How much to charge?

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   Polly Cposted 6 years ago

   I have just received a message from a publishing company (XanEdu) requesting permission to publish one of my articles on behalf of a university, for a course pack. It would be for around 12 students. They state that if I require a fee I should include details in the permission email. My question is, will the university (in the US) expect to pay a fee and how much is reasonable? I have never been asked this before and so have no idea, any insight would be much appreciated!

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      chef-de-jourposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      Well, congrats initially, it's always a pleasant surprise when something like this happens.
      I can give you two recent examples - a Japanese print mag published one of my articles...going rate 150 euros for approx 1000 words (not sure how much that would be in dollars) and a French art mag published another and we agreed 200 euros, around 1500 words.
      These figures are roughly based on average minimal fees for journalists here in the UK.
      But you might want to charge hourly, or per word? Then again,
      if this is a one-off situation you might consider the length of your article and charge say, a nominal 50-75 $ per 500 words?
      Perhaps it's best to do some research online, work out a reasonable fee based on hours, or words, and contact the publishers for negotiation?
      As a writer you don't want to undersell yourself!
      I wish you well.

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   2. 61

      chef-de-jourposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      I may have already replied to you so please ignore this if I have!
      
      Depends whether you want to charge per hour or per word? I recently had an article published in a Japanese mag, roughly 1000 words, the fee being 150 euros. Also a French mag published another article, 1500 words approx and forked out 200 euros, their going rate.
      
      Not sure about the current rate per 100/1000 words but if this is one-off situation I would check the number of words and base a fee around that. Then negotiate with the publishers, perhaps they have a set fee for freelancers?
      
      Or you could do some research online, find out going rates for articles by freelance journalists?
      
      I wish you well. Congrats.

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         Polly Cposted 6 years agoin reply to this

         Thanks, sounds as though you have done well with magazine reprints!  I'm just wondering if reprinting for educational purposes is different  - i.e. they might generally expect a fairly low fee as it's for a different purpose? I've tried to look it up but I'm still not really sure.

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            DrMark1961posted 6 years agoin reply to this

            I agree since it is for a university course. You do not have to write anything so do not have to charge them per word or per 100 words, or whatever.
            You do need to be careful to only grant them the right to print 20 copies, or some such small number. If they ask for rights to print and use your article, they might feel they own it. Are they asking you to sign some sort of contract/waiver? (Beware of small print.)
            I am not sure how you are about money, but if they were asking me I would just ask for a nomimal amount so that it is purchased and not a gift. It could be $1 or $5.

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            1. 77

               Polly Cposted 6 years agoin reply to this

               They are just asking for an emailed reply in which I grant permission, they state that it is 12 copies for spring semester. I will state in my reply that the permission is simply for those 12 copies, so that they do not have the freedom to do whatever they want! I think you are right, if it was a general magazine I would expect higher payment, but for education serves a different purpose. Thanks

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      chef-de-jourposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      Helpful?
      http://www.freelancewritingtips.com/how … -contract/

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      Jean Bakulaposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      I occasionally write one article for other people's blogs. If it's just a one time thing, I usually charge about $25.00. I wrote for a friend's blog for about a year, and he paid me $35.00 each month to write a monthly column. It was a subject I know well and I enjoyed it. He felt it was fair, and sometimes even paid me more! In a blog situation, you have to consider that the owner of the blog is constantly making money on the views. But the university should expect to pay a fee. You could write back to them and try to get a feel for what they expect to pay. I wouldn't give my work away for nothing, think of the time you put into in, and your expertise.

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   lobobrandonposted 6 years ago

   Universities have grants and if they want something from you, they probably find it to be a perfect match. You didn't specify which article this is we are talking about, so I can't be specific. If it were me I would:
   
   1. For limited prints: Charge a small amount per print. $10 a print or so. That's just 120 for 12.
   2. For long-term (yearly) re-prints only to registered students of that course, I would charge a minimum of 0.1 USD per word.
   
   Make sure that the rights are just for this course and not re-circulation, etc. As DrMark points out, read the fine print.
   
   At the end of your response back to them, if you feel you are charging too much, tell them you are willing to negotiate. If the university has a grant they will find this amount really small and to save themselves time, they would most likely accept immediately. If they do have a shortage of funds, they would negotiate.

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   1. 77

      Polly Cposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks, this is a new experience for me, and the article in question doesn't seem to be particularly geared towards education, but it's obviously suitable for them. I've written some stuff for my local university before for which I was paid quite well, but that was totally different because they have all the rights.

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   psycheskinnerposted 6 years ago

   Research projects have grants.  Teachers just have whatever is in the budget, which is rarely generous.

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   That Grrlposted 6 years ago

   Can you look at other content they have published and see who wrote it? If so you could contact them and ask whether it was paid per word, etc.

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