This one may run and run.................

I briefly freelanced as a writer for various EMAP motorcycle publications in the early 1990s (15 years ago) and have here on my desk an invoice to EMAP (which has been paid !) for £1400 for a 1200 word story (and I didn't even do the photos !)

A professional writer and or photographer would piss themselves laughing at rates like this.

If I want to read amateurs stories of traveling round the world I would go on the Hubb/Advrider and enjoy the experience very much, and I do just that.

If I want awesome, inspiring photography, and mind bending words, I am happy to pay a premium, maybe for National Geographic or some of the European travel mags. Magazines should be investing in professionals and excellence, otherwise they become no different to the Internet. In fact, a great story with great pictures displayed here and on Advrider will get thousands and thousands of readers

In the UK, newspapers (and the BBC in particular) are going crazy for citizen journalism and photography. Tell us your story blah blah blah, send us your photos blah blah blah, we can't be bothered to commission professionals and pay proper rates

Publishers have for a long time made absolutely no investments in editorial work, regional newspapers have been the very worst example and their demise has been spectacular.

I can of course,see the attraction of having your story printed in a national magazine but selling it for £150 so that the publisher can make money from it is absolutely nuts, completely nuts.

And be very careful to check any issues with regard to syndication, copyright and so on. I have no experience of TWO and make absolutely no comment on them, but a great many publishers who seeks contributions from citizen journalists then go on to syndicate the work to other publishers and make substantial profits from it. Check the terms and conditions very carefully.

These are not the ramblings of an embittered freelance, I'm a staff photographer earning a decent living shooting international, top spec sports
Equally, I'm not saying that there aren't some very very talented writers and snappers out there who don't normally make their living from words and pics. But if your stuff is good enough to be published in a profitable, national magazine that takes big adverts and wants to position itself as a brand leader, please please please don't give it away for an utterly dismal 150 quid.

Don't devalue yourselves ; don't devalue the intelligence, creativity, effort, perspiration and the ambitious, open mind that got you into (and out of) the situation that makes your story an asset to a profit making company.

£750 should be the absolute minimum, especially for words AND pictures.