Pricing of technical writing?

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

Kathrin Schlipf wondered: <<What is the common pricing method in the 
technical writing business?>>

Pricing by the job (fixed-price) and by the hour or other time period 
are common, though clients prefer the budgetary comfort of a 
fixed-price bid. I've also seen "per topic" rates, and this is 
typically how you work when you submit a fixed-price bid: you count up 
the number of topics and details per topic, then estimate your cost by 
how long you expect to take producing this much verbiage.

Pricing by the word is semi-common, depending on how broadly you're 
defining techwhirling (e.g., writing white papers or technical 
newsletter articles) and whether you're including translation (where it 
is the standard). I haven't generally seen "cost plus percentage" used 
for techwhirling, but I'm sure it's out there. I have certainly seen 
editors quote based on "$X for the work plus $Y/hour for all research 
costs".

 <<Would you say that customers are price sensitive which means they 
would react on price increases?>>

Some are extremely price sensitive, and will go with the lowest-cost 
bid irrespective of whether they'll be buying quality. Witness the 
offshoring furor that's become such a hot-button issue lately: it's not 
that you can't get good quality from Indian and other ESL writers, but 
rather that you have to include quality in the contract specs rather 
than deciding purely based on price. (The same problem occurs 
domestically with temp agencies that oversell the skills of their 
contractors; it's emphatically not just a domestic vs. offshore issue.)

Other customers are prepared to pay top dollar for the comfort of 
knowing that they'll be getting the quality they insist on. I have a 
few editing and translation clients who keep coming back to me, even 
though they could get the job done cheaper elsewhere, because I'm a 
known quantity and go out of my way to give them what they need. If 
you're a busy manager and your own performance appraisal depends on 
getting the job done right, paying a premium for peace of mind is easy 
to justify.

<<Do they expect technical writers to take substantial risk?>>

Again, this varies widely. Some clients seem to take pleasure only from 
putting the screws to you and squeezing out as much blood as 
possible--and this includes expecting you to take on all the risks. 
(For example, I've seen several cases where a company wanted a 
techwhirler to work for them "on spec", in the hope that the product 
would some day ship and there'd be money to pay the writer. Ditto for 
budding novelists working with editors.)

Most other clients are somewhat more human, and recognize that the 
client-contractor relationship should be symbiotic ("mutualism", 
technically) and mutually beneficial rather than a predator-prey 
relationship. There are enough of them out there that I've been able to 
avoid the other type.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
- -
Geoff Hart   ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca
(try geoffhart -at- mac -dot- com if you don't get a reply)
www.geoff-hart.com
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
- -


^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

WEBWORKS FINALDRAFT - EDIT AND REVIEW, REDEFINED
Accelerate the document lifecycle with full online discussions and unique feedback-management capabilities. Unlimited, efficient reviews for Word
and FrameMaker authors. Live, online demo:
http://www.webworks.com/techwr-l

Doc-To-Help 7.5 Professional: New version with new features, improved performance and reliability, plus much more!  Download your free trial today at www.componentone.com/techwrlfeb.

---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as:
archiver -at- techwr-l -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Send administrative questions to lisa -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-  Visit
http://www.techwr-l.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.