Rebecca Rosen Lum, an independent journalist, writes in the California Progress Report that the pool of veteran freelancers – a group many publications have used to extend coverage despite shrinking budgets – is shrinking as experienced journalists transition to more lucrative (or at least more stable) careers.
“Most say they still love the news business and would love to keep reporting and editing,” Rosen writes. “But falling freelance rates, coupled with skyrocketing costs for health insurance and other basic living expenses, are making continued careers in journalism feel increasingly unrealistic.”
Her observations are based on a relatively small sample: The results of a survey of freelancers in northern California, most of them laid-off or bought-out veterans with more than 20 years in the business. The kind of folks who “are now feeling the heat as COBRA and unemployment benefits end, and are augmenting their earnings with work outside the field,” she writes.
GuildFreelancers, a unit of California Media Workers designed to support the self-employed, surveyed 116 independent writers and journalists throughout Northern California. While not a scientific sample, the responses offer a snapshot of a profession in flux, focusing on quality of life, the nature and pace of work, and the freelance marketplace. Respondents include writers, photographers, designers, filmmakers, authors, instructors and multi-media producers.
Respondents aired many gripes which have become depressingly commonplace in today’s freelance circles, including rapidly plunging rates, an explosion of ultra-low-cost content, and the constant struggle to find work and health insurance coverage.
“A dollar a word was the gold standard for three decades (no cost-of-living raises, of course),” writes one respondent. “Then online publishing came into the mix and the bottom dropped out. I’ve been asked to write for as little as a dime per word. Hourly rates offered for copywriting and editing services have dropped as low as $10 an hour. Most online outlets won’t go over 50 cents per word. How can anyone make a living this way? I’ve been in the biz for 30 years and this is the worst I’ve ever seen it.”
Lum does not address the freelance health writing market in depth, and we are interested in hearing from AHCJ freelancers (especially in the comment section below). Has the decline in health freelance rates been as severe as in other markets? Has increased competition come from laid-off professionals and desperate freelancers branching out from other specializations? How do you see the market evolving in the coming years? Will you be part of it, or are you already looking at alternate careers?
The California Progress Report is published by the Consumer Federation of California Education Foundation.
