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On behalf of the membership: Thank
you, Audrey, for your informative, lively, and extremely helpful presentation.
We appreciate all your hard work! Guild member Audrey Thompson is a writer and editor who has
been self-employed for five years; her business is called Write to Fit,
Incorporated. Her background includes jobs at Aldus and Harcourt Brace
Jovanovich. She presented information based on questions sent to her in advance
of the meeting by Guild members. These questions were as follows: 1.
How do you set rates?
2.
How do you accurately bid a project?
3.
How do you approach book publishers?
4.
What’s a good marketing packet/cover letter?
(A member present at the meeting also inquired about
pertinent/important software. While we did not fully discuss this issue, Audrey
did say that although she worked at Aldus and is therefore extremely familiar
with Photoshop, she has never had to use anything other than a word processing
program in her freelance work.) 1.
How do you set rates?
Audrey began freelancing after her husband had been laid off;
as the sole breadwinner, she said, it was vital for her to ascertain her
financial needs. Her first recommendation was therefore to “figure out what
you need and what works for you.” a.
How much do you need
to live on? What’s your budget? Of course, after you figure out what you need, you must also
figure out what you can get. To that end, she made several suggestions: b.
Find out what others charge for comparable work—“Don’t
be embarrassed to ask,” Audrey stressed. c.
Consider your experience and comfort levels. Someone new to
the field, for example, may consider charging a lower rate. Or she may want to
establish herself at a higher rate but bill for fewer hours than it might
actually take her to do the job. d.
Find out what the market will bear. Take into account how
much money your client has; sometimes you may want to lower your rate to work
with a certain organization. However you decide to set your rates, do it proactively. Start from a position of strength by thoughtfully
considering all the available information and coming to a reasoned, defensible
conclusion—that way, if you do decide to lower your rates, you will be doing
so because you have actively decided to be flexible, not because you are
reacting or panicking. Audrey stressed the fact that our time is worth money;
she is firm on how much time she wants to work and how much money she needs to
make. Know the value of what you’re
getting and giving, she said. Don’t give your time away. Sometimes that
firmness will result in a decision to turn down work; by the same token, it also
means that pro-bono or reduced-fee work can feel really good because you have
decided that both the work and your donation to it have value. She also
mentioned that publishing houses are notorious for not paying well—again,
it’s up to each individual to decide what type of work is fulfilling, both
personally and financially. After considering the factors listed above, Audrey set her
own rate for high-tech work at $75 an hour. (She has lowered her rate for some
clients, but that decision is always a thoughtful, active one.) She said that
her rate chases some folks away, but it also signals QUALITY. She also stressed
that when clients know what they’re getting from you—and sometimes you have
to tell them—they usually recognize the worth of your talent, skills, and
experience. If they do not, which may happen, it is up to you whether to
proceed. But don’t be afraid to say no, and don’t sell yourself short. Expenses.
It’s up to you how you charge for expenses. Audrey frames the issue around the
question “Would I be doing x now if
it weren’t for this job?” If the answer is no,
then she will bill. For example, she bills her time for phone calls over 15
minutes, bills back FedEx, etc. But she doesn’t usually charge for travel
time, though others in the group do. The question of how much to bill for travel
arose: One member said she billed according to what the rate would be if she
couriered the material to her client; Audrey said that for one project she did
bill travel time, at half her usual rate. 2.
How do you accurately bid a project?
Information, information, information! :-) Audrey said that
when you’re bidding a project, you should find out beforehand as much as you can about the project, its scope, its
schedule, and who you will be dealing with. For each of her potential projects,
Audrey takes an hour to ask
questions. Ask as many questions and as
many people as you need to in order to get a clear and satisfactory view of
the project, she advised. Some potential questions include the following. a.
Is research involved? Project management? b.
What is the purpose of this project? What is its format? Who
is the audience? c.
For smaller clients: What is your budget? d.
Can you fax me a sample of the project? e.
Who has reviewed the project? Who will be reviewing it? f.
Is there any leeway in your schedule? If so, how much? g.
Sometimes, if you suspect that you may end up stepping on
someone’s toes, you may want to ask who wrote the material on which you would
be working. h.
How would you like to proceed if things change (e.g., if the
project is more complicated than first presented)? i.
If I find mistakes outside the scope of what I’m hired to
do (e.g., you were hired to proofread, but noticed some incorrect facts in the
material), how would you like me to proceed? Fix them? Report them? Management
of clients. Audrey mentioned that sometimes clients themselves are not
sure exactly what the project entails, so you need to elicit information, rather than just going with what you are told.
If the project is more than you anticipated, it is perfectly fine to renegotiate
or disengage. If the client insists on a bid before you feel you have a good
understanding of the project, make that clear in your bid. For any bid, it is
wise to reserve the right to renegotiate should the project’s circumstances
change. Asking the latter two questions (H and I above) may help avoid problems
before they begin. Audrey approaches a project by asking what verbs are
involved: write, edit, etc. When she sends in a copy of her bid, she breaks each
project down into its constituent components, i.e., telling clients what their money buys. This not only helps clients
clarify what it is they want you to do, it also reassures them that you are
worth every penny and more of your fee. One of the most important things to keep in mind when
bidding, Audrey said, is to know what you
can do and what you’re willing to do. Set healthy limits and stick to
them. 3.
How do you approach book publishers?
These questions were not discussed
in detail because Audrey’s thorough and insightful presentation gave rise to
much discussion and alas, we ran out of time. However, she displayed copies of
marketing materials for her company, Write to Fit. She also distributed several
extremely useful handouts (one page each) addressing the following issues: ·
Providing a proposal/bid ·
A sample proposal ·
A sample renegotiation of a bid ·
Fighting the fee squeeze—a prospective dialogue
—Diane Sepanski, notetaker
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