Gettin' Paid for Content

[mat_bastian]

I recently was approached by an editor for a fairly long running internationally distributed print magazine. He has an interest in publishing a piece that I have written and had suggested expanding the current piece into a 3 or four part series that could be published one part per month over the next few months.

I am very tempted to go ahead and do it as it will make a nice portfolio piece and it may be nice exposure, but I am torn in that if there is the possibility of there being some money on the table, I don't want to leave it there. He did not bring up the subject of compensation, and I am left to wonder, does that mean there will be none, or does it mean that I need to initiate talks of this nature.

Head is spinning a bit at the moment and I really need some thoughts and maybe a bit of guidance.

Thanks for any thoughts you may share.

[lorax]

Make your terms in advance. I would hazard a guess that he's planning on paying you but you need to make sure beforehand.

[rcjordan]

Typically, these guys are out scouring for free content. I get several dozen such requests per year. The print magazine article, unless you can use it to bring in clients as part of your presentation to them, is usually worthless --certainly from a traffic-driving perspective. OTOH, if they're going to put it online with direct links from, say, a PR8 page, it might be worthwhile.