What You Must Know To Get Paid As A Freelance Writer

When starting out as a freelance writer, there are many aspects of the business which are crucial to your long-term success. Two major considerations we will look at today concern how magazines pay for your work and how they accept submissions. When you write articles, there are three methods which magazines use to pay for work, which are by word, by page and by assignment.

I’ve worked for clients who use all of these methods. If you write for a magazine that pays by the page (say $50.00/page) and you write 4 pages, you just earned $200.00.If you write for a magazine that pays by the word (say 25 cents/word) and you write an article which is 1000 words in length, you just earned $250.00. Finally, there are magazines that pay a flat rate, say $500.00/article (and they will tell you how many words they want in the article).

Now that you know how magazines pay, the next subject is when. There are 3 main methods, on submission, on acceptance and on publication. The first method, on submission is when you submit your assignment, you can also submit an invoice. On acceptance means that while the magazine has received your work, it will need to be edited and you may have to go back and forth a few times before they are happy with it. Once they accept it, you can submit your invoice.

The last option, on publication is one I don’t recommend, unless you have a great relationship with the publication or deep pockets. If the publication pays within a reasonable amount of time, that’s great. If not, be prepared for a long wait. This is because the magazine will only use your work when they have a space in their editorial calendar. The reality is that you could be waiting for many months to get paid. In one case a magazine hadn’t paid me for 9 months. Needless to say, I stopped writing for them.

Note: It’s important to understand that even when a magazine accepts your work, you probably won’t get paid right away. Many magazines have a 30 day payment policy. Some have a 60, 90 or even a 120 day payment policy in place. If this creates havoc with your cash flow, don’t write for these publications.

It’s possible to make over $100,000.00 a year from freelance writing, and when you write for magazines it’s important to know how you will be paid for your online technical writing. This article gives you the inside scoop.