>LRT
I remember when my first handful of lettering assignments 9-ish years ago were $0.25~$1/pg. A bigger company offered me a rate of $1.50/pg a couple of years later... Going from $47.50 to $285 per volume (give or take) was huge at the time but very, very rough.

There was one instance where a client hired me to letter, retouch, and QC 3 volumes of manga in a week. I had to get injections in my wrists a couple of weeks later from the amount of pain it put me through, and my arms/wrists are still fucked.

I continued getting injections & went to several physical therapy sessions to keep doing my job, hoping I'd either get a raise from all the hard work I'd put in or the pain would magically go away... obviously neither happened. Don't be like me and be exploited. You're worth more

The current manga company I work for is incredible, in both their pay rates and how they treat me as a freelancer. I wish I'd applied sooner, but it worked out in the end.