EVERYTHING YOU WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT FREELANCE JOURNALISM by CHARUKESI RAMADURAI & KAVITHA RAO

Author:CHARUKESI RAMADURAI & KAVITHA RAO [RAMADURAI, CHARUKESI & RAO, KAVITHA]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Mobilism
Publisher: Westland
Published: 2014-01-29T00:00:00+00:00

Chasing for payment

The reality of freelancing is that often you won’t receive your cheque in time, sometimes for months. Often, Indian magazines pay their freelancers late because they are sheepish about asking for pay, or apologetic about chasing overdue payments. Again, we know established freelancers who don’t bother to chase cheques, so they are consistently paid late. Make sure you file your invoices, or complete whatever other paperwork you need to on time, then be polite but firm in chasing payment. Find out whom to call at the accounts department and keep calling. If pay is consistently late, bring it up with your editor.

I wouldn’t advise haggling over money to anyone embarking on a relationship with an editor / publication. Stick around for some time, build up credentials, and then draft a polite mail, mentioning how much you started out with and what you’re getting now.

– Sumana Mukherjee,

editorial consultant, Forbes India

Every assignment also includes time spent researching, pitching, responding to editorial queries, invoicing and billing. A $50 assignment that includes 50 emails back from the editors and the copy desk is probably not worth your time.

– Evan Rail, Prague-based freelancer and contributor to The New York Times

Tip:

Check out these websites to know who is paying what: http://whopaysindeed.in/ (Indian) and http://whopays.tumblr.com/ (international).

Selling rights

Rights – what does this mean? It means being clear about who owns the story after it is published. It is best to discuss this before you sell the piece.

First Indian serial rights: This means that you allow Indian publications to publish your piece first. But once the magazine uses your work, you are free to sell it again, and also sell it in other countries, by offering first UK, US or Australian serial rights.

Indian publications often try to tell you that they own all rights to your piece, which means you are forfeiting the right to ever use it again. Actually, under the Indian Copyright Act, Section 17, the copyright in a piece of work reverts to the writer, unless you are employed full-time with a magazine. What that means is that once the magazine uses your work, you are free to sell it again, unless you have signed a contract to the contrary. This is called first Indian (or any country) rights.

Second rights: Once you’ve sold first Indian rights, your next sale of the same material is covered under ‘second rights’ or ‘reprint rights’. When you offer this right to a publication, you are clearly stating that the material has been published before and is a reprint (which usually fetches a lower price). Often, the original publisher will ask to be credited when material is reprinted.

Electronic rights: This catch-all phrase means any type of electronic publication, such as a CD-ROM, a website, or an electronic database. Many publications are now attempting to claim ‘electronic rights’ as a part of first serial rights, so be sure to clarify this with your editor.

All rights: This means exactly what it says, and covers everything, including electronic rights. Once you’ve sold all rights to a piece, you can never sell that piece again.

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