Comments on: 5 Trade-ups to Boost Your Writing Career

By: Ashley

Ashley — Wed, 10 Jun 2015 04:51:05 +0000

Amen, Paula!

By: Paula

Paula — Tue, 09 Jun 2015 14:46:47 +0000

I spent most of the day Saturday hand-trimming hedges and cutting several (but not all) weed trees out of the hedges on the property line. I'm covered with scratches and bruises. I have four yard bags overflowing, two trash cans stuff beyond capacity (marked with an X so it's collected with the yard waste, not the trash), and a big stack of 3" diameter trunks, aka "branches" lined up to haul out for collection, but looking at the backyard you'd be hard pressed to tell I'd done anything. Ugh.

Right now most of my work is still feature writing, and sadly the clients set those rates (but Favorite Editor just assigned a piece at $1/word so at least our rates are aligned). But when asked my hourly rate or a per project rate I've begun stating the rate I deserve instead of worrying about what they'll think. Sure, one potential client said she'd have to think about it, and another just said "thanks for the info!" so he was probably only asked my rate to compare it to what other writers quoted. One of these days someone will bite! Until then I'll stick with features instead of underbidding what a job is worth to me.

Yep. That's another part of the writer's worth equation: How much the job is worth to YOU.

By: Lori Widmer

Lori Widmer — Tue, 09 Jun 2015 13:43:09 +0000

Selective is good, Cathy. No sense being our own bosses if we're doing things we don't like doing!

By: Cathy Miller

Cathy Miller — Tue, 09 Jun 2015 13:34:48 +0000

These beat any sports trade I've seen, Lori. ;-) I traded up to select business writing services. I hated copyediting, so I don't offer it. I created blogging packages so I contract for a minimum of 3 months (so far clients have all gone for the 12-month package).

Sure, on occasion I will do the smaller "one and done" for existing clients, but I find by being selective, I enjoy and benefit from better projects.