Understanding the "Kill Fee"

If you've read through the freelance listings in Writer's Market or Literary Market Place, then you've probably run across the phrase "Kill Fee" in reference to magazine and journal publications.

When you submit a query letter to a magazine for a short story or article that you plan to write, the editor of the magazine will respond either with a "go ahead" or a rejection. If you are given the "go ahead" to write the article or story, you are still technically submitting "on spec", which is short for on speculation and doesn't guarantee publication, which is where the kill fee comes in.

There is only so much that an editor can tell about a writer from a query letter. Even if the letter is well-written and the subject matter sounds interesting to the editor, the article or story itself may not live up to its expectation. But since the editor has asked the author to write the article, he or she may believe that the author is entitled to a kill fee regardless of whether the work ever goes to print.

A kill fee can be a dollar amount or a percentage of the contracted rate for an article. For example, if an editor asks an author to write an article for $100, he or she might also negotiate a 10% kill fee. When the article is written and submitted, the editor will decide if he or she wants to use it. If so, the author will be paid the agreed-upon $100 payment; if not, the author will receive the $10 kill fee (10% of the article price).

Some magazine and journal publications have pre-determined kill fees while others do not. As a writer, you are responsible for negotiating the appropriate payment for your work, and you might have to bring up a kill fee when discussing a particular project with an editor. Sometimes, articles aren't used because the editor lacks space or because the editorial direction of the publication has changed, and not because the article was substandard in any way.

Before signing a contract with a magazine, ask if the editor pays a kill fee, and if so, how much. If the editor doesn't normally pay a kill fee, you can decide whether to try and negotiate one or to simply write the article on spec without a kill fee guarantee.

Kill fees are far more common with publications that pay large rates for articles and stories. In the aforementioned situation with the $100 article, very few authors would even bother with the 10% kill fee because it doesn't seem worth it to cash a check for such a small amount. However, if you were writing an article on spec for $2,500, you would certainly want to cash in on your $250 kill fee.

Whether or not you work for a kill fee is up to you, but make sure that you know in advance what is expected. Don't spend three months on an article that doesn't guarantee payment because the assignment can easily be yanked; instead, work for publications that value your work and will do what they can to meet your needs.