Are You Earning What You’re Worth?

by Susan Johnston @ The Urban Muse

I can’t tell you exactly how much you ought to charge for writing, because there are too many variables, and frankly, I’m still figuring this out myself. Experience, geography, and the complexity of the project all factor in. Still, there are some instances where I think it’s safe to say that you’re getting screwed.

Here they are…

• Your 16-year-old cousin earns more folding t-shirts at American Eagle. Remember, as a self-employed professional, you have to buy your own health insurance and equipment, plus pay self-employment tax. Regardless of where you live or how experienced you are, you should be earning more than minimum wage. Period.
• Your per word rate is decent, but after three rounds of edits, the story is half the original length and your hourly rate is too depressing to even think about. Maybe you’re doing this for the clip (which is fine), but it in the future, try to limit yourself to one round of edits, two tops. Anything more than that, and it’s time to renegotiate your fee. I just put my foot down after revisions on an article got out of hand, and the editor finally agreed with me. Be professional, but don’t be a pushover.
• You’re earning $XX for every thousand page views. I don’t care what some smooth-talking web entrepreneur tells you, this setup almost never amounts to much for the writer. If you don’t believe me, then read what WritersWeekly recently uncovered about Examiner.com’s payment model. They tried to recruit me awhile back, and I thought I smelled a rat. Turns out my instincts were right.
• Your client calls every half hour to micromanage a project and you don’t bill for that time. If you’re not billing by the hour, then it’s time to start screening your calls! If you are, then you should tack that time onto your invoice. It will help long-winded clients stay on topic and prevent you from losing valuable work time.
• The project changes scope, but the budget doesn’t change. Ah, the classic bait and switch. Sometimes you have to be a little flexible when an editor suddenly remembers they need someone to shoot photos or write a sidebar, but they don’t have any extra money in the budget. If it happens once or twice, I try to go with the flow and hope it results in additional assignments down the line (karma, baby!). But if it happens consistently, then I have to put my foot down and only deliver what was originally agreed upon.

Have you ever found yourself in one of these scenarios? How did you handle it? And how do you communicate your value to a client?