ
Hey Crank:
:-)
hear you on all counts. I have an acquaintance who writes for the New Yorker. He and I had dinner about a week after one of his pieces came out and he said their payment didn't even pay for our pricey dinner. Some magazines have a glamor factor, even if yes, they do pay "decent"--whatvere your definition of that is.
And yes, as an industry, the fact that anyone CAN hang out a shingle undermines us sometimes. I have see people online offering "professional" editing. My "partial publication" list of books I've edited or designed or worked on could go on three pages single-spaced and still not scratch the surface. I've had authors end up on the Today show with their books, whatever . . . high-profile. And I will look at the "credentials" of these editors and just be amazed they have the gall . . . why? Because you can read and blog on why you like or don't like a book and so now you think that qualifies you? Oh, don't get me started on cranky. :-)
E
Oh, gosh, I'm going to apologize in advance, cause I know I'm going to go on and on. (I know nothing about nonfiction, only fiction.)
My fiction makes the equivalent of a low-end advance. Except it's not an advance. It's like serial payment, a flat payment I get to keep (and isn't split up in bits, either). Then, six months later, it's released in an ebook and I get royalties starting with the first book.
When I joined RWA, I can't tell you how many people told me to go to this recognized publisher, or that one, when those ones wouldn't give me as good a deal. Sorry, but I don't need RWA's respect; I need money.
BUT, I recognize that I'm getting paid less than a lot of NY advances. So I don't know. I'm probably bringing things down, too.
On the other hand, one of my publishers sold to someone new, and she bought it at the eleventh hour with NO stories ready to be published. For the next five months, I put out 300,000 words so she would have enough stories.
Then she discovered there were writers who will write for a penny a word. Who are, heck, grateful to be published at all. I'm one of two of her writers who make the most, and now she can only afford to buy two novellas a year from each of us at that rate. And I could tell she wanted me to say, "No problem, I'll write at a lower rate." (Nothing doing.)
And when I've discussed some ideas, some things my readers have actually written and said, "I wish you offered this," she said, "I don't know. I don't want it to seem like I'm in this for the money."
At which point, I just had to shake my head.
The one-penny writers aren't bad at all. And they are probably like me. When I first got paid for writing, I had no conception of writing as a business. I just entered a little contest, won an honorable mention. So I can't be mad at them. There are a few traces of bitterness, I'll admit, which usually go away.
I just tell myself, "Write better." That's what I tell myself to every obstacle. Just write better, so you're beyond it.
It's not like music. People will PAY to see their fiction published. People have day jobs and are JUST GRATEFUL to be published. It's a tougher market, because of that.
Crank:
As for your take on start-ups . . . absolutely, JVZ.
E
With Lainey at a half a penny, you at five cents, and me at zero...maybe we should pool our pittance and invest in real estate? I hear it's a buyer's market right now. ;-)
About the science teacher... I wanted to stand up and cheer for you when I read that. (If you saw my current mess of a desk situation, you would understand why I didn't.) I've had to attend more than one conference this year for my oldest. My son is so smart, but is a brainy misfit, and they keep suggesting I medicate him for ADD. It makes me insane. But I keep showing up for these "meetings" in case we have issues with him not passing the standardized tests that allow him to graduate to the 4th grade. Smart kid, but bored kid. His test results are inconsistent, but verbal questions showcase his IQ.
Rant over. And you rock!
Hi Mark and Erica:
I freelanced for a major newspaper for awhile in my 20s, but I didn't like it much and the pay was crap so I didn't do it long. Journalism or technical writing would be a major drag for me, so the publishers would have to pay a pretty penny to get me on board. Not that anyone is beating a hole in my door, LOL.
Also, sometimes I think I only have a certain number of words in me per week, only so much fuel in the tank. I prefer to reserve it for fiction. But that's just me.
Hi Spy:
Thanks for your perspective. I realize in a sense of "fair market value" someone willing to work for a penny . . . well, it is what it is. But it's discouraging!!!
E
Jude,
Freelancing for newspapers sucks. They're the worst payers.
In my series, I've tried to reinforce the idea that freelancing isn't very everyone. It's a business and a lot of times doesn't seem terribly creative. And your willingness to WRITE FOR MONEY, rather than write what you want, may very well be the big divide between making a living at it and going back to working for someone else.
I spent 18 years working for someone else as a cytogenetics technologist and pretty much hated it. I always thought I'd break out and become a novelist, which never happened, even when I did get novels published. But I was able to eventually make a good living as a freelance writer.
I've said it before, I always thought I wanted writing to change my life. It did. But probably what I really wanted was for writing to change my LIFESTYLE. And that didn't really happen until I started writing nonfiction for a living. And I like doing it.
[And an interesting aside on this. So, you love writing fiction. Would you object to, say, writing TV scripts for a show you didn't love? Even though, yes, you're writing fiction and yes, you're getting paid really well for it? What about tie-in novels? What if it was a TV show you liked? CSI or "Bones" or "Battlestar Galactica" or whatever? Would that work?"
Totally agree. It makes me really angry when writers accept such low pay because it makes it that much easier for people to get cheap labor.
I wish it was always "you get what you pay for" but unfortunately a lot of talented writers accept crap pay for way longer than they should. And that affects everyone.
Not buying the cow when you can get the milk for free comes to mind here.
My time IS valuable. If I spend time working for someone, I expect to be compensated appropriately for it. Even if they think it's not "real work" and they'd love to be able to "sit around and write." Clearly they can't do that or they wouldn't be looking to hire someone.
Sorry, this is something that severely pisses me off.
And I agree with you about not giving time and energy to people you can't change. Time IS valuable. I also dont' feel compelled to get involved in a bunch of different activities and causes that I have no personal passion for, just because it might make me look better. My vanity ends at the mirror.
Hi Heather:
This teacher just . . . doesn't get it. Doesn't get my kid. Doesn't get kids in general. "I see no 'evidence' of his being gifted because he doesn't speak up in class unless I call on him." Well, 1) look at his test scores, 2) listen to every other teacher he has who have all bothered to get to know him, and 3) don't assume that only those who raise their hand are worth your time. I could rant for a while, but I won't. Good for you!, by the way, Heather. Too many boys are being needlessly medicated (with no offense intended toward anyone for whom that approach works . . . I just don't think it's right for everyone).
E
Mark:
You made that point really well in your series. I think anyone who ever thinks about being a f/t freelancer should read every single one of your posts.
For me, it was a lifestyle decision. I was working in publishing and had reached a point where I was making a decent enough living, but I hated being away from my child (only had one then). The universe kind of forced my hand when Child #2 got the RSV virus shortly after he was born and was hospitalized, and then seemed asthmatic for some time afterwards, and the doctors advised against any kind of daycare situation. I had at that point worked out a "p/t in the office, p/t at home deal" but it was clear my heart wasn't going to be in it and that I wanted to be home f/t and I decided to resign. The unintended consequence was tripling my income.
I like being a writer. I like doing the business stuff because it gives me a chance to talk to grown-ups and not just my dogs and Demon Baby. And I love my fiction. I am lucky in that I get the best of all possible worlds most of the time.
E
zoe:
Believe me, it pisses me off, too.
E
Btw, I feel for your kid. I have a student who's extremely smart, extremely gifted. Probably the smartest in his whole school. But the way schools work, it's shaped him into a bit of a slacker, honestly, one who would prefer to do nothing for A's and B+ than waste a bunch of time doing busywork to get an A+.
And why should he put in work? Why does HE have to prove he's gifted? Really, why? To what end? A higher "A?" Big deal. They're not going to provide a more challenging class for him.
He just doesn't care to, and he's certainly not going to do a bunch of busy work that he already understands, that's just going to take up time when he could be doing something more interesting, you know?
So, you love writing fiction. Would you object to, say, writing TV scripts for a show you didn't love? Even though, yes, you're writing fiction and yes, you're getting paid really well for it? What about tie-in novels? What if it was a TV show you liked? CSI or "Bones" or "Battlestar Galactica" or whatever? Would that work?
Responding to a writer who said she couldn't write short stories, Joe Konrath recently said (paraphrasing), "If you're a writer, you can write anything."
I disagree a bit with Konrath's workhorse, jack-of-all-trade philosophy about writing. For example, F. Scott Fitzgerald was arguably one of the finest novelists of the 20th century, but failed miserably when he tried his hand at screenwriting.
I think it would be fun to write for TV, and I have a great deal of respect for the people who do it...but it's a whole different ball game? You know?
That said...if you know any shows that are hiring, I'd be willing to give it a shot. :)
Jude,
I'm not sure I agree with Joe on that area, either. I'm not sure I'd write for TV very well, although I might like to give it a shot, but honestly, could I write well and happily for something like "The Suite Life of Zack and Cody." My kids like it, it's cute, but I don't think I'd enjoy writing for a show like that. But then again, maybe the money would more than make up for it.
Go watch "Bull Durham" and remember the line about, "You can keep going to the ball park and get paid for it." I guess there are worse things.
Looks like I should be reading Mark's series. I would love to remove the shackles of the day job doing freelance writing. I have a HUGE technical background in computers, networks and internet related technologies. Maybe it is time to look hard at that and see what is possible. I know the idea of writing about technology and computers sounds like A LOT more fun that sitting at a console and being an over-glorified administrator.
I think that in any field there are those people who bring it down by undercutting everyone else. I don't think it is so much about the why, but more like who they are being about their career/job that they feel the need to work that way.
As far as wasting time... I do hard-core highly technical all day long. Some days I just need something mindless for a little while to make the transition to the creative less jarring or painful. Sometimes it is going out for a run, sometimes it is playing with my girls... and sometimes it is watching a tv show.
As far as negativity goes, I used to fight against it, then I walked away from it. However, over the last year I have been training and living inside a new context for my listening and my speaking (and writing). Now I hear negativity as a way of playing small, of hiding out. It is, as Mark said, a racket - a way of making someone else wrong for a problem or shortcoming they see in themselves and are afraid to acknowledge. Thus the negativity is about them and not about me. Standing in that context is very empowering and really takes any stress and anger of of my world. I know it is not about me and since I am at cause for making a difference for people, it gives me an opportunity to contribute to them.
It's a difficult lifestyle that's for sure. Plus I know alot of writers who used to get screwed constantly by people stiffing them, taking advantage of them, etc. They don't make enough to talk to a lawyer and so they don't know what their recourse is. Hard times.
ewoh:
There is a real avenue for you to break free of the nine-to-five grind. Mark's series is unbelievably helpful!
E
It's interesting that you mentioned the pay (or lack thereof) for blogging, because I was just looking at that the other day on a jobs board. Many of the jobs posted paid under $5.00/post, yet they wanted the posts to be well-researched, well-written, and of a decent length. Considering all the time it takes to research, write, and revise each post, that's crazy. Of course, I basically blog for free, but it's my blog, so I get to choose the topics and blog on my own schedule. Somehow it's easier to do something when it's a hobby that pays nothing than when that same thing is considered a job that pays poorly.
booklady:
I've seen those ads, too. And yes, it's the principle of the thing.
This has been a problem for years for me. Coming out of illness,s o desperate for work, hearing comments from family members that I'm just not tough enough to survive in the real world... and so I've taken jobs that pay next to nothing from people who I don't trust simply because no one else will hire me.
It's better to walk away. I'm getting better at doing just that.
Hi Richard:
Good for you. I think when we "own" how much we are worth . . . people start to recognize it.
E
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