Freelancing 101: 5 Ways to Ask for More Money

Do you risk losing a job by asking for a bump in pay? The short answer - yes

Money is a weird, frustrating and necessary thing. We all need it, we all want it but damn it all if you sometimes have to ask for it especially in the work place or, as I know it, the freelancing world.

I was a freelancer for a long time before I was staff at TV Guide Magazine for seven years and in many ways the game hasn’t changed much at all now that I’m back hustling for freelance work. A few months ago I wrote a Dos and Don’ts post with some of the freelancing tips I had to remind myself about and one of those involving money. Funny that the money side of things popped up for me again recently.

Now, I have been on the management side of an entertainment outlet so I get how budgets work and the highs and lows of them (usually lows, right?). There never seems to be enough and even when you think you can’t work within a certain budget, the powers that be may cut that budget even more. I feel like it’s always been a tough time in our business but it’s worse than ever.

I’ve been freelancing around several places this year like Variety, Emmy Magazine and, yes, even TV Guide Magazine and I’ve gotten used to the varying pay levels at each place. No place is the same and I know that. But I had to confront asking for more money recently with a new outlet.

This is an outlet I’d never worked with before though I’ve been in touch with the editor and pitched them via email a few times over the past few months. I recently sent them a few ideas for stories wrapped around Fall TV and they came back wanting to move forward with one of them. The only problem — the flat rate that was offered was, in my humble opinion, way too low for the requested word count as well as the number of interviews I’d have to prepare for, conduct and then write up. For me, that number didn’t add up so I took my own advice about anything and took a beat to think about the best way to approach asking for more. Complicating things is that it would be a point of satisfaction both for my career and personally to see my byline there. But, stepping away from that, the rate was lower per word than the lowest outlet I currently work with so that’s a problem.

Me working away…on the Vancouver set of Arrow in 2012. I was there freelancing for TheFutonCritic.com, my first regular TV journalism job.

So what did I do? I knew I needed to push back asking for more but I realized even then that I needed to take stock in how I was going to ask. I thought about what’s worked in the past and what hasn’t even though I am always well aware that sometimes it truly is a budget issue and if there’s no money to go higher, then so be it.

So, before I sent that email, I revisited my own steps to asking for more in the freelance world and I thought I’d share them here in case it’s a tough thing for you to do in your work. Up until now, they’ve essentially lived in my brain but it felt good writing them out. I hope it helps.

Keep it short and sweet: Given the answer will essentially be yes or no, there’s no need to overexplain why you’re asking for more money and potentially end up sounding like you’re justifying why you’re asking. Ask the simple question and I believe it does help to say why so the editor gets exactly why you’re asking - “Can we bump that rate up to x-amount of dollars given the word count [or] given the number of interviews that will take time to prep for and do?.” (And a big NO in getting personal about how you need more money to pay the rent or you’re late on your car payment. No, no, no. Those things may be your reality but playing the sympathy or victim card isn’t the way. Ask your friends or family for a loan but not an editor you’re working with since this is business.)

Don’t apologize: Off that previous entry, freelance work is a professional job and you’re not asking your bestie for money. You’re taking into consideration your self-worth in terms of what you bring to the table so there’s no reason to apologize to whomever you’re asking and, more importantly, yourself.

I didn’t have a photo of me emailing an editor asking for more money but here’s a photo of Sigourney Weaver as horrible boss Katherine Parker in Working Girl. (Photo: 20th Century Fox)

Make your ask reasonable: Don’t go overboard with asking for the moon when you’re trying to get more money for your work. If you’ve been freelancing long enough, you know what you might get at other comparable outlets or how to measure the amount of time you’ll be putting into the assignment. But if you’re being offered one amount, one option assuming you want a long relationship with this editor/outlet, I say work on slowly getting that rate bumped up. Maybe ask for another $100 or, if it’s for a larger piece, a few hundred more isn’t unreasonable. And as you’re being reasonable about your ask, keep being reasonable with the answer since it might not be the one you want to hear.

Getting more $$ might take time: Remember, as much as you want to keep the money flowing in, you always have the choice to walk away. But even if you get a no, you could go with the job as is with the hope that next time you can maybe get a little more out of them. As you work more with editors over time, a good working relationship can only help the next time you ask for a a bump up.

Thank your editor! Again, keep it short and sweet once the issue is resolved no matter the outcome. A quick “thank you” or “I appreciate you trying” is all you need to express whether you get a yes or a no but you want to express that gratitude since you may be asking them again down the line for another bump in pay.

How’d all this work out for me with my predicament? Well, that’s to be continued since I sent the first email asking for an increase and didn’t get an immediate reply. I waited a week before sending a follow up email to check-in. I did get a response that, not a big surprise, this editor was checking on their budget to see what was possible and would get back to me. It’s been eight days since then and still no word so I sent another followup (the short and sweet variety) this morning. I don’t like being a nudge but I think a week is an acceptable amount of time to follow up, don’t you? But at this point I’d just like an answer to either dive into this assignment (which I’m excited about). Will I still do the assignment if it’s a no? Again, to be continued!

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How do you feel about asking for more money in the workplace (either freelancing or with a staff job)? If asking is a challenge, how do you psych yourself up? Have you ever been told no and, if so, how did you deal with that answer? Let me know in the comments!

Good luck, all!