Comments on: When Losing is a Good Thing

By: Translation favorites (Feb 6-12)

Translation favorites (Feb 6-12) — Tue, 16 Jul 2019 16:45:13 +0000

[…] Money to Avoid Freelancing Failures Develop a Reputation for your Blog The Value Of Blog Comments When Losing is a Good Thing When It’s […]

By: Lori

Lori — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 12:54:21 +0000

Allena, how long it takes is usually dependent on how bad the work is. I've done jobs that I've breezed through and jobs I've spent what felt like lifetimes on. If I'm proofreading, it's much cheaper because I'm not changing large sections of copy. Editing is another story entirely.

Yes, I'm in line with that chart. I'm at $35 a page.

By: allena

allena — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 01:26:30 +0000

More than $8 per page, Lori? How long does it take you to do a page? Have you seen these?

http://www.the-efa.org/res/rates.php

By: Lori

Lori — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 21:43:23 +0000

Same here, Cathy. No reason to haggle with unreasonable people.

Your neighbor is showing her beginner status, Paula. It's great to contribute to something you believe in, but not if the rest of the contributors are being paid. That's just nuts.

By: Paula

Paula — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 16:55:28 +0000

For me, it's more a matter of not even approaching publications and sites that list low per-word or per-article rates than it is turning down a low-ball offer.

I did, however, recently have a former acquaintance from college contact me about her new monthly local newspaper. She remembered I was a good writer. Guess she didn't realize I'd gone pro since her start-up paper doesn't pay. At all. I did tell a few beginning writers about it, in case they chose to offer a piece in exchange for a published clip. No takers yet, as far as I know.

A year or two ago I met a neighbor's friend who is a writer. She's published regularly in a neighboring small-town's weekly paper and was *proud* that she wasn't paid. In her mind "real" writers write for the art of it, not for pay. And we wonder why so many people think they can get away with paying writers next to nothing.

By: Cathy Miller

Cathy Miller — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 13:38:29 +0000

I'm happy to say, a lot more than I used to. I rarely take rush jobs. That's a choice I make. Maybe it's because in my corporate life it was just one big rush job.

Sure, for existing clients I'll put in the extra effort on occasion, but I still keep it reasonable. And reasonable doesn't include working 12-15 hour days. If that means I have to walk away from an offer, so be it. It gets easier to do the more you make that choice.