Am I Off the Wall?????

[Geoff Hart <ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca>]

Deborah Hemstreet wondered: <<... I bid on a project (details listed  
below). Based on the fact that I would be responsible for research as  
well as writing, I told the bidder I could do this in probably 4 hours  
per page of work, possibly less. I gave a top bid based on 280 hours  
of work. It seems they want 70 pages of writing done, and do not want  
to pay more than $250. Even if, by some miracle I could get 70 pages  
written in 100 hours, I don't think I could do the project for $250.>>

Well, let's consider a few inconvenient data points. First, you'll  
often see meaningless statistics such as "2 pages in final form per  
day" bandied about in the techwhirler community. These are meaningless  
statistics because every project is different (not to mention every  
client) -- and my productivity varies by as much as 300% among  
clients, just in case you think I'm blowing smoke with that  
generalization -- but your estimate of 4 hours per page is at least  
within the right sports league, even if not in the right ballpark.

Second, they're expecting you to complete the work in (let's say) less  
than 5 hours based on a fair hourly rate for an experienced writer,  
which means you'd have to write a page roughly every 4 minutes,  
including research and revision. Do I need to make it clear why this  
is impossible? Possibly for your client: for a standard 250-word  
manuscript page, that's typing at 50 words per minute. Easy enough for  
a skilled typist to achieve, but it doesn't leave much time for  
researching or thinking about what you've found.

<<He wrote back and asked why my bid was so high? Of 5 people bidding  
for the project, 4 gave a bid for less than $250.>>

If he thought you weren't worthy of further consideration, he would  
have written back and said "thanks, but no thanks -- don't call us,  
we'll call you (when Hell freezes over)". The fact that he's still  
communicating with you means that you have some leverage -- and it may  
mean that he's lying about the other bidders. I can't imagine anyone  
who would work for this rate -- you could earn more money working at  
McDonald's, and you'd get better benefits, with less hassle.

If anyone really does want to work at this rate, my advice to the  
client would be as follows:
- Accept their offer and see what kind of crap they produce.
- Hope that what they produce doesn't wind up with you in court as the  
subject of a class-action lawsuit by readers, copyright holders who  
have been plagiarized, and others damaged by this work.
- Call me again when you want the work done right. You have my  
estimate, so budget for it and let me know when you're ready to be  
serious about this.

Of course, I'd express this all a tad more diplomatically. <g>

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Geoff Hart (www.geoff-hart.com)
ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca / geoffhart -at- mac -dot- com
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Effective Onscreen Editing:
http://www.geoff-hart.com/books/eoe/onscreen-book.htm
------------------------------------------------------------------------

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