The tough truth of rate transparency

The past week was revelatory for many freelancers. Following prompting from the Study Hall freelance collective, many freelancers began posting their favorite articles and the rates they earned from them on Twitter. The exercise was meant to shed light on the notoriously elusive process of setting freelance rates.

As was to be expected, some freelancers posted relatively middle-income ranges for their yearly earnings, but others bravely disclosed annual revenues of nearly six figures, prompting some freelancers to question the pay disparities within the freelance writer economy. How is it, for example, that travel journalists of color are paid less and are made to bear more of the expenses than their white counterparts?

Another interesting layer in the discussion was when freelancer Alice Driver prompted creatives to share how privilege influences which individuals survive the freelance economy. Do you have student debt? Is your partner able to provide health insurance and a steady income?

Though I'm disappointed that some prominent writers have not shared their rates, I can't say that I blame them. After all, disclosing one's privilege requires both a thick skin and the lifeboat to brace for the appreciation and bitterness. I can think of a handful of writers whose rates for prominent publications I'd love to know, but I understand that they, too, have relationships to protect in order to sustain themselves. They are upholding the status quo, but they're also providing for themselves, and for that, I can't fault anyone.

I'm waiting to hear whispers of editors who have issued a warning so their contributors to not share rate information on social media. It is through these disclosures that writers, especially those from marginalized classes, are aware of precisely how much they are undervalued in the freelance economy.

That reality hit me hard. It came at a time when I had mixed feelings about 2019. While I had made more money than the previous year, I didn't quite hit my income goal. As I was reflecting on why that was, a wave of writers and their revelations flooded my timeline with valuable rate information and tips on how they survived the freelance economy this year. I would never dream that a freelance writer could be a stone's throw away from six figures while primarily writing for news media.

As a cis woman of color, it’s hard for me to not to go down the rage rabbit hole. After all, my work has appeared in multiple regional and national publications, both trade- and consumer-focused. Though I cover business and technology primarily, I also write about health and personal finance. I’m not alone in having a stellar portfolio yet being met with resistance from editors who want to milk your expertise or trauma only to pay you pennies and retain the rights to your work. Why is it that the journalism industry only supportive of diversity until it’s time to cut the check?

So what are freelancers supposed to do with this lingering disappointment? Until the regulations surrounding freelancing change, sharing information amongst ourselves remains crucial. We will have to, in the interim, do a better job and negotiating our rates which will be easier now that we're armed with information.

But more importantly, freelancers, myself included, have to remember to separate our net worth, our bank account balances and our overall wages from the value we have as human beings and the value of our profession. Journalism is protected by the First Amendment. Without it, no one would know what was going on in their communities, in their country or around the world. The powers-that-be may be running the industry into the ground, laying waste to freelancers’ earnings in the process, but I remain optimistic.

Maybe it's because the new year is coming, but I have a feeling that workers will eventually reclaim their monetary value in the freelance marketplace and thus balance the scales in favor of diverse storytellers who will document the evolution of our world.

How have the freelance rate disclosures made you feel? Tell me in the comments or email me at contact@thefreelancebeat.com.