Comments on: Kill Fees – Not a Halloween Tale

By: The Best of FWJ:15 Blog Posts About Rates : Freelance Writing Jobs

The Best of FWJ:15 Blog Posts About Rates : Freelance Writing Jobs — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 23:20:45 +0000

[...] Kill Fees: Not a Halloween Tale [...]

By: Erik Hare

Erik Hare — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 01:42:05 +0000

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!

By: Alik

Alik — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 22:05:06 +0000

@ 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

By: Erik Hare

Erik Hare — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 21:29:06 +0000

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.

By: Tracy

Tracy — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 20:49:18 +0000

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.

By: feeling my pain

feeling my pain — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 19:50:11 +0000

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!!!

By: Alik

Alik — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 18:36:04 +0000

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.

By: Chris

Chris — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 17:43:46 +0000

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.