Don’t work for free

In my last post I talked about figuring up what your time is worth and how much you should charge for jobs.

There is always the question of edits and rewrites. The best thing you can do is address this issue up front. Now I am talking about freelance jobs not books. For books- you will rewrite it until it is done and correct, so just prepare yourself.

For freelance work, you can say up front that your price includes a certain number of rewrites- after that you can quote them your hourly fee. This creates an understanding and reduces client abuse.

What I mean by abuse are the clients that want to change the same page you agreed to charge $20 for about 10 times. This is not necessary and if they know that you will charge after the 2nd rewrite they maybe less likely to abuse your time.

Always collect your fees after a rewrite- do not allow them to add to the bill for multiple rewrites- as you are likely never to see that money.

If they do not pay you, make sure that in the contract that the rights of the work will not be released until the bill is taken care of. That way they cannot publish your work without paying for it.

Please feel free to ask questions on these blogs- as I am happy to answer them or at least find the answer for you.

Don’t Be Afraid

Remember that as a writer, your time is worth money. Try to avoid doing anything for free. I have found that I have about 6 good hours of solid writing a day in me. I can occasionally push that limit, but my work may begin to suffer. Therefore I must decide what my per hour rate is. Here is my formula:

 

How much I want to make a week/ how many hours I want to work= my rate per hour

 

$600/ 30 hrs= $20/hr

 

$1000/35 hrs= $29/hr

 

In order to figure out how to price a job begin to figure out how many hours you are spending on particular jobs. For instance, if I can write 4 pages an hour on a simple job that does not require research or rewriting of material and the job is 20 pages, I estimate that will take me 5 hours. At the rate of $25/hr I would price the job at $125.

 

If it takes research I may only produce 2 pages an hour, so my estimate on a 20 page job would be $250.

 

Next post I will talk about edits and how to handle them.

del.icio.us Tags: rate,edit,freelance,writing

Telling a Story

As a writer- you have to learn how to tell a story. I was reminded of that when a friend from the symphony told me her story about her hurt foot.

Her: “So I saw on the Internet that you have a Phd, what is that in again?”

Me: “Natural Health- you know herbs and stuff.”

Her:” Oh yeah that is really cool- so can you help me with my hurt foot?”

Me:” Sure how did you hurt it?”

Her:” I hurt it in a car wreck and I twisted my ankle while I was running.”

Me: “Ok , so you will want to soak your foot in warm water with Epsom sal…wait a minute, you twisted it when you were running.”

Her": “ Yeah , well actually when I jumped over the fence, the details are not important…”

Me:” Why were you running from the scene of an accident?”

Her:” Really the details are not important, It’s just my foot hurts.”

Me: Long stare.

Her:” Ok – we were at this gas station and these guys were robbing it. We took off and they followed us and we panicked and wrecked the car. We ran when the police came and when I jumped over the fence I twisted it.”

Me:” Didn’t you think maybe you looked a little guilty running from a car wreck?”

Her:” The police knew we were innocent silly…”

Me:” But how? Never mind. Soak the foot, take some Chondroitin to heal the cartilage.”

Her:” Gee thanks, John.”

Me: Hold out hand.

Her: “What?”

Me:” That’ll be 50 bucks.”

LiveJournal Tags: story,run,police,robbery

I did not get paid, but it makes a great story.

Writing as a Performance

While writing to a friend on Facebook, the idea of this post came to me. The writers I have met are often introverted people. They feel comfortable behind the keyboard, but in most social situations are very quiet and shy. They are unsure if people will like their work. In fact, for many new writers this is commonplace.

I am a performer- I play the flute and piccolo in a symphony and many other places. I have been performing with the  theater and music since I was a kid. So for me, writing is just another performance.

I have my instrument (keyboard or pen), the music (in this case what I am writing about) and the world is my audience. I am confident in my skills and when I write it is a performance for my intended audience. While I do not hear applause, people send comments about my work.

There are good performances, and sometimes not so good, but I never question my ability as a writer. One bad piece does not mean that I should never pick up a pen again, no more than one bad note in a performance would mean that I would pack my piccolo away (however I may hide from the conductor for a bit!)

So when you are writing think of it as a solo you are about to perform for a packed house and when you write that last period, the audience comes to their feet for a 5 minute standing ovation.

LiveJournal Tags: music writing confidence ovation

New Project

I am collaborating with two life/executive coaches on a book for entrepreneurs and world leaders. It will be quite exciting. My role is to weave what they create into coherent prose;then help create a query and proposal for publishers.

Now as the process began to emerge, I did something that I feel is necessary early on in a partnership project- we talked money and percentage. This is so important to get out of the way and come to an agreement on because it can come back later and bite you in the tail if you don’t.

While it would not be ethical to go into details, we established what each person’s role was in the project and came up with a fair cut and even front page alignment of names.

Now that is out of the way- it is time to do the real work. The first thing I had everyone do is write a synopsis of what they felt the book was about. We did this on Google docs, which great because we can all see and alter the doc in real time.

We talked on Skype since we are all in different time zones while writing notes on the Google document. The synopsis is good and will evolve as we go.

The next step is to create a boiled down cohesive synopsis and a skeletal outline of the book. Their assignments are to pick one chapter and work on it. We will come together in a week and talk about what we have come up with.

Iowa Writer’s Workshop

Ok my dream is to go to the summer writer’s workshop at the University of Iowa. There are two tracks that go on there- one is by invitation. It is a graduate program for no credit, but as my wife Kate says it is harder to get into than Harvard Medical School. (she is an alumnus- Arts, Lit and Science).

At the same time as that program is going on, there is a writing festival with both week long and weekend long sessions. That is what I think I want to shoot for my first time out. I will gladly except any donations with the promise of signed first editions of my great work- The Erl King.

The good news is that I can stay with my in laws. The better news is that I can eat a “Magic Mountain.”

New Year- not again

So we swing around to Twenty- Ten. (Yep that’s what I am calling it). No more excuses. I am going finish that novel. Too many reasons I have given myself concerning time- or lack there of.

LiveJournal Tags: writing,new year,2010

I am going to have Hephaestus forge some time for me. I hear him slamming his hammer in the dark, with the heat and sweat. Sparks flying from the cold metal hammer as it strikesinto molten metal, making time more malleable for me to use. It will happen. I will do it.
So on the paid book front- finishing the coaching, then starting onto the beer. Now how many people can claim that? I can go into microbreweries, sit and talk about hops, drink me a pint and call it a tax write off. It is research, right?