The email I won't answer
Start With This
βThe most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don't have any.β
β Alice Walker, novelist and essayist
Something Worth Knowing
The Editorial Freelancers Association's published rate ranges, drawn from their member rate survey, put medical writing at roughly $70 to $110 per hour, with comparable industry guides showing rates of $125 to $155 per hour for experienced freelance medical writers in the U.S.
Those numbers describe what specialized writing pays when writers price it the way they should. Every unpaid for-profit gig is a vote against that floor, and the floor only holds when writers refuse to step below it.
A Good Read
Today's post is the most opinionated piece in the June lineup. It names a rule I will not bend on, the damage I've watched it do when writers ignore it, and the small set of phrases for-profit companies use to extract free work from people who don't yet know what their writing is worth.
Read it before the next "great exposure opportunity" lands in your inbox.
Read: Why I Don't Write Free for For-Profit Companies (and Why You Shouldn't Either)
Try This
Three questions for any "opportunity" that lands in your inbox this week.
- Is the entity asking me to write for free a for-profit or a nonprofit, and how would I verify that in 60 seconds?
- What is the for-profit telling me I'll get in exchange for my unpaid work, and is that thing actually worth what they're asking me to give?
- If I say yes to this offer, what rate am I implicitly setting for the next paying client who asks me what I charge?
Beth's Sunday Rounds
Some business frameworks donβt come from books. They come from kitchen tables.
This week, a six-minute read.
Read: Three. And only three.
Take This With You
Your writing is worth paying for. The buyers need to know it. You need to know it too.
