That's where most gurus lose me, Jenn. The minute they dismiss your methods or ideas, they're setting themselves up as THE example of perfection. Right. I know at least one guru whose advice I'd not only NOT follow, but I might suspect is baseless. Plenty of writing going on out there that's been made up out of thin air.

Paula, basic math. Amen.

But when it comes to determining the real value of an assignment, all it takes is a little basic math. Not the word of a so-called guru.

Don't you just love those "gurus?" I had a run-in with one of the worst a few years back. In a rate-related post on my blog, I shared an example similar to this where a lower project rate was actually worth consideration where others might walk away.

In this case it was an old client that I didn't raise rates for over the course of several years. I knew I was at the top of their budget and they'd leave before paying more. It's not like we hadn't discussed it.

Even though it was my lowest per-project rate, it paid me $60 per hour OVER my base hourly target. So keeping their rate lower than those for new clients made a lot of sense.

"Guru" apparently couldn't do simple math and missed the hourly rate it worked out to. So they publicly criticized me for not charging enough.

Man, did that rub me the wrong way, especially since they routinely talked about their own rates and most of my new clients actually paid me much more than they earned per piece.

Then again, it's usually the ones who boast the loudest about their own projects, clients, or yearly earnings who are blind to the fact that many colleagues they think are "beneath them" have surpassed them years ago. Sadly newbies don't pick up on those things nearly fast enough. But this post is a great place for them to start.

No matter what kind of rate system you use for billing, it all comes down to your hourly — even if your clients never know what that is.

And after reading your comment, Ashley, I realized I should contact the client I mentioned in my guest post. The work is quick, they pay fast, and the first installment of my property taxes is due next month!

Lori made it sound like I did a lot more than upload and schedule a few posts. She had everything organized and ready to go well before her surgery, so it was her hard work, not mine. Yes, I nagged her into expanding Writers Worth from a day into a week. (What can I say? I love alliteration.) But she added an S, making it Writers Worth Weeks, which somehow grew into a month.

Wasn't it last year someone said, or quoted, something about writers charging per word is like carpenters charging based on how many nails they use? It really is true.

Most places I write for don't count the exact number of words (although it's easy enough to do in most word processing programs). Instead, they round to the nearest 50 or 100 published words or assign a word count range for a stated fee.

Perhaps some publications are moving toward the project fee model Cathy prefers. If nothing else, it would discourage new or greedy writers from padding their copy with useless words.