When to Take the Kill Fee
A kill fee is a partial fee — usually ten to thirty percent — to which a writer may be contractually entitled if an assignment doesn't work out. For instance, you may write a piece in a way the editor doesn't like, and instead of paying you in full or asking for a rewrite, the editor may offer you a kill fee to end the assignment altogether. Any magazine writer who has been working in the field for any length of time will tell you that there are simply some occasions where you should take the kill fee, leave an editor behind, and move on without any second thoughts.
You should not feel like a failure if you find yourself having to take a kill fee for an assignment of any kind. A lot of times, kill fees are offered for reasons that have absolutely nothing to do with the quality of your work. In other instances, you and your editor may come to realize during the course of an assignment that you simply aren't a good working team.
In still other cases, you may actually request a kill fee because you feel an editor's demands have become too cumbersome.
Why You May Request a Kill Fee
Why would you give up a full-paying assignment in exchange for a kill fee? The most common reasons most magazine writers cite include these:
Having an editor who can't make up her mind about how a story should be written, forcing you into countless rewrites that never seem to end
Having an editor who rewrites your work and inserts errors that are embarrassing to your byline
Having an editor who holds your story for so long without running it that you may never be able to publish it elsewhere because it will become untimely
Every one of these examples is a case where taking a partial payment as a kill fee will do you more financial good in the long run than hanging onto the full-paying assignment. In general, that should be the main criteria upon which you request a kill fee: You are spending too much time or losing too much money in trying to make a given assignment work out.
Why Your Editor May Request a Kill Fee
You may have the right to ask for a kill fee, but your editor usually has the right to insist on one. Common reasons editors force writers to take kill fees may be similar to those listed in the previous section, but additional reasons include the following:
The magazine has changed direction and no longer wants your story, no matter how good it is
Your assigning editor has left the magazine and the new editor wants to use his own writers
A competing magazine ran a story just like yours right before your story was scheduled to go into print, and your magazine does not want to look like a copycat
All of these reasons are perfectly valid from the editor's business perspective, though they may leave you, the writer, feeling unsatisfied — especially if you've done the job you were asked to do. It's just a simple fact of the magazine-writing business, one you need to keep in mind as you work on building your relationships with the best editors.
Does taking a kill fee mean you will never work for that same editor again?
Not necessarily. If an assignment ends badly with the editor hating your writing, then yes, your work for that editor is probably history. However, if an assignment simply doesn't pan out as planned, then offering to accept a kill fee will show your editor that you have the magazine's best interests at heart.
