Kill Fees – Not a Halloween Tale
October 30, 2008 by Terreece
Filed under Freelance Writing, Writing Tips
By Terreece M. Clarke
For many writers it’s a bloody stab to the heart – the kill fee (cue scary movie scream). Writers are given a kill fee when a publication decides for whatever reason – change of direction, unusable article, etc. – not to use an article and instead of paying the writer the total agreed upon fee, they pay a smaller fee for the now “dead” article. The fee is usually a percentage of the total owed. Kill fees are a much debated topic among freelance writers. I did a brief interview with two knowledgeable and well-respected writers to get their take.
Iyna Bort Caruso is a writer, author, contributing editor and copywriter whose work has appeared in numerous publications including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and Christian Science Monitor. She also wrote The Everything Home Storage Solutions book and has written Emmy Award winning video scripts.
Diana Burrell is well-known within writing circles as the co-author of the smash hit freelance writing book series that began with The Renegade Writer: A Totally Unconventional Guide to Freelance Writing Success and the accompanying Renegade Writer Blog. She has also written for countless publications including Parenting Magazine, Family Circle and the Boston Globe.
FWJ: How do you feel about kill fees? Are they necessary?
Diana: “I think kill fees are a necessary evil for freelancers. They can be good when a magazine decides not to use your piece — you at least get something — versus the magazine that doesn’t offer them, especially if you’ve signed a contract that pays on publication. When I don’t like them is when the magazine uses them after the writer has done several rewrites due to the magazine changing their mind half-way through the assignment about the focus of the piece or the magazine saying, “Sorry, this just isn’t working … here’s your kill fee.” This has not happened to me, but it has happened to enough professional writers I know to make me crazy on their behalf!”
Iyna: “I think kill fees are useful as long as they’re written in a way to protect the writer who delivers a publishable piece that lives up to the terms of the agreement. It’s not in a writer’s interest to accept a kill fee (or agree to a kill fee clause) that allows a publication to pay a fraction of the negotiated rate because the story was pulled due to reasons beyond the writer’s control. In that case, the writer should be paid the full fee.”
FWJ: Can a writer negotiate better kill fee terms? How?
Iyna: “Contract terms are often negotiable and it’s important to rework kill fee language so that it’s limited only to circumstances in which a publisher finds the work is unacceptable.”
Diana: “Yes, writers can negotiate better kill fee terms. If you don’t see anything in the contract about kill fees, it’s in the writer’s best interest to ask about them. If there’s no kill fee provision, then the magazine has some wiggle room not to pay you if they don’t use your piece. If the kill fee is miniscule (say 10 percent), I’d ask for at least 25 percent. Also, make sure the kill fee includes any expenses you incur — I do a lot of recipe development for magazines, and there’s no way I want to be holding the receipt for a bag of food they’ve asked me to buy.
I know these conversations can be uncomfortable to discuss with editors — it’s sort of like asking for a pre-nup — but it’s way more uncomfortable to talk to the editor after the assignment has gone downhill. Better to be clear about the terms before you put your fingers to the keyboard. If the editor gets all huffy on you, well, that might be a good indicator of how s/he’s going to be if problems arise down the road. Most professional editors understand about kill fees — it’s really not a big deal to discuss it with them. Plus, many of them freelance, too, and understand where you’re coming from.”
I’d like to thank Diana and Iyna for agreeing to talk with us, it was wonderful to have these two distinguished and accomplished writers with us. Remember to show them some love and visit their sites!
So FWJ community, have you ever received or had to give a kill fee? Do you think they should be abolished with editor’s just sucking it up and paying no matter what? How do you think the current economic crisis will affect kill fees?
Great discussion. Thanks to all for the input. Personally, I’ve never had this situation, but I’ve had only limited experience with magazine writing. Since, it’s something I hope to get into, this was very helpful. I agree with what Iyna said at the beginning–a kill fee seems like a nice protection for a writer so long as it’s used for the right reasons. Since the bottom line for any magazine is developing a piece that fits into their publication and provides the right style and feel, it’s nice to at least receive some compensation in the instance it doesn’t work out.
This is a great article. I’m a writer and an editor, so I’ve been on both sides of the kill fee argument many times. I do think adding specifications about ‘unacceptable works’ is a very good idea. A lot of publishers and editors will cut an article because they ran out of money, or they didn’t plan the layout well enough, in which case I don’t think it’s fair to cut the writer’s pay as well. However, I’ve had writers submit an article that was subpar and/or didn’t fit the criteria previously outlined for them – in which case I would give them a kill fee for that article since it is not publishable.
As an editor, I can confidently advise that it’s completely standard to negotiate a contract; and although they may exert a negative tone of voice or negative body language when you do it (which can make you nervous and under-confident), any editor that’s worth their salt knows that negotiations are completely standard…so never be scared to get a fair deal.
thanks for this post. i’m going through this right now with a piece that i wrote and for which I will now have to confront an editor on monday. this post has given me renewed confidence to be up front and ask for what I deserve, since I spent a lot of time on it and she told me that the piece met her needs. But there’s also been a lot of news lately–election/int’l economic crisis– that may have crowded out her ability to run it (it’s for a newspaper). It’s worth noting that once you develop a relationship with an editor (as I have in this case) you often don’t get a formal contract, so I dont even know what the policy is on kill fees at this particular publication. But I plan to find out and be sure to get a contract in writing in the future!!!
I guess I have been lucky. The few times articles have been killed, I have been paid in full the negotiated fees for my work. I think kill fees are frustrating, but necessary. We need to have a “glass-is-half-full” mindset, because in reality, something is better than nothing, no matter how much it stings when your hard work gets killed.
I think the pre-nup approach is a very smart tactic and should be a standard between writer and editor.
I’ve always wanted to know how people got started with magazines in the first place. It seems to be a very closed environment and hard to break into. The few times I’ve tried to get a gig or two it was made pretty clear that I’m personna non grata.
@ Erik: I’ve been the editor-in-chief for 5 magazines over the past 6 years (sometimes 2-3 consecutively), and although I typically hire writers with magazine experience, I have on occasion hired writers with no magazine-specific experience that demonstrated qualities that contribute to being a good magazine journalist.
I would recommend building a small inventory of samples first. Try to think about what types of magazines you would like to write for, read those types of magazines to get a feel for their style, and write a couple clips that are 800-1,000 words long that match that style. Samples don’t always have to be previously published works; they can be articles that you’ve written for yourself.
Also, I would recommend to mention in your cover letter or initial email your desire to break into magazine journalism, and target smaller local magazines that will be more willing to hire less experienced writers.
I hope this helps.
-Alik
Thanks, Alik! I find that nearly everything I write comes in at 800-1000 words no matter what. I generate 3 per week on my blog, but the subject matter is a bit diverse (and usually quite odd). I’ll see what I can do in terms of local stories where a quirky angle might be a good thing.
Thanks again!