How much do RPG.net columns pay?

[RPGnet Columns]

Post originally by Philip Reed at 2005-07-08 05:43:02
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I've written for free. I've written for royalties. I've written for $0.01/word. I've written for $0.02/word. I've written for $0.03/word. I've written for $0.04/word. I've written for $0.05/word. I've written for $0.10/word.

If RPG.net columns pay $0.05/word I may need to start my own column.

[RPGnet Columns]

Post originally by Paul King at 2005-07-08 05:59:28
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Maybe that is the "When you should write for free" promised for the next column...

[RPGnet Columns]

Post originally by Philip Reed at 2005-07-08 06:06:42
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I noticed the title for the next column, and it's against the absolute set forth in this column.

"Don't do it."

The very name of the next column discredits this column's point. I feel that the two columns should have been one or, at the very least, the column on when it's okay to write for free should have come first. It's a lot more difficult to thrown down absolute rules and then say "well, maybe we can have some flexibility" than it is to start from a flexible point.

[RPGnet Columns]

Post originally by Paul King at 2005-07-08 06:16:24
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There may be better ways of organising it, but I have to say that I don't agree that it should be a single column or that the other part should have come first. At least including the title of the next column lets readers see that it isn't an absolute rule.

Usually, general cases should be treated before special cases. Which means that the general rule ("don't do it") should come before the exceptions ("unless...").

And a double-sized column is twice as much writing at the same (probably) low rate.

[RPGnet Columns]

Post originally by Philip Reed at 2005-07-08 06:19:47
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The thing is, this column didn't need to be as long as it is. A lot of it feels like a rant -- targeted at what I don't know -- than it does an instructional column.

I also feel that the target audience for this column -- I assume, beginning authors -- could use some time working on free and low-pay projects. It's those first twenty or thirty products when you're really learning. I find it's very rare that a spectacular author appears from out of nowhere and can command $0.05/word or more.

[RPGnet Columns]

Post originally by Paul King at 2005-07-08 09:23:12
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You are free to criticise it on the basis that it doesn't do as good a job as it might do. I'd tend to agree. For instance it should state that the importance of working and reworking is to save the editor work. It should probably have mentioned the magazine route as an entry point, too (a piece of advice I have seen before and has come up in the comments)

And if customer recognition is unimportant, recognition by publishers is not. (e.g. this comment from the July 3 Daily Illuminator: "It's not a hard edit . . . no manuscript created by Sean Punch and Phil Masters is going to be anything but a pleasure to work on . . ." - that's the sort of recognition a writer needs.)

[RPGnet Columns]

Post originally by DougS at 2005-07-08 17:58:41
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Philip Reed wrote:
-------------------------------
I find it's very rare that a spectacular author appears from out of nowhere and can command $0.05/word or more.

Actually, my first gig was contracted at 5 cents/word, and I've worked for anywhere from 2-6 cents/word since then. But my case may be quite unusual.

[RPGnet Columns]

Post originally by Lloyd Brown at 2005-07-09 14:02:19
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<<I find it's very rare that a spectacular author appears from out of nowhere and can command $0.05/word or more.>>

Thanks for the compliment, Phil. I'm going to use that one: "Phil Reed thinks I'm spectacular."

[RPGnet Columns]

Post originally by RJ Grady at 2005-07-09 16:27:44
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You certainly are making a spectacle.

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Post originally by Dana Jorgensen at 2005-07-09 17:19:53
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You shouldn't go reading so much into Phil's words. After all, you don't command $0.05 a word. You simply limit your writing opportunities to those who will pay anyone $0.05 per word. There is a huge difference between the two. Come back and tell us you command $0.05 a word when someone who normally pays a lot less is actually willing to pay you all those nickels instead of their usual pennies.

[RPGnet Columns]

Post originally by Lloyd Brown at 2005-07-10 08:42:17
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My point was that my first sold work went for .05/word, which is what he said. It's not the freakish anomaly some people paint it as.

[RPGnet Columns]

Post originally by Jim Bob at 2005-07-12 22:08:10
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And still, the leading question of this thread has not been answered... how much does the rpg.net column pay?

I love irony, it's my favourite kind of humour.

[RPGnet Columns]

Post originally by Lloyd Brown at 2005-07-13 07:51:37
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The first reply covered it.

[RPGnet Columns]

Post originally by Charlie Dunwoody at 2005-07-13 08:13:26
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We don't get paid (at least I don't). However, despite what this column says about not writing for free, having a column here month after month allows companies that sell PDFs to read your work, see if they like the way you write, and see that you can make deadlines.

I'm working on a supplement for the sci-fi game Bulldogs! right now. My column, in addition to getting published twice in Dragon Magazine, helped me get that assignment.

Also, you get immediate feedback from your reader, as this column demonstrates.

Charlie

[RPGnet Columns]

Post originally by Lloyd Brown at 2005-07-14 19:07:15
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Huh. I guess my response got eaten.

The very first response to your question pegged it.

[RPGnet Columns]

Post originally by Jim Bob at 2005-07-19 23:53:33
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Charlie wrote, "We don't get paid (at least I don't). However, despite what this column says about not writing for free, having a column here month after month allows companies that sell PDFs to read your work, see if they like the way you write, and see that you can make deadlines. "

Ah, I see. Wasn't that covered in the article? "Excuses, excuses: "It'll get me exposure.""

:D

[RPGnet Columns]

Post originally by Ash at 2005-08-10 08:57:57
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Perspective please: what year was that in?

Ash