Safrea (Southern African Freelancers Association) RECOMMENDED RATES Safrea works to raise the professional standing of freelancers in the media and communications industry, promoting professional standards and ethical conduct by both freelancers and their clients. Safrea recommends the following rates as being fair and equitable industry standards for competent and established professionals in the following fields. If you are new to the profession, or not confident in a particular area, you should use your discretion to adjust the rates downwards to what you believe is fair remuneration for your work. You should add a premium for work that is based on expertise, very technical, We recommend charging an additional hourly rate for meetings, interviews and project management/co-ordination. If you travel using your own vehicle, the charge per km depends on your car. Check on the AA website - http://www.aa.co.za/on-theroad/calculator-tools/rates-calculator.html. To avoid any misunderstandings, Safrea recommends that a written agreement stating full terms and conditions, is made prior to commencement of work.
A. WRITING/JOURNALISM * All rates are per published word, unless we specifically say otherwise. ** You should add a premium for writing that demands expertise, is very technical, Magazines R3.00 Newspapers Conglomerate newspapers with sales over 20 000: R2.80 (body) R3.75 (front page/lead) Conglomerate newspapers with sales under 20 000 R2.50 (body) R3.25 (front page/lead) Community newspapers R2.00 Websites Content writing/article generation: R2.50 Rewriting/Overwriting: R2.00 Link-building articles/keyword-based/excl submission: R2.75 Link-building articles/keyword-based/incl submission: R3.00 Corporate Writing: R3.50 Rewriting/Overwriting: R3.00 PR copy/media releases/advertorial/words & Images 2 x normal rate Advertising Usage 3 x normal rate
B. COPY EDITING/ SUB EDITING * All rates are per word, unless we specifically say otherwise. ** You should add a premium for editing that demands expertise, is very technical, *** Full magazine title editing freelance work is in a category of its own and is not reflected here. Magazines 35c Newspaper R1200 per eight-hour shift Academic theses 50c Corporate R2.00 Technical/Specialist R2.25 General heavy structural and language editing R1.75 General light editing R1.25
C. PROOFREADING RATES * All rates are per word, unless we specifically say otherwise. ** You should add a premium for editing that demands expertise, is very technical, Magazines 15c Corporate 35c
D. PHOTOGRAPHY (Disclaimer: these rates are representative of editorial, photojournalist and the below-theline Safrea/freelance photographers, not of established agency advertising photographers) Products, packshots: R1200-R1500 per hour R4500-R5500 per half day R8000-R11000 per full day Interiors, architectural, portraits: R850-R1200 per hour R4000-R5000 per half day R7000-R9000 per full day Commissioned Advertorial/Editorial (not magazine-offered rates) R750-1200 per hour R3500 per half day R5000-R7000 per full day Event Photography: R650-R750 per hour R3000 R3500 per half day R5000-R6000 per full day Post-production and retouching: R250-R450 per hour R2 per Mb (Dropbox/ftp rate) NOTE: There are differences in the business models of photographers who charge on an hourly/daily basis as per the above rates and those who charge according to formulas derived from a business costing methodology, which includes a full cost
analysis such as lifecycle depreciation of equipment. If you are interested in learning more about this methodology, these websites may be of interest to you. http://phlearn.com/why-i-dont-charge-an-hourly-rate http://www.davorpavlic.com/how-to-charge-for-your-photography-formula/
E. VIDEOGRAPHY & MULTIMEDIA CREATION Camera rate per day R4500 Capturing and editing: R400 per hour Capturing: R200 per hour Exporting and backing up a project: R200 Writing corporate scripts for DVDS/web-based audio-visual flash presentations You should charge a time-based fee. As an example, for a 5-min script involving research, we suggest a minimum of R5 000, depending on your experience. This includes taking the brief, researching, coming up with the concept and writing.