Random Play by Graham Reid

You should consider the Kotzwinkle technique:

"Another dorky dorky dorky dorky dorky dorky dorky dorky dorky dorky dorky dorky dorky dorky dorky dorky dorky dorky dorky dorky dorky dorky dorky dorky dorky dorky dorky dorky dorky dorky dorky dorky dorky dorky dorky dorky dorky dorky dorky dorky dorky dorky dorky dorky dorky dorky dorky dorky dorky dorky dorky dorky dorky dorky dorky dorky dorky dorky dorky dorky dorky dorky dorky dorky dorky day"

does wonders for the word count.

I think you're underselling yourself. If your word-count was 698 then you are doing yourself out of $20.40 by not pursuing it.

I'm coming from a position of having had exactly one unsolicited article published in a magazine in 1994. I was so chuffed that they had accepted it and paid for my scratchings, that I didn't even bother to think by what rationale they determined the compensation.

One question, do hyphenated words count as one or two words? Are things like "tight-fisted" ,"sad-arse" and "mother-pus-buckets" worth $2.80 or $1.20?

I wonder how much time was spent, and at what the pay rate of the person spending it was, to save them $1.20?

Also, if they edit your story, do you get payed based on how many words you wrote, or how many they print? :)

Sorry Evan, put you crook: I meant to write 648 NOT 698. I counted ONE word more than their count of 647.
Everyone wants to know whether hyphenates count as one or two words: one I guess.

"Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" also carries the same pay weight as "dole" or "poor". If you get my drift.

So... Do writers being paid by the word always use "it is," "would not," and "should not"? Thats another $1.20 right thar.

Sorry Evan, put you crook: I meant to write 648 NOT 698. I counted ONE word more than their count of 647

Clearly, if you make this kind of error in your own post, the accountants have good reason to keep an eye on you.

"Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious"

I bet you'll find that word is the IP of Disney and as such you would have to pay a percentage of that 40c to them.............probably.
;-)

I wonder how much time was spent, and at what the pay rate of the person spending it was, to save them $1.20?

..... Possibly $1.20 @ .40c per word saved.

Free-lance (one word) work is generally paid (in NZ) at between 20c & 50c a word...

any other freelancer (still one word) noticed payment-delay creep?

I'm seeing it here, and overseas.

Time to agitate for payment UPON RECEPTION & AGREEMENT TO
PUBLISH I think...and yes, the screaming is deliberate: most author royalities are paid to the author 9 MONTHS after the publisher has received the monies for copies sold...

Not quite the same situation as detailed, but-

any other freelancer (still one word) noticed payment-delay creep?

I'm seeing it here, and overseas.

That would be a "hell, yeah" on the overseas part. My NZ clients remain a paragon of punctuality.

any other freelancer (still one word) noticed payment-delay creep?

I'm seeing it here, and overseas.

I freelance review only on a very, very minor scale with NZ publications, so don't know how relevant this is - but I have had to follow up at least once on payments that were supposed to be paid at the start of the month following publication and didn't appear until a month later. In all likelihood these could have been simple paperwork (emailwork?) errors, and the amounts were not significant, but nevertheless I'm a little more proactive than I was before.

Although I'm not always perfectly punctual myself, so I can sympathise with stretched media admin people at this time...

Islander, yes! Me too. A major NZ weekly, which used to promptly and courteously remind its freelancers to invoice as soon as the piece appeared in print, has now stopped doing so; as a consequence, timely payment seems to have slipped off the agenda as well.

Like Sam I assumed this was a week by week mistake, but after a while it starts to look like a Cunning Plan TM. Fend off the writers and hold onto your money for an extra week and it all helps with the bottom line. I haven't been nickle-and-dimed over the word-count like Graham yet but will keep an eye on it.

(Mind you, the same and worse is true over here - one media conglomerate that writes me cheques filed for bankruptcy not long ago. The money is still coming - slowly - but I'm not sure how, and for how long!)

PS same weekly pays its reviewers sub-norm, going by what Graham wrote. Apparently, reviews require less "work" than features.

Have a look and a listen. I'm thinking of starting to charge for this service:

Maybe you could offer an optional subscription -- better in various ways than per-view payments -- with an occasional premium for subscribers: a free download, a discount at Marbecks, etc.

I think there are certainly people who'd be happy to chip in to help you keep doing what you do. And, of course, you can have some free advertising space here.

Islander, yes! Me too. A major NZ weekly, which used to promptly and courteously remind its freelancers to invoice as soon as the piece appeared in print, has now stopped doing so; as a consequence, timely payment seems to have slipped off the agenda as well.

From an editorial point of view, this is such a false economy. Any freelancer is going to be more prepared to go the extra mile for a publisher who pays promptly and reliably.

What about using lots of strike out? Do you get paid for struck out words, or is the rationale you didn't really intend to write them in the first place? Or do you even get -$0.40 for every struck out word?

All deep philosphical questions. :)

And do I concede a rebate for my missing "o"?