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:: I have been on elance for about 18 months.
:: In that time I have seen all work go to
:: people who charge $10 to $20 an hour.
:: Since you can only get my intern for those
:: rates with no quality or usability work on
:: the docs, we have not gotten any business
:: out of it.
That is truly sad! Not so much that you are losing out to the low bidders,
but that people bid themselves out that low to begin with. It makes me sick
to see people charging such rates for technical writing. No wonder tech
writers complain they are low-balled for salaries...
Story:
While between full-time jobs, I did some consulting/contracting. I had one
agency call me up - they were referred to me by someone at some point and
drooled over my resume. They flatly asked what my rates were like. I replied
"what's the work like"? They replied "what does that matter?" Right there I
knew this was not going to be a good conversation. So after some head
butting I decided to give them a range, low rates for
typesetting/formatting/no-brainer work, middle rates for web design, basic
tech writing, etc., and high prices for the complex stuff (process
consulting, single-source publishing, help authoring, highly technical
writing, etc.). They balked, big time, not over the high rate, but over the
low rate. They wanted me to work for $20/hr. I told them I could collect
trash for that rate. They didn't like that. They wondered why I could charge
a whole salary's difference between my low rates and my high rates. I
responded "because they are totally different types of work that pay a
totally different salary". They didn't like that. So I told them they had to
pay for quality and I get those rates from other clients with no problem.
They said "no thanks, but we'll leave the $20 open should you change your
mind". I told them they'll get what they pay for. I think we both hung up at
that point.
*****************
BILL SWALLOW
Technical Writer
C O U R I O N C O R P O R A T I O N
1881 Worcester Road
Framingham, Mass. 01701
T E L * 508-879-8400 x316
F A X * 508-879-8500
www.courion.com
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