Re: How much should I charge?

**C* S* <h*@cox.net>**

Amy,

What fees you should charge depends on your background and experience 
and that that relates to the specific services.  The geographic region 
you reside in also needs to be factored into the equation.

Start by considering what you would be willing to pay for specific 
services as as editing for content, fact checking, grammar, etc.

Anticipate fees for converting hard copy to electronic copy and exactly 
how the edited copy will look if the process is going to be interactive, 
discuss how the electronic pages will be "marked up".

Keep track of charges for postage, phone calls, etc. so that these items 
can be billed along with the project's fees.

Be sure you backup your client's project so you don't have to 
reconstruct days and weeks of work due to a major meltdown of equipment 
or a corrupted file(s).

Make sure you cover the overhead expense of your business equipment, 
software, internet connection,  etc.

I would suggest a minimum of "x" hours and a daily/weekly rate would 
reflect a lower hourly rate.

If you are asked to provide bid, charge the regular market rate for one 
day and let the customer know if you are willing to apply the first 
day's fees to an extended contract.

Establish a realistic timeline to complete the project.

When you are taking on an extended contract, build in payments due when 
various phases of the job have been completed. Perform a credit check 
and ask for a letter of credit. credit card number, etc. in today's 
economic climate.
Never accept work that depends on the client's approval for full payment 
at the end of the project

Claude Sweet
Retired Horticulturist
San Diego, CA

Amy Stewart wrote:

>$30 an hour sounds too low to me, too. Have you considered offering a day
>rate?  You could figure out a scope of work that makes sense for about 8
>hours of work (line editing 3 chapters, or reading the whole thing and
>offering more general ideas to be followed by line editing later, etc)--and
>charge a flat rate for a day's work.  I think people like buying a package
>where they know going in how much they'll be spending overall.  Then the
>author can come back for the next round after that.
>
>In other words, if you charge, say $65/hour, it will be hard for the person
>to know whether to agree to that fee or not--are we talking about 10 hours
>or 100 hours?  So a flat rate / package approach might be more enticing.
>
>Amy
>
>www.amystewart.com
>
>
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