So the big question – the one everyone wants to know, but doesn’t want to ask first … How much will this cost?
Well, I don’t have a firm answer. With creative work there is a lot of flexibility and it’s hard to quote a firm price up front without knowing the scope or intensity of the work needed. Each project starts with a phone or email conversation about what is needed and I’ll give you a heads up on what it might cost before the project starts. But here’s a guide:
Proofreading, editing, and review:
I charge by the hour with a 30 minute minimum. I then bill in 15 minute increments after that. I use a timer, which I pause when I step away from the project so you are not billed for my time to put more coffee or tea in my mug.
Review is straight reading and then a summary that includes comments, suggestions, constructive criticism, and accolades of your work. If I have to research the accuracy of your work the hourly charge is a little higher. Please note, it’s hard for me to just review and not make corrections if there are a lot of spelling or grammatical errors.
Proofing and editing includes fixing spelling and grammatical errors and small re-writes to fix word and content flow. I will also re-paginate or create/remove paragraphs or other tweaks to make the document look good on the page. I don’t make major textual changes without checking with the client first. If I think within the first half hour (usually much less!) that it needs a major re-write I will contact you first. Documents must be sent in a format such as word, excel, publisher, powerpoint, notepad, wordpad, portable document format, or other software that I have licensed to use on my computer.
If you want graphics or charts added to your document you must provide them or use one of my stock images. I don’t typically use online graphics and any charges for me to purchase stock images (i.e. Getty Images) are included in the project cost.
Writing Services:
For articles, blog posts, newsletters, flyers and brochures I charge by the piece. The price varies depending upon the length of the piece and the amount of research needed before writing. Long (over 800 words) technical articles or newsletters will cost more than short general blog posts.
For straight written content you are charged by the piece. For print materials that require mock-up and page layout you may also incur an hourly charge to create the final document.
Web content is usually by the page. If your entire website needs updated content and organization I might quote you an hourly rate to keep it reasonable for both of us.
Graphics:
I charge by the hour with a 30 minute minimum. I then bill in 15 minute increments after that. I use a timer, which I pause when I step away from the project so you are not billed for my time when I’m not actively working on creating your Facebook banner or other graphical work.
Social Media Management:
I charge by the post or monitoring of your name, business name or brand or as a bundle of posts.