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I was in journalism school in 2004 and almost all the older journalists I met lamented the fact that high end publications were paying $1.00 per word and had be
by loudandskittish 10y ago
I was in journalism school in 2004 and almost all the older journalists I met lamented the fact that high end publications were paying $1.00 per word and had been since the 1970s. There had never been any kind of adjustment for inflation.
- dasil003 10y agoWith the rise of the internet, I think the written-word sector of the economy has inflated more than any other.
- mirimir 10y agoI find your comment puzzling. Are you arguing that volume has increased? I can't imagine how average compensation has increased, given the prevalence of free.
- dasil003 10y agoI sort of meant it in a reverse way, with words as currency. When a currency inflates there is more of it and it is devalued, that's the situation with article-style content these days. Instead of being obtuse, what I probably should have said is that we have a supply glut.
- mirimir 10y agoOK, I get it. Word inflation. Totally makes sense.
- scholia 10y agoAverage payments have gone down. In my experience, the best rates are for stuff that gets printed, where rates have historically not changed much for decades. However, rates for web-only stories are often much lower than for print, and sometimes you get a flat fee regardless of length. The result is that you can produce more words today for less money than you made in the print-only 1980s.
- CrankyBear 10y agoSad, but true. I'm making pretty the same coin per word I always have. What was good in the 80s isn't so great after 30 years of inflation.