$/word TW

Subject: $/word TW
From: John Wilcox <wilcox -at- PCD -dot- NET>
Date: Fri, 19 Jan 1996 05:56:15 -0800

> Tech Writing paid by the word. Yeeeehaaaa!

[snip the gory details ;-)]

> NOW I ASK YOU:

> Have any of y'all EVER come across such a billing method in
> tech writing?

Of course this sounds ridiculous, but it raises a question in my mind:
isn't getting paid by the hour a little silly, too? If we answer this
question "no," is our response prompted simply by the fact that much
TWing *is* done for an hourly wage? Getting paid by the word might
encourage some to be more verbose, but isn't there a similar temptation
if you're paid by the hour? Getting paid by the word might be
detrimental to the more efficient writer, but isn't the case the same
for those paid by the hour?

So what ever happened to the simple notion of getting paid by the job?
Clients (in *any* industry) must have an idea of what a particular task
or assignment is worth to them; why don't we just negotiate that value?
Have any of you worked on that basis?


John Wilcox <wilcox -at- pcd -dot- net> <--- new address


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