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What's a Freelance RPG Writer Worth?
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<blockquote data-quote="knottyprof" data-source="post: 7659060" data-attributes="member: 6715607"><p>I agree whole-heartedly with this. Even if you have to put some free stuff out there (which I have quite a bit), people will take because of that fact. Just don't be disappointment when numbers for free stuff doesn't = real sales numbers. Honestly I get about 1 in 10 $ sale versus free download (amazing how many people thing Pay What you Want means 0 and for those that do give the publisher something for their PWYW title God Bless You). Again, we are talking about exposure and a staple of samples of your work for other publishers to look at.</p><p></p><p>Honestly, unless you are living with someone that can support your life style, odds are you will have to have another source of income for a while if and when a career can be made out of game design writing (unless you can get into Wizards, Paizo, or other power house publisher). I'm sorry but .01 a word won't support anyone in today's market (at least not in the US). For 2,000 words that would come to $20. If you can do 50 words a minute and know exactly what you are writing (no actual design or development time), you are talking about 40 minutes of writing time. However, you got to figure at least twice that for actually developing the idea (if not a lot more). So from concept to finished (just written) product you probably won't be making more than $10 an hour if you are lucky. These are just some numbers I am throwing out for example and I am sure some can probably produce a lot more and many will produce a lot less in an hour and the numbers given do not even assume an average, just something to consider.</p><p></p><p>I produce products that have one to three pages of actual content and charge about a dollar each and even with basic layout, development, and writing most of those take me about 8 hours. So even if I sell 20 or so the hourly breakdown does not make it worth while as an actual career at this point. Does it make me feel good when I actually sell items? Hell yeah!!! But freelance writers (unless they are well established) should have no delusions about having a full time career they can retire from.</p><p></p><p>Just my .01 cents worth (or $3.90 at .01 per word <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" />).</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="knottyprof, post: 7659060, member: 6715607"] I agree whole-heartedly with this. Even if you have to put some free stuff out there (which I have quite a bit), people will take because of that fact. Just don't be disappointment when numbers for free stuff doesn't = real sales numbers. Honestly I get about 1 in 10 $ sale versus free download (amazing how many people thing Pay What you Want means 0 and for those that do give the publisher something for their PWYW title God Bless You). Again, we are talking about exposure and a staple of samples of your work for other publishers to look at. Honestly, unless you are living with someone that can support your life style, odds are you will have to have another source of income for a while if and when a career can be made out of game design writing (unless you can get into Wizards, Paizo, or other power house publisher). I'm sorry but .01 a word won't support anyone in today's market (at least not in the US). For 2,000 words that would come to $20. If you can do 50 words a minute and know exactly what you are writing (no actual design or development time), you are talking about 40 minutes of writing time. However, you got to figure at least twice that for actually developing the idea (if not a lot more). So from concept to finished (just written) product you probably won't be making more than $10 an hour if you are lucky. These are just some numbers I am throwing out for example and I am sure some can probably produce a lot more and many will produce a lot less in an hour and the numbers given do not even assume an average, just something to consider. I produce products that have one to three pages of actual content and charge about a dollar each and even with basic layout, development, and writing most of those take me about 8 hours. So even if I sell 20 or so the hourly breakdown does not make it worth while as an actual career at this point. Does it make me feel good when I actually sell items? Hell yeah!!! But freelance writers (unless they are well established) should have no delusions about having a full time career they can retire from. Just my .01 cents worth (or $3.90 at .01 per word :)). [/QUOTE]
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