That’s an interesting question, Gina.

I don’t think it matters one iota to us whether that person negotiating has experience or not. Our rate is our rate. Yes, there are clients who need to come up to speed with how to work with freelancers, and this could be the case here.

Still, there comes a point when it passes beyond inexperience and straight to insult. This is an established company, I assume. I also assume they set their own rates. To set the rates of another professional, to me, is crossing the line. Even if that client had said they’d pay Mika $3,000 a month, that’s not for them to say. It’s for them to say “What’s your rate?” and to negotiate from that point.

Oh, I know you’re on the writer’s side! No worries there. Thanks for your questions.

Thank you. I see what you’re saying — but anymore how do we know the level of experience of the client rep doing the negotiating? There is so much turnover and chaos anymore it seems everywhere. I do realize writers are vastly underrated, so I’m not being entirely naive. But could it be the person doing the negotiating was inexperienced? Just a thought. Believe me, I’m on the writers’ side.

I’m so glad to hear this was helpful, Ko. And I agree; just like any other field, writers don’t become experts overnight, and they deserve to be compensated for their expertise just like people from any other industry.

And here you are inspiring others yourself, Mika. 🙂

A customer was furious to be charged over $100 for something that would have taken them all day if not longer? That’s a foolish customer. The value is often in the skills and speed of the specialist, I say.

I’ve had similar dead ends, KO. I try to limit the calls to an hour tops, but it doesn’t always work that way. On a project long ago, I remember one guy who was a talker — he would not stop even when I was clearly trying to get off the phone. So the next time we talked, I told him we had exactly 10 minutes before my next call. He said “That’s not enough time!”

But guess who was off the phone in under eight minutes? Funny how those parameters made him stick to the damn point.

Thanks, Cathy. Lori’s Writer’s Worth content has been instrumental in teaching me how to stand up for myself as a writer.

Hi, Gina,

This estimate was for content consulting services, so I’m actually surprised the client threw in proofing. The client wanted to tap into my expertise to strengthen their content strategy, so they wanted me to review their current content plan and offer my recommendations for whether they were on the right track and if/how they should improve their strategy. Why that included proofing, I really don’t know. And as Lori noted, any agency would charge anywhere from $125 to upwards of $250/hour for that kind of service.

Us writers must have good intuition! I feel the same about trusting my gut. Even if there is nothing specific I can pinpoint sometimes I just get an off feeling about a client or a project, and each time I’ve proceeded the results haven’t been good…

I’m with Anne. Every time I go against my gut, it backfires. Paula’s right, there are so many who do not get the value an experienced writer or editor brings to a project. I cringe every time I see a promotion of bidding sites.

I follow another site that posts stories about difficult clients, but they are mostly from designers, computer tech people. One posted about how he fixed someone’s computer in a short time and charged more than $100. The customer was furious because it only took him a few minutes, but the expert (correctly) pointed out that it would have taken the customer forever to try to do it on his own. I think there are definitely some parallels with the writing world. Freelancers don’t get to become experts in a specific area over night, so the client should recognize they are paying you for not just the time it takes to do a task, but the work that went into learning how to do it efficiently. Hopefully that makes sense.

Great post!