Saturday, March 26, 2011

Should LPJ Design increase their writers pay rate to 4 cents a word on a Pathfinder project?

This is something I stared in Facebook page that I thought should be brought here: I am thinking about doing a Pathfinder project and paying out 4 cents a word for writers. That is A LOT more than I normally pay (Remember small PDF publisher here). Am I crazy to think like this? I am looking to hear from the Pathfinder and Paizo fans on this.  Talk to you later...
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4 comments:

  1. JPChapleauMarch 26, 2011 at 1:09 PM

    I think that would be an AWESOME idea!!!!
    Oh wait... stupid conflicts of interest...

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  2. Sigfried TrentMarch 27, 2011 at 2:36 AM

    I don't think its crazy.

    Part of the trick is that not every word is as valuable as the next. The quality of the writer matters, as does the selling power of the author & publisher.

    I think the rule of thumb is you should charge/pay about what it is worth if possible. have you checked out RPGFreelancer? Its interesting in that folks can bid there on time and price (though you must often guess on quality).

    I think that having a flat blanket rate may not make sense. (though a floor or ceiling probably does) Writers who do the work you can sell briskly and are of strong quality should get more. And it makes sense to have your best writers work on your best selling lines and to give them enough of a cut that they feel invested enough to care about quality.

    I think part of the reason game writing doesn't pay much is writers don't have much on the line unless they self publish. Low risk often = low reward.

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  3. LMPjr007March 27, 2011 at 9:16 AM

    @Sigfried: Do you think you are one of those people that would deserve this rate?

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  4. Sigfried TrentMarch 28, 2011 at 1:00 AM

    It's a rate I would feel is fair and work hard for. I don't think I'd take a rate where I felt like the only way it was worth my time/money would be to do a rush job of something.

    I did some math just now on time to write vs pay rates per word. I think my writing works out to around $10 per hour at .04 per word. For PnP games... thats actually better than I though it would be. Not the sort of thing you would want to make a living on, but seems fair for work that is pleasurable.

    I'm still a very green in the paid writing game so its all kind of new and interesting to me.

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