thread: 2012-03-13 : Indie POV pt 2: Does It Pay?
On 2012-03-13, Simon R wrote:
As a result of this fruitful discussion I'm gathering data on work-for-hire freelancers - this will make an interesting article. So far I've about fiteen or so work-for-hire writers who hit the word rate or more, but I don't know if they'll hit the words per month. WotC for example employed writers on $45K on starting salary, and pay 7-8c a words to freelancers. They have at least seven.
@Vincent "But that's not what drives me crazy and gets me fighting. What drives me crazy is the idea that if you're serious about making a living in roleplaying, you'd better freelance, but if you're just trying to make a little on the side, you have the luxury to self-publish."
I am not saying that at all - I'd like to know who is. I think it's very hard to make a living in the RPG industry at all, and those that do generally end up moving on to work in computer games or online projects. But there are more full time RPG work-for-hire writers then there are full time COPs.
If a person comes to me with a new game, I always suggest that they self-publish, or if I absolutely love the game at least point them at the option and resources and suggest it as a better option. The barriers to entry are very low. However, more often I get someone who wants to write stuff for our games, and self-publishing is not something they want. Rarely, I'll publish what they've written.
And of course, freelancing and COPping are not mutually exclusive. Doing one can really help the other, particularly when building rep without taking risk or doing non-writing publishing activities.
I'll get back to you when I have more data. On the other side, do you know which COPs make a full time living from roleplaying?
I'll have to leave it here for the mo, but I will be back.
