Designers charge by the hour as well as by the project, asking for payments in increments, etc. When I put the same question to writers, amongst everything else (by hour, by project, etc), I even threw in charging by the word. As you’ll see, none came back with that specific answer.

Cheryl

by project, based on estimating hours

Cheryl Stephens | Mentor/Muse
plainlanguage.com | Building Rapport | Building Rapport : CafePress.com

Liz

I prefer to charge by the flat fee whenever it is possible. My thinking on goes like this. I figure what a job would cost to do at the hourly rate the very first time through. If it is a repetitive task, such as several write ups or many answers to questions, I figure by the third unit (I will have hit my stride and the communication “bugs’” will have been ironed out). The reasons I prefer a flat fee is because when you work hourly, a writer tends to get better and faster at the task, so he or she is actually making less money per hour when paid hourly.

In the case here a task is undefined, cannot be defined, I place an hourly fee higher than the hourly rate on which I calculate my flat fee. That’s because the lack of definition means that I will be spending large chunks of time chasing details and following up things that I don’t particularly like doing.

Any writing tasks that I really don’t like to do, I price really high. Then if a client still wants me to do them, I don’t mind.

ME (Liz) Strauss | Writer | Career coach | Strategic planner
Successful Blog | Letting Liz Be | Liz Strauss.com | The Blog Herald | Performancing.com | Write With ME

Louise

I don’t charge for the initial consultation if it’s a new client. If I’m offered the work, I charge by the hour, although I’m happy to work within a set budget for a fixed fee. If that is the case, the client (or the designer, if they are paying the bill) needs to understand that they may get less work from me than they want if the budget is very tight. I usually bill the client directly although I will occasionally arrange to invoice the designer if that is the client’s preference.

Louise Bolotin | Writer, consultant
PlainText Editorial Consultancy

Nancy

On a project basis.

Nancy Friedman | Chief Wordworker
Wordworking | Away With Words

Roy

As a writer, I have worked on salary. As a consultant. As a freelancer. On book projects, I’ve received advances and earned royalties.

Roy Peter Clark | America’s writing coach
Poynter Online - Writing Tools | Book: Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer

Tom

On a project basis. Hourly simply doesn’t make sense to me.

Tom Chandler | copywriting : online/blogging : marketing plans
Chandler Writes. You Profit. | The Copywriter Underground

tom

Day rate or project rate

tom mullen | writer & proprietor
EXIT3A.com | ANONYMOUS, JR

The final question in the writers section of the DWW series is How can a designer improve their skills in your industry?

until the next
Designers WW,
cat