Freelancers

Freelance journalists working mainly for the printed press are mainly organized within their own member association of the UJF – Suomen freelance-journalistit ry (SFJ), which has over 1 300 members.

There is also a freelance branch FAO attached to the Radio and TV Journalists Union, which has over 400 members.

The UJF has in January 2017 launched a media cooperative Mediakunta, a non-profit community for journalists and communications professionals. The idea of the initiative is joint collaboration and to nurture pride in freelancing. For further information, see mediakunta.fi .

How to price freelance work?

The reach the level of the average pay of a journalist in an employment relationship, freelancers have to invoice for their work the same as other self-employed people. On average 50% of your invoicing is to cover secondary expenses.

To reach the statistical average monthly income of a print journalist in an employment relationship, your hourly freelance rate, factoring in secondary costs, should be €59.

Journalists’ rates: https://journalistiliitto.fi/en/freelance-journalists-associations-2019-guidelines-for-freelance-pricing/

Direct operating expenses and costs associated with carrying out work should also be included in payments. Ordinary expenses that exceed expense items (e.g. travel expenses, daily allowances) should be agreed when you agree on an assignment, and should be shown separately on your invoices. With large assignments you can agree separately on logging work and expenses for specific tasks.

The recommended pay level covers the one-time publishing right to articles, images and artwork. Extensive copyright increases your fee.

The UJF print freelance association SFJ has more calculations for copyright cases, and photographers, graphic designers, illustrators and publishing editors on their website.