Thread by @ilanaslightly

In solidarity with rahel, as well as with the host of other @studyhallxyz writers who've been sharing their writing from this year along with rates for the purpose of #mediapayratetransparency I am finally doing my #YearInReview post. But first, a couple disclaimers:

https://twitter.com/cnqmdi/status/1071187179643248640

@studyhallxyz Disclaimer 1: I don't think that working a lot or a little or producing a lot or a few articles or pieces of writing is a good metric for self worth. It is also an often ableist metric.

Disclaimer 2: I know I work an unhealthy amount. It is a socially acceptable coping mechanism

@studyhallxyz Disclaimer 3: I also am nervous about sharing my rates, because since moving to the US I've learned how taboo discussions of money are

Disclaimer 4: but I do believe in being transparent and also

Disclaimer 5: I am bad at being proud of my writing, so here's me trying that.

@studyhallxyz Okay, let's begin, and I'll try to make this as complete a list as possible.

At the start of 2018, I reviewed @MorganJerkins's book for the @latimes:

latimes.com/books/jacketco…

Pay was $350.
Also, I messed up in my vaguequoting at the end of this review, and I've learned from it.

@studyhallxyz @MorganJerkins @latimes I wrote a long article for @outline for which I interviewed quite a few people, but the piece was killed. Original pay rate was supposed to be $750; I got 20% of that as a kill fee.

Another piece for @lithub was killed shortly thereafter.

I managed to place it, instead, with @ReadItForward, for whom I always love writing (more on that later):

readitforward.com/essay/article/…

Pay was $250

For @readwildness and @platypuspress, I reviewed @Julie_Iro's gorgeous "Mr. and Mrs. Doctor":

readwildness.com/reviews/mr-and…

Pay was 0$ - yes, I still wrote for no pay this year for a journal I believe in.

For @latimes again, I reviewed Anne Raeff's "Winter Kept Us Warm":

latimes.com/books/la-ca-jc…

Pay was $350

For @LAReviewofBooks, I wrote a long and loving piece about @ramona_ausubel's newest collection, "Awayland":

lareviewofbooks.org/article/a-fabu…

(Whoops, meant to add, for LARB, pay was $100 - as far as I know that is their standard and flat rate; they are a nonprofit and another organization I believe in.)

For @thelilynews, I wrote a book list I got to totally pick and choose myself, and I was thrilled to have it paired with @AshleyLukash's incredibly art (I'm obsessed with it):

thelily.com/the-lilys-book…

Pay was $300.

For Portland @PressHerald, I wrote about this amazing anthology by Native, First Nations, New England, and Canadian writers:

pressherald.com/2018/02/18/boo…

Pay was $100.

For my second @nytimes piece ever, I got to write a longer review of @EileenPollack's novel "The Bible of Dirty Jokes":

nytimes.com/2018/04/20/boo…

Pay was $450 for this one.

Originally killed by @ElectricLit, this piece on @MegWolitzer's newest novel, "The Female Persuasion" (which I loved) came out with @ReadItForward:

readitforward.com/essay/article/…

It was quite long, so I got $500 for it and was very, very pleased!

Another piece for @platypuspress an @readwildness, in which I originally also messed up and didn't give credit where credit was due (now fixed), reviewed "The Remains of the Day" by Kazuo Ishiguro for 0$:

readwildness.com/reviews/the-re…

Due a little bit later, though not published until this summer, was my piece for @BitchMedia on @Lvandenberg's "The Third Hotel," ghosts, grief, and madwomen in literature. I got $300 for this piece, which you can find in the ghost-themed issue:

bitchmedia.org/issue/80

For @NPR (who have been an absolute DELIGHT to work with, thank you @petramatic and @meghancsullivan) I reviewed "Go Home!," an anthology from @aaww and @FeministPress, edited by @RowanHLB:

npr.org/2018/03/15/592…

Pay was $300

Also for @NPR, I reviewed @jamelbrinkley's incredible collection, "A Lucky Man":

npr.org/2018/05/02/605…

Pay was $300

For @readwildness and @platypuspress, I reviewed @amymeng_'s poetry collection, "Bridled":

readwildness.com/reviews/bridled

Pay was 0$

For Portland @PressHerald, I reviewed "Good and Gone" by @meganbfrazer, which I really enjoyed:

pressherald.com/2018/05/13/boo…

Pay was $100

For @NPR again, I wrote about @ElzbthT's debut, "Rubik" (which I am still obsessed with) which came out in the US with @unnamedpress:

npr.org/2018/05/12/609…

Pay was $300

I got to do another book list for @thelilynews, this time with art by Sarah Rebtine:

thelily.com/15-books-that-…

Pay was $300.

Originally meant for @thebafflermag which killed it, this review of Jordy Rosenberg's "Confessions of the Fox" was picked up by @ColumbiaJournal for 0$:

columbiajournal.org/review-confess…

One of my (relatively rare because I'm lucky enough to mostly choose books I'm pretty sure I'll be into) bad reviews this year was for the Portland @PressHerald, of this thriller that gets a lot of mental illness stuff very wrong in silly ways:

pressherald.com/2018/07/08/thr…

Pay-$100

For the @nytimes, my third and so far latest for them, I reviewed the tricky "Inappropriation" by Lexi Freiman:

nytimes.com/2018/07/27/boo…

Pay was $300

For Portland @PressHerald again, I wrote about @phoefsutton's very satisfying book "From Away":

pressherald.com/2018/08/12/in-…

Pay was $100

For @readwildness and @platypuspress, I wrote about @melissabroder's incredibly novel "The Pisces" for $0:

readwildness.com/reviews/the-pi…

For the @latimes, I was suuuper pleased to get to review @rokwon's novel, "The Incendiaries," which I still think is so technically interesting and carefully crafted, among other amazing traits:

latimes.com/books/la-ca-jc…

Pay was $350.

Oh! I forgot because it somehow wasn't in my spreadsheet, this piece for @BuzzFeedBooks on mental illness in recent literature:

buzzfeednews.com/article/ilanam…

I am... not entirely sure how much I was paid for this because I didn't put it in my spreadsheet >.<

For @NPR I reviewed the incredible @senzaflash's novel, "Open Me":

npr.org/2018/08/18/639…

Pay was $300.

For @platypuspress and @readwildness, I reviewed @jeansvaljeans's amazing "The Comedown":

readwildness.com/reviews/the-co…

(for 0$)

For @GuernicaMag, I conducted a long interview with the lovely @SaadiaFaruqi about her fabulous new children's book series about a Muslim-American brown girl named Yasmin:

guernicamag.com/saadia-faruqi-…

Pay was $100

For @NPR again, I gushed about "Little Women" and @AnneBoydRioux's "Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy":

npr.org/2018/08/23/641…

Pay was $300

For @parisreview, I wrote one of the most stressful pieces of my life - both because the book was dense and because the topic felt so important - about Jill Lepore's book "These Truths":

theparisreview.org/blog/2018/09/1…

I was originally told I'd get paid $150 but I ended up with $200!

For the @LAReviewofBooks, I reviewed @AnitaFelicelli's masterful "Love Songs for a Lost Continent" - it was so incredible to write about:

lareviewofbooks.org/article/in-the…

Pay was $100.

For my second @BuzzFeedBooks piece, I was paid $750, which felt fair since the labor was really intense. I wrote about women's trauma in recent literature and had the amazing editorial eyes of @AriannaRebolini and @believekarolina:

buzzfeednews.com/article/ilanam…

For @platypuspress and @readwildness I reviewed Fannie Flagg's classic queer novel, "Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe":

readwildness.com/reviews/fried-…

for 0$

Also for them, I reviewed "Foe," the wonderfully twisted new book by @reid_iain:

readwildness.com/reviews/foe

For @NPR again, I reviewed "Unsheltered" by Barbara Kingsolver:

npr.org/2018/10/21/658…

Pay was $300

And another for @nprbooks was "The Travelling Cat Chronicles" by Hiro Arikawa, which was sooooo sweet:

npr.org/2018/10/24/659…

(also $300)

For @washingtonpost, I was super pleased to get to review @IdraNovey's majestic second novel (no sophomore slump for this writer!!! What a stupid assumption to make about second books anyway...) "Those Who Knew":

washingtonpost.com/entertainment/…

Pay was $375.

And more for @nprbooks, a review of "An Unexplained Death" by @MikitaBrottman, which shook me to my core in so many ways:

npr.org/2018/11/08/660…

For @readwildness and @platypuspress again, I reviewed @Danez_Smif's gorgeous, intensely intelligent and embodied collection, "Don't Call Us Dead":

readwildness.com/reviews/dont-c…

for 0$

For @nprbooks, I also reviewed "A Tale of Two Murders" by Laura Thompson:

npr.org/2018/11/13/667…

Pay was $300

For @readwildness and @platypuspress, my last piece for them because I can't afford the time/money to keep writing for free (more on that later), I reviewed @meganeabbott's amazing "Give Me Your Hand":

readwildness.com/reviews/give-m…

For @NylonMag, I got $200 to write about this amazing book, "Adventures in Memory":

nylon.com/adventures-in-…

For @NPR again, I wrote about @LauraAdamczyk's "Hardly Children" which I adored and found so eerie and smart:

npr.org/2018/11/22/669…

And for @latimes again, I wrote about Ruth Prawer Jhabvala's posthumous collection of selected stories:

latimes.com/books/la-ca-jc…

Pay was $350.

I also write very regularly for @ReadItForward for different pay rates, largely between $300-400:

readitforward.com/author/imasad/

NOW. This was all TERRIFYING. Sharing my rates. Sharing my work. I'm probably forgetting some things that didn't go in my spreadsheet for one reason or another.

Also, it looks like a lot of money stacked up this way, sort of. But none of it has been taxed yet. #stressful

But I think that for transparency's sake, and because money is too taboo which leads to further economic inequality and cultures of silencing and gaslighting, that this was important, so I'm glad I did it.