Gearing up for the NMAs this month, we thought a survey on the state of magazine freelancing in Canada was in order. It’s also a chance to take your own picks for the best work in Canadian magazines last year (see the NMAF’s list of nominees). Results of the survey will be published here on Friday, June 10, the date of the NMA gala.
The survey is embedded below, but in case it is not showing up in your browser, you can follow this link to fill it out.
[Editor’s note: As D.B. Scott pointed out on his Canadian Magazines blog, the NMAs have two layers of judges: “unilingual juries, French and English selecting a list of worthy finalists; and a bilingual jury selecting the winners from those finalist lists.” To describe these as “numerous” layers, as the survey did initially, was not using language as carefully as we like to around here. So we decided to take out the “numerous” part. For the sake of transparency, we thought you should know.]
Okay, here’s a comment. I just heard about a new consumer pub that’s right in my niche and could probably use a writer of my calibre and experience. The pay? Fifty cents a word, which used to be an adequate, if not exciting, trade publication rate BACK IN THE 1980s.
It would be intertesting to have a survey of freelancers that more carefullly examines pay, word rates, current working experiences, and, perhaps, suggests how we as freelancers….possibly the worst paid people in Canada, with no benefits, incredibly long time periods for payment (six months is currently about average, though much longer is common).
Thanks for the suggestion, Anthony. The survey above was inspired by the upcoming NMAs, but your idea for a comprehensive survey about freelance writing in Canada is definitely worth considering. And I will.
Those interested in a more comprehensive survey might want to have a look at “Respect & Remuneration: Attitudes about editorial working conditions in the Canadian magazine industry”, published in the spring of 2009, which can be found online here:
8 comments
Okay, here’s a comment. I just heard about a new consumer pub that’s right in my niche and could probably use a writer of my calibre and experience. The pay? Fifty cents a word, which used to be an adequate, if not exciting, trade publication rate BACK IN THE 1980s.
I’m not sure what you want in this box.
Why does it keep telling me to leave a reply? I’m out of here.
Hi Leslie,
Not sure what problem you’re encountering. The survey should show up above the comments, in the body of the post itself. If you’re not seeing it, you can also visit this link to take the survey: http://obsurvey.com/S.aspx?id=C44C1C8F-E539-463C-BDD6-9433C473ECAD
-Editor
It would be intertesting to have a survey of freelancers that more carefullly examines pay, word rates, current working experiences, and, perhaps, suggests how we as freelancers….possibly the worst paid people in Canada, with no benefits, incredibly long time periods for payment (six months is currently about average, though much longer is common).
Thanks
Thanks for the suggestion, Anthony. The survey above was inspired by the upcoming NMAs, but your idea for a comprehensive survey about freelance writing in Canada is definitely worth considering. And I will.
Those interested in a more comprehensive survey might want to have a look at “Respect & Remuneration: Attitudes about editorial working conditions in the Canadian magazine industry”, published in the spring of 2009, which can be found online here:
http://www.pwac.ca/files/PDF/Respect&Renumeration.May09.pdf
Not much of a survey; more like a popularity contest.