Page:The Girl Who Earns Her Own Living (1909).djvu/288

 Later, when you acquire style and reputation, you will be paid from seventy-five to two hundred dollars for a strong, telling story of action or psychological analysis. The income of the magazine writer is as uncertain as her moods. A period of great mental activity, which yields large financial returns, is generally followed by a mental reaction and a falling off of cash returns.

The income of the newspaper woman is more certain. In large cities the editor of the Sunday magazine section, first hope of the newly-arrived writer, pays five dollars a column for general material, more for special stories along exclusive lines with good illustrations. What is known as an exclusive special, not a news story, for a Sunday paper, the sort that will fill a page with text and illustrations, is sure to bring from thirty to fifty dollars.

A woman reporter without city experience may be asked to start at fifteen dollars a week. If she has good letters, or shows marked ability, or if her work in her home paper has attracted the attention of the city editor, she may be offered twenty dollars a week. From this point her salary is raised, according to her usefulness and efficiency, to thirty-five dollars a week. When she is worth this to the city editor, she generally asks to be put on space instead of salary, and then she earns, according to her