Suppose you’ve created a crossword that a paper is interested n buying. The paper is a modest community paper with a circulation of 22,000. You are just breaking into the business, and this could be your first sale. You hope the feature will run weekly for at least a year.
Now, the paper is interested in knowing what you might be charging. Would you charge by the word, or a flat rate? Also, would you state one figure, or a range of prices? (I fear they’ll jump for the low-end price, so why them give a range?) Either way, would you suggest a price that might be selling yourself short to minimize the risk of rejection, or do you stick by your guns and name a slightly higher, but reasonable, price…possibly stating it is negotiable? Again, remember…it’s your first shot at getting your idea published! But, also, the odds are good many other papers may express interest, too.
If it matters, this scenario is a close parallel to my actual situation. I was interested in selling one-time, non-exclusive rights…which plays into my asking price. Although not asked for at this time, I was planning on mentioning this along with my price…sort-of as a justification for my asking price.
Is this the way it is done? What’s the best approach? Please feel free to point out the pitfalls and errors in my ways.
In this case, there’s no one absolute right or wrong answer.
I have constructed and sold a fair number of crossword puzzles on a freelance basis, but NOBODY makes very much money that way. Last time I looked, the New York Times paid $75.00 for a standard 15 x 15 daily puzzle, and that was one of the higher paying publications! As Times editor Will Shortz has often said, “Anyone who makes his living writing crosswords is either amazingly fast or he’s starving to death.”
Your case is different, of course, because you’re not selling to an existing market- you’re attempting to create a new market! I’ve tried that myself a few times, without success. So far, I haven’t found a publication that wants a crossword but doesn’t have one already.
My best advice is this: since you can definitely get in the neighborhood of $50-75 from a variety of well-known publications, feel free to ask for more, and do NOT settle for less. The newspaper you describe probably doesn’t have all that money to spend, but it can’t hurt for you to ask for more than you expect to receive and HOPE they’ll bite.
One other thing: IF you hope to sell puzzles to a small, local publication, be prepared to “sell out.” That is, your work will be more commercially viable if it manages to mention well-known local businesses and attractions, especially ones that advertise in the publication.
astorian, the crossword puzzle case is analogous to Jinx’s situation. It’s not actually a crossword puzzle.
If you’re thinking of doing a regular column or feature, you need to keep it to a particular size. You can’t vary it much because they’ll want to set aside a certain amount of space on a weekly basis. So flat-fee is better than per word in this case.
State a high-end figure (which probably means $50) and be prepared to negotiate. (Don’t say it’s negotiable. They know that. Everything is negotiable.)
I grasped that, honest. I merely spoke of crosswords because that’s what I’ve got some actual experience with.
If Jinx’s idea is something WHOLLY new and original, then I can’t offer any guidance. On the other hand, if what he’s trying to sell is his own version of a feature that’s regularly carried in other publications (a puzzle or game of some sort, a comic strip, a "fun factoids " column, whatever)… well, he should figure out what the going rate for such stuff is, make an outrageous salary request, and hope for the best. If what he’s offering is genuinely good, he’ll either get very lucky and receive what he’s asking for or he’ll get a lower bid. If it’s NOT all that good, well, publications won’t bite at any price.
Even if what Jinx has in mind isn’t a crossword puzzle, a feature that takes up about as much space as a crossword will net $50-75 a pop for a freelancer. If he’s confident about the quality of what he’s offering, and is sure it will be popular, he should ask for at least that much, while being open to a lower counteroffer.
I don’t need to do no stinkin’ vanity search! I saw this thread this morning and didn’t have time to respond then. (59 posts in “mad as a chicken with lips,” yes, this thread, no.)
I’m a puzzle editor – I work for a magazine publisher, so the info is not 100% transferrable. I have, however, been in the biz for over a decade, so I do have some expertise.
It seems to me that $50 is a good asking price – you may or may not get it. I pay much less per puzzle, but a) my company is notorious for the low prices we pay, and b) most of what I buy isn’t designed to stand alone in the way what you’re talking about [if I understand you correctly] is. (We use lots of different types of puzzles, some of which are fairly complicated to construct, many of which aren’t.) Also, we do editing on top of the submission, but you seem to be offering an already edited, ready to go feature.
I get a lot of over-the-transom submissions from people who think they’ve invented something new (usually either they haven’t, or it’s unworkable). It seems to me the problem will be that the person you’re selling to may not be that familiar with puzzles so won’t be in a position to judge what you’re offering.
I’d be happy to give you more feedback one on one if you’d like to run your idea past me; feel free to email me with any specific questions you might have.
BTW – we buy all rights to the material; I’m not sure what you mean by “one-time, non-exclusive” rights (you’re retaining reprint rights?). That’s a legal question, though, and I’m definitely not qualified to comment on that.
