This is the latest installment of Dear WordCount, an advice column that answers your questions about writing, blogging and running a freelance business.

Dear WordCount:

I recently switched careers to focus on writing. I have a few terrific opportunities but don’t have enough experience to know the fair market price for freelance newspaper work. I thought you may be able to give me some clarification.

Many thanks,

Heidi

Dear Heidi:

I hate to say it, but the answer to your question is, “It depends.” Rates depend on a lot of things, including the market, the writer’s experience and the subject.

Newspapers don’t pay as much these days as they used to. You also need to research the papers you’re interested in writing for to see if they use freelancers: some do, some use stringers – writers who freelance for them on a regular basis – and some don’t.

Online resources for finding newspaper freelance rates

Some of the best places to look for current rates are writer websites or forums, including:

• Mediabistro.com - Among the various offerings provided by this online marketplace for writers
• American Society of Journalists and Authors – A national organization for professional freelance writers with a rates database that’s available only to dues-paying members.
• Freelance Success – A subscription-based online resource for all types of freelance writers that also maintains a rates database. Subscription is $99/a year.
• UPOD – A Yahoo group for professional freelancers that’s free to join and is populated mainly by veteran writers who contribute to high-level publications. One nice thing about virtual writers’ groups – since membership is geographically diverse, people are pretty open about sharing information like rates and fees.
• JournalismJobs – Most of the opportunities listed in this newspapaer industry employment site are full time, but every once in a while freelance or contract positions pop up. Investigating what those freelance jobs are paying might help bring the going rate for that type of work into focus.
• LinkedIn Jobs – Like the previous site, most editorial opportunities listed in LinkedIn’s Jobs section are full time. But every so often, the listings include freelance and contract positions.

A few other places to find out about rates:

• The Writer’s Digest Writer’s Market Guide to Getting Published - This publication lists all kinds of freelance markets, though because rates change all of the time this annual directory might not be entirely up to date.
• Local writing groups – There are regional writing groups throughout the country, including local chapters of the Society of Professional Journalists, and to a lesser extent, the Online News Association, plus independent groups such as the Independent Writers of Southern California. Joining one of them might be another way to pick up info on current rates.

I’ve freelanced for several major daily newspapers and news services. One national daily paid me $1 a word; another about $300 for a weekly online column. From 1995 to 2000, I freelanced a 750-word, weekly column for Reuters and was paid a monthly retainer that topped out at about $1/word. But that was an eternity ago in the newspaper industry, and papers were in much better financial shape then.

Regardless of the rate, negotiate payment terms carefully. Have a contract and build language into it that would bump up the fee if the newspaper stories or columns you write get picked up by a newspaper syndicate. Also negotiate rights. Try to retain them exclusively or in some shared fashion so you can re-print stories or columns in a book if that’s something you’d ever be interested in doing.

Do you freelance for newspapers? If so, what types of rates are you getting right now?

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Got a question for Dear WordCount? Submit it to wordcountfreelance@gmail.com.

I’ll weigh in with my top 10 first. Feel free to send your own suggestions for the trends and events that made the past 12 months the most interesting, albeit gut wrenching, in recent times.

Dec. 26 update: For anyone who read the earlier version, I’ve now added links throughout.

1. The recession – It was a crippling, industry-changing year for newspapers. The double whammy of the recession and declining readership as more people get their news online had devastating effects. Publishers tried anything and everything to cut costs in the face of plunging ad revenue and declining subscriptions: filing for bankruptcy protection, selling or mortgaging properties, slashing jobs, outsourcing to India, folding entire sections, trimming geographic distribution, dropping 7 day-a-week distribution, going online only and teaming up with former mortal enemies.
The take away for freelancers: Though never the highest paying markets, newspapers were reliable clients that could be counted on for a steady stream of work. No more. I know a handful of freelancers who still do regular newspaper work, but by and large this market is a goner.

2. Media industry layoffs – Newspapers laid off 21,000 people during 2008, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. But they weren’t the only ones.  By the end of the year, magazines, TV stations, radio stations and book publishers were all slashing employees, many of them long-time staffers whose salaries and benefit packages made them some of those companies’ more expensive workers. That’s a lot of institutional memory down the drain – but when the ship’s sinking, everyone’s expendable.
Take away for freelancers: Be ready for competition. Some of editors you used to pitch are now vying for the same assignments at their old magazines that have been your bread and butter. But don’t sweat it too much. Not everybody’s cut out for the freelance life. If you’re good at what you do, the uptick in self-employed writers shouldn’t affect your business as much as other things (see no. 1).

3. Paid blogging – Blogging’s been around so long it’s regularly written off as passe. Skeptics aside, it is possible to make a decent living as a blogger, either as a gun-for-hire or for yourself. In the case of the latter, it’s possible, but not easy. Running a blog that earns enough to live on from ad sales, affiliate programs or sales of your own editorial products requires equal parts good writing, marketing and networking – not necessarily in that order.
Take away for freelancers: More companies are including blogging in their overall marketing strategy, opening up opportunities for corporate blogging gigs.  Websites like ProBlogger.com do a good job of keeping up with the latest openings. And if you’re blogging for yourself, sites like ProBlogger and Copyblogger have mounds of material on what to do, and what to avoid.

4. Writing for Websites – The media world is turning to the Web, with newspapers updating stories throughout the day on their Websites and more online-only publications starting up every week. Even magazines are getting into the act, albeit more slowly than other types of publications – although some (think Conde Nast) have reversed course and given up on the Web. Also popping up: Web content syndicates that operate like wire services of yesteryear, producing copy that’s posted on the Websites of subscribers such as ISPs, news aggregators and corporations.
Take away for freelancers: Websites are the new newspapers, but not all are created equal. Some pay pennies, others $1/word or more. Writers need to be particular about who they work for. Takeaway no. 2: there’s no longer a stigma to writing stories that go directly to the Web – though it’s still hard to convince PR reps of that. And no. 3:  HTML is your friend. If you want to write for Websites, know at least a little about it and how to add links to your stories pointing people to related material.

5. Multimedia – Writers are expected to know how to tell a story not just with words but with photos, podcasts and other multimedia elements. And it’s not just reporters. In addition to the editing work she does, one features editor at a mid-sized West Coast daily newspaper that’s been hit by budget cuts and layoffs  also writes stories, shoots her own video for them and records podcasts – and expects anyone on her staff to be able to do the same.
Take away for freelancers: If staffers are doing it, you should be too. Multimedia makes you more marketable. Learn it so you can pitch it. Not a DIY type? Online classes and workshops are everywhere.

6. Writing for exposure free - There’ve never been more opportunities to write for the Web – for free. I’m not just talking about the start ups that advertise on Craigslist who promise to pay contributors “in exposure,” but also some of the biggest blogs around, like The Huffington Post.
Take away for freelancers: Don’t do it. No matter how exciting it might be to see your name on HuffPost, writing for free is not a business model.

7. Social networks – It’s not just about how many friends you have on Facebook anymore. 2008 was the year social networking for work took off. LinkedIn was a huge beneficiary, ending the year with more than 30 million members. Companies large and small ramped up their use of social networks for marketing, recruiting and customer relations.
Take away for freelancers: If you haven’t started, now’s the time to dive in. Wired freelancers are already using social networks like LinkedIn to crowdsource (find sources), get assignments and do their jobs better. Don’t get left behind.

8. Twitter – Yes, lots of people use Twitter to describe what they ate for breakfast or where they’re stuck in traffic. But the microblogging platform also helped reporters quickly spread word of the terrorist attack in Mumbai. More editors, reporters and bloggers are using it to update followers on works in progress or their latest blog posts. As a social network, Twitter feels like an cocktail party that’s still small enough you might just accidentally hit it off with someone who could end up being a source or offering you a job.
Take away for freelancers: Get in on the ground floor – trite but true. It’s still too early to see the difference it’s made in my writing business, but other freelancers swear by it as a way to follow trends, discover publications or editors they want to work with – or vice versa – and find sources on the fly. Caution: it can easily become a huge time suck.

9. Work made for hire – FNASR contracts are going the way of the dinosaur due to the migration of content to the Web (see no. 4).
Take away for freelancers: Reslants are your friend. If you don’t own the copyright to a piece you can’t sell reprint rights to other publications. But you can recast a story written for consumer publication A into a piece for trade magazine B or Website C. Or use research for a piece for trade magazine for Fortune 1000 companies for a piece for a small business Website. Recycle, reuse, repeat.

10. The brand of you – Whatever the specialty – writing, marketing, blogging, Website design, etc. – self-employed workers are figuring out they are a brand and are marketing accordingly (see Julia Allison).  These campaigns include everything from professionally designed Websites, blogs and YouTube channels to email signatures that list the owner’s latest blog posts or book deals.
Take away for freelancers: Take the plunge. Even if you don’t have time or money for the big stuff, tacking your Linkedin, Twitter and blog addresses onto your email signature is a start. Blogging software is free and can substitute for a Website. And if you’re already doing all that, 2009 might be the year to take it up a notch by starting a monthly podcast or e-newsletter to showcase your work.

They might be. Daily newspapers are trimming jobs and looking for other ways to cut costs, and one way to do that is by using contract workers such as freelancers.

Some papers, including major dailies such as the New York Times and Los Angeles Times, routinely use freelancers or stringers for certain types of stories – travel pieces, features, essays, high school sports stories and war reporting. But others consider freelancers second-class citizens, because they believe freelancers lack newsroom training or because of past experiences they had with writers who turned in sub-par work.

But as more newspaper reporters lose their jobs, it’s inevitable some of them will use it as a springboard to start freelance careers. This is already happening, but recent actions such as the announcement from McClatchy earlier this week that it will axe 1,400 jobs nationwide is pushing it to the forefront.

Some newspaper industry insiders get this. One of them is Edward D. Miller, a former editor and publisher and current newspaper industry consultant and coach. In an essay he wrote for the weekly newsletter his firm, Newsroom Leadership Group emails to 10,000 newspaper editors, Miller cautions them not to continue viewing freelancers as outsiders and “amateurs.” He writes: “More than a few are serious and capable writers. Many have community connections that are deeper than our own. Collectively, these outsiders have knowledge and wisdom that we could be tapping into.”

Miller, one-time editor and publisher of The Morning Call in Allentown, PA, and an affiliate of The Poynter Institute, the newspaper industry think thank and training center, also admonishes editors to vet freelancers the same way they would other writers, including putting them through typical newsroom testing and training, involving them in the story decision making process and “treating them like insiders.” He also recommends paying a decent wage.

That’s music to a freelancer’s ears. Who wouldn’t want to work for an organization that treated its freelancers like that?

To read Miller’s piece in its entirety, you can sign up for his Reflections on Leadership newsletter, or wait for two weeks (that’s be June 30) and look for it on his Website under “Reflections.”