Freelance Writing for Magazines: When and How to Ask Magazine Clients for a Rate Raise
This livestream, brought to you by Helen Mann, is one that took me years to come up with some good advice. I used to shake in my Vans over asking for a per word increase from my editors and was always sure they'd say no. I'd been told hundreds of times from other writers not to ask for a raise…ever.
Turns out, that's not the case at all! Forming healthy relationships with your editors matters, asking for what you think your work is worth matters, and understanding the magazine pay landscape matters. That's why this week's livestream I'm walking you through multiple different steps to not only start out at higher magazine rates, but increase them politely over time.
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When and How to Ask Magazine Clients for a Rate Raise
This is a story that I will never forget about writing for magazines. And I hope that this is helpful for you too. So a long time ago, many, many years ago, I heard this story. Like I, you know, I heard about this where there were two writers and they had about the same skill level they had about the same quality of writing.
And one of those writers worked at this magazine for 50 cents. And one of those writers worked at a magazine, the same magazine for a dollar 25, a word. So when I heard this disparity. This really stayed with me. Like I will never forget that story of learning, that there were two writers who are, you know, basically the same quality.
Um, they had basically the same kind of work and they were making crazy different amounts of money. And why was that? I mean, I don't know specifically why that was, but I could tell you from my own experience. And it's because they didn't know how to ask for a raise from their magazine client or when they should ask for a raise from their mad magazine client.
So today we're going to go over how to do that, but I'm hoping that that. That story sticks with you. It's a really important one to know, because this is the difference between like writers, knowing their value in knowing their worth and how things end up turning out with different types of clients, like businesses versus magazines, and really how, how and why you should negotiate your rates and pay attention to what's going on in the industry.
That's really important. So today we're going through a few really important. Alright. So I have a bunch of notes here that we're going to go through the first thing, number one. And we're also going to do some pup dates. So before we do number one, which is up there now we'll do a quick pup date. Cause they're over there looking cute and snuggly.
So I don't know. I'm hoping that they'll sleep most of the time. I mean, I know that one of the loud one is, is snoozing right now. She's being wiggly. Oh, oh no, she's looking. Yeah. Anyways, usually she makes a lot of noise. Oh no. Now she knows it's okay. Okay. We got to pan away pin away. All right. So hopefully she'll be not working right now.
1) Negotiating Your Magazine Pay From The Beginning of Your Relationship
So number one thing, the first thing we're going to talk about is the multiple different steps that you can take to start out at higher magazine rates, and then also really increase your rates politely and in a nice way over time. So the first thing that I want to talk about. Is that when you kind of start out with magazines, they are going to give you a few.
Specific things. So they're basically in a say our normal rate is this, our traditional rate is this, our starting rate is this, there's some kind of language that they use that they're like, Hey, this is the basic rate. Like not the super premium unleaded. This is the, you know, this is the basic rate and every time, and I started doing this with my magazine clients and it works out really well.
Every time you get a new magazine called. You can ask them if they have any wiggle room in their budget to up the rate, this is really important. So this is how someone gets stuck at 50 cents a word, and someone starts, you know, maybe at 80 or 90 cents a word and works their way up to a dollar 25 or starts at a dollar and works their way up to a dollar 20.
So every time you get a new magazine client, when they send you their rate, they're like, Hey, uh, we normally pay $400 for this piece, you know, for whatever it is, an 800 word piece or whatever, a thousand words. And you're like, oh, you know what, thank you so much for sharing your rate information or sharing.
Um, thanks so much for letting me know. Do you have any wiggle room in your budget? To up the rate. Right. That's the phrase that I always use. I wrote it down. So do you have any wiggle room in your budget to raise the rate? Or do you have any wiggle room in your budget to change the rate or, um, any kind of nice way to say, like, is there an available, like, do you have availability to start at a higher rate?
Hey, as in the welcome in, and this is super powerful. This is the difference. Like someone who starts at 50 cents a word it'll take them forever to negotiate up to a dollar 25. That takes so long. But if you start from the very beginning negotiating. You can actually, you know, get closer to that dollar 25 a lot quicker.
So let's say they're like, all right, this is your first article for us. We don't feel comfortable giving you a dollar 25. You know, you kind of have to either prove yourself or, um, we need to see the quality of your work or whatever. Uh, that's fine. You can still go from, like, let's say their traditional rate was 50 cents a word, and you're starting at 80.
That's a lot better starting point than 50 cents a word. Hey Annie. Welcome. Andy. I hope you're feeling okay. I know you've been having some health stuff, so I'm hoping you're feeling all right. So here's the deal. Every time, every time, say it with me, you get a new magazine client and they say, this is, you know, we normally pay this for this.
You say that's nice. Thank you for letting me know. Do you have any wiggle room in your budget to update? Now here's the thing when they come back and they say, no, this is our max budget, or no, we pay the, you know, the same across the board. You accept that. Right. You can either accept that and say, okay, cool.
I'm going to write this piece for $400. And I know now that the ceiling is $400. So as long as I worked for this bank, Every time I write an article for them. It's $400. So that's good information to know. The other thing is you can just say, I totally get it, but my four rate is 80 cents. A word seems like we're not a fit.
And then you move on. Uh, I hope that, and I'm going to impress upon you is like, do not shame. Uh, we are, they're active, they're active. Um, oh, that's a cute tail wag Berry. Good job. That's cute. Um, Do not shame the magazine for their rates. Editors are really doing their best editors. A lot of times we're getting magazines because they are passion projects because they're things they really care about.
Um, do not go back to them and be like, well, your rates are way too low for my work. Like, don't do that. You can just say like, Hey, I totally get it. Uh you're you know, my minimum for this type of work would be this. Uh, if you ever have a chance to reevaluate your budget, I would love to talk to you further about that.
About. Um, do not do anything where you like, try to say like, oh my gosh, I can't believe your pay is so low or whatever, like magazines are doing their best. And especially now, we all know there's been lots of magazines that have folded. It's been a really tough time. So I'm just trying to, um, impress upon you that you can always ask for a rate raise.
You can always be curious if there's room in their budget so that you're not a 50 cent writer versus a dollar 25 writer. Um, but the whole thing is that you kind of have to work with what they give you. So magazines are working within whatever. You know, they can afford and whatever they give you. Right?
Like, even if you can up your rate over time, what they're giving you then is usually like their best offer. So they give you 400, you ask about wiggle room. They say yes or no, but don't go back to them and be like, oh my gosh, this is the worst thing ever. Like I thought you would no don't shame them or do anything like that.
Cause I know there are writers who like trying to make editors feel bad and like basically neg them into giving them better rates. Don't do that. Hey Maria. Welcome. Yeah, I know that chronic fatigue, man. Andy that's rough stuff. So yeah, I hope you're. I hope you're doing okay. Hi buddy. So that's the first thing is every time you get a new magazine, you ask this question.
Do you have any wiggle room in your budget to up the rate or do you have any wiggle room in your budget to raise the rate? Any, just leave it open and they can give you a yes or no answer, but sorry. At least you're starting. At the right place. You're starting with, you know, you're not starting at 50 cents, you're starting at, you know, whatever that is.
There's also who pays writers. So if you go to who pays writers, it's a website. Um, they'll show you this disparity in rates. So like who pays writers, um, is all about collecting rates. Why do you have to sit on her? She hates that she hates, when you go over there and you to up now, we're gonna start in the.
So if you go to who pays writers, that is a giant catalog of all the rates that are available for different magazines. So writers go in there and they post rates and they say, Hey, I'm getting paid a dollar 83, or I'm getting paid 33 cents, or I'm getting paid 57 cents. Or I did, um, print and online, or I only did print.
There's all these details in there about what they did and how much it was priced at. So if you're ever looking at a magazine, go to who pays writers and look at the disparity in. Look at what's available. We will. Why don't you go back to your habit hole? I know he disrupted your whole, the whole experience.
Good girl. There you go. Alright. Here's your blankie? Uh, I've used who pays writers all the time. So, um, who pays writers is great to like, it's great to understand what is available, how people are getting paid. Um, the timeline that people are getting paid, all that stuff I blew. Well, you got to go back to your hub a whole.
So those are the first things always ask that and check who pays writers always ask, do you have any wiggle room in your budget for a rate raise or to increase the rate? And then always check who pays writers now not every magazine is in who pays writers, but they have done hundreds of them in their vector.
Have a hole, please. Thank you. All right, now I'll give you a tree though. There you go. Oh, hold on everybody. We're going to do a quick update with some Fritos. You're not even in your Hobbit hole, you left again. Oh my goodness. Hi Vicky. Welcome in. I always love the wave. All right, here you go, buddy. Good job.
Good job. All right, you ready to show everyone your skills? Big girl. I don't want other ones, other ones. Good job. Those are nice. Those are nice high fives today. All right. So number two, we're going to go over to our second thing that we're going to talk about. Hold on. We can do this. All right. Number two.
2) Asking for a Rate Raise from Your Magazine Clients When…
So number two, the thing that we're going to talk about, you guys slimed me today. Um, I want to make sure I have everything in my notes because there's very specific things that I want to make sure we talk about. Those are the first two steps. Um, and then the other thing is that, um, when someone comes back to you, so your editor is coming back to you and saying like, let's say you just turned in an article and they're like, oh my gosh, this article was the best, you know, like I loved your quotes or I love this thing, or I was really happy with this.
This is really great. Like, thank you so much for all your hard work. Um, all that stuff. Then you can ask for a rate raise then as well. You're like, Hey, I'm so glad. You like the piece and you can ask for a testimonial, that's a good time to ask for a testimonial, but when they come back and they tell you how much they love your work and how great it was, that's a time to say like, Hey, you know, thank you so much.
I so appreciate the kind words. Um, you know, would you write a testimonial or you can say something like, Hey, you know, like we've been working together for the past, um, you know, two months or four months or six months or however. Um, you know, and it seems like you really liked my work. Do you have any wiggle room in your budget?
Top the rate? That's a good time to ask because they're already happy with your work. And that means that their readers are going to be happy with your work. The publisher's going to be happy with the work. Uh, they're going to get a lot of clicks, likes, or shares, or however they measure success of their work and their pieces.
Um, but that's always a good time. Like every time someone compliments your work or says something nice, or your editor is just like, wow, the edits you did were really great. Whatever, that's a good time to ask for a raise or a testimonial, and you can just use the same phrase. Do you have any wiggle room in your budget?
Um, let's see. I want to, I want to make sure we go over these, um, another good time to ask for a raise. And this is kind of in the same category is you've been doing good work for them for several months. Like you've worked together for six months or more, or four months, or at least a quarter, like you've submitted enough work.
That they have a good idea that you submit work on time. It's good work. And they like it. That's always a good time to ask for a rate raise is like six months in. So, um, you've already completed multiple assignments, like don't co complete one assignment and then wait six months and then ask for a raise.
It's not how it works. You want to be someone who they can consistently go to, to create this type of content. You want to be someone. They feel, um, is they're happy to have you in their stable of writers. You're doing stuff that really helps them. You consistently deliver exactly what they need. That's a great time to ask for a rate raise about six months in.
3) The Difference Between Asking for a Rate Raise and Telling About Your Annual Rate Raise
All right. So now I want to go to the third part. So the third part of this is kind of like the, uh, the double-edged sword piece. So when you are. Number three here is when you're asking for a rate raise. Oh. And if you feel like this has been helpful so far, give it a thumbs up. If you feel like you want to learn more about writing for magazines or building a high-earning freelance writing business subscribe.
I should've subscribed Jif. I should get one. Right? I should get a subscribe Jif. I should do that. Hi, you look at the tiny thing when you're tiny penguin. All right. The third thing. So this is really important. If you go in for a rate rate, You will accept what they are giving you. Okay. So here's the deal.
When you ask for a rate raise, the, um, the thing is, is that you are either, they tell you like, sorry, our max budget is 400 and you have to decide whether you want to accept 400 or you want. Um, the other thing is like, if someone comes back and they say like, we can give you a 5 cent raise or a 10 cent raise sold, except it like, it's really hard to then go back and be like, I would like a 25 cent raise, like, Nope, accept it.
This is why at the very beginning you ask about upping the rate because the increments. Um, raises that you get are very small. So if you start at 50 cents and then you're like 60 cents, 65 cents, 70 cents, 75 cents, 80 cents, like that's forever. But if you started at 80 or 90 cents, then it's nice. You know, let's say you start at 80 cents now it's 85, 90, 95, a dollar.
You're a lot better off. So when they come back, I know, I know. Can you go back to your high, the whole, no, you don't want to, he would just want to. So when they come back with a raise, you say, thank you. And you are grateful for that. Right? That's really important. Like, it is hard for them to move their budget around and to say, well, now I'm paying X for this.
That is a lot for magazines. Like you need to understand that a business has a lot more free flowing cash and a lot more chances to create revenue and income than a magazine. So when a magazine gives you a rate, raise you either accept it wholeheartedly and say, thank you so much. Or you decide, Hey, this isn't going to work for me.
It's been great working with you. I'm sorry. But you know, I don't think this is going to work. Um, when, if you go back and you're like, Hey, you gave me a 15 cent raise. I want 26. I feel like that's kind of quibbling and plus you can always ask for another rate raise later. Um, this is why you start at a higher rate.
This is why you negotiate that from the very beginning, because doing that while you're already working with them, like that's a lot more difficult than starting high and then, you know, going up from there. Um, the other thing that you want to remember about rate raises is that if you do an annual rate raise, so this is.
Going to a magazine and negotiating a rate with them and saying, do you have any wiggle room in your budget? Right. They tell you it's 400. You say, do you have any wiggle room in your budget? That was a nice woo mini. That was a nice woo. You get a treat over that. Um, do you have any wiggle room in your budget for a rate raise?
They give you the number, right? They say, okay, cool. We'll give you 500 instead of 400. You're like sold, but if you go to your magazine client yeah. And you tell them, Hey, I'm doing an annual rate raise instead of accepting 400, I will now be accepting 500 and they come back to you and they say, I'm sorry, we can only give you 400.
You have to leave. You have to, I'm telling you, this is like, I'm laughing because like some people. I find this is a hard concept to get, but you have to stick with your integrity. This is not a negotiation tactic. If you go to your magazine and you say my new rates for 20, 23, are this, does that work for you?
And they say, no, you now have to leave because now if you don't leave, it looks like you faked it. And you're like, oh, those aren't really my rates for 2023. I was just kidding. So that I could force you to pay me more money. And then you're like, oh, sure. I'll accept 400. You have to walk. You have to be, um, if you go in and tell them, these are my rates, now you have to stick with that integrity of those are your rates.
Now, if it doesn't work for them, it doesn't work for them. They're no longer your client. That is unfortunate. That's the difference. Now, if you want to keep this client, don't do the annual rate raise with them. Don't end up going to them and saying, these are my rates. If you want to keep the client, that's when you ask them, do you have any wiggle room in your book?
Two to raise the rate that allows them to say, okay, we can give you an X, you know, we could give you this much more or no, we can't do it. But if you go to them and tell them, like, if you go, like you wouldn't go to the grocery store and be like, um, you know, you wouldn't, or like you wouldn't have like a S a fruit stand, right?
You're like you're selling peaches, which a lot of people do here because of Fredericksburg. Um, but anyways, if you were selling peaches, you wouldn't be like, my peaches are a dollar. That's my new rate raise. They used to be 75 cents. Now they're a dollar. And then someone would be like, no, I'm not paying a dollar.
You'd be like sold 75 cents. No, no, no. You have to decide that. So when you're doing your annual rate raise, you can go to your client and you can either say, do you have any wiggle room in your budget? You know, to increase going into 2023. Excuse me. You can tell them these are my rates. Does that work? If it doesn't, you've got to walk, you can't get that integrity back.
So if you say your rates are this, your rates are those and you walk if it doesn't work. So that's really important to understand. So. The idea that you would like try to use that as a tactic. Like my rates are going up excepted or outside, I'm leaving you like, no, you either say like, this is how to work with me.
This is what it costs now. And they say yay or nay. That's why I always like, do you have any wiggle room in your budget? Because. That allows them to come back with a number. It allows you guys to have a good working relationship. It's not this like thing where you have to be ready to drop them. Um, you can preserve the relationship.
There's a lot of that. You can still preserve the relationship if you're like, Hey, our rates don't match up anymore. Um, but really like, I think. Um, it's totally fine to ask them about wiggle room in their budget, but you have to stick with the idea that these are your new rates. Like if those are your rates for 2023, that's it.
So if you don't want to lose that magazine client, you either ask them about wiggle room in their budget, or you deal with the rate that they're giving you. You go ready? You go. We will, we will. Can you go back to your, how the whole, thank you. It was a good dog song. All right. Let's do a quick pup date.
Cause she's being sassy. And I want to double check my notes because there's a lot of important things because you know, talking with money with magazines is a different kind of beast, um, than businesses in a way. So, um, all right. You better have a little, all the way back. Good job. All right. Can you show me with your high fives high five good girl.
Hi. Otherwise, by the way, I like the only way, you know, Area code. Good job. Eagle buddy. Good job guys. You guys look great. All right, so let's go to four. So the last thing that we want to talk about is, um, in these things go back there and the whole you sass that can handle that good girl. Good boy. All right.
4) Can You Ask for a Magazine Pay Increase Whenever You Want?
So the last thing that, uh, I want to make sure that we talk about here is that basically, um, there are some interesting things that always float around when we're talking about magazines. Uh, let me make sure I changed my number out because this is helpful. I think for people going back through these videos to see that there's like different things and I think it helps just track all the stuff.
So number four, number four that we're talking about here is that you can ask for a rate raise pretty much when. There are good times to do it. Like when someone compliments your work or when you start working with a new magazine and you ask upfront, um, but really don't worry so much about pressurizing.
Like there's a perfect time. There is no perfect time to ask for more money. Like, it's not like you're like in a magically catch them. You're like, oh, I caught them. They're going to give me more money. It's not how it works. Um, so when you're thinking about asking for a rate raise, you always want to, like, that's why I like starting.
From the very beginning asking like, Hey, do you have any wiggle room in your budget to up the rate? Because then you kind of get an idea of like what what's kind of the floor here. What, what are they working with? Will they work with me? Like what's kind of going on. That gives you a lot more landscape.
Plus you start the relationship with a kind of a negotiation, right? So you start with the idea that you're the type of writer that knows your value and your worth. And you're going to ask for raises. It's not going to be an out of the blue thing. So for me, when I think about it, It's like the worst thing that they can say to you is know, right?
Like when I think about it, it's like from the very beginning, I'm a writer who pays attention to rate and I negotiate my rates. Um, and the worst thing they can say is no, like this is our max budget, or this is what we pay everybody, regardless of experience or whatever. But at least you get information out of that, right?
Like if they say no, they usually give you a reason why like, Nope, we play, we pay a, a flat 400 to everybody forever, all across the. Um, or, you know, right now we're, our budget is changing. So this is what we're sticking with, or yes, we'll give you a 10 cent raise or we'll give you a hundred extra dollars or whatever.
Um, but you at least have some idea of what's going on and you have, um, you kind of have this like framework to work within and it's. It's, it's not like, like, I think the other thing to think about is that you want to normalize the idea of talking about money. Like we're not just most of us, I would say the majority of us are not just writing, just because we're like, I would like to make $0 writing.
And I was talking to my students about this. We talked about this the other day, and if you ever questioned. Go read real artists. Don't starve by Jeff Goins. And there's a story. And this is what we talked about. Um, there's a story about Michael Angelo. So Michael Angelo was super rich. And I think if I remember from the excerpt, one of my students posted his, like he had like $47 million and people always have this idea that artists are starving, that they aren't out.
You stepped on my foot with your. That artists are starving, that they shouldn't ask for more money. That there's this whole thing. But the truth is, is like most of the famous artists and most of the people that, you know, w we're like, this is how I put it. They're like ornamental lawn gnomes. So basically rich people back then would have people like Michael Angelo or other famous artists just like live on their property, rent free.
And they would like give tours and be like, there's Michael Angelo. Right? Like that's kind of the ornamental lawn gnome. They're like, look, we picked up. Uh, stepping on my foot is, is not successful for you to get more treats right now. It is because it hurts. Um, so there's this idea that there's the starving artists was actually popularized by this guy named Henry murder, which he's friends.
So his name was probably like Henri, Mayo gala or something. So not their French people are weird. You know what I mean? Like if I just do the weird accent, I mean, the accent is weird. So Henri Henry murder, right? H E N R I M U R G E R. Henry murder was named trolley on rates. He is the one that popularized the idea of the starving artist and he romanticized a lot of poverty.
But this guy, Henri and Marie, um, died penniless and hadn't like, he wasn't actually trying to like figure it out. So for some reason or murder, whatever his name is, his idea from 1847 has just lived on, let's forget about Michael Angelo. Let's forget about all these other people. So between Michael Andrew.
And Henry or Henri, uh, there's about 200 years. Right? So, so somewhere in this 200 years, we just kind of like erase the fact that artists well-known artists were like millionaires and had huge piles of money, um, and obvious. And that was like normal. It wasn't like the, like the van Goghs and like the people who really struggled and the people who didn't have any money that was actually like a small.
Much smaller portion. So somewhere from 1847, we all decided that we're like, Henry was right. We should all start. That's the creative vision. And then it's just like continued to be popularized right by movies and like, oh, this other stuff. And like, oh, if you want to make it, you got to like earn your stripes and do all this stuff.
No, you don't. No, you don't. Like I said, I tell this story on. Right. 50 cents a word and a dollar 25, a dollar, 20 fives not starving. And the other thing is that there are writers who got their very first. I have a sass. I like a little nibble nibbler down here. I, um, there are writers, I know who got their very first clips in the New York times, the Washington post, like traveling leisure, like the biggest magazines that exist.
Right. And that was their very first. So the idea that we should all kind of like, just accept the rate and we should just be like, no, you should never ask for more money. Or like, yeah. So all of that stuff, that's like a myth. The starving artist thing has always been a myth. It was, it was fiction to begin with.
It was started by this guy in 1847. If you ever feel upset about this myth, you could be upset at Henri. That's my new, it's my new favorite person, I guess. Um, but yeah, it's, it's not a thing. So when you're kind of. Thinking about all of these, like asking for more money. It's okay. We're most of us are in this, right.
That's how I started this whole diatribe was, most of us are in this to make a living while we write, we want to write that's what we want to do like that. You know, that's our, um, career of choice. And we would like to have some money doing that. Right. Very rarely are the writers who are able to just write and not make an, like, they have to make literally $0.
Like at every point they're like, no, you don't have to pay me like that doesn't happen. Like even people who don't need the money, like they CA they have, you know, enough, um, income or they have some other situation they're still getting paid for their work. So the idea that we shouldn't talk about money as writers is crazy, and we should always talk about it.
We should normalize it. Like this is something else that I think is really helpful when you don't get paid by a magazine or when you don't get paid by someone, their salary is still getting paid. So when you're worried about paying for kibbles or when you're worried about. How you're going to, you know, pay your bills or pay your rent or pay your heat in the winter.
Everybody else is getting paid. Okay. This is why we need to talk about money more. There's like this, we like forget. We're like, oh my God, should I go to the magazine? They haven't paid my invoice. Like, I don't want to be annoying. They're all eating Turkey. Like while you're worrying about how to pay for kibbles, like they're having their nice holiday dinner, they're getting their paychecks, right.
They're going about their bills. And, um, hold on. Um, and they're still getting money while you are worried about the $600 check that they haven't sent you, that you really need. Right. That's a big disparity. And I think it's something that we don't talk about enough. Like, oh, now I've sneeze. Hold on.
Okay. Yeah. So the deal is that we should talk about. About money. We should talk more about what we get paid and how we can make money, because there are lots of writers who make plenty of money. And the idea that you shouldn't follow up on an invoice or that like you have signed a contract and they owe you money and they didn't pay it.
Everybody else who is on the opposite side of that contract, it's all getting paid everybody. Um, and you are not okay. You stepping on my toes really hurts. So I think that's something that's really important to remember is that you are, and there's nothing wrong with asking about money or asking for more money or knowing your worth or knowing where your boundary is of what you will and won't accept from any type of client, including magazine clients.
So hold on, let's do a quick update so I can get you. Can you go back to your, the, go back to your Hubble?
First you getting any high-five none. The other one I've had other ones. Good job. I don't know why. Hi, Vive, my forearm. Instead of my hand, that seems a lot more difficult to do. There you go, buddy. You're an all star today. Bear. You're doing great.
Okay, good job. All right. Okay. Let's check my notes. Let's see. What's going on. So, um, you can always talk about money. You can always ask about wiggle room in their budget. The worst thing they can ever say to you is no, and it's totally okay to, um, to walk away if you decide that that's not a fit for you, it's totally okay to, um, you know, say you have an annual rate raise and someone says, sorry, that doesn't work for us.
And you're like, I guess that's it. Like we just, you know, we're not a fit anymore. Everybody has those boundaries. Everybody will, everybody should have those boundaries of what you will and won't accept as a writer. And those change over time. Like at some point, right, when you got paid $400 a story you're like sweet $400.
I used to be getting paid a hundred dollars. And at some point you start getting paid 600, 700, 800, a thousand dollars or more. And you're like 400 feels really low. Now maybe that's not a fit for me. So I think I just want to encourage everybody that these rate raises, there are times and places to ask for them, but you can always ask for them, we can always discuss money.
Um, it's okay to normalize that and remember, like everybody's getting paid when you're an architect and the people there's a big disparity sometimes in what people get paid. So I think that's really important to pay attention to, oh no, my notes they've ran. Okay. Here we go. Let's see, um, there was one other thing I wanted to talk about, so let's go to number five.
5) Collecting Too Many Small Magazine Checks and Burnout
So this is our last thing that we're going to talk about. So we already talked about a whole bunch of other steps and how to ask for things when to ask for them what to do when you're starting out. So here's the deal when we're working for magazines. Sometimes what you'll end up realizing is that you collect too many magazine clients, and this was something that.
So when I burned out in 2018 and spectacularly weird fashion, surprisingly enough, if any, if you've heard the dairy queen store or the burnout story where I was like, I'm going to work at dairy queen instead, they're actually building a dairy, a brand new dairy queen near me now. So who knows, maybe I'll be their new soft serve person.
Um, anyways, so the deal is that, where was I going with that? I had an idea, um, that I wanted to make sure I told everybody. Oh too many magazine clients. There we go. So there are times. So when I burned out in 2018, I worked for too many magazines. Like what ends up happening sometimes is over time, you end up collecting too many magazine clients and they all pay you little bits, $400 here, a thousand dollars here, $200 here, $800 here.
It's not the same thing as working with a business where they have like an ongoing, regular. Most magazines, like, especially print ones. Like they have a print schedule and they need X amount of stuff. It's not the same as like an online publication that might publish 20 stories a day. Like that really depends.
Sometimes you'll get two stories per month and that just goes on. Um, but you know, if you're doing a regular blogging engagement with a business that can be four posts per month and that can last for three months, there's a, there's a difference. So when I burned out, it was like, I was collecting all these little bits of money.
From tons of different magazines. And this is something you have to be careful with. And this has to go with rate raises. If you don't ask for a rate raises and you, I hear you. Um, if you don't ask for rate raises and you end up collecting too many little things, what ends up happening is you end up working a ton and not making a ton of money.
So you end up in this weird space where you feel like you're working all the time, but you're just not being compensated well. So you have to be very particular. About the magazines that you do and don't work with. So yes, as you're starting out as you're a baby freelance writer or beginning freelance writer.
Yes. I say yes to a lot of things. Get experience, understand what you like work with a lot of different places, but then start being more discerning about who you work with, because if you start collecting too many magazines and too many. What ends up happening is you have like 30 clients or 25 clients.
And it's just like a little bit here and there. Instead of having something like three to five clients, plus a handful of magazines that you write for at random. Right? So, um, a long time ago, like when I first started out, so like 10 years ago, I knew a lot of writers. Well, not a lot, but I knew a bunch of writers who'd only worked for.
Um, but now all of those writers have now gone on to other things. None of them are freelance writers anymore. I don't know any writers, personally, who, who solely worked for magazines, who a hundred percent of their work is magazines. I don't know any of those anymore, especially after I will, especially after, you know, the past few years like magazines have folded magazines, have cut rates, magazines have changed how they work magazine.
Stop working with freelancers temporarily so they can, you know, save money. There's all these things that happen. So, um, the people who solely worked for magazines, I think is a very small group now. And I'd like a hundred percent for magazines. Like they do zero working for businesses. They only work for publications.
I think that's a very small group. Um, there are people like I write a lot of content for businesses that could be published in a magazine. Like it's the same type of stuff it's just for business. And I really enjoy that. It's like basically the same thing I would be doing. I just get paid a lot better and it's more frequent.
Um, but you have to be careful with that. Like, you have to be careful who, how many you collect and how, oh my goodness. How many you. And how often you write for them and then be more discerning. Like, I have very particular magazines that I want to work with and keep relationships with. And that I like, uh, but I'm not pitching a ton of magazines right now because there's just so much is changing in the landscape and it's a lot of work, you know, it's a lot of stuff that you have to do sometimes for magazines.
I see you. Woo. I see you. Um, and it can be, you know, a ton of work where your hourly rate goes down or. Uh, or you end up making a very low per word rate or you, you know, it's kind of like a passion project that you work in. So you have to be careful when you're working for magazines, especially with rates and how your money is coming in.
That you're not collecting like dozens of little checks. That is a very easy way to start burning out. You want to balance that even if you're, even if you're doing 50% magazines and magazines can be print or on. Um, or in, you're doing 50% working for businesses, at least there's some kind of balance in there where the businesses can be more regular.
And then you can kind of add in the magazines as they go along. The other thing about magazines is they're a lot slower to pay you than a businesses. So like when you start collecting a lot of magazines, these checks are like irregular. So when you get paid by them, it's not like net 15 or net 14, and it can be like net 90 or it can be like six months later.
It's really. Uh, it's a tough landscape sometimes. So pay attention to that. That's something that's really important. It's not just about rate raises and it's not just about the perfect time. There's no perfect time to ask for a rate raise. You just do it. Um, and you have to be cautious about who you're taking onboard.
Yeah. Okay. Woo. I get it. We will come here. Um, if you feel like this has been helpful so far, give it a thumbs up. If you feel like you want to learn more about building a high-earning freelance writing business, or learn more about writing for magazines. Subscribe, let's do a quick update. Oh, and you know what?
You can always put questions in the chat or questions below. So you go back to your hub the whole, please go back to your huddle all the way back. You can't just hop back like that. The job. Very. Alright. Good job on the one other one back up, I go, I thought you're like, I don't care. You go Barre. Uh, you can always leave comments or questions below.
I always answer them. So if you have asked for a magazine rate, raise in a different way than what I've talked about, let me know in the comments, I'm always interested in new techniques or new things that you've used. And if you are. Um, working for a ton of magazines or even working for a handful of magazines, let me know how that's going.
Um, I've been working for a few, but like I know some people have been working for a ton of them. So let me know how that's going. Let me know below in the comments. All right. Can you, and go back to your hub, a whole backup. That's the opposite direction of your have a whole, there's only treat those in the hub hole section.
There you go. Good job. You can go very, very, you look great today either way. Otherwise she's like, go Joe's did it. What are you saying? Otherwise? Good girl. Good job. Good job class. Alright cool. So, um, I think those were all the main points that I wanted to make, but, um, we're here every Friday. I do a lecture and every Friday, and this was actually from Helen.
So Helen recommended this. So, if you ever have a topic or a question that you want me to answer in the live stream, you can always put it in at Mandy ellis.com/question. And if you're like, I need a question answered or can you talk more about this topic? You can submit it here and then I'll talk about it.
So today's was actually from Helen. So thank you, Helen, for asking. Uh, and this is, I think a really important one that we don't talk about enough. So I'm glad that she selected. Uh, we're here every Friday. So, you know, every Friday I come in here with the furs and with myself, get some information and, um, yeah, I think that's kind of it.
I think we're good. So I hope everybody has a good Friday and I think we're going to end on a pup date today just cause Charlotte's being sassy. So I'm going to wave by, but I'm going to end on a pup date. So I will, um, I'll see everybody next Friday and I hope you have a good holiday weekend.
All right. Go back to your, have a whole Charlie, go back to your house.
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