Rates and fees

Illustration © Antonio Rodriguez
Observed rates and links to resources to help you negotiate payments

Creators should be paid for the work they do. Payment shows proper recognition of professional status, skills and experience and enables careers to be maintained. See Creators’ Rights Alliance’s Pay the Creator campaign.

A person, not a machine: if you are considering commissioning an editor, translator, illustrator or cover designer: respect your fellow creators’ profession and do as you would be done by. Artificial Intelligence might be a cheap option but, in addition to the lack of originality and quality it provides, the damage it could do to creators’ livelihoods in the long term is considerable. See Where We Stand on Artificial Intelligence.

1. How to assess a fee

If you are commissioning someone

What rights you are seeking is central to evaluating a fee. The greater the range of rights, the larger the fee should be.

Creators should be fairly paid. See Creators’ Rights Alliance’s Pay the Creator campaign.

Expenses: creators being paid a fee should also be reimbursed for any pre-agreed expenses they incur as part of the commission – for example cookery materials if supplying images for a cookbook.

VAT: creators who are VAT-registered are legally obliged to charge VAT on top of the fee and expenses. 

If you are considering using AI as a cheap alternative to engaging a genuine creator, think very carefully indeed. See Where We Stand on Artificial Intelligence.

Creators may sometimes wish to donate their work or time but those engaging them should not pressure them to do so, especially where the product will be monetised, or where other contributors are receiving a fee.

If you are being commissioned

This guidance is about being paid a flat fee. If you are being offered an up-front payment plus royalties, factor in the probability – or uncertainty – that there will actually be royalty income.

What rights the commissioner is seeking is central to evaluating a fee. The greater the range of rights being sought, the larger the fee should be.

If you did not accept this commission, what would you be earning otherwise? In the light of which: is this a good use of your time?

Is there a shortage or people with the necessary skills? Does the project need to be completed in a very short time? Such things should command a premium when it comes to fees.

If the fee being offered is the same as that which you were paid for the same work a few years ago: inflation needs to be factored in. Inflation affects you as much as it affects the commissioner.

If the commission involves a mix of roles, for example writing, picture sourcing and editing: consider each of them separately when establishing a fair fee.

Remember that if you are VAT-registered, you are legally obliged to charge VAT on top of the fee and expenses. 

How to ask about payment: the commissioner (which knows its budget and what rights it is seeking) should make the first offer. If they don’t, you should not be afraid to ask what payment terms they are proposing. Perhaps mention Creators’ Rights Alliance’s Pay the Creator campaign.

If the commissioner and creator pay tax in different countries, remember that payment will incur sometimes time-consuming double-tax formalities, and may also attract bank charges – so small commissions may not be worth it.

For some scholarly works, fees are likely to be minimal – other considerations may be more important, for example if the commission affects your chances of securing research or academic teaching posts.

 it will be vital that the contributor has the right to be credited, the right to approve how their material might be altered, and a clear right to revise or adapt their contribution for future editions. 

The SoA has a Guide to Fee-Based Commissions [members’ only] and members are always welcome to consult the SoA about the specific terms they are offered by anyone engaging their services.

2. Useful observed rates

Fees are a matter for individuals to negotiate and competition law prevents us from recommending rates. However, we provide the following observed rates and links to useful resources as a guideline.

These rates should be treated as negotiating tools. What is a fair fee will need to factor in at least some of the considerations listed at point 1.

The Creators’ Rights Alliance Freelance Day Rate Guide equates freelance rates with salaries. For instance, a day rate of £324 equates to an annual salary of £25,000.

The NUJ’s London Freelance Branch collects rates as reported by freelances (both experienced and less-experienced).

Journo Resources freelance rates.

Editing, from copy-editing to project management and including authenticity and gender sensitivity reads: Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading’s suggested minimum rates.

Indexing: Society of Indexers recommended fees.

The Association of Illustrators rates.

The Association of Photographers usage rates.

Creative Scotland’s fair rates of pay.

Scottish Artists’ Union rates.

Outside the UK

The EU: EU countries are bound by the Copyright Directive which amongst other things requires that authors who are paid a one-off fee are entitled to further payments if their work proves more commercially successful than was anticipated when the fee was negotiated.

Eire:

The Irish Writers Centre.

Match in the Dark’s Minimum Pay for Writers.

1. How to assess a fee

If you are commissioning someone

Creators should be paid for all appearances. A talk involves preparation and travel (so for the author an event will usually take a full working day in practice). Even though a virtual event will not involve travel, it entails preparation (of the author’s talk, testing the equipment) and follow-up. Creators earn their living as freelancers. They are not being disloyal to the event or unsupportive of its staff if they ask for a reasonable fee. A common misunderstanding is that creators make their living from royalty income. Royalty income is of course important but many earn little from sales of their books, and speaking engagements may well be their principal source of income.

If the event host has a wealthy sponsor, or is charging people to attend, the creator should be entitled to a share of the monies generated.

The more work required, and the wider the rights taken, the better the creator should be paid – for example, if they are asked to allow their event to be recorded for public dissemination.

Fees should take into account travel and preparation time – including for online events – as well as performance time.

Variable rates e.g. discriminating between authors writing for children or adults, or between novelists and poets, are unjustified and unacceptable.

Fees should not be accompanied by the suggestion that the creator might want to waive the fee for the event host’s benefit; and payment in kind is not an acceptable alternative. Creators may sometimes wish to donate their work or time but those engaging them should not pressure them to do so, especially where the product will be monetised, for example a ticketed event, or where other contributors or staff are receiving a fee.

Creators should be reimbursed for any pre-agreed expenses they incur as part of the commission – including travel, accommodation and subsistence. Event hosts should bear in mind that expecting publishers to pay for travel or accommodation may disadvantage those who are published by independent publishers.

Is the fee being offered is the same as that which was paid a few years ago? If so, inflation needs to be factored in. Inflation affects the creator as much as it does the commissioner.

When paying freelance authors, neither tax nor NI should be deducted. Most authors are self-employed (even where they invoice as a limited company) and a one-off engagement does not create a contract of employment. 

Creators who are VAT-registered are legally obliged to charge VAT on top of the fee and expenses. 

The SoA has a Guide for Those Engaging Freelancers for Speaking Events.

If you are being commissioned

What rights the commissioner is seeking is central to evaluating a fee. The greater the range of rights being sought, for instance if the event wants to record your presentation, the larger the fee should be.

Fees should take into account travel and preparation time – including for online events – as well as performance time.

If you did not accept this commission, what would you be earning otherwise? In the light of which: is this a good use of your time?

If the fee being offered is the same as that which you were paid for the same commission a few years ago: inflation needs to be factored in. Inflation affects you as much as it affects the commissioner.

Remember that if you are VAT-registered, you are legally obliged to charge VAT on top of the fee and expenses. 

How to ask about payment: the commissioner should make the first offer. If they don’t, you should not be afraid to ask what payment terms they are proposing. Perhaps mention Creators’ Rights Alliance’s Pay the Creator campaign.

If you do agree to attend an event for free, is there some other way you might benefit for example a festival listing you as one of its sponsors, or linking to your books and website?

If you are offered a fee you agree to waive, ask for it to be donated to a specific cause: the local school library for instance.

Even if you are willing to accept no fee, your reasonable travel and subsistence expenses should be paid. And for unpaid small events, some authors charge an administration fee of £20-£25.

If you and the commissioner pay tax in different countries, remember that payment will incur sometimes time-consuming double-tax formalities, and may also attract bank charges – so small commissions may not be worth it. The time and cost of meeting visa requirements may also be a consideration.

2. Useful observed rates

Fees are a matter for individuals to negotiate and competition law prevents us from recommending rates. However, we provide the following observed rates and links to useful resources as a guideline.

These rates should be treated as negotiating tools. What is a fair fee will need to factor in at least some of the considerations listed at point 1.

How does the fee compare in real terms with someone on a salary? The Creators’ Rights Alliance Freelance Day Rate Guide equates freelance rates with salaries. For instance, a day rate of £324 equates to an annual salary of £25,000.

Nicola Morgan’s ‘How much should writers charge for events?’.

The SoA’s in-house speaker rates:

These rates are for freelance speakers and workshop leaders at SoA events – all of which are free events. They are based on the speaker’s role, and the length of presentation, and are quoted exclusive of VAT. See our current rates and our expenses policy.

Scotland:

Creative Scotland’s fair rates of pay.

Scottish Book Trust’s Live Literature fees

Mileage:

HMRC’s recommended mileage rate (set in 2011) was £0.45 – when petrol was £1.32 a litre. We would hope the event host would pay more than the out-of-date HMRC rates but if so, authors need to bear in mind that it will be taxable income. The SoA can advise members further. See also UK HMRC business milage rates.

Residencies: what might be appropriate payment varies considerably because exactly what is being proposed varies enormously.

Remuneration is a matter for negotiation between you and your publisher.  In our experience, translators and publishers negotiate fees starting in the region of £100 per thousand words [updated March 2022]. Publishers sometimes assume £100 is a recommended rate. It’s not. Competition law does not allow us to recommend a rate. Neither is it a standard rate nor a maximum rate. It is a blended observed rate based on our extensive observations of contracts from the 900+ members of the SoA’s Translators Association and provides a professional and flexible framework for negotiations between translator and publisher.  

The fee may be considerably higher than £100 depending on various factors which you and the publisher will want to consider. 

Read Negotiating Payment for Translations for more information 

The agreed sum may come as a flat fee, an advance against royalties, or a fee plus royalties from the first copy sold. Remember that payment is not just the agreed sum you will be paid for completing the translation. Other terms in your contract can significantly impact how much income you will receive from your work in royalties and licensing income.  

For some types of work the word length won’t accurately reflect the time involved.  

Children’s picture books are usually charged on a project fee basis. In our experience fees start in the range £300-£600 rising to £1,000 or more.   

Graphic novels are calculated on a flat rate per page basis. A page without words in unpaid. The rates we have observed from UK, US and European publishers are usually around £10 per page or equivalent.

For poetry, we have observed payment in the region of £1.10 per line with a minimum of £35 per poem.

If you retain dramatisation rights in your translation then you will be able to negotiate directly if your work is used as the basis for an audio, film or tv production. Contact the SoA Advisory Team directly for individual advice.   

Special rates apply to BBC Audio where translations of plays, prose and verse are payable at 2/3 of the rates due to the original author/publisher and the rights holder of the translation. BBC Scriptwriting/BBC Rates.

Rates for providing a reader’s report for a publisher can be as low as £50 and you may be expected to provide the report by an inappropriately tight deadline. A fee of £200-£400 with a turn-around period of three weeks is not unreasonable, depending on the length and complexity of the book. 

For further advice on terms for translators, members should contact the SoA’s advisory team.

View the BBC rates

For a range of other broadcasting rates see the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain rates page.

For advice on terms for scriptwriters, and about adaptations of works for radio, film or TV, members should contact the SoA’s advisory team.

Quotations: The SoA’s Literary Estates department applies a set scale of permission charges and guidelines for internal purposes. You might find this useful when setting your own rates for such purposes. See our rates here [updated January 2024].

BBC published material rates.

DACS usage rates.

The Association of Photographers usage rates.