Rates of pay?

Many, many moons ago (far too many...) I used to do a bit of photo wordsmithing for a monthly (not a dive publication). It was around the end of the '70s and we used to get paid £25.00 per thousand words, £5.00 for a b&w and £25.00 for a colour cover pic. The mag I wrote for had a circulation in the UK of about 25-30,000 IIRC. I was wondering how far the goalposts have moved...

Brendan's Blog: http://www.brendiversworld.com/

Is a great place for info on submission guidelines etc. Tonnes of info, there. Although not sure if there are prices.

Alex

Thanks for the heads up Alex. Interesting site...

Now there's an interesting subject for a post!

Watch out for an update on the blog.

And thanks for the kudos Alex,

Interesting Brendan that the rates of pay haven't increased in 12 years! It's an interesting business model ....

I have found that non-diving consumer mags generally have much better rates, double usually. The UK's National Union of Journalist's site has a good page which gives general guidance on what the lowest rates you should accept are - this link is just for images http://www.londonfreelance.org/feesguide/phmagrat.html

However, elsewhere on the site you can find examples of what people have actually been paid, which is often less than the suggested minimum. That's the market.

Also not all mags have fixed rates like the 2 Brendan mentions. You may be asked what you want for use of a photo and they will either accept what you suggest of not. Or there may be negotiation. Pitching your price at the right level can be tricky. But look at pricing for a range of image library photos and that will give you an idea of where to start perhaps.