Things You Can Negotiate When a Rate is Too Low
*I recently got a pitch accepted by a publication with a great reputation in my beat, BUT the pay is way below my usual rate. I agreed to do it to get my foot in the door and even negotiated an extra $50 but now I’m wondering whether that was the right call. Any advice for next time? *
Only you will know if it was the right call, and you probably won’t know until the assignment is wrapped up, unfortunately!
Negotiating extra pay was a great step so I want to congratulate you for that!!
Low-paying publications tend to know they don’t pay well. If the editor really likes you, she might already be paying you as high as they go. She may be willing to fight for you to get extra money. Although this isn’t always in their control and sometimes you may need to take a lower rate for the byline.
There are other things that are negotiable that could make a low-paying piece feel like a better fit for you.
You can ask for a longer deadline, which could help you offset the low-paying assignment with other work. This works if it is a passion piece or dream pub but the rate isn’t in line with what you need.
You can say you’ll provide photos, then negotiate a separate rate for images to get your overall compensation more in your desired range. This is a trick I often use to get extra money, even when the pub pays well.
You can scale the word count up or down. Maybe they can’t pay you more for an assignment of that length, but would raise the rate if the piece were longer or if you interviewed more sources (caveat: this takes extra time).
Decreasing the word count could mean less work for you, though in my experience that doesn’t make a huge difference.
I would be more likely to negotiate on fewer sources, since that means fewer interviews I need to set up which means fewer emails back and forth, less time spent screening sources, less time spent finding sources, etc.
The time for negotiations is up front, before you sign the contract.
If you realize midway through reporting that it’s a time suck, you can’t go back and ask for more money or fewer sources. You CAN mention this if you pitch the publication again.
I’d say something like “Last time, this piece took me longer than anticipated. Can we decrease the number of required sources/word count this time around?” and just see what they say.
If you’re still working on the piece and you want to save time, consider ways to be more efficient.
Can you do an email interview instead of scheduling, for example? Can you be less perfectionistic (this is where I struggle) about the piece? Can you experiment with stepping back and giving them less of your time and talent to reflect what they can afford to pay?
Do the piece and promote it the way you would any other story, add the clip to your portfolio, then move on to more lucrative work!
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