Do You Insist Upon A Kill Fee?

For those of us who write for a living, there is nothing worse than having a project completed and then not getting paid for it. No, I am not talking about someone who simply doesn’t pay for the work, instead I am thinking about the job that is canceled because the client has decided not to publish your work. Yes, it does happen: clients decide not to publish an article you wrote for whatever the reason. Unless you have a “kill fee” in your contract you could be left holding the bag and in possession of an article that may or may not be acceptable elsewhere. Do you insist upon a kill fee when pitching an article to a magazine or other publication?

I must admit that I wasn’t too familiar with the term “kill fee.” Most of my work up to this point has been writing series of articles on a specific topic (e.g., automotive) or content writing for specific websites. I do have a few articles that have made it to the magazines, but these usually were previously written articles that have been picked up and featured. In other words, someone spotted something I wrote and asked for reprint permission.

Sending Out Query Letters

Lately, I have been working on pitching article ideas to specific magazines (online and/or print) and learning what I can about query letters, article submissions, rates, and more. I have been staying away from opportunities where a whole lot of pre-publication conditions are spelled out as I want a reasonable chance to get paid for what I write. No, I am not talking about unsolicited material, but accepted topics with a promise of being published.

Sorry, But We Cannot Use Your Article

There are times when writing for a publication that the job will get canceled. This can happen early in the project writing process as well as further down the road even after the final draft has been sent and accepted. You can protect yourself by insisting that a kill fee clause be included in your contract where you’ll still receive a portion of the monies promised for your work. In addition, your kill fee clause should include the following as per the Include A Kill Fee In Your Contract article written by Jacci Howard Bear:

# all materials delivered to the client to date (in connection with that specific project) must be returned

# use of work done in connection with the project without your consent could result in additional fees or legal action

# you will keep all original artwork, digital files, disks or CDs prepared in connection with the project

Keep The Deposit, Move On

Kill fee stipulations I have seen generally allow the writer to keep the deposit, an amount usually equal to 25% of the writing fee. At that point, the writer retains all rights to the article and is free to pitch it elsewhere.

Yes, a “kill fee” is something I will be considering particularly as I pitch some of my larger articles [1500 to 4000 words] to a pair of publications. One article I would like to write could be difficult to pitch elsewhere, so if I find myself on the short end of the stick a kill fee would help me salvage some of my losses.

Do you insist upon a kill fee?