I'm getting a little tired of seeing editors/publishers say that pay for a story varies with a writer's experience. [cont'd]

Let's play this thought experiment.

Imagine if a publication assigned a dollar-amount value to a story, say, $500. Someone more experienced will probably be able to report & write it faster, higher hourly rate.

Someone a little less experienced will probably spend more time, and will end up with a lower hourly rate.

Already, by picking a project fee, you are accounting for a writer's experience.

NOW. If a publication has two tiers, $500 for "more experienced writers" and say, $300 (again, this is arbitrary!) for "less experienced writers," you are basically doubly-penalizing folks with less experience

Can you now see how this "pay varies based on experience" model is completely exploitative?

Thank you for coming to my TED talk.