Q: How do I handle the question, ''What kind of salary are you looking for?''

B.K., Washington, D.C.

A: That's a tough one, and an obviously important one. You don't want to low-ball yourself, giving the impression you have a low opinion of your work and then feeling like a chump, or seem over-priced and greedy.

It's usually reasonable to expect to get a raise when you make a move. Start with what you're making now, and look for an increase that is somewhat larger than what you'd expect to get in your next couple years at your current job. Some say you shouldn't move for less than a 15-percent bump. Unless you're moving solely for a dramatically better opportunity or location, you're probably doing it to make more than if you stayed put, right?

Get a cost-of-living comparison, too. A buck doesn't go as far in Los Angeles as it does in Louisiana, so get a handle on what you need to make just to stay even. Whoa! Sound complicated? It's not. Use a cost-of-living calculator to see how the money translates from one city to another. Money magazine has a good online cost-of-living calculator that will do the work for you. You can use that calculator to figure out what you'd need to make in that new city to achieve a 15-percent increase in real income, too.

This may help you set a floor, but where is the ceiling?

If they ask what you'd like to be paid in that position, ask them what they are paying people with your level of experience. It's a fair question. Expect to get a minimum or ask for a range.

Ask other people at the paper who have jobs and experience similar to your own what the paper is paying. Don't ask them for their own salaries, but ask about the range.

An online source of salary data is The Newspaper Guild. This union lists top minimums for just more than a hundred daily papers where it has contracts. The list is here.

The Editor & Publisher Yearbook, available at the reference desk of most libraries, carries the list.

''Top minimum'' is contractual language that requires some explanation. A top minimum is the minimum amount someone at the top of the scale can be paid. Oops, there's another phrase that needs some explanation: ''top of the scale.'' The scale is based on years of professional experience -- at that or another newspaper. The scale gives workers raises until they reach the top year for which raises are automatic -- usually between three and six years, depending on the contract.

So, at a newspaper where automatic wage increases stop happening at five years of experience, the top of the scale is five years. If the top minimum at that newspaper is $800 a week, then everyone with five or more years of full-time professional experience should be paid at least $800. Newspapers are free to pay more than the minimum and do.

As you negotiate salary, don't forget other considerations that might be just as important to you but easier for the paper to provide. What about vacation time? Moving expenses? Development opportunities? Retirement savings? Papers are unlikely to provide anything other than the standard options, but you need to know what they are to consider the package.

Save detailed questions about pay and benefits for later in the interview process -- even until after you have an offer. Asking about pay, benefits and vacations too early can make editors think that you're jumping the gun and that journalism is a secondary consideration.

Read more about negotiating here.