� I always figured he was paid by the word, and spelled out stuff for that reason
No, he was paid a flat rate per article � never as much as he should've been paid � no matter how many words it took to tell the whole story. $125 or $150, IIRC �
on publication, although it was customary at the time to pay writers
on acceptance.
Article-writers don't get paid by the word, anyway. I don't recall ever having had to trim any of Ken's manuscripts for any reason.
I pled hard for several years to get that rate raised to fair and equitable, but the boss preferred to exploit our writers' loyalty. I was finally able to persuade him to raise it a little, from criminal to merely insulting, and even that (I think) slipped back a notch or two when I left. At any rate, Ken would never have made a lot of money, even if he'd been paid by the word.
