Noah Davis explained the state of freelance writing economics in 2015:

• With the rise of sites such as Buzzfeed, Vox, and Vice, demand has shot up causing prices to rise.
• In 2013 earning 37 cents per word was about normal for a writer. Today it’s closer to 53 cents a word.
• Established websites, such as the New York Times, or websites looking to make a name for themselves by attracting the highest quality, offer rates as high as a dollar per word.
• Longform pieces can earn a writer up to $3,000.
• And other websites offer revenue share fees with an agreed upon flat-price, and then additional money based on the number of people who read the article.
• The good times are unlikely to last though. News organizations all over are laying off staff and sites that generated a lot of buzz once, such as the Huffington Post, are having financial problems.

The full article provides many more details. Read it here.

Source: The AWL