Freelance photogs contracted by USA Today are now getting a day rate of $375. While this represents an increase of $100, the cost to photographers is that USA Today and sister publications, TV stations, and websites can reuse the images ad infinitum, with no reprint fees paid. Other fees were reduced.

This seems like it might become a trend, with print pubs starting to disappear or go completely digital, and online revenues being new to some of them. For photographers, this is a very bad sign. Though with the magazine market decimated after 2001, opportunities for both photographers and writers dwindled. Many editors went back to freelance, so competition increased.

Add to this the fact that large book store chains have been forcing publishers to offer deep discounts (up to 40%) for several years now. Meaning that authors don’t make as much on a book as they did before the really big book chains. It seems that making a living as a writer or photographer, regardless of medium, is getting harder, not easier. A print-based workload that once would be sufficient to live on doesn’t seem to cut when online publications are involved.

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