Writing an "as told by" article, should I divide my compensation?

January 17, 2014 12:51 PM

Asking for a friend. Friend interviewing a source for an article and wanted to publish it as an interview. He pitched it to a paper and the paper wants him to right a story in the form of "as told by." So the article reads like a narrative by the source but is written by my friend. He has never written anything like this before and wonders whether or not he should pay some of what he's paid for the article to the source?
posted by melissam to Work & Money (2 answers total)

Best answer: No payment needed to the source. I do these articles a lot. The source (or subject) is getting press out of it, the same as if a narrative piece were authored.
posted by Jason and Laszlo at 12:54 PM on January 17, 2014 [2 favorites]

Best answer: Every editor I've worked for would consider that a problem--it's the same as paying a source.
posted by Ideefixe at 1:08 PM on January 17, 2014 [3 favorites]