For update information see below and for latest version http://www.londonfreelance.org/feesguide/print.php?section=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.
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.
National newspapers include daily and Sunday titles produced in London and distributed throughout the UK; also The Herald, Sunday Herald, Daily Record and Sunday Mail (from Glasgow) and The Scotsman and Scotland on Sunday (Edinburgh) - although the latter, and the Scottish editions of London-based nationals, tend to pay less than their London counterparts.
Although the London Evening Standard is not a national newspaper, similar rates apply; likewise for Lloyds List.
The Belfast Telegraph, Belfast News Letter, Irish News, Belfast Sunday Life, the Western Mail and Wales on Sunday are usually regarded as regional newspapers and their rates and conditions are comparable with those of provincial daily and Sunday newspapers. See Newspaper categories.
The rates paid for features in national newspapers vary hugely, depending on the titles concerned, the expertise/research required and how much the publication wants the article.
Red-top or traditional tabloids often pay considerably more per 1000 words than the "unpopular papers" - more than twice as much - but pieces tend to be shorter. The price for the piece tends to be discussed with only a passing reference to the number of words involved. Experience shows that there is more opportunity to negotiate with tabloids than with broadsheets and that, with them especially, genuine exclusives carry a very significant premium.
Freelances covering news will be paid either per 1000 words or by the day. Once again, rates offered by different newspapers vary widely and freelances should negotiate hard to get a fair return for their work. Remember again that exclusivity will have a huge bearing on the fee. Rates should be higher, sometimes much higher, for tabloids.
Certain jobs or stories command higher rates than others and it is worth negotiating significantly higher rates for them. For example if a journalist must work unsocial hours (after 8 pm, before 8 am) in order to file a story, they should add a minimum of £100 to the payment for the story as well as expenses.
Exclusives can command huge fees: a story in a national tabloid that appears in a prominent position, such as a page lead, should command more than £700 whatever its length.
If a newspaper orders an exclusive story that is subsequently not used, the fee should be substantial to reflect the fact that once the story ceases to be current it may be impossible to sell it elsewhere. See the link below to advice on "kill fees" and full payment.
Negotiate higher rates for material that appears in the colour magazines that accompany some editions of newspapers.
Some newspaper publishers attempt to gain all rights from freelance contributors. See Rights and why they are important for a discussion of why you should resist this.
Most newspapers have set rates for sub-editing shifts and these can be difficult to negotiate individually. Almost all shift work should by law attract additional paid time off. National newspapers commonly try to enforce deduction of tax and national insurance at source, but this can be challenged - see Shift payments - tax and time off. The best way for freelances to get improved shift payment may be by working with the chapels to try to get minimum rates included in a house agreement.
The NUJ has house agreements with some newspaper publishers. However, only staff and, in some cases, people doing regular shifts are covered by the legal rights to union recognition and collective negotiation of terms. The union is working to include sections in house agreements that set out minimum terms and best practice for engaging freelances, and has achieved these with the Guardian and Express; but to get more will take some years, especially with those managements that resist negotiating anything they're not forced to negotiate. In any case, freelances submitting articles will need to negotiate what each article is actually worth, even where there are agreements that set out the minimum.
Freelance agreements remain more likely to be achieved where freelances form networks (some think of them as "freelance chapels"). These have negotiated in liaison with and supported by the Freelance Office, the Newspaper Organiser, the relevant staff chapel, Freelance Industrial Council and any appropriate NUJ branch (freelance or general).
See contacts for some email networks - we are always happy to help set up another if there are several people demanding it.
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 articles. See Rights and why they are important.
These are some things to remember when negotiating rates for work done for national newspapers. And please send us your accounts of successful negotiations.
See the advice section on print media and general advice for more discussion of these matters.
Rates for newspaper copy vary hugely and the following are decent achievable minima, mostly for what you might call "generic" stories. Exclusives and other big stories attract much higher fees. The rates for words are for their first appearance in a UK newspaper. If the publisher wants further uses, negotiate.
No-one knows quite how to categorise national papers now that the Financial Times and Telegraph are the only London national broadsheets. For the moment we have gone with qualities (tongue not entirely absent from cheek) and tabloids (straight up).
Shifts - National newspapers - category: Newspapers | ||
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Writing news: per day | ![]() | 200.00 |
6 or 7 hour sub-editing shifts | ![]() | 180.00 |
Shifts - National newspapers - category: Newspaper supplements | ||
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6 or 7 hour sub-editing shifts (weekend) | ![]() | 200.00 |
Writing: per day | ![]() | 200.00 |
6 or 7 hour sub-editing shifts | ![]() | 180.00 |
Writing, reporting and researching - National newspapers - category: Newspapers | ||
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Page lead, tabloids - sky's the limit, rarely less than | ![]() | 1250.00 |
Tip-off leading to exclusive or large spread, upward of | ![]() | 1000.00 |
Splashy features for "qualities", per 1000, from | ![]() | 800.00 |
Normal features for "qualities", per 1000, from | ![]() | 500.00 |
Page lead, for "qualities", per 1000, from | ![]() | 500.00 |
News, for "qualities", per 1000 words, from | ![]() | 430.00 |
Tip-off for news, "qualities" - much more for big stories | ![]() | 200.00 |
Tip-off for diary - minimum | ![]() | 50.00 |
Commissioned online blog post - e.g. "Comment is Free" from | ![]() | 110.00 |
Writing, reporting and researching - National newspapers - category: Newspaper supplements | ||
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Splashy features for "qualities", per 1000, from | ![]() | 1000.00 |
Per 1000 words, generic | ![]() | 600.00 |
Regional newspapers are morning daily papers with circulations covering large areas of the country, such as the Birmingham Post or the Western Daily Press. Provincial newspapers are local weekly or evening publications. See Regional newspaper categories.
While some regional papers and a few provincials pay reasonably by the standards of their local economy, freelance rates in many papers (especially in provincials) have not risen in proportion either to the cost of living or to staff salaries, themselves often miserable. It is difficult for the NUJ to recommend that members work for these. For a freelance, the only positive thing about working in this area is that it may provide you with a chance to get your by-line noticed - useful if to newcomers, but not others. Individual negotiation is essential, but freelances who do decide to do work for one of these papers should remember to try the nationals first with good stories - they of course represent a much bigger market and a bigger fee too.
Some papers are trying to reinstate a version of the old "lineage" system - that is, payment for each line of text published. Many freelances circumvent this penny-pinching system by getting the paper to order stories, and then invoicing for the agreed fee. The NUJ is opposed to lineage payments, and to other versions of "payment on publication".
Some newspaper publishers attempt to gain all rights from freelance contributors. See Rights and why they are important for a discussion of why you should resist this.
Most regional newspapers have set rates for sub-editing shifts and so these can be difficult to negotiate individually. Some may insist on deducting tax and National Insurance from shift payments at source but this can be challenged - see Shift payments - tax and time off). The best way for freelances to get improved shift payment is by working with the chapels to get their rates included in the house agreement.
The NUJ has house agreements with some newspaper publishers. However, only staff and, in some cases, people doing regular shifts are covered by the rights to union recognition and collective negotiation of terms.
The union is working to include sections in house agreements that set out minimum terms and best practice for engaging freelances, but this will take some years, especially with those management that resist negotiating anything they're not forced to negotiate. In any case, freelances will need to negotiate what each article they do is actually worth, even where there are agreements that set out the minimum.
Freelance collective agreements remain more likely to be achieved where freelances form networks (some think of them as "freelance chapels"). These have negotiated in liaison with and supported by the Freelance Office, the Regional Organiser, the relevant staff chapel, Freelance Industrial Council and any appropriate NUJ branch (freelance or general).
See contacts for some email networks - we are always happy to help set up another if there are several people demanding it.
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 articles. See Rights and why they are important.
These are some things to remember when negotiating rates for work for regional newspapers. And please send us your accounts of successful negotiations.
See the advice section on print media and general advice for more discussion of these matters.
Rates paid by regional, and particularly provincial and local, newspapers vary hugely. These suggestions are based on the decent rates that members have achieved.
Shifts - Regional newspapers - category: Regional daily newspapers | ||
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6 or 7 hour sub-editing shifts (weekend) | ![]() | 160.00 |
6 or 7 hour sub-editing shifts | ![]() | 130.00 |
Shifts - Regional newspapers - category: Weekly/local newspapers | ||
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Sub-editing shifts are one kind of work where many - but not all - local papers pay noticeable rates. | ||
6 or 7 hour sub-editing shifts | ![]() | 120.00 |
Writing, reporting and researching - Regional newspapers - category: Regional daily newspapers | ||
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Ordered story or feature, bigger papers, per 1000 | ![]() | 170.00 |
Ordered story or feature, per 1000 | ![]() | 130.00 |
Page lead | ![]() | 70.00 |
Tip | ![]() | 30.00 |
Writing, reporting and researching - Regional newspapers - category: Weekly/local newspapers | ||
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Ordered news or feature, per 1000 | ![]() | 120.00 |
The world of magazines is remarkably diverse, both in terms of what is published and how much is paid for it. It encompasses some of the best and some of the worst payers in the media industry. We divide the suggested rates into four bands - but note that publications like Vogue and many major US magazines are off the top end of this scale and that Rabbit Breeder's Week may have been off the bottom while it lasted (it did exist, and had the lowest of all ABC circulation ratings!).
The nature of the publication; the value of a story in marketing a magazine; its exclusivity; the writer's experience and particular expertise; and the time taken for research all play important parts in negotiations over how much an article is worth.
It makes sense to expect a lot more from Cosmopolitan or Radio Times than from a small-circulation, fringe political publication. There are, however, "glossies" that pay relatively poorly, and prestigious specialist publications, with lower circulations, that pay top rates to the most highly qualified journalists.
The magazine categories used in suggesting rates are based on a combination of the publications' advertising rates, their circulation and prestige, and o course reference to the open Rate for the Job market survey . They are imprecise, making individual negotiation all the more important. (Remember Rule One: let the client name a fee first, and start from there.) NUJ members can check with the Freelance Office to see whether any new house agreements have been signed.
Note that we can not guarantee writers will get the rates quoted for work on the titles listed - only that members have secured similar rates and that they are reasonable minima in the light of the rest of the market. Writers should remember that you might always get more if you ask - and you will not if you do not.
Provincially-based or fringe publications routinely pay lower rates than those suggested. The NUJ cannot recommend that anyone should work for such low rates, though we recognise that members may sometimes accept them for reasons other than financial reward.
This fast-growing area is the magazine equivalent of book "packaging", in which one organisation produces a magazine under another's imprint. An example is Redwood, which has produced publications for Boots and Marks and Spencer.
The area is volatile: a client may ask a contract publisher to produce a glossy magazine from scratch in six weeks - only to cancel it the next day. So it's probably a good idea for a writer commissioned by a contract publisher to get a clear agreement that they will be paid in full for good work delivered on time, whatever happens to it. The range of publications produced in this way is as wide as that in the more traditional field of "publisher publishing" and the rates paid are as varied, though with a welcome inclination to the high end on the whole. If in doubt, use the guidance for Groups A to C.
Contract publishers may well ask for all rights. As with any publisher, follow the advice in Rights and why they are important and ask what rights/extra usages they actually need: writers should charge extra if they agree to anything beyond normal print usage.
Most freelances who work shifts on a per-day rate are sub-editing. Covering for a section editor, it should attract a higher rate to reflect the additional complexity and responsibility.
Magazines may also bring freelances in to do a day's, or a week's or a month's, work writing news, for example covering for a staffer on leave. They may even pay on a per-day basis for a specific article, and this may be a desirable alternative to negotiating a per-word rate that would reflect the amount of work involved. Freelances should be aware that this clouds the issue, at least, of who owns the work.
See Shift payments - tax and time off for notes on taxation of shifts at source and entitlement to paid time off.
The NUJ has house agreements with some magazine publishers. However, only staff and, in some cases, people doing regular shifts are covered by the rights to union recognition and collective negotiation of terms. The union is working to include sections in house agreements that set out minimum terms and best practice for engaging freelances, but this will take some years, especially with those management that resist negotiating anything they're not forced to negotiate. In any case, freelances will need to negotiate what each article they do is actually worth, even where there are agreements that set out the minimum.
Freelance collective agreements remain more likely to be achieved where freelances form networks (some think of them as "freelance chapels"). These have negotiated in liaison with and supported by the Freelance Office, Magazines Organiser, the relevant staff chapel, Freelance Industrial Council and any appropriate NUJ branch (freelance or general).
See contacts for some email networks - we are always happy to help set up another if there are people demanding it.
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 articles. See Rights and why they are important - and see the link below.
These are some things to remember when negotiating rates for magazine work. And please send us your accounts of successful negotiations.
Magazine editors periodically suffer from extreme pressure to make silly budget cuts. Frequently this pressure dissipates after a month or so, when the Men in Suits have asserted their authority and wander off beating their chests - and everyone else can get on with producing a publication that people want to read and therefore to buy.
The rates for words are for their first appearance in a UK magazine, or US as the case may be. If the publisher wants further uses, negotiate.
To emphasise what's in the advice section: do remember to register with the Authors' Licensing and Collecting Society to get your share of money collected for copying of magazines. See the link below.
Magazines - category: A: large-circulation and glossy mags | ||
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Writing, per 1000 words, prestige UK magazines from | ![]() | 1200.00 |
Writing, per 1000 words, US authors for prestige UK magazines from | ![]() | 1400.00 |
Writing, per 1000 - prestige US magazines from | ![]() | 3000.00 |
Writing, per 1000 words | ![]() | 1000.00 |
Acting as editor on publication: per day | ![]() | 350.00 |
Section or production editor: per day | ![]() | 300.00 |
Reporting or researching: per day | ![]() | 240.00 |
Sub-editing and production: per day | ![]() | 200.00 |
Magazines - category: B: smaller consumer mags | ||
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Writing, per 1000 - run-of-the-mill US magazines ($1/word). Exchange rate updated July 2018 | ![]() | 1000.00 |
Writing, per 1000 words | ![]() | 550.00 |
Acting as editor on publication: per day | ![]() | 300.00 |
Section or production editor: per day | ![]() | 240.00 |
Reporting or researching: per day | ![]() | 180.00 |
Sub-editing and production: per day | ![]() | 180.00 |
Magazines - category: C: larger trade and trade union mags | ||
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Writing, per 1000 words | ![]() | 350.00 |
Acting as editor on publication: per day | ![]() | 280.00 |
Section or production editor: per day | ![]() | 220.00 |
Reporting or researching: per day | ![]() | 165.00 |
Sub-editing and production: per day | ![]() | 165.00 |
Magazines - category: D: smaller mags | ||
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Writing, per 1000 words | ![]() | 250.00 |
Acting as editor on publication: per day | ![]() | 220.00 |
Section or production editor: per day | ![]() | 170.00 |
Sub-editing and production: per day | ![]() | 150.00 |
Reporting or researching: per day | ![]() | 150.00 |
The book industry is as ruthless as any other business. Some might say that it is more so, for exploiting its residual gentlepersonly image, as though no civilised person would actually expect to make a living by work. Authors should take as much care over the details of a commission as they would in any other part of the media - or more, since the relationship with the client is more complex and longer in duration.
The contracts book publishers offer are often complicated. They may refer to all kinds of peripherals, such as who supplies or pays for indexes and illustrations, who should negotiate for permission to use photographs, and much more. All items can be the subject of negotiation. Never agree to anything without being aware of its full implications. Be especially careful about "indemnity clauses" - see notes on negotiating book contracts. The Society of Authors (see the link below) publishes a useful booklet, a Guide to Publishers' Contracts (£12 to non-members of the Society, free to members) - see the link below.
Many NUJ members write books, but the NUJ rarely negotiates terms for book writers. This is the job of the Society of Authors and, to a lesser extent, the Writers' Guild of Great Britain. In the past, these two organisations have negotiated Minimum Terms Agreements with some publishers, but not all. Book authors should find out whether such an agreement exists for their chosen publisher.
Other clauses cover minimum terms for sub-licensing rights to another publisher, foreign rights and US sales.
Contrary to the image of the lonely/heroic author hawking books around publishers, many books are commissioned by a publisher who looks for an author to write to a certain specification. The writer is in law just as much the author and has the same rights as any other author; but the fact of commissioning may muddy the negotiating waters somewhat. See below.
The conventional - and preferred - way of paying authors is by means of royalties on copies sold - that is, a percentage of the cover price and therefore of "gross receipts". Often there is an advance payment. Contracts should specify that there will be further payments for film rights, translations and foreign editions, serialisations in newspapers, use on television, stage or other dramatisations, and so on. The author usually retains both copyright and moral rights - but always check any contract carefully. Negotiate changes where desirable.
Much hangs on the size of the advance. If the book has a low cover price, a small first print run, or does not sell in large enough numbers for royalties to cover the advance, it may be all the author gets. Even if the book does generate an income for the author, this is unlikely to start flowing for at least a year after publication. So authors should try to get as big an advance as possible.
Royalties are a percentage, and whenever anyone sees a percentage they should ask: per cent of what?
Publishers may propose a royalty that is a percentage of "price received", also known as "net receipts" - the sum received by the publisher from the bookseller or other distributor - rather than of the recommended cover price. Publishers sell to booksellers at a discount, and distributors may get 55 per cent off. So 10 per cent of "price received" could be equivalent to 5 per cent of the cover price, or less. If the publisher insists on "net receipts", negotiate a higher percentage.
Such "price received" deals are not recommended. They are, however, fairly common in some areas, especially in educational publishing. Discounts in this case may be relatively small, which helps alleviate the problem. Authors should remember their hourly rate when negotiating a royalty advance.
Some publishers, especially in the non-fiction area, and even more especially in children's non-fiction, prefer to pay flat fees. They are frequently immovable on this, but there might be no point in moving them. If the fee is adequate, it could well be a better bet than royalties. Fees tend to be higher than royalty advances and, if print runs are too low to earn off an advance, the author could come out better off.
The big problem with fees, as opposed to royalties, is that they tend to go hand-in-hand with all-rights contracts. A publisher may say: "we thought of this book, we decided what it would be like (how many pages, how many pictures...) so we keep the rights, and we just pay you for the words." There is no more merit in this argument when it comes from a book publisher than when it comes from a newspaper.
Guidebook publishers rarely agree to royalties. If it is a new series the chances are the flat fee will be better than royalties as there is no guarantee the series will be a success. If it is an already established series royalties in theory would be better - particularly since a few in a series may be spectacularly successful - but the publisher will argue that they have already established the template and the reputation of the series. This is another argument for "windfall" provisions - see below. See more notes on negotiating flat fees.
It should be possible to accept a fee for a licence granting the publisher rights to do specified things with the work, rather than for the sale (or "assignment") of all rights. The author would then expect extra payments for any reprints, foreign editions etc. There is no reason why a flat fee should mean the author gives up their share in massive income if the whole world adores their book. (In Germany, the law states that contracts must be renegotiated in such "windfall" cases.) But the system has been entrenched in some fields of publishing for many years.
The Society of Authors shares the NUJ's stand on copyright (see Rights and why they are important). When a publisher demands copyright assignment, authors should offer to sell instead an exclusive licence for a specific period of time - at the same time ensuring that they have negotiated safeguards to prevent the publisher from altering their manuscript without their approval. It may also be possible to negotiate refresher fees paid, for example, when the book is reprinted or for editions in foreign languages.
Flat fees paid for technical writing should be at a higher rate - as should those children's books where extensive research is often involved and most of the work may go into producing fewer words. As a guideline, calculate the fee on the basis of the minimum hourly rate for editorial work.
The Society of Authors recommends that where an agreement is made to pay an author a fee per thousand words, payment should be made for the number of words commissioned rather than the number printed; and that payment should be on delivery of the manuscript rather than on publication, which could be months away.
Packagers produce a book up to the ready-for-press stage, or even deliver bound copies for a publisher to market under its own imprint. Packagers may have little flexibility in deadlines and payment. Publishers buying complete books from packagers should ensure that all contributors, such as freelance editors, have been properly paid - and if not, make the payment themselves. If a packager has not paid before the book is handed over, the author should approach the publisher immediately for payment.
Also known as collaborative writing, ghosting means working with someone else, often a celebrity, to produce a book in their name, Whatever agreement you reach about the income you get from your work, ensure that it is the publisher that pays you rather than the person for whom you are ghosting. This will avoid tensions between you and that person, and is generally a safer option. See the Society of Authors' Guide to Ghost Writing and Company Histories - via the link below.
If you do nothing else, check all contracts for "indemnity clauses". See our notes on negotiating book contracts.
Authors are entitled to payments for photocopying of their work. To be sure of receiving this money, writers need to register with the Authors' Licensing and Collecting Society. See Rights and why they are important.
Book authors are also entitled to payments for lending of their work by libraries - simply by virtue of being the author and quite independently of what any contract says about copyright. See Rights and why they are important.
The NUJ and Society of Authors have set up an email network for authors of children's non-fiction: see www.londonfreelance.org/NibWeb. We are always happy to help set up another network if there are people demanding it.
Book contracts can be immensely complicated. (We would never suggest that the lawyers drafting them make them that way to prevent anyone reading them, them being lawyers and all.) We can give only general pointers here and in the the main advice section. And please send us your accounts of successful negotiations.
all statements in the Work purporting to be factual are true to the best of the Author's knowledge having undertaken proper and diligent research with respect heretoAnd one writer managed to get a contractual agreement that the facts in their book were, to the best of their professional ability,
true for the purposes of the National CurriculumSee the section Indemnities - challenge them and get insurance
This section offers some (very basic) advice for those writing books. Photographers and illustrators of course also contribute "content" to books: see those sections of this Fees Guide. There is a separate section dealing with book editing and production.
To emphasise what's in the advice section: do remember to register with the Authors' Licensing and Collecting Society to get your share of money collected for copying of books; and for Public Lending Right to get your share of payments from libraries. See the links below.
Writing and research - Books - | ||
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...and see also the advice section for a discussion of flat fees, which should be negotiated as royalty buy-outs. | ||
Rate/1000 words | ![]() | 280.00 |
Royalty rates - Books - | ||
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Royalty rates are percentages. Whenever anyone sees a percentage they should ask: per cent of what? See the advice section for a discussion of royalties... And the royalties offered or agreed for ebooks (electronic publication) are still quite fluid: see the notes below and let us know what you get. | ||
Electronic publication - publisher arranges markup - % of receipts | 50.00% | |
Electronic publication - entire work delivered as multimedia - % of gross | 40.00% | |
Hardback (sales after first 5000) | 15.00% | |
Hardback (next 2500 sales) | 12.50% | |
Hardback (first 2500 sales) | 10.00% | |
Paperback (sales after first 20,000) | 10.00% | |
Paperback (first 20,000 copies) | 7.50% |
The book industry is as ruthless as any other business. Some might say that it is more so, for exploiting its residual gentlepersonly image. Some publishers are particularly fond of engaging people to do editing and production work as though it were a civilised hobby or a finishing school, not a way to earn a living. Freelance editors should take at least as much care over the details of a commission as they would in any other part of the media.
Book editors are well advised to charge by the day, and if persuaded to negotiate a lump-sum fee must factor in a considerable number of days for crises and general faffing around. If it's not the author turning in the manuscript late, it's the publisher changing the schedule...
Packagers produce a book up to the ready-for-press stage, or even provide bound copies for a publisher to market under its own imprint. Packagers may have little flexibility in deadlines and payment. Publishers buying complete books from packagers should ensure that all contributors, such as freelance editors, have been properly paid - and if not, make the payment themselves. If a packager has not paid before the book is handed over, the freelances should approach the publisher immediately for payment.
Packagers may in turn want to further sub-contract as much of the work as possible to one person - for example having them do picture research and rights clearance as well as editing. Rates should of course reflect the range of skills demanded.
Once only seen in the domain of technical publications and journals, abstracting has probably become more common since the growth of the internet. Abstractors tend to work quickly, developing a skill for scanning a larger publication and pulling out the salient issues and creating a succinct abstract of the work. Technical editors would expect to be paid the same rate for abstracting as for editing - and should be charging at the top of the range for this work, given the time and effort it takes to acquire the complete specialist knowledge required to do the job well.
This is an area where publishers are wont to skimp. The now-widespread practice of distributing proof copies of technical books for review before the indexer has started work is their main tool for getting away with it (a reviewer of technical books moans).
Just because publishing software allows someone to click on random words in the text and generate something that looks like an index does not mean it is an index. Producing a really useful index requires as deep an understanding of the content of the book as do editing or abstracting; particularly to do it under the time pressures that publishers impose.
These are some things to remember when negotiating rates for book editing and production work. And please send us your accounts of successful negotiations.
We especially welcome information on usual practice for extra licences for use of indexes in further editions.
Book editing and production is a separate business from book writing, which has its own section of this Guide.
See the notes below about the importance of clarity in contracts.
Production and book editing - Editing/producing books - | ||
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We cannot say it too often: be clear on what the contract covers. Additional days of work generated by others' changes of mind must, for example, be chargeable. | ||
Copy-editing, per hour | ![]() | 30.00 |
Design, per hour | ![]() | 30.00 |
Full indexing, per hour | ![]() | 30.00 |
Index adapting and simple indexing, per hour | ![]() | 26.00 |
Manuscript reading and reporting, per hour | ![]() | 26.00 |
Picture research, per hour | ![]() | 30.00 |
Project management, per hour | ![]() | 37.00 |
Publicity, per hour | ![]() | 30.00 |
Rights and contracts, per hour | ![]() | 30.00 |
Specialist editing, such as classical languages or complex mathematics, per hour | ![]() | 54.00 |
Substantial editing and rewriting, per hour | ![]() | 32.00 |
Proofreading, per hour | ![]() | 25.50 |
Text © Mike Holderness & previous contributors; Moral rights asserted. The collection (database right) © National Union of Journalists. Comments to ffg@londonfreelance.org please. You may find the glossary helpful.
The National Union of Journalists must not, can not and would not wish to dictate rates or terms of engagement to members or to editors. The information presented here is for guidance and as an aid to equitable negotiation only.
Suggestions apply to contracts governed by UK law only. In any event, nothing here should be construed as legal advice.