How do freelance technical writers deal with the thorny issue of payment?

["Pippa Cohen" <cohenpippa -at- googlemail -dot- com>]

I would really appreciate some advice from any freelance technical writers
on the list.

After quite a few years working as a permanent technical writer in the UK, I
am about to embark on a freelancing career. I have a couple of potential
clients in the pipeline and I'd like some advice about how other freelance
technical writers approach payment terms - specifically:

   - How do you decide whether to quote a fixed price, or a daily rate
   for projects?


   - For a large project that could span two or three months, is it
   reasonable to ask for a percentage of the final payment 'up front' ? I've
   looked at various websites and opinions vary from none, right up to 50%.


   - Again, for long projects, is it the norm to stagger payments across
   agreed milestones?

Thanks in advance.

Pippa.
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