Hi Angela,

Just a short note to state my opinion about the way writers are paid. Personally I think it is an insult what some magazines offer. How can you ask for 6,000 words and pay between $10.00 & $25.00 for it? I don’t know of any writers who can knock off 6,000 words the first time without several rewrites. Do they think they are doing us a favor by publishing what we write??? They certainly aren’t paying for the privilege of using our work.

This isn’t just a few. It is most of what I’ve come across. It takes me forever to find an editor willing to pay for what they want. They ask for perfection and offer zilch in return. Who works for 10 cents an hour. Writers????

Why do they offer such a piss poor excuse for a payment! I was in business management and accounting. That was the way to support my family. Now I’m disabled and I can do what I love, writing. Maybe I think in dollars and cents because of my previous occupation but I don’t think it’s right to offer next to nothing for hard work. I’ve searched many places and it is an insult to be offered a nothing amount. Why do they do that??

Ang Dee

The reason many pubs pay poverty-level wages is because there are so many gullible writers out there who are willing to work for those wages. The quality of writing in those low-paying pubs shows as a result. And, when you pay bargain basement wages, your publication has bargain-basement quality. It’s that simple.

The only way to combat these low-quality pubs and their wages is to refuse to write for them and, of course, refuse to subscribe to them.