A panel of Guild members Kris Fulsaas, Ann Gosch, and Sue Ridge spoke to an overflow crowd about the monetary aspects of being a freelance editor.

Estimating a Job

Ann’s approach is to estimate the number of hours it will take her to do a particular job based on how much time it takes her to do different sorts of editing:

2000-2750 words/hour for proofreading
1000-1750 words/hour for light copyediting
750-1500 words/hour for heavy copyediting
250-1000 words/hour for substantive editing

She gave an example of setting a project price: figure out what a client might pay hourly, estimate total based on projected number of hours, reserve the option to tack on an additional percentage at the end if you underestimated the time you would need

Ann prefers working on an hourly basis, but some clients prefer a total project rate

It’s often helpful to get a sample of the project in order to gauge how long it will take for a substantive edit, or even other types of edits

Kris rarely sees projects in advance with the exception of new clients, where she always sees a sample of a project in advance

Factors to weigh for a new client: word count; level of edit; timetable; content; is it a first-time author?; is it a new or a revised book?

She usually works with the press, not the author

She typically does a quarter of the project, then determines how long the project will take based on that

Clients are often ill-equipped to give you all you need to prepare an accurate estimate

Ask whether you can even fit the job into your schedule

Sue usually just tells clients what the hourly rate will be, though she did set a project rate in one instance based on the number of hours she thought it would take and the content

She charges $35/hour typically for medical editing

One attendee observed that if there are lots of cross-references to check in a project or you’re dealing with plates, those are situations that will take much more time than is customary for a project; also, page count may not always be that helpful if you’re dealing with oversized pages

Kris: one 16,000-word project took 20 hours instead of the expected 8 hours because of its complexity

Clients often will understand (and be willing to pay you) if you tell them a project “needed more work”—took more hours than you originally anticipated

Ann: for example, one client of hers wanted to ensure she made her normal rate on a particular project

Kris: you learn which in-house editors are good at estimating how long projects will take; you rely on in-house contacts and want them to be realistic about hours needed; sometimes you can overestimate the number of hours it will take—not always clear how long a project will take

Best to get a sample of the work if you can

Setting Rates

Ann: finds out going rates by:

Book publishers pay less, corporate clients more: should charge them differently

Charge less for nonprofit organizations, more for for-profit organizations

More for technical editing than regular copyediting

Project and audience are also factors

Prefers hourly rates over project rates

Could give hourly rate and say I project it will take this much time, but it could exceed the estimate

Could ask a client’s budget (would be helpful to know), but often clients don’t want to provide this

Kris: it’s a trust issue with long-time clients; University of Washington Press tells you what they pay ($18/hour)

Ann: may be able to renegotiate with client if can’t do the job within originally budgeted amount

Sue: she probably should charge more for medical editing

Definitely make distinctions between types of editing. Have different rate structures for nonfiction, guidebooks, technical jobs, corporate clients, etc.

Contact client if the job you receive is not what the client said it would be

It’s legitimate to charge for time spent on the telephone or sending emails that relate to the editing work

“Bad” clients: estimates turn out to be wrong; they take too much time to pay

Another attendee’s observation: hourly rates work best for most of her clients, but one of them is on a page rate ($2.50-$3 per indexable page); she also has worked for a flat fee for indexing

Another attendee observed that a word rate is standard for translation

If you do ongoing jobs for a particular client, then a project rate may be okay, or even a rate per word

Raising Rates with Existing Clients

Ann: When to do it:

If you do raise your rate:

Kris: usually sends letter to clients informing them of increase; periodicals tend to balk because of tight budgets

One attendee suggested preparing what you want to say in advance regarding why you’re raising rates (it’s expected in the high-tech world anyway); have reasons written out; another attendee shared a story about not being aware that expensive errors & omissions insurance and some other type of insurance were required

Kris: more employees being laid off these days, but that means companies are relying more on free-lancers now

Sue: know your self-worth, go from there

Contracts

Ann: rarely uses unless larger project for new client—found a sample contract on a fellow Guild member’s website and adapted it for her purposes

Kris: doesn’t use even with new clients; sometimes clients ask her to sign a “Description of Services Requested” form; she sometimes signs a “letter agreement” with specifics (schedules, budget, etc.) and a purchase order

Be cautious with people you haven’t worked with before or don’t know

Kris: could do incremental billing for a very long-term project

Ann: invoice, maybe, for what you’ve done to date (might want to include this notion in a contract or letter agreement, if used)—invoice for further work later

One attendee noted that billing at different phases of a project makes sense, is pretty typical

Dealing with Clients Who Are Slow to Pay

Record everything you do

Ann:

Only one client never paid her

Sue: sometimes accounting doesn’t receive her invoices; may work better to speak directly with accounts receivable person

Kris: has been burned only twice (both times by individual authors) for relatively small amounts—she’s written them off as bad debts; her collection process is similar to Ann’s

Corporate and publishing clients routinely take 90 days or more to pay, though they often have no compunction about expecting you to rush to finish work for them!

More info on this topic from a later listserv post:

Thought I'd share what's worked for me in collecting from slow-paying clients. I follow the advice in a book I got years ago: Secrets of a Freelance Writer, by Bob Bly. After sending repeated invoices and making repeated phone calls, Bly says to ask if there is any reason that the bill is not being paid. Acknowledge the reason, but remind the client that you have an agreement, etc. If the client has financial difficulties, try to work out a payment schedule.

Immediately after that conversation, send a certified letter with return receipt, repeating the points made.

From this point on, use a series of certified letters and phone calls, spaced about two weeks apart -- and do not let up. This tells the client you are not going away.

If still no payment, write a final letter saying that unless you receive payment, you will have to take immediate action.

I've had three clients in my 18 years who took forever -- one took SIX MONTHS -- but I did get my money. If the company has an accounts payable person, sometimes I've worked with that person to get my money. One time I even drove to Woodinville (when I was living in Seattle) to pick up the
check in person.

I also had one client who never did pay, and I looked into taking him to small claims court, the first process of which is to send the notice by certified mail. That letter came back to me unopened, so the next step would have been to hire a process server, and the invoice amount was not worth that and not worth hiring a collection agency either. So I wrote it off on my taxes as a bad debt, or whatever that's called.

Miscellaneous

Rush fees are sometimes used by Ann and Kris: 25%-50% depending on client; quoting higher rate may ensure client won’t give you the work; Ann once did a 24-hour edit of a book for a sizable rush fee, where she was only looking for egregious errors.

Anecdotally, there are indications that payments are coming in more slowly, with businesses stretching out their accounts payable; clearly specify for clients when payment is expected.

Ann passed around a sample invoice.

--Randy Hilfman, notetaker

See more meeting notes