Charles Ryan (and others) out at WotC?

[DaveMage]

In 1966, Good Housekeeping would've paid $35 for that sentence.

Tony M

And that same amount today will buy you 3,500 words in an RPG book.

 

[diaglo]

And that same amount today will buy you 3,500 words in an RPG book.

and basically translate into the same thing.

 

[Fighter1]

Question?

A question to those of you "in the know" about writing & RPG's:

Good Housekeeping, as far as I know (which I admit ain't much in this arena!) is no pushover magazine; I would think they paid $5 per word way back when because they demanded, and got, some of the best writing around (like Ford and the $5 a day wage) and thus those that wrote consistently for them were amongst the best. I would guess the Wall Street Journal pays more than other places for the same reason…but again admittedly I am just guessing by using logic and common sense and thus I could be way off base here.

Onto the Question:
Would you say that one of the problems with the pay scale is an oversupply of writers? Sort of like the NBA, and MLB: where there are so many teams out there the real talent gets diluted amongst the average, mediocre and poor. If the number of teams was reduced, the low performers would be squeezed out…in this case I mean simply that there are two many writers out there; if those low end guys got forced out then perhaps pay would get better?

 

[StupidSmurf]

And the irony is that those rates have actually gone WAY DOWN since the 60s. According the National Writers Union, they recommend you make AT LEAST $1 a word to make a living of about $40,000/year. In the 60s, most magazines were paying at least $1/word....and they still are (which is a massive drop in pay, once you correct for inflation). In 1966, Good Housekeeping actually paid $5 a word. They guesstimate that most staff writers make about $1.60-2.00 a word, including benefits. That's making the assumption they write something on the odds of 22,000-30,000 words a year. That data was from 2002, though, so it may have changed. But I doubt for the better.

The solution is to write a series of best-sellling novels. That's what I'm doing. I have this elaborate seven-book series about this kid who discovers he's actually a wizard! Can you believe it? He goes to a school where...check this out...EVERYONE's studying to be a wizard! Isn't that something? I'm sure it'll be a smash! My future is assured!

 

[JoeGKushner]

The solution is to write a series of best-sellling novels. That's what I'm doing. I have this elaborate seven-book series about this kid who discovers he's actually a wizard! Can you believe it? He goes to a school where...check this out...EVERYONE's studying to be a wizard! Isn't that something? I'm sure it'll be a smash! My future is assured!

Better than some hick farmboy discovering that he's got hidden magical powers and it's up to him to fufill the prophecy without leaving his common man roots behind.

 

[Aaron L]

Better than some hick farmboy discovering that he's got hidden magical powers and it's up to him to fufill the prophecy without leaving his common man roots behind.

But isnt that, like, the same thing he said?

 

[eyebeams]

A question to those of you "in the know" about writing & RPG's:

Good Housekeeping, as far as I know (which I admit ain't much in this arena!) is no pushover magazine; I would think they paid $5 per word way back when because they demanded, and got, some of the best writing around (like Ford and the $5 a day wage) and thus those that wrote consistently for them were amongst the best. I would guess the Wall Street Journal pays more than other places for the same reason…but again admittedly I am just guessing by using logic and common sense and thus I could be way off base here.

Onto the Question:
Would you say that one of the problems with the pay scale is an oversupply of writers? Sort of like the NBA, and MLB: where there are so many teams out there the real talent gets diluted amongst the average, mediocre and poor. If the number of teams was reduced, the low performers would be squeezed out…in this case I mean simply that there are two many writers out there; if those low end guys got forced out then perhaps pay would get better?

This is sort of true. What actually happens is:

1) Companies want to keep down costs, especially in an age of depressed demand for games. Game books are too cheap right now and are starting to "flip" from being priced as clearance items to being priced higher as specialty items. Labour is almost always the largest expense of any production, so it has to be cheap to keep costs unrealistically low. Unfortunately, the flip to specialty-item pricing is usually happening at the last possible moment to cover looming losses, so it doesn't so much get writers paid more as get them paid -- period.

2) Publishers who don't really care about quality hire writers on the basis that they are disposible, because they can always find an eager fan to replace a writer who asks for too much. This does not really mean that there are more *good* writers and other creatives. It means that good writers will either move to another industry or go into business for themselves, retarding development of the roleplaying form accordingly. This means that fans get lousy books and writers get lousy pay.

Publishers who are a bit more conscientious have trouble competing (if they compete) with the low standards of some hack outfit that (to use an example drawn from nowhere in particular), pays a penny a word to staffers and sacks them to disguise their own ineptitude and avoid a scheduled raise. Plus, it lowers the standards in a fairly insular community.

3) Freelancers have no collective bargaining of consultative power aside from what they can acquire discreetly from their own networks. Most of the networks where writers were supposed to talk about people who broke contracts and caused other problems have a managerial presence (because when all is said and done, the difference between the average publisher and a freelancer is just pretension and a couple of grand). Furthermore, the standard established in #2 makes writers concerned that they might be blacklisted for talking about this with absolute candor, especially when it comes to specific cases.

 

[WayneLigon]

Monte has posted several times that he was not let go; he left on his own accord.

Noted and edited; thanks

 

[WayneLigon]

Dragon Magazine pay rate: .04 a word (that is, if I recall correctly...at least it was that a about ten years back)

It's 'usually at a rate of about 5 cents per word' per their submissions FAQ. That's pretty amazing. Most places pay 1-3 cents a word for gaming material.

 

[JamesDJarvis]

folks ranting about "quality" and publishers "that care" should chill. Prices you can pay a writer are related to how many copies of a work you are going to sell as a publsiher.
Rpg products don't sell in very high volumes on the average.

RPG authors get sci-fi magazine writers rates. 10 cents a word and much much less, often 5 cents or less.

If a magazine or book is only going to sell 4,000 copies one could hardly pay $1.00 per word, it'd be impossible actually, but if it was to sell 300,000 or more copies the rate could indeed be higher then 5 cents a word.