freelancing survey results

[Nancy McGuire <Nkmcguire -at- AOL -dot- COM>]

A few weeks ago, I posted a brief survey to the Chemical Information and
Technical Writers listservs.  I got four responses, summarized below.  Thanks
to those of you who responded.  If enough other people respond, I may do an
update.

Nancy McGuire
nkmcguire -at- aol -dot- com

 RESULTS AS OF NOON, JULY 11



1.  What kind of organization do you work for?  (university, government,
chemical manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, other - specify)

aerospace manufacturing
publishing house affiliated with nonprofit professional society
university research facility
small publicly held company



2.  Are you using more/fewer/the same number of freelancers now than you did
five years

using more contract employees than freelancers
more
fewer (use more contract employees than freelancers)
only three years old, but have used one freelancer consistently


3.  What types of projects are you contracting out to freelancers?  (manual
writing, abstracting, copy editing, other - specify)

manuals, hte specs
copy editing
use very few freelancers
technical manuals



4.  What rates do you typically pay?

$30-$50 per hour
pay according to experience
about $50 an hour, depending on experience
$45-$50 per hour



5.  Do you use freelance editors or writers to assist your  colleagues for
whom English is a second language?


not formally
no
no
no

6.  Do you hire freelancers more than 50 miles away from your business
location?

generally no
yes
sometimes
no

                  TECHWR-L List Information
To send a message about technical communication to 2500+ list readers,
E-mail to TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU -dot-  Send administrative commands
         ALL other questions or problems concerning the list
       should go to the listowner, Eric Ray, at ejray -at- ionet -dot- net -dot-