Payment of Writers

[jester47]

I actually did the math for this one day. If you want to make a living at this, you have to be able to hammer out 400 polished words per hour for six hours each day not counting weekends. This is assuming that you are making $.05 a word and you have back to back projects from here to retirement.

I think thats right... lets see, 400 words an hour for six hours = 2400 words per day. Thats 12000 words a week. 624000 words a year. But lets take 2 weeks off, so 600000 words a year. That works out to be 30k a year. Now this does not count for development time, playtesting, etc.

In the publishing industry most things tied to scifi fantasy (at least according to writers market, it sits on my shelf) that are not novels tend to pay 5-6 cents a word. I discovered that since the development time is so extensive, you really have to write twice as fast and only half the time to really make it work. So if you want to be a professional game writer and live off it and only it you need to be able to get out 800 polished words an hour and only have to type 3 hours. Most of the rest of your time will be spent coming up with ideas and playtesting.

I would say a better bet is to start your own d20 publishing company. The time commitment is pretty much the same and you will probably make more money.

Aaron.

 

[Steve Conan Trustrum]

As for myself, my current projects break down like this:

4 projects for 4 cents a word for established d20 companies

3 projects for 2 cents a word split between two seperate companies. With one company it is because I have a lot of freedom and say in the work I do, because the publisher is really good to work with, and because I get to write the flagship product. With the second company it is because I really like the product and the way I got involved was along the lines of "by the way, since we're chatting, do you want to write something for me?" situation.

I do agree, however, that the circumstances had better be something off the usual radar to accept 2 cents a word or, worse yet, less (and I'm not even "known" in the industry ).

 

[philreed]

12,000 words

Thats 12000 words a week.

Hell, I wrote 12,000 words in one day over the weekend and I wouldn't want to try making a living writing. Doing cover art or graphic design pays much better.

Even the games I've designed make me more money than if I could maintain 12,000 words a day.

The only way to really make a living as a freelance game author is to have low standards of living and/or to have an SO with a good job.

 

[Lizard]

Re: 12,000 words

The only way to really make a living as a freelance game author is to have low standards of living and/or to have an SO with a good job.

Woo hoo! I'm there!

Oh wait...low standards OF LIVING, not just low standards.

Darn.

(As a side note, 12K/day? Wow. I average about 5K/day. Smeg. Clearly, I have a long way to go...)

 

[Abulia]

Just to provide some additional quantifiable data…

Out of all my projects in the past six years, the average has been .05 a word, two royalty-based, and the current rate for the last four projects have been .06 a word. I personally would have a difficult time accepting a job that paid .04 or less unless it was something I was really in love with. (Development rates have been .02 to .03 per word but that's a different beast.)

I do not consider myself well-known. I do consider myself to have enough business sense, professionalism, and negotiation skills to get these rates, however.

I believe who you're courting plays (obviously) a large part in the rate schedule. Most small-press d20 publishers--presumably where the bulk of the people who frequent these boards offer their talent--are probably in the .02 to .04 range. Also considering the number of writers willing to do pretty much anything to get published, it's not hard to imagine why those rates are so low.

I'm with Erik; people need to start refusing that low paying work.

Respectfully,
Don Mappin

 

[philreed]

Re: Re: 12,000 words

(As a side note, 12K/day? Wow. I average about 5K/day. Smeg. Clearly, I have a long way to go...)

5k is fantastic. I know many authors who are lucky to get 1k in an 8 hour day.

I tend to work in bursts over long stretches. Some days I lay out a book in one day. But my day is 12-16 hours long without food. I'm a little obsessive sometimes.

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

Re: 12,000 words

The only way to really make a living as a freelance game author is to have low standards of living and/or to have an SO with a good job.

Clearly, it helps if your SO has low standards, too.


Wulf

 

[Erik Mona]

I hate to sound like a broken record, but this thread is proof enough to me that RPG products should be more expensive, if only to provide more money for the people writing them. The people who buy our products, as a rule, are not impoverished. Those of us who make them shouldn't be impoverished, either.

--Erik Mona

 

[jester47]

Re: 12,000 words

Hell, I wrote 12,000 words in one day over the weekend and I wouldn't want to try making a living writing. Doing cover art or graphic design pays much better.

Even the games I've designed make me more money than if I could maintain 12,000 words a day.

The only way to really make a living as a freelance game author is to have low standards of living and/or to have an SO with a good job.

Wow! thats 32 (typed 2x spaced) pages polished and ready for the publisher. Thats pretty good, if the quality is good. Not saying it is or isn't, but that much volume in that short of a time, begs the question. Then again, perhaps it is best just to get it out there.

One thing I forgot to include in my rough estimation was time spent revising and making changes. This will slow you down some more, so add 50% more words a day.

I can see why the atlanitc monthly, Smithsonian and other "BIG" mags pay a buck a word!

Aaron.

 

[philreed]

Re: Re: 12,000 words

Wow! thats 32 (typed 2x spaced) pages polished and ready for the publisher. Thats pretty good, if the quality is good. Not saying it is or isn't, but that much volume in that short of a time, begs the question. Then again, perhaps it is best just to get it out there.

Well, I usually work at a pace of 800-1000k words/hour and so far haven't had _too_ many complaints. I'd say a read through and revision is at about 3k words/hour.

You could always check comments on RPGNow of some of the things I've done or look for reviews of other products I've worked on in the past. There's a decent listing on my website (address below).

A lot of it depends on exactly what is being written. Scenarios for miniatures games (once I know the rules) can go very quickly while reviews are sometimes long and painful affairs as I go back and recheck to make sure I understood what I read or played.