Ah, the old bugaboo--how much? It's the most popular question, and yet it's the hardest to answer, especially for a writer. I'd like nothing better than to plop a table onto this page, nicely tabbed and with specific dollar amounts for different types of work.

However, to be perfectly honest, it ain't that easy. Each writing and/or editing job is unique, with a variety of mitigating factors that prevent it from falling into a simple pricing category. How much writing needs to be done, how much editing needs to be done? Is it a heavy edit or a light edit? How many revisions are expected--will one round be acceptable, or will the piece keep going back and forth and around and around till it's perfect? Is there background research or interviewing involved?

I could go on, but I won't--you get the idea, right?

And then there are the pricing parameters. Should the job be priced by the page, by the word (helloooo Charles Dickens), by the project, or by the number of revisions?

And there's something else--what the client (that's you) can afford. I've done jobs for $10 a page, $20 a page, and flat fees in the hundreds-of-dollars range. I've broken out pricing by writing (usually around $65 an hour) and interviewing (from $25 to $35 an hour) for original work and editing/proofing (all over the map, depending on the number of revisions and how much revising needed to be done).

I do regret that pricing writing and editing jobs isn't as clear cut as pricing lengths of pipe. It would be so much easier if it were. But I can promise that my pricing will be fair and scaled to meet your budget, my work thorough, and the finished product something you can be proud of.

So drop me a line and we can talk about that old bugaboo, money.