Freelance Writers India
@fwicollective
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support network for writers from marginalized backgrounds | building @syaahinama
Joined January 2021
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We urge all writers to break the whispers that exist around (timely) compensation when it comes to freelance writing in India. Together we can create better conditions for ourselves! But before that we need to be aware of what our conditions are. Share widely!
We have created a rates survey as our first step towards being a media cooperative that furthers radical publishing, and supports marginalised writers. This survey will help in making freelance writing in India more transparent. Please fill and share!
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Rs. 1 per word is not industry standard. Even if it was, it would amount to nothing more than despicable labour exploitation.
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50 paise to a rupee per word. Shameful and disgusting
@law_ninja
. Would you accept these terms? Do you think writing "4-5k exhaustive research-based articles, in simple and crisp language" is as easy as typing this stupid 'job' post?
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Our follower count is more than what some of us are paid 😭
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To help make freelance writing in India more transparent, we are creating a document of the rates different publications offer. If you are a writer based here and are comfortable with it, please DM us the publication(s) you wrote for in 2020-21 and the amount you received.
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Here is our rates document for which we crowdsourced (and verified when possible) compensation offered by various publications. If any editor/outlet wants to dispute the rate mentioned for their publications, please do contact us. Will keep adding!
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Hi! We are starting this to connect aspiring/working freelance writers (across disciplines) from marginalized backgrounds in India with support and resources. We will be amplifying only PAID opportunities because there is worth to our work. Email us with any questions. Kindly RT!
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fyi for those tagging us.. we will not share any calls from BJP workers looking for 'social media content creators' for TN elections or anything in general lol fuck that
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For writers/reporters: If YOU have been promised payment from an Indian outlet, not received it, don't want to risk future gigs, but would like us to try and put pressure on the organization: DM/email. (Anonymity guaranteed).
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Almost every outlet in India considers writers as disposable. Mistreating one doesn't seem to matter because there's a hundred waiting to work even in toxic, underpaying conditions.
@Outlookindia
is one such outlet.
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To make freelance writing in India more transparent, we are creating a document of the rates publications offer. If you are an editor who accepts pieces from India, please DM us the name of your outlet and your rates for 2021 or direct us to where we can find that information.
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Hearing stories now that
@ShekharGupta
's
@ThePrintIndia
is accepting pitches without informing freelancers that they can't pay "due to COVID-19 circumstances". Where is the Tata-Ola-Shaw money going then? Why should writers work for free?
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80% of job opps in india now available to recent arts/humanities/(even social sci/dev sector) grads are vague marketing + social media manager positions where basically you are told what to post by ppl w/ little creative vision, and funders think 20k a month is a livable wage.
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If you are actively hiding how much you pay writers, it's 99% because your pay is low.
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Imagine having the money to pay for twitter blue every month but having the audacity to say youre 'bootstrapped' when it comes to paying young writers their due. Youre a ridiculous person and this account has NOT used any casteist slurs and is NOT run by upper caste people.
I offered 2-4k to write a long form article to young lawyers as a side gig
It received massive response - given that a lot of young lawyers across the country finds this an excellent opportunity
I knew this would be the case because outside of top 3-4 metros young lawyers…
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"We can't provide pay but you will get good exposure!" 🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩
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writing is a beautiful process. i cry through 80% of it
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pardon my language but opportunity ko gaand mein daalo. that is all.
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Do employers understand how many words 3000 words is?
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A mistake people in decision making positions make is thinking that upper-caste writers can write about everything including caste but Bahujan writers can write only about caste. Why they make this mistake is obvious.
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"Im allowed to pay writers in small towns and cities 50 paise per word because they are desperate" LISTEN TO YOURSELF
I offered 2-4k to write a long form article to young lawyers as a side gig
It received massive response - given that a lot of young lawyers across the country finds this an excellent opportunity
I knew this would be the case because outside of top 3-4 metros young lawyers…
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Kindly note that we only amplify paid calls for work/pitches. We also do not boost a call unless we can verify how much it pays. Make your rates clear in your tweets. Be transparent.
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everyones looking for writers but nobody wants us hearing or talking about how little we are paid....
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Happy Ambedkar Jayanti! Pay Dalit writers a fair wage.
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going to put "What's the payscale?" on my tombstone...
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If you are not willing to pay on time, why should we bother filing articles on time?
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friendship ended with patience and tolerance. now shaming indian entrepreneurs leeching on writers is my best friend.
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(little stressed out that the job market is so bad that publications are making teenagers write for them because teens often do it for free / low pay)
(also sad that kids are forced to stress about a career to the point of losing their youth to the drudgery of work)
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indian publication: we cannot pay more than 2000
me:
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Maybe Indian publications can celebrate this Women's Day by not paying abysmal rates to marginalized women.
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Remote work should not mean you make writers work 24x7.
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lot of places 'hiring' freelancers in order to bypass things you ideally should provide workers like healthcare benefits etc. dont put out calls for freelancers and expect them to work 5 days a week for you. thats not freelancing, thats a job.
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never forget that
@law_ninja
believes 'nobody is entitled to a paid job' lol. would the pick up artists agree with this??? eager to hear their perspective.
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Are Indian publications running on pure vibes instead of a budget? Why do you all not know how much you can pay the freelancers whose pitches you want?
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sorry for taking a break from this! back to regular programming: writing still does not pay
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want someone to give even one actually legitimate reason why orgs/companies cannot share the pay-scale they are offering for a gig/job publicly.
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There's nothing wrong in being transparent about pay. Publications & editors should either announce their rates along with their calls for pitches/submissions or be open to answering writers upfront.
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Writing also requires muscle memory. It's important to make time for and practice the craft of writing for yourself so that you aren't forced to do it when you're in the midst of chasing a story that's meaningful to you or drowning in deadlines.
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the major reason companies avoid making pay scales public in their hiring calls is because they hope to get away with paying unfairly.
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going to develop carpal tunnel asking indian outlets for pay rates
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There could be many reasons but one behind the surge in journalists in Indian freelancing is definitely the restructuring of an industry that now pumps out more content, makes more profits, and abdicates itself from the provision of labour protections and livable wages.
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whats the pay whats the pay whats the pay whats the pay whats the pay whats the pay whats the pay whats the pay whats the pay whats the pay whats the pay whats the pay whats the pay whats the pay whats the pay whats the pay whats the pay whats the pay whats the pay whats th-
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In India, the rate doesn't even account for the words in the work 😭
Hi this is your daily
#freelance
reminder that your rate has to account for taxes, retirement, vacation days, sick days, non-billable hours AND the value of your work.
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If you're from a low income background, how is an underpaid/unpaid internship supposed to help your job prospects? Or support you with skill building? Internships in India are a way to improve rich young workers' resumés while ensuring poor workers stay out of the job market.
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The humdrum around 'marketing' yourself 'like a business' is sad. You are a person. Not a company. Companies are not people.
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Culture writing/reporting that pays well has really become the preserve of rich upper-caste urban Indians lol. This has led to it evolving into a bland genre overall with 'minorities subverting the mainstream' lip-service type articles being thrown in every now and then.
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Us calling out
@law_ninja
's disgusting low pay is bullying but his underpaying of young writers isn't exploitation? Got it. Bye! 👋
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Fuck landlords and fuck you too
Me: rent has increased too much in Gurgaon I am moving to Mysore its 5x cheaper there
Freelance Writers India whining all night: noooooo you exploiter you will exploit landlords in tier 3 cities how can you do this
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Upper-caste people put out calls for things and then end up giving the position/assignment to their upper-caste friends who they wanted to all along but needed people to think it was a fair process lol.
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some outlets put out long lists of requirements and guidelines but write only 'renumeration is competitive' for payment 😭 in competition with whom???? those who pay nothing???
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If you're making your interns work full-time then pay them full-time salaries, remove the designation of intern, and call it what it is: a job.
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Our first 'How To' session will be on the basics of pitching with
@visvak
! It will be live-streamed on Twitter.
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if you havent set aside a budget for payments to writers, should you even be allowed to hire one?
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Unless you're rich, you dont get to take breaks in India.
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Indian organization mindset
Late work = 👎
Late payment = 👍
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dont 'offer' opportunities to 'young' or 'marginalised' writers as if YOU are the one doing a favour on them by extracting their labour.
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If you make writers work extra by demanding they write threads for their articles among other social media deliverables then pay them extra. Theyre not doing their job at that point, theyre doing yours.
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i hope santa clears all of your unpaid invoices this christmas
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going to start putting libgen in acknowledgements of everything ever
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when you send pitch after pitch and still don't see an acceptance or sometimes even a reply
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editors dont get to complain about follow ups when the vast majority of outlets have 1) no guidelines informing writers about how many days to wait before following up 2) no processes in place to respond to writers whose pitches have been rejected. lol.
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We will be conducting free short sessions on a range of topics related to working (surviving) in the industry. Stay tuned for more info!
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The deeper you go, the better your writing will be. It's easy to indulge in news-cycle social media paced 'hot takes' production but slow down and ask yourself what are you not asking about what you are writing.
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Sometimes its not about how you write the pitch but who you pitch to. Finding a niche publication for your piece can potentially be better than going for an all encompassing established outlet.
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Every outlet should be forced to show their exact budget proposals because CLEARLY they are COMPLETELY OK with making it look like THEY DONT HAVE ONE. WHY ARE YOUR SALARIES NOT BASED ON YOUR BUDGET
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Social media and 'digital engagement' have become easy ways in the industry to extract uncompensated labour from young workers. Outlets add it on as a responsibility without understanding how much time goes into it.
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me to my coffee after it makes me drowsy and sleepy: am i a joke to you...
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should we just assume outlets not making salaries transparent actually dont have formal budgets? are you all making it up as you go along?
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Your first draft should not be about editing. Focus on writing as much as you are compelled to. You can pare and piece together later.
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Contrary to popular belief, the 'free' in 'freelancer' does not, in fact, stand for 'I will let you exploit my labour for free'.
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Just want to know what we are competing for... 😭
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Not sure what the future of this website holds. So, if you are a freelance writer based IN South Asia (or a South Asian in underdeveloped countries) join this Whatsapp Community!
PSA: Americans, pls let subcontinental writers have 1 space for ourselves.
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journalists with a spine get blacklisted for telling the truth and outlets without one get accolades for hiding it lol.
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Once again journalists are out on the ground covering stories despite the immediate threat of COVID-19 and once again we receive barely any or no additional healthcare compensation from the state or outlets.
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➡️ Write about why you write. What it means to you.
⏱️ 5 minutes
❌ No editing / scratching out / backspacing
✖️ No stopping (Stuck? Write 'watermelon' until you're not.)
💡 The purpose is to keep the hand and mind moving!
#FWIPrompts
#FWIConstraints
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So we'll be doing biweekly writing prompts & constraints that hopefully will prioritise craft over 'content'. These aren't meant to magically get sustained project ideas (if that does happen, great!). You don't need to share your writing with anyone (unless you want to show us!).
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this makes us so happy 😭 (the p in pester does stand for politely- up to a point). please remember to email publications and editors with your invoice! make sure you're actively following up on the payment you deserve!!
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@arshiadhar
@law_ninja
'original insights, tips and tricks, industry insider info that is not available in the market will be expected'
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So many people yet to be paid. Is there some collective party Indian outlets have organised for themselves using they money they owe writers?
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It's soul sucking but LinkedIn does really have a lot of job openings to browse through for writers/editors/copywriters.
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We have received 3 serious grievances ranging from non-payment to editorial misconduct and unprofessional communication. It isn't new for outlets to function in an at times informal manner in the Indian context, but do they forget without writers they are nothing?
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📣 EDITORS &/ OUTLETS: Reply to this tweet if you're open to commissioning India based writers for any vertical / fiction / etc in the next two weeks! Let's end this difficult month by sharing some love 🌷 Please include your rates in the reply.
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Why is there the expectation of people affording their own equipment and software? Resources should be provided TO and not required FROM people in production-heavy media work.
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Take your entitled victimisation routine elsewhere. "If you want war you will have it" Sit down you asshole this isnt Roadies.
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If writers have to tell prospective employers what we earned at our previous job while interviewing for a position, then employers should reveal their payroll for EVERYONE as well 🙂
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When you work for 3 hours and are so proud of it but look back at what you've written and its like 4 sentences and 16 doodles 😭
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i dont know why people take requests for compensation transparency as an insult.
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We cannot make any promises but will support you in the best way we can.
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A Hindi novel got longlisted for Booker. But at home, authors like Vinod Shukla get pittance
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But its also a surreal paradox for an outlet that refuses to pay its own writers on time to be speaking on such issues. Stopping communication when its most needed is another in the pattern of
@Outlookindia
's treatment of writers. When will it end?
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Disgusting! Is
@MissMalini
valuing her 'mini-me' at Rs 30,000 per month?
we've let exploitative bosses get too comfortable with publicly admitting to their cruel expectations from employees
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