Charge? Charge what?

March 17, 2010 11:37 PM

How much should I charge for this freelance writing gig? A small book publisher has offered me a job writing roughly 100 humorous, high-concept captions for a book of illustrations. There's no clear category for this kind of work in the Writer's Market. They've asked me for my rate. Should I base it on magazine per-word rates? Halp!
posted by DeWalt_Russ to Writing & Language (8 answers total)

Best answer: I'd probably treat it as a joke-writing gig and charge a per-joke rate. Going with a per-word rate could leave you woefully underpaid -- shorter is funnier, but it's work to make it suitably brief. This page has some ranges of rates for joke writers as well as tons of other freelance writing gigs.
posted by katemonster at 12:34 AM on March 18, 2010

I'd second katemonster's advice. You're a gag writer here.
posted by zippy at 1:34 AM on March 18, 2010

I'd quote a 'project' rate. You know the amount of writing, even if it's only 'roughly'. You can write it into your stipulations that the rough number (X) is a given; if more than X the rate will be $Y extra per illustration.
posted by chrisinseoul at 5:10 AM on March 18, 2010

Best answer: I know someone who writes greeting card copy freelance. She gets $50 per card, which sounds about right.
posted by shothotbot at 5:28 AM on March 18, 2010

I'd second the project rate. You seem a little uncertain what to charge, as well as how to charge it. If I'm right about that, I'd suggest figuring out what you think is fair per hour, and then estimating how many hours this will take.
posted by troywestfield at 7:12 AM on March 18, 2010

Best answer: Advice on pricing a project (a web project, but applies to freelancers of all sorts).

The Editorial Freelancer's rate page.
posted by notyou at 7:23 AM on March 18, 2010

Response by poster: Thank you all for the points of reference. That was very helpful.
posted by DeWalt_Russ at 8:54 AM on March 18, 2010

I also know someone who does a copyediting job for a greeting cards company - again completely freelance. He gets $75 per card, which sounds about right.
posted by chesslover at 1:38 PM on March 23, 2010