Print media

Rates and conditions vary very widely across books, magazines and national and regional newspapers: each has its own section in this Guide.

Many freelances produce copy and/or work shifts across all the print media - for books, magazines and newspapers. Rates and conditions vary very widely. The standard method of payment for books is by royalties: a percentage of the gross receipts from sale of the books. The standard for newspapers and magazines is a flat fee for a licence to publish the work in one edition.

All freelances who write should register with the Authors' Licensing and Collecting Society to receive payments from secondary uses such as photocopying, and provide the Society with updated lists of their published works. Book authors, illustrators and translators should also register for Public Lending Right. See Rights and why they are important.

Any freelance is the first owner of their work simply by virtue of having created it. Publishers frequently apply pressure on freelances to "assign" all rights in their work - either because they have actual hopes of re-selling it for a lot of money or because their advisers simply do not understand authors' rights.

The NUJ has an agreement with the Guardian dealing with these issues, and groups of freelances have achieved agreements with some magazine publishers. The union has house agreements with other newspaper and magazine publishers, and is working to add terms setting out minimum rates and conditions for freelances to these, but this will take time. See the detailed advice sections for each sector, below.

Shifts and sub-editing

Some freelances specialise in sub-editing: checking copy and making it fit house style and the page. Many writers also do sub-editing shifts for backup income - and often as a useful source of contact with commissioning editors.

The suggested rates have been compiled from current agreements where they exist and from market information gathered through The Rate for the Job at www.londonfreelance.org/rates.