Book Review: Does Pricing Require Voodoo?

What’s on the iPodl: Icarus by Bastille

What a day. I should have known, in fact I did, that the power would be out in the morning. The electric company sent a notice, and I put it on my desk so that I’d put it on my calendar. Almost instantly, that notice was buried in a pile of papers. So imagine my surprise when at 9:27 a.m., the computer went off. I was shocked for about 28 seconds, then I remembered that blasted notice.

So what do you do when life gets in the way? Go shopping. I grabbed the grocery list and got some errands out of the way. The morning wasn’t wasted.

Just before 1 p.m., the power returned. At the time, I was reading poetry. My mother had gifted an old poetry book to me, and I was enjoying getting to know some forgotten poets. The minute I heard the printer kick on, I closed the book and started this machine up. Despite the treat of reading poetry in the afternoon, I had work to do.

Also, I had a book to finish. Good friend and fellow writer Jake Poinier, a.k.a. Dr. Freelance, has written a must-have book for freelance writers. In fact, today’s post is about that very book.

It’s called The Science, Art and Voodoo of Freelance Pricing and Getting Paid, and it’s a no-bullshit, straight-shooting account of pricing, negotiating, and building a better business from the fee up. You’re going to see the word “easy” and its synonyms in this review a lot because Jake has taken the complexities of fees and pricing and earning and made them simple to understand. In just 14 concise chapters, Jake spells out strategies for estimating, pricing, bidding, and collecting your fee. He also gives us his Go-to-Hell-Fund method, which helps you put aside the money to walk away from that nine-to-five.

What I love most about this book is Jake’s rating system. He gives you several methods of presenting your offer (price), and how each ranks with clients in terms of effectiveness. It’s a smart, sensible system that allows you to choose which method may work for you and avoid those that are just too much work for too little reward.

Other must-read gems include evaluating clients on the P/H ratio (a payment-to-hassle scale),  when to stop playing with low-ballers, how and when to give yourself a raise, and principles of estimating (including voodoo methods). In fact, the voodoo methods of pricing are what Jake calls “the fudge factors” of pricing — how busy are you, how deep are the client’s corporate pockets, how many people are in charge, etc. I came away from reading this book with a new appreciation and confidence in pricing effectively and knowing when other factors will mean a higher rate.

Moreover, the book goes into some age-old debates: post those rates or not; give first-time clients discounts or not; and work for free or not. Jake even goes into teaching us how to develop our business brains, which I think is essential to freelance success. One chapter is devoted to building solid project estimates, and it’s so simple it’s brilliant. Jake has broken the estimation process down into an easy question-and-answer checklist. And if you’re not wowed by all that, he throws in a chapter devoted to figuring out your income and expenses to help you get to your target rate, including a super-smart, easy (there’s that word again) Market-Based Double-Check system that makes sure your rate is competitive. The book is a delight to read, and it’s taught even this old freelancer some new ways of thinking.

The Science, Art and Voodoo of Freelance Pricing and Getting Paid  is available right now at a 40% discount through the end of November. Use discount code ZQ8JHH7F. It is also available (without a discount) through Amazon.

Jake’s other book, Help! My Freelancers Are Driving Me Crazy, is also available and is written for clients, though freelancers can learn from it, too. Click here for more info, or stay tuned for my review coming soon.

What has been your method of pricing? Where does that method serve you best? 
Any situations in which a set fee or pricing method hasn’t worked or won’t work? 
What are your stumbling blocks to negotiating a fair rate?