Re: What's a good freelance rate for technical writers?

["Michael L. Wyland" <michael -at- sumptionandwyland -dot- com>]

To all:

Follow-up thoughts about setting prices and what the market will bear:

1)  Not long after starting my consulting business, I learned that 
there was a wide spread in quoted prices for work performed by print 
shops.  The wide spread was due, in part, to the print shops' 
respective work loads and capacities; the more capacity, the lower the price.

2)  Urgency is one factor that moves prices upwards.  When a client 
is casual about a job, they can and often will hold out for a low 
price.  On the other hand, when the job us urgent, they will seek the 
most reliable producer and pay for the privilege of having high 
expectations met.

3)  One market where pay is moving downward rapidly is in higher 
education.  The explosion in use of "adjunct faculty" by all kinds of 
colleges and universities has become so prevalent that the percentage 
of US faculty either tenured or in "tenure track" positions has been 
reduced by 50% in the last 25 years.  "Adjunct faculty" teach a 
course or two a semester for about a third the salary of a full-time 
instructor and receive no fringe benefits.

I was reminded of the last point specifically when thinking of Mark's 
original question.  He's leaving employment and being asked to quote 
a freelance rate should his soon-to-be former employer wish to retain 
him as a contractor.  However, a rate sufficient to match his 
employment salary and benefits package is seen by the employer as 
excessive compensation for a contractor.

Of course, the employer probably doesn't understand that their 
employee costs are probably twice the base salary paid; they make a 
false comparison between base employment salary and gross contractor rate.

Sometimes, a client can be made aware of some of these facts and, 
sometimes, their awareness may influence contracts positively.  Even 
when it doesn't help a particular situation, the conversation is 
between two businesspeople and not between an employer and an 
employee, or , God forbid, between a benefactor and a supplicant.


Michael L. Wyland
Sumption & Wyland
818 South Hawthorne Avenue
Sioux Falls, SD  57104-4537
(605) 336-0244
(605) 336-0275 (FAX)
(888) 4-SUMPTION (toll-free)
michael -at- sumptionandwyland -dot- com

Since 1990
Strategic Planning * Executive Coaching * Training & Facilitation

-- NEW Web site:  http://www.sumptionandwyland.com
-- LinkedIn Profile -- http://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelwyland





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