Comments on: The Publisher’s Search for Savings

By: Marian Rogers

Marian Rogers — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 15:35:31 +0000

Absolutely, Rich. I do recall your comments about joining forces to advocate for ourselves. I think that’s long past due and should be part of the mission of our professional associations. I had the positive experience of banding together with some other freelancers to get paid after a development house went under. We were a small group, but it was effective. There is power in numbers!

By: americaneditor

americaneditor — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 15:28:16 +0000

You are welcome, Marian. If you recall, I also said at the conference, during the keynote, that the future will require currently solo freelance editors to join forces. In the absence of groups, we will be powerless to address income problems.

By: Marian Rogers

Marian Rogers — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 15:21:40 +0000

Rich—Thank you for this blog post and for your sessions at the 2011 CommuncationCentral conference, which confirm my and my clients’ long-standing modus operandi. Over 25+ years of freelance editing, I’ve almost without exception worked for a page rate or flat fee. Although I too have had the occasional project on which I “lost my shirt,” generally speaking the page rate/flat fee continues to pay off because of long experience with certain kinds of texts and various efficiencies I can apply to my work. I should also note that I work for different page rates for different clients and adjust editorial focus and tasks accordingly. A page rate/flat fee also helps me schedule projects, since based on the total pages or flat fee I can calculate how many hours I will spend on the project to make it profitable. The only time I charge an hourly rate is for project management/production coordination, which I am occasionally asked to do in addition to copyediting. All of that said, as you’ve observed, page rates have remained flat for a decade or more. In addition, clients have been adding other tasks, such as applying styles to a manuscript, to what used to be a straightforward copyedit job, usually without adding to the page rate. This seems to be part of the trend among publishers toward wanting one company to do everything, and explains why for some time now, many publishers have been going to behemoth development houses for editorial, design, production, etc. instead of working with individual freelancers.

By: Zarine

Zarine — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 13:12:41 +0000

How about payment on a ‘per 1000-words’ basis? That’s the strategy I discovered in previous forums when I was starting out, and has been totally acceptable to my clients. We use the word count of the original document. That way, I choose whether to dawdle (mostly NOT ;o) ) and the client doesn’t suffer. Sticking to deadlines is crucial to my reputation! However, the rates obviously vary for general and highly technical documents. I DO have an ‘hourly rate’ in mind when I develop a quotation for a new client, based on samples that he submits.

By: Carolyn

Carolyn — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 12:10:25 +0000

I work at an hourly rate when clients operate that way and are not interested in alternatives. I’ve only been successful at converting the rate (and then only to flat project fee based on accumulated data on hourly rate) with very long-term clients with semi-stable output.

When clients come to me, I steer the payment system toward my preference. When I’m offered a gig with a publisher who has many other hungry editors available to choose from, I don’t push for anything other than extra time to do the work or better timing of the payment — especially since I’m rarely dealing with the party who has authority to make decisions about finances. Instead, especially during our first project together, I concentrate on making them want to come back for more. Repeat, timely paying business is more important to me than what form it comes in.