How to Price Writing Projects

Even as writing and publishing morph to fit the 21st century, an age-old dilemma remains: should freelancers charge by the hour (maybe even set up a monthly retainer, like lawyers) or by the project (like a homebuilder or carpet installer)? The bigger the job, the harder it is to predict how much time it will actually take—and the more appealing it is for the client to have a fixed cost up front. 

Most industries have a standard approach. The US medical industry is famous for its lack of transparent cost predictions, while home builders give a price up front based on known quantities, like square footage and the number of windows. 

While magazines offer a fixed price per story that is rarely negotiable, digging into bigger projects like books reveals a variety of approaches. That’s because the best writing projects always evolve—in both scope and desired result. 

And unlike square footage or window counts, curiosity and creativity cannot be pre-determined. Whether I’m writing a book or working on a magazine feature, my best AHA! moments are sparked by diving into a research rabbit hole. Clients are counting on me to dig up something unexpected, but they don’t want to pay me for worthless wandering—and there’s no way to know up front if any finds will prove relevant to the project.

Here’s a simplified comparison of the plusses and minuses found at each end of the billing spectrum: 

By the HourAdvantage: I get paid for the time I put into the jobChallenge: The client doesn’t know how much it will costExamples from other industries: Legal workBy the ProjectAdvantage: The more efficiently I work, the higher my hourly rate—and the client knows costs up frontChallenge: I almost always underestimate the time I will put in (because it can’t possibly take that long!)Examples from other industries: carpet installation, boat building

Basically, this conundrum boils down to future risk: who should cover the costs when a project exceeds its original parameters? If I bill by the job, I assume all the risk of working too long on something—which reduces my incentive to dig deep. Billing by the hour puts all that risk on the client—who is not in control of my rabbit-hole choices. 

Ideally, that risk would be shared equally between client and contractor; some sort of compromise between these two ends of the billing spectrum. Here are a few of the options I’ve tested out over the past thirty years:

Bill by the hour, not to exceed XXDivide the project into stages and give a price for each stageAccept a fixed price job and try to work as efficiently as possible

In every writing project I’ve ever taken on, there is one commonality: it’s impossible to quantify all of the critical woolgathering and coincidental connections that go into creating unique stories. So, even if I charge by the hour, I will inevitably put in more time than I actually bill for. And because I love my work, that’s just fine with me. 

What do you think is the best approach? For those of you who are also writers and researchers, let me know how you deal with this age-old dilemma—and if you have any additional ideas to suggest. 

Thanks for reading, and see you next Thursday.

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