Would any of you happen to know the industry standard pay per word for writers contributing to a textbook?
It would be paid on a completed project basis, in the UK, not by the word. Larger or smaller amounts depending on the royalty agreement. You’ll get a pile of crap if it’s by the word, chances are.
It would depend very much on the academic credentials and experience of the writer and how well his/her other stuff had sold. An inexperienced writer may need a lot of editing and rewrites, so you have to balance that when budgeting.
Thanks for assuming I am a publisher, but I am on the other side of things and was just offered a job to contribute to a text. They offered a per-word wage. Am I obligated to give them a pile of crap? Lord knows I can…
Scuse for assuming.
Not a pile of crap, but something wordy would probably be in your interests.
I’ve had some involvement with this, and while I can’t advise on the money side I think it’s safe to say that if you write anything that’s any good they will probably revise it for you. The market for quality is tiny. The appetite for crap is apparently unlimited.
Spot on Loretta. I’ve had many a sleepless night over this. No wonder I drink!
Perhaps then I should just drink enough before I write for them to ensure that no quality sneaks though so they would not need to edit me and I would therefore have no reason to drink. Yes. I will drink to stay sober. Good thing too, because when I write drunk it is a bit rambling and a tad salacious, which is not the English these kids need to learn.
Think about yer dear readers and more importantly, who will select your booky-wook.
Traditional ‘low-risk’ activities are good. Taiwan loves fatuous boring reading articles with lots of comrehension questions about details.