Yesterday was about low prices. Today, the opposite – the best you’ve ever had.
What’s the top price you’ve ever received? How does that figure out per-hour? Was the job harder?
I had one job that paid a phenomenal rate – $12K. It was a collaboration with a company whose big-name client was paying for a manual. They in turn decided to pay a writer/editor to coordinate everything. It was too easy – the project never finished. I was paid upfront, so I hung on to the cash in case they came back to it or they asked for a refund. They were satisfied that my time waiting (and the phone call conferences) were worth the price. I felt guilty. I didn’t get to do much editing at all and almost no writing. But they insisted I keep the money. Who am I to argue?
What was the most you ever received for a job? Was it worth it? Did the workload offset the payment, or did you work insanely hard for it, thus justifying the price paid?
The best has to be the current "day job", although it's actually editing a bi-lingual magazine 4 times a year, for a whopping £20k (apx $31k) + bonus + benefits. If I wasn't "on the books", I'd negotiate (and get) more than that minus the benefits as it would still be a lot less than what I cost them. I love this job.
Aside from that, my best single job was an American assignment for Spa Magazine. I got $1 per word, so $3,000, + 3 days of full treatments in a local (to me) spa centre + travel expenses + photo repro fees. I never worked out the hourly rate, but I put my feet up for the rest of that month.
I've had some scripting and script doctoring jobs that paid REALLY well. Especially since a confidentiality agreeement was included . . .
My highest paying job was $12K and it was for the first magalog I ever wrote, and I earned every penny of it. I worked on it on and off for over a year and it was blood, sweat, and tears. My hourly rate was a fraction of what it normally is. I swore when I was done I'd never do another magalog. But then a client came along with a product that I was passionate about, so I did a magalog for that one, and my effective hourly rate was $200/hour.
I like doing magalogs now, especially because they're a month to six weeks' worth per project. I've also found there seems to be a sweet spot with projects priced in the $2-$4K range for me (e.g., landing pages). Those I can whip out fast and end up higher than my target hourly rate every time. Smaller projects or larger projects don't seem to have the same profit margins.
I got my very first commissioned job as a ghost writer for someone who runs an internet marketing business. I was really paid well. However, I value the experience more for it was my first.
My best dollar amount for a single article was $4,700 for a really fun 4,700-word article. That was about 10 years ago. The trade magazine folded in 2001.
My best per-word rate was $2/word for a piece in a major consumer magazine. I think it was about 1,000 words. That was in 2004.
BTW – I heard that the major consumer mag cut its rate to $1/word last year.
I'll go hourly. The best I've done (so far) is about $200 an hour for a project at the end. (It wasn't paid hourly, I just divided it out) It was a big content project for a fairly well known info company, and I managed it more than I actually wrote–I hired a LOT of writers. I feel that I made a little "too much" on my end, so I've since upped my pay rate for the writers.