FAQs
- What should the customer know about your pricing (e.g., discounts, fees)?
I don't think my pricing system is that complicated. It's based on an hourly wage that is commensurate with what I make in my professional position. I estimate the number of hours it will take me to complete the project and set my price accordingly. Sometimes it takes fewer hours, sometimes it takes more, and generally I will not adjust my price. Exceptions to this may occur if a project takes significantly longer to complete than anticipated due to the customer or client requesting a lot of additional edits, changes, or add-on work. Then the customer and I may need to revisit the price point.
- What education and/or training do you have that relates to your work?
Yes. This is one nice thing about having a full-time position in addition to taking freelance work: I have lots of access to professional development opportunities through my place of work. I attend workshops and trainings, and also keep up on several writing blogs.
- How did you get started doing this type of work?
I've always really loved writing. In college I studied Psychology and foreign language, which both gave me an even deeper understanding of, and appreciation for, the way that words work and how they work on people. When I graduated and entered the professional world I didn't set out to be "a writer," but I found that writing in various capacities was always a part of what I did in my career. I wrote service plans, I wrote policy manuals, I wrote grant proposals, I took minutes at meetings, I wrote all the sensitive communications for my company, etc. I started to gravitate naturally towards projects and positions that involved more and more writing, and my co-workers knew that I was the one to come to if they needed something written, edited, or couldn't figure out how to phrase something quite the right way. When I moved to Houston I thought, "Ok, I've been doing all this writing in all these different capacities, and it's what I really love. I'm going to find a job where that's what I do." And I did!