Commissioned writing
Journalism and articles
A byline, a deadline, a word-rate, and a public place to think out loud.
Features, reviews, columns, reported pieces: the article is still a way to be paid for a point of view. The rates in most places have fallen, and the internet has not helped. What remains is useful: money that arrives in weeks rather than years, a byline that advertises a book, and the discipline of writing to length for an editor who will cut you. Trade magazines and specialist outlets often pay better than the famous mastheads.
- Typical pay
- From a token fee online, through tens of pounds per hundred words in many magazines, to proper money for a reported feature in a well-funded title. Columns on retainer are the prize.
- Ceiling
- Solid ceiling
- Speed
- First money in weeks
- Effort
- A real extra job
- Needs
- No book required
How it works
- 01
You pitch a piece (or are commissioned from previous work). An editor agrees length, fee, deadline, and expenses.
- 02
You file. They edit. You argue about the headline, lose, and cash the cheque.
- 03
First serial rights usually go to the publication; you should retain the rest.
How to start
- 01
Read the section you are pitching until you can parody it. Then pitch something they do not already have.
- 02
A short, specific email beats a memoir of why you want to write for them.
- 03
Keep a record of every piece: where it ran, what you were paid, whether they paid on time.
Watch out
- 01
Kill fees exist because pieces get killed. Agree one.
- 02
Do not sign away all rights in perpetuity throughout the universe for a hundred pounds.
- 03
Writing for 'exposure' on a site with ads is you doing their job for them.
Articles are how I have often introduced a book to people who would not have met it otherwise. The fee has not always been the point. Sometimes it has. Either way, an editor who will still take your call is a working asset. Treat pitches like a craft, not like a cry for help.