Wow, lots of new visitors! Welcome, everyone, and thanks to Adam P. Knave, John Joseph Adams, Patrick Swenson, Jim Van Pelt, Elizabeth Bear, Sherwood Smith, and Arthur D. Hlavaty for linking over. Please do make yourselves at home, leave comments, point out typos, tell me I'm wrong (I've been hanging out online for fifteen years now, so I have quite a high tolerance for being corrected by random strangers using funny pseudonyms), ask questions, laugh at my jokes, etc. More == merrier.
I originally intended this blog to be about what I'm reading at the moment, but it's turned into a much broader discussion of my work at Publishers Weekly and all things related to books and publishing. I generally write at least one post every day that I'm in the office, though I usually do the actual writing at home in the evenings and save drafts to post during the following day. I'm certainly not using paid time for blogging, just like you're not reading this from work. Right?
This is very much not an official PW blog. (I hope to start officially blogging for PW sometime soon, but I'll probably have to tone myself down a lot.) I'm extremely opinionated--not surprising, given the work I do--and I post about anything that catches my eye, including politics, the serial comma, and other sensitive topics on which I may personally disagree with the official stance of PW. Please do keep this in mind while you're reading, and remember that I am not by any means an official spokesperson.
I should also note that I reviewed over 100 books for PW from 2002 to 2007, but now that I edit PW reviews, I no longer write them (though I still review for Strange Horizons, Lambda Book Report, and other publications). PW reviewers are anonymous, and we take that anonymity really seriously. I often write about my personal opinions of books here, and I want to make it absolutely clear that I did not review those books for PW.
Those who prefer to read blog posts via LJ can find my feed here. I also keep a personal LiveJournal, which may or may not be of interest. And if you're curious about my book reviews and other journalism, links to the bylined pieces available online can be found here.
Showing posts with label writing.articles. Show all posts
Showing posts with label writing.articles. Show all posts
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Makes the world go 'round
Article is done. No more medical writing until early September. As always, I like doing it and I'm looking forward to the next assignment, but I'm happy to get a break.
With Josh's new job, we're doing pretty well financially. In fact, I think we just about break even on our salaries alone. That's a good thing, because from June through August, I've only invoiced an average of $1760 a month for freelance work. $1760 is nothing to sneeze at--it quite literally pays the rent, and is letting me slowly pay down credit card debt--but it's a far cry from my $11K of invoices in March. I mean, yes, that was fairly stressful, and there's no way I could have done it had I not been freelancing full-time, but I'm only in the office part-time now. I think I could probably push myself up to about $3000 worth of freelance work a month without too much trouble. At my usual rate of 80 cents a word, that's only 3750 words, or about four or five articles' worth. The only snag is getting the assignments. I've been waiting for them to come to me, and they almost always do... but only to the tune of about $1760 a month.
Just as I was starting to think I should be doing more to scare up new work, two new clients were dropped in my lap, and now I have this conference gig from a third new client, which should net me somewhere between $3500 and $6500 depending on article length and per-word rate. (The former assumes 7 * 700 @ $.70 and the latter assumes 8 * 1000 @ $.80, plus a per diem around $150 or $200.) Even better, the conference client is one I'd been thinking of querying. Now I don't have to! And the editor who wrote to me says he's heard really excellent things about my work, which is always a wonderful thing to be told. I think I can justify being a little lazy, at least until the conference articles are in.
Maybe one of these days I'll be bold enough to raise my rates. An extra five cents a word never hurts.
For new readers wondering why I get so specific when I talk about my freelance income, it's my version of Nick Mamatas exhorting writers to submit outside the usual genre publications. From the perspective of most people selling short fiction to genre markets--or even selling novels to major publishers--the idea of making seventy or eighty cents a word is a pipe dream. I frequently point out that medical journalism routinely pays at that level, not to elevate myself above the poor scrabbling fictionauts but rather to offer it as a very viable career choice to those who think it might suit them. Having been doing this for a year and change, I can write a 700-word story in two hours (including time spent on research, interviews, and transcribing) and charge $560 for it. That's $280 an hour. If I wanted to try to make a career as a fiction writer, I'd quit my office job and aim to pull in around $5000 worth of medical writing a month. That's about 20 to 25 hours' worth. In the remaining four weeks of the month, I'd work on novels and stories. That sounds like a pretty good deal to me.
I don't think freelancers do one another any favor by hiding their incomes, and I cut-tag this discussion only out of deference to those who really couldn't care less how much I make from writing. My goal with this and other finance-related entries is to help newcomers to the field figure out whether it's right for them, and more specifically, whether it suits their budgets and schedules. I promised myself a long time ago that I'd never try to make a living writing fiction, and I stand by that. From what I can see, it's pretty much impossible. Making a living off of journalism is entirely feasible, however, and it can be an excellent complement to fiction work. I think the best thing I can do with that information is to spread it far and wide and encourage would-be journalists to give it a try.
Writers depend on the help of other writers for survival. As a successful writer--and believe me, the idea that I am a successful writer never fails to shock me--I feel a pretty strong responsibility to the writing community, and especially to those who might need a leg up. And if someone reading this is making far more money at journalism than I am, I'd love to hear what they have to say, and pay it forward when I can.
With Josh's new job, we're doing pretty well financially. In fact, I think we just about break even on our salaries alone. That's a good thing, because from June through August, I've only invoiced an average of $1760 a month for freelance work. $1760 is nothing to sneeze at--it quite literally pays the rent, and is letting me slowly pay down credit card debt--but it's a far cry from my $11K of invoices in March. I mean, yes, that was fairly stressful, and there's no way I could have done it had I not been freelancing full-time, but I'm only in the office part-time now. I think I could probably push myself up to about $3000 worth of freelance work a month without too much trouble. At my usual rate of 80 cents a word, that's only 3750 words, or about four or five articles' worth. The only snag is getting the assignments. I've been waiting for them to come to me, and they almost always do... but only to the tune of about $1760 a month.
Just as I was starting to think I should be doing more to scare up new work, two new clients were dropped in my lap, and now I have this conference gig from a third new client, which should net me somewhere between $3500 and $6500 depending on article length and per-word rate. (The former assumes 7 * 700 @ $.70 and the latter assumes 8 * 1000 @ $.80, plus a per diem around $150 or $200.) Even better, the conference client is one I'd been thinking of querying. Now I don't have to! And the editor who wrote to me says he's heard really excellent things about my work, which is always a wonderful thing to be told. I think I can justify being a little lazy, at least until the conference articles are in.
Maybe one of these days I'll be bold enough to raise my rates. An extra five cents a word never hurts.
For new readers wondering why I get so specific when I talk about my freelance income, it's my version of Nick Mamatas exhorting writers to submit outside the usual genre publications. From the perspective of most people selling short fiction to genre markets--or even selling novels to major publishers--the idea of making seventy or eighty cents a word is a pipe dream. I frequently point out that medical journalism routinely pays at that level, not to elevate myself above the poor scrabbling fictionauts but rather to offer it as a very viable career choice to those who think it might suit them. Having been doing this for a year and change, I can write a 700-word story in two hours (including time spent on research, interviews, and transcribing) and charge $560 for it. That's $280 an hour. If I wanted to try to make a career as a fiction writer, I'd quit my office job and aim to pull in around $5000 worth of medical writing a month. That's about 20 to 25 hours' worth. In the remaining four weeks of the month, I'd work on novels and stories. That sounds like a pretty good deal to me.
I don't think freelancers do one another any favor by hiding their incomes, and I cut-tag this discussion only out of deference to those who really couldn't care less how much I make from writing. My goal with this and other finance-related entries is to help newcomers to the field figure out whether it's right for them, and more specifically, whether it suits their budgets and schedules. I promised myself a long time ago that I'd never try to make a living writing fiction, and I stand by that. From what I can see, it's pretty much impossible. Making a living off of journalism is entirely feasible, however, and it can be an excellent complement to fiction work. I think the best thing I can do with that information is to spread it far and wide and encourage would-be journalists to give it a try.
Writers depend on the help of other writers for survival. As a successful writer--and believe me, the idea that I am a successful writer never fails to shock me--I feel a pretty strong responsibility to the writing community, and especially to those who might need a leg up. And if someone reading this is making far more money at journalism than I am, I'd love to hear what they have to say, and pay it forward when I can.
Monday, August 13, 2007
Go go go go go!
For those keeping score at home, I have 24 reviews to edit in the next two and a half days: eight each for F&SF&H, mystery, and thriller. That's doable, as long as Josh doesn't mind me working a little late today and tomorrow. I forced myself to get nine hours of sleep this morning in preparation, and have given up on vegetarianism for the nonce; I need that steady protein energy.
I also have an article to finish tonight, website graphics to create before I leave on my trip to Portland this weekend, an interview and two reviews to write by the 23rd, and a magazine to lay out (including proofing several articles) and a third review to do by the 30th. After Labor Day, I'll be covering for a vacationing PW editor for a week and then attending a conference the second weekend of September, from which I expect to be assigned seven or eight (!) articles that will occupy the rest of the month; I guess that makes up for having to miss the End of Summer Party. The third weekend of September will be spent in Boston preparing for the Ig Nobel Awards, which happen in early October. I also have a book-related art project to complete by October 1st, and given the conference assignment, I may have to either bow out of that or do something considerably less complex than what I had originally envisioned. Then I go to London for a five-day "vacation" that, knowing me and Kathleen, will be as socially busy as my usual life is work-busy (though probably even more fun). Then I come home and collapse. If I'm doing anything between mid-October and Thanksgiving, don't tell me. I don't want to think about it right now.
Somewhere in there--ha!--I also want to write about Ratatouille and spin-off thoughts about the place of critics and criticism in today's consumer culture. Working title: "Pity the Poor Reviewer, Maligned By His Critics". We'll see if I ever get around to it. In the meantime, go see the movie! I don't remember the last time I saw a movie twice in the theater (er, other than The Rocky Horror Picture Show), but I'm glad I did with this one. It's really brilliant and wonderful. You'll love it. Go enjoy it while it's still on the big screen, where it deserves to be.
Right, back on my head. More of the usual educational bitching when I resurface.
I also have an article to finish tonight, website graphics to create before I leave on my trip to Portland this weekend, an interview and two reviews to write by the 23rd, and a magazine to lay out (including proofing several articles) and a third review to do by the 30th. After Labor Day, I'll be covering for a vacationing PW editor for a week and then attending a conference the second weekend of September, from which I expect to be assigned seven or eight (!) articles that will occupy the rest of the month; I guess that makes up for having to miss the End of Summer Party. The third weekend of September will be spent in Boston preparing for the Ig Nobel Awards, which happen in early October. I also have a book-related art project to complete by October 1st, and given the conference assignment, I may have to either bow out of that or do something considerably less complex than what I had originally envisioned. Then I go to London for a five-day "vacation" that, knowing me and Kathleen, will be as socially busy as my usual life is work-busy (though probably even more fun). Then I come home and collapse. If I'm doing anything between mid-October and Thanksgiving, don't tell me. I don't want to think about it right now.
Somewhere in there--ha!--I also want to write about Ratatouille and spin-off thoughts about the place of critics and criticism in today's consumer culture. Working title: "Pity the Poor Reviewer, Maligned By His Critics". We'll see if I ever get around to it. In the meantime, go see the movie! I don't remember the last time I saw a movie twice in the theater (er, other than The Rocky Horror Picture Show), but I'm glad I did with this one. It's really brilliant and wonderful. You'll love it. Go enjoy it while it's still on the big screen, where it deserves to be.
Right, back on my head. More of the usual educational bitching when I resurface.
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