Re: Researcher vs writing rates
At 6:34 AM -0700 4/25/02, Antonio Fante wrote:
The client wants to know if I structure my fees differently for research than for writing.
Any suggestions as to how I should respond are appreciated. I'm also not sure how much I would charge for a "research" rate. My sense is that it would be lower than my writing rate. (My writing rate is $65/hr.)
There are several ways of approaching this.
I usually tell the client:
"Research involves the same critical planning and judgement skills as writing or editing. The researcher must (a) know the best places to look for the information, (b) be able to plot an efficient search strategy if the obvious sources don't have everything needed for the project, and (c) judge the reliability of each source, especially if sources disagree. Because most projects involve a mixture of planning, research, writing, editing, testing and administrative tasks, my standard rate of $XX per hour assumes a typical mixture of these tasks."
In 16 years I've been freelancing, about 2/3 of my clients have accepted this.
If the client gets huffy, and it looks like I might lose the contract, I offer a progressive rate scale and an annotated invoice. I then bill routine research, proofreading, light copyediting and administrative tasks (photocopying, attending routine meetings, etc.) at -20% of my standard fee. Moderate-to-substantive editing, interviewing SMEs, routine media and app conversions, and writing all get billed at my standard rate. Planning, template design, making recommendations, preparing consulting reports, project tracking, and troubleshooting are billed at +20%. This is a bit of extra work for me, but not too much, since I just pull out my old project tracking spreadsheet. (I used to track this stuff all the time. That's how I came up with my standard rate.)
If the client still insists on lower rates, I check my bank balance. If I'm hungry enough, I'll deal <g>. If I have a comfortable cushion, I suggest they look for a less-experienced writer and give them a couple of names.
Good luck.
--
Kat Nagel
Owner, MasterWork Consulting Services
Phone: (585) 820-4045 Fax: (585) 244-3565
Business: katnagel -at- masterworkconsulting -dot- com
Personal: katnagel -at- bluefrognet -dot- net
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