FAQs
- What should the customer know about your pricing (e.g., discounts, fees)?
It is very difficult to give an appropriate quote based on a Thumbtack request alone. For editing, I will generally need a sample of the work. For any type of writing or editing, it's usually necessary to have a bit of a conversation. That said, I can usually bring in an editing quote at somewhere between $0.01 and $0.03 per word. The cost of writing, of course, depends on the amount of research required, and would usually be done on a fixed bid for the entire work, or each installment.
- What is your typical process for working with a new customer?
I always start out by finding out what is needed and wanted, and getting familiar with the scope of the project, and the state of the existing research or document. Once that is done, we will work out the details of how to work together most efficiently, and then get started passing work back and forth, until we are in full agreement about how it will go. It's a process.
- What education and/or training do you have that relates to your work?
I have been writing professionally since 1975. I've always felt that the best way to learn how to write is to write! Criticism and nit-picking are the surest way to stifle a writer, and this applies not only to fiction, but highly technical writing and everything in between. If you write enough, you will figure it out. When it is time to publish something, it helps to have a second set of eyes on the work. This way, you can find the inevitable spelling errors and typos, fix unintentional errors in grammar, clean up the flow of the prose or dialog, point out or handle inconsistencies and structural problems and so on. In many cases, it's almost impossible for the original writer to do this, as they tend to read it as they intended it, rather than how it comes across. This is true of all types of writing, but for various reasons. I have been a software developer and entrepreneur for my entire career, working with a wide variety of clients and technologies. As far as writing itself, I have no formal training on the subject past high school... at all! I am self-taught. I have read many books and articles on the subject and I have studied and worked with people on all types of writing. When you go to an art museum, do you examine the credentials and certificates of the artists, or do you look at their art? The truth is that, to choose an editor or writer, you will have to actually work with one, for a short time, before you know if it's a good partnership. It's personal. That's why I suggest sending a sample of the work, or an assignment, to get things rolling.