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NUJ Freelance Fees Guide
The rates for words are for their first appearance in a UK magazine, or US as the case may be. If the publisher wants further uses, negotiate.
We updated these rates on 9 August 2021. Sadly, the market survey on which this Guide must be based shows that many have not kept pace with inflation.
To emphasise what's in the advice section: do remember to register with the Authors' Licensing and Collecting Society to get your share of money collected for copying of magazines. See the link below.
The suggested rates
Read me first! Print media / Magazines: advice
See also: notes on negotiating rates for this work
See also: reported rates, to compare: Print media / Magazines
Know a better rate? Tell us!
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Please note that the suggested rates below are minima; that rates for copyright works are for limited licences; and that VAT is not included.
Who and what is this guide for? Accessibility Privacy and cookies
Notes:
- Category D magazines cover a multitude of sins, down to those that are either very small or very stingy (not mentioning any New Statesmen in particular). The above are decent rates for words contributed that are achievable from many magazines. But some get away with paying £150 per thousand - especially those that hold a virtual monopoly on a specialist field or where the field is infested with enthusiastic amateurs.
Notes:
- Freelances paid a day rate risk being taxed at source and paying National Insurance as an employed person, though this can be challenged - see Shift payments - tax and time off.
- Writing on a day rate may have implications for copyright. See Rights and why they are important - and NUJ members can check with the Freelance Office.
- Note that many small-circulation specialist mags pay rates in line with category C, or category B if their readership is particularly influential. A newsletter distributed to a handful of Chief Executive Officers who know that its subject is important, but not what it is, may pay silly money to a writer who does know what it is.
- Contract publishers may pay considerably more for work used in a given category of magazine than direct publishers would - for example £900 per 1000 words for work that appears in a Category B magazine. See Advice on Magazine work.
- Some magazines get away with paying less for sub-editing shifts. But they shouldn't.
Print media / magazines: advice
Browse a selection of NUJ freelances with relevant skills through the Freelance Directory:
Commissioning editor
Subeditor or editor
Proofreader
DTP skill
Columnist
Feature writer
Reporter
On negotiating for print media / magazines
Kill fees for commissioned articles
Suggested schedule of cancellation fees for shifts
Design / Magazines
PR / Writing harder work, higher rates
Interest and penalty calculator and the law on late payments
Resist a payment-on-publication nightmare Freelance May 2018
Collecting societies pay for copying how to claim
Text © Mike Holderness & previous contributors; Moral rights asserted. The collection (database right) © National Union of Journalists. Comments to ffg@londonfreelance.org please.You may find the glossary helpful.
The National Union of Journalists must not, can not and would not wish to dictate rates or terms of engagement to members or to editors. The information presented here is for guidance and as an aid to equitable negotiation only.
Suggestions apply to contracts governed by UK law only. In any event, nothing here should be construed as legal advice.