I recall one hire process where the person speaking to me proclaimed (regarding money in the opening lines):
“We will pay you EXACTLY what you are worth…..
TO THE PENNY!”

I responded:
“Nobody EVER paid me that much before”

We laughed and continued; I took the job. Commission.

I find the Law of Supply and Demand at work in getting paid appropriately in writing fields. Regrettably, it is as if an invisible field of illegal immigrants surround the planet. There are too many writer’s writing thoughts on everything and more. Then, they link and write what others say. The vast, vast majority of words put out daily are not worth the expenditure of the brain cell required to read them, let alone cold hard cash for them.

Write quality. You will rise to the top like oil over vinegar in a bottle of dressing. Quality never goes out of style; and, in writing, it is rather rare too.

People who have a concern with words, and the power of the precise word to convey a thought in one brain, and transfer that thought through thin air to many others, stop here.

The rest of folks comment under assumed names and use foul language to convey their token umbrage and anger.

It takes time to build an audience.
And, a great audience takes much time.

I comment in many places; I AVOID comment in far many more, because of the comments I always read BEFORE I read any post. When I see zero comments, like any blogger at http://www.GoErie.com , I know that the content of the post was not enough to stir a passionate thought out of anyone on the planet.

So I come here.

But even those places, once I’ve built relationships with editors, have become much more welcoming. Maybe the whole counting words thing, annoying as it is, is part of a test–or hazing ritual.

I am surprised to hear that so many well-respected publications do not offer writer’s guidelines though.

Sadly, I know many large and well-respected publications that are guilty of sin #3.