January 17, 2007

• No advice from me, sorry, but congrats on your first post!
• My advice,as someone who hires people, is to charge no less than your average daily wage. I see that in Australia it's about $205/day.
• Here in NYC, I'd expect to pay (or be paid) US$ 250-350...
• As others have said, estimate the hours you will need to spend working on the project and multiply that number by the hourly rate you would like to earn (and that you think is fair). If you have no work at present and are desperate for business, shave the rate downward. If you are busy, push it up a bit. Don't ever expect this to be easy. At the moment I have a long-running saga in which I am being beaten down to minimum wage, and another in which I know I could have charged thrice the fee and still been in good graces. Once in a while you find the sweet spot, most times, not.
• Ha! Thanks Ralph. I thought it was only me who struggled with trying to find that spot. Thanks everyone else too for your suggestions.
• We would never eek this first post! Good question. Good advice above. Generally, even if people KNOW they know what they are doing, they will still not be able to put a fair value on their work and will usually undercharge. The fact you're asking makes me think you're one of those folks. Find out the going rate, and scale a bit down if you're slower or still learning. Sounds like they felt you were undercharging them the first go 'round, and were a bit guilty about it. If you feel bad about asking them straight out for cash because they're small or struggling, tell them a flat price what you're worth, and then suggest you might be willing to take less cash with a work out of something else added in trade, as you did last time, since it was apparently mutually beneficial. Apparently they liked what you did, so repeat business, tada! Good luck. PS don't forget to add to the portfolio
• Ah, first post! Welcome, chummy. This is a problem for me too - knowing what they have to spend can help, if you can find that out. I did some last summer and I knew they had a big budget, so charged as high as I thought they would bear, and they did. If I went back to them on a different project I would charge less. In the UK, expect £200 per day to be top end...£100 - £150 average (I think, it's all a dark art to me too!)
• Well...they probably got those tickets for free...but them paying the bus fare sounds like them feeling guilty for paying you Jack Shit. Have you ever heard the story about Thomas Edison and the stock ticker?...Well, Edison came up with an improved stock ticker machine and was in the process of selling it to General Lefferts, President of the Gold & Stock Telegraph Company...Now, originally Edison was going to charge $5000 for it, and was willing to settle for $3000, but when Lefferts asked him how much he wanted for it, Edison froze, not wanting to name so large a sum. So, he asked Lefferts how much he was willing to pay, to which he responded "well, is $40,000 enough?" ...so you see, sometimes it pays to ask. However...you've already worked for these folks for a pittiance (so no point in asking now, eh?), and they obviously like your work and want more of it...but a big part of why they like it is wrapped up in how cheap they got it. (think of the cool tshirt you got at the hipster store for $30 vs. the AWESOME tshirt you got at the thrift store for ONLY 25 CENTS CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?) If you ask for a reasonable amount (whatever that is) after this, you're gonna be facing a lot of resentment. Also, they have already told everyone they know how cheap you are and that they should hire you immediately (because you are obviously desperate for work). They have probably even told their neighbors that they know someone who would be great at mowing their lawns or babysitting. Be prepared to be deluged with charity work that, if you take, will leave you scrabbling in obscurity on a downward spiral to the poor-house, and that if you turn down or ask for more money, will have every potential client in Australia calling you a flake and a bitch behind your back. How do I know this? Personal experience. Your only real option at this point is to sigh, pack up everything you own, and move to a foreign country. I suggest Zimbabwe. Why? I like the sound. Say it with me...Zim-bab-we!
• What the illustrious sexyrobot said. Including the bit about Zimbabwe. Once they get that lingering ZAPU-ZANU stuff out of the way, it's nothing but opportunity. And congrats on the first post. Wanna ciggy?
• I've been free-lance for longer than I care to say, although not as a writer. First, the music industry will frequently low ball you because they think part of your payment is being close to famous musicians. It is, however, susceptible to a little price grandstanding (if you ask a lot of money you must be good). $300.00 sounds fine to me, although your use of the phrase "small-time promoters" doesn't sound promising. Just run the $300 past them and if they get that odd sound in their voice go to $200. You'll find out where they stand pretty quickly.
• Ahaha. And to think I put off posting here 'cos I was too shy to join the cool kids. A ciggy Capt. Renault? Only if we can sneak behind the bike sheds and bum puff it. I've sent them my reply outlining what sort of work would have to go into their proposal and asked if they had a budget. Yet to hear back from them, but I'm going down to the medical centre this afternoon to get my malaria shots just in case. A mate has suggested saying something along the lines of "Well I'd usually charge $300 for this sort of thing, but I'm willing to do you a deal if you throw in some payment in kind, perhaps akin to last time. Shall we say $150 and two coach tickets to Melbourne to see XYZ concert?" We'll see-- maybe I'll just quote high and see how I go.
• I've got nuthin' to add about the writing thing, but welcome new monkey!
• wait...are we SURE this isn't nostrilchyren?
• I've got two questions for ilse 1. Bum puff? Here in the Great White North bum is what you sit on, so the image in my mind is...well... unsavory at best. 2. XYZ - Are they still touring?
• Bum puffing is when you're riiiight down to the end of the butt and you hold it with your index and thumb ever so gently in front of your mouth, sucking the smoke out, but not touching the butt with your mouth. I guess because you don't want to get diseases from dirty old hobos (or from your 14 year old mates who think smoking ciggies and wearing ripped up denim jackets makes them hard.)
• I'm finding freelance writing a bit of a pain in the dick at the moment. I'm under contract to a newspaper in your town that's not the Telegraph, ilse. I bet you can guess which one. Hint -- massive classifieds section with big cheesy colour magazine promoting rampant consumerism disguised as intelligent purchasing.