Resource library
Each listing below is a real organization or tool we've used or vetted. We link out directly, note what's free, and tell you who it's actually for. Nothing here is sponsored.
A step-by-step builder that produces a plain-English freelance agreement covering scope, payment terms, deadlines, and late fees. Developed with freelance legal experts. A good default when a client has no paper of their own.
The state's own template for meeting Freelance Isn't Free Act requirements: names and addresses, itemized services, value, rate and method of payment, and the due date. Useful anywhere as a checklist of what a contract must say.
Clause-by-clause sample language for book deals with commentary on what each term does and how to improve it. The Guild has published a version for roughly seven decades. Essential before signing with any publisher.
The National Writers Union's member-run committee helps writers in disputes with hiring parties and offers feedback on contracts before signing. One of the few places a freelancer can get collective backing when a check goes missing.
Median per-word, per-hour, and per-page rates for writing, editing, and related services, from a survey of more than 1,100 Editorial Freelancers Association members. Updated annually; includes a rate estimator and converter. Best single benchmark for quoting.
Anonymous, searchable rates submitted by freelance media workers, run by the National Writers Union's Freelance Solidarity Project (successor to the Who Pays Writers project). Search a publication before you quote.
Our own tool. Start from the income you need, add overhead, divide by billable hours, and convert to per-word, per-article, and per-day figures. Built for the moment an editor asks "what's your rate?"
The U.S. Copyright Office's plain-language guide for writers: what protection you have automatically, why registration still matters, and the group registration options for short online works and periodical contributions.
Register your work online. Timely registration is what lets you pursue statutory damages and attorney's fees if someone lifts your piece; without it you are limited to actual damages, which for most articles is close to nothing.
Line-by-line contract reviews, copyright questions, and dispute intervention for members. Covers freelance agreements as well as book, agency, and option contracts. The Writer's Legal Guide is also available to members by chapter.
Clear explanations of fair use, permissions, registration, and enforcement, with case summaries. Read it before quoting at length, reproducing images, or building a piece around someone else's work.
The original 2017 city law: right to a written contract at $800 and up, timely and full payment, and protection from retaliation, with double damages and attorney's fees for violations. The Department of Consumer and Worker Protection handles complaints.
The primary source on Schedule C, Schedule SE, self-employment tax, and quarterly estimated payments. If your net self-employment earnings reach $400 you owe SE tax; this is where the rules live.
Benefits marketplace (health, dental, disability, retirement), advocacy behind the Freelance Isn't Free laws, and local meetups and events. Membership is free.
Several hundred vetted contests, grants, and fellowships for poets, fiction writers, and nonfiction writers, with a deadline calendar and a submissions tracker. P&W reviews each program's practices before listing it.
Grants for established freelance writers hit by an unexpected emergency that prevents them from working. Run by the American Society of Journalists and Authors; check the eligibility rules before applying.
A paid community for freelance writers and journalists: a weekly opportunities newsletter tracking pitch calls, jobs, fellowships, and grants; a database of more than 2,500 commissioning editors; and a members' forum.
Searchable databases of literary magazines, small presses, and agents, with submission guidelines and open reading periods. The place to start for essays, fiction, and poetry rather than service journalism.
Clients posting to the Editorial Freelancers Association's job list must state the rate, which filters out a lot of noise. Listings skew toward editing, but writing and content work appears regularly.
The labor union for freelance writers across genres. Grievance and contract support, rate-sharing databases, press passes, and advocacy on copyright, freelance rights, and AI policy. Divisions for digital media, books, translators, and Spanish-language writers.
Founded in 1948 for independent nonfiction writers. Member-to-member rights and fees database, client connection events, virtual pitch slams, and a deep archive of professional development sessions. Professional membership is $179 a year.
The oldest and largest professional organization for published authors and freelance writers in the U.S. Free legal help for members, advocacy on copyright and fair contracts, and a library of webinars on the business of writing.
Professional association for editors, writers, indexers, and other editorial freelancers. Publishes the industry's reference rate chart, runs courses, and maintains a member directory clients actually use.
Nothing matches that search. Try a broader word, or clear the category filter.
Contract red flags
None of these is automatically a deal-breaker. Each is a place to stop, ask what it means for you, and negotiate or price accordingly.
What belongs in every contractYou stop being the author in the eyes of copyright law. The client can reprint, resell, adapt, and license forever without paying you again. Price it like the asset it is, or offer first serial rights plus a limited license instead.
Functionally the same as all rights with friendlier wording. Ask for a term limit, a territory, or a reversion clause.
Ties your check to a schedule you don't control. A piece can sit for months or be killed. Push for payment on acceptance, or at least on a fixed date after delivery.
If the publication drops the piece for reasons unrelated to your work, you should be paid a percentage (commonly 25 to 50 percent) for the labor already done. Silence on the point means zero.
"Until the client is satisfied" is an open-ended obligation. Specify the number of rounds included and the rate for more.
You promise to cover the client's legal costs for any claim arising from the piece, even ones caused by their edits or their headline. Limit it to your own breach of warranty, and ask whether they carry media liability insurance.
Barring you from writing on the same subject for anyone else for a period of time. For a freelancer this is a direct cut to income. Narrow it to directly competing publications, shorten it, or charge for it.
Lets the publisher alter the work and remove or change your byline without consent. Increasingly common in contracts from large media companies.
Newer language granting the right to use your text to train or fine-tune machine learning systems. Strike it, or carve it out as a separately licensed use.
Ghostwriting and some brand work comes with confidentiality, which is fair. A clause barring you from ever listing the client or showing the work, with no end date, is not.
"Content as needed" or "articles for the website" with no count, length, or deadline is how scope creep gets written into law. Itemize deliverables. New York's statute requires it.
Glossary
Common questions
No. Most freelance writers in the U.S. operate as sole proprietors and report income on Schedule C. An LLC can offer liability separation and, in some cases, tax options, but it adds filing costs and paperwork. Talk to an accountant once your income is steady; don't let the question delay your first invoice.
Sometimes, on your terms: a piece for your own site, a guest essay somewhere whose readers you want, a cause you'd volunteer for anyway. Never for a company that is making money from the content, and never because "exposure" is offered as payment. Exposure is what you get from pitching well.
Check two sources before you answer: the EFA rate chart for medians by type of work, and the FSP rate-sharing database for what a specific publication has paid others. Then run our calculator to see what you need. Fair is where those overlap.
Send a dated, polite written reminder citing the contract and invoice. If that fails, a second notice stating next steps. In New York State and New York City, Freelance Isn't Free laws give you a formal complaint path and double damages. Elsewhere, small claims court is faster and cheaper than most people expect, and union members can bring in the NWU grievance committee.
By default, yes: copyright is yours the moment the words are fixed. You keep it unless you sign it away through a work-for-hire clause or an all-rights assignment. Registering with the Copyright Office is not required for ownership, but it is required before you can sue, and timely registration unlocks statutory damages.