Will write for MONEY.

I’ve mentioned before (and plenty of other established freelancer writers will tell you the same thing) that I can’t tell you what to charge for your freelance writing services. I can help you figure out how to determine your freelance writing rates, but that’s about it.

Each week, I gobble up Angela Hoy’s WritersWeekly.com newsletter (go ahead – sign up). Among several other fantastic features, Hoy’s website and newsletter provide expert advice, success stories, and listings for paying writing markets and freelance jobs.

Anyway, a couple of weeks ago, one of Hoy’s readers wrote in to ask for her advice on how much to charge for ghostwriting a non-fiction book and, for the first time – ever, I think – I disagreed with Hoy, who advised the writer to charge by the hour:

These types of projects can go in all different directions and, if you’re not charging them by the hour, you may find, in the end, that you were earning pennies per hour. Whenever a lengthy project is being directed primarily by the client instead of the writer, you should charge by the hour.

Actually, I don’t entirely disagree; rather, I think the answer could be fleshed out a bit.

You see, to me, telling a client you charge by the hour for something as large and involved as a book is kind of like asking that client to write a blank check.

Don’t YOU feel more comfortable hiring contractors who give you a flat fee up front?

Of course, coming up with that flat fee can be challenging. Below are five steps I use to determine ghostwriting rates (and you can even use your regular hourly rates).

1. Get ALL The Ghostwriting Job Details

I’m serious: Find out EVERYTHING you possibly can about the project. For example:

• What IS the project? Not all ghostwriters write books. For example, some do article ghostwriting, and others provide ghostwriting services for businesses that need to send out regular newsletters to customers. Since those kinds of projects are a bit easier to set ghostwriting fees for, though, we’ll focus on the book ghostwriter for now.
• How much of the research will be in your hands? All? Some? None? Understanding this part of the job upfront will help you determine both how long the job might take and how much effort it will involve.
• How familiar is the topic? For instance, if you typically write about home improvement and the project is about the various methods for refinishing floors, you’ll probably be in your element; however, if it’s about the latest scientific research regarding the brain’s production of oxytocin, you might find the project requires more effort.
• Do you have to work with anyone else? Is there an illustrator you need to meet with periodically, or a researcher you need to hear from on a weekly basis? What about an editor? Find out whether your schedule will reflect interaction with others, too.
• What is the client’s deadline? (HINT: For big ghostwriting jobs like books, it’s unlikely you’ll complete and present the project in its entirety; you’ll most likely work on it in chunks and provide those chunks for approval at various intervals. The client might prefer this, or his editor might require it. Whatever the reason, if this is the case be sure to find out each of those deadlines, as well.)

Don’t forget to take a look at YOUR schedule. While it might not help you determine your ghostwriting fees, it can help you figure out whether taking on certain writing jobs is even possible – or worth your while.

2. Think About Your Regular Hourly Rate

Here’s where you can consider your hourly freelance writing rates.

Use the information you gathered above to determine (read: estimate) how many hours a day, week, or month (however you want to do it) you will need to complete the project to the client’s specifications and within the deadline. Tally up those hours and come up with a flat fee.

NOTE: That sounds ridiculously simple. It’s not always. Take your time on this. When I first started working as a freelance writer, a client advised me to “measure twice and cut once.” He saved me from charging a week’s worth of pay for what turned out to take a month to complete.

Thus, this is invaluable advice. Heed it.

3. Determine The CYA Fine Print

Now’s the time to work out the details that could, at some point during the project, cover (and save) your ass – both financially and work-wise. Think about factors like:

• The number of free revisions you’re willing to do before the client must pay extra.
• How involved those revisions can be.
• How much extra the client will have to pay.

Your flat fee can include the [X Number] of free revisions, and your contract can include the additional costs, should they arise.

Keep in mind these are just a few suggestions. Depending on the type of ghostwriting services you’re dealing with, you might have other CYA details in mind.

4. Create A Scope Of Work

If you aren’t sure what a scope of work is, don’t worry; I’m going to explain it next week. For now, note that a scope of work is document that outlines and explains:

• The project’s purpose and intended outcome.
• Your responsibilities.
• Your client’s responsibilities.
• Individual deadlines.
• Overall duration of the project.

Note: Some people use “scope of work” and “statement of work” interchangeably; that’s fine, if everyone within ear shot knows what they’re talking about, but typically a statement of work is much more involved (and actually includes a scope of work).

5. Write And Sign The Contract

Ewwww, contracts. The only things that ensure we get paid (most of the time), but they’re a bitch to write, yes?

Well, in the beginning. Eventually you’ll get the hang of it and probably develop your own file of various contracts for various projects that require only a little tweaking here and there.

In addition to the agreements set forth in the scope of work, your ghostwriter contract also will cover issues like:

• Ownership, copyright, and credit.
• Confidentiality and nondisclosure agreements.
• Payment (include methods and schedules) and royalties.
• Termination terms and an escape clause.

Need help drafting a contract? I recommend checking out:

• Anne Wayman’s The Ghostwriting Contract (which also provides a sample contract) and Ghostwriting – 9 Elements Of My Contracts Or Letters Of Agreement.
• Ivan Hoffman’s The Ghostwriter Agreement. (He’s an attorney who has been practicing law for 35+ years, so…yeah.)
• PrintableContracts.com’s Writer/Ghostwriter Agreement. This is a nice template you can use to plug in all the details and legal information specific to you, your client, and the project.

There you have it Of course, this method won’t work for ALL ghostwriting jobs, but it will work for most. Too, there are times when charging straight up hourly rates IS best (say, you’re a full-time freelancer for a Web development company who dumps about eight hours of work a day in your lap, would rather pay you by the hour, and quotes you a high hourly rate before you can even think about an awkward negotiation period – it happens, trust me).

How have you determined what to charge for ghostwriting jobs?

I know I can't have been the ONLY writer having trouble with them.

We’re eight days into 2010, and a major trend I’ve noticed this year is that more job advertisers than ever before (at least, in my experience) are requesting writing resumes. Fortunately, producing a copy of my writing resume doesn’t aggravate me as much as it used to.

Since I started freelance writing, I’ve spent the first few weeks of every new year following exactly the same routine: Telling myself this is the year I will consistently apply for new writing jobs (no need to put all my eggs in one basket again, right?), sticking to that goal with fevered excitement, and then finally realizing I have to take a break to update my writing resume.

Here’s the deal: I used to hate updating my writing resume. I mean, I really loathed it. (Sure, I never ran into a ton of job advertisers who required them, but all it takes is one, right?) I’ve had tons of clients – big companies, small companies, individuals – I can’t include them all! What makes the cut? What goes unmentioned? How do I organize it all?

Then, last year, I sat down with a pen and a pad of paper and made an outline – a very old school, to-the-point outline of headers, subheaders, and even squiggly doodles when my mind started wandering. What I ended up with was an outline that looked very much like what the resume for a traditional, 9-5 job would look like – with a few tweaks, of course.

Well, that was easy. Maybe I’d been overthinking it the whole time? Maybe I just needed a visual? Probably both.

Whatever the case, below is the cleaned up version of the outline. It’s nothing new for seasoned freelancers, but it might help those of you just getting started.

No-Brainer Information To Include

There are certain bits of information every resume must include – no matter what job you’re applying for – and this information generally appears at the top or bottom of your resume depending on the template you use.

Make sure your writing resume includes:

• Your name. (Regardless of the template, this usually is always at the top.)
• Your website name and address if you have one – and really, you should.
• Your contact information such as your email address, your physical or mailing address, and your home, office, and/or cell phone number. Some freelancers also include information such as their Skype or Yahoo Messenger names. (Note that if you’re applying for jobs via the Internet, feel free to omit any information you’re not comfortable handing out to strangers.)

Now that that’s out of the way, let’s get to the meat of the thing.

Start With An Objective

Depending on the job advertiser, this objective might be as specific as “To obtain employment as the Senior Editor at Rock Out Company” or as generic as “To provide search engine friendly web content and copy that will help improve the look, usability, and visibility of small businesses websites.”

Actually, don’t copy that last one. I might use it myself in the future.

List Your Specialties

Press releases? Newsletters? Sales copy? Here’s where you’ll include a brief list of all the kinds of writing in which you specialize.

If you’ve noticed, many job advertisements call for writers who are “proficient in Microsoft Word, Outlook, and Express” or “know how to create PDF documents,” so you might also want to include any programs or software with which you’re experienced.

Move On To Your Work Experience

Really, this is the only difficult part of the whole resume-writing process you’ll have to deal with (and who knows – it might not be difficult for you). This is where you decide what stays, what goes, and how to organize it all.

Making it no easier is the fact that freelance writers have such wide variety of experiences under their belts. Long-term contracts with companies, brief liaisons with individuals,

I handle this section by breaking it up into subsections. For example, one copy of my resume includes a subsection about the companies I’ve contracted with, a subsection about the various kinds of web content I’ve provided, and a subsection about my blogging experience.

It’s also important to make sure that you include subsections, and jobs under those subsections, that are related to the job you’re applying for.

NOTE: Remember when you listed your specialties? Now’s a good time to elaborate on those, if you can. For example, if you write spectacular sales copy, this is the section to mention the sales letter you wrote for Whatever Company more than doubled said company’s sales that month.

Link To A Few Writing Samples

One of the best things about resumes you can email or post on your website is the ability to link. Clips of articles archived in online versions of magazines, copy you wrote for the front page of a website, a client’s About or Bio section – you can link to all these.

Be careful to uphold any privacy policies you have with your clients, of course; you might have an agreement with some clients about not disclosing the nature or results of your work with them.

Tell About Your Education And Training

Some job advertisers specifically call for people with “at least [this degree] in [this or a related area]“; some don’t care.

If you have a degree or some sort of special training (if it’s related to the job), go ahead and include it.

Show Off Your Awards, Achievements, Etc.

This one’s pretty self-explanatory. Just be sure to keep your list succinct and stick to awards and achievements that are related to your writing career. I’m willing to bet the job advertiser looking for a copywriter doesn’t care if you won the neighborhood award for Most Original Use of Red Christmas Lights back during the winter of 1997.

Tips to Consider:

• Create a “master copy” of your writing resume – one that includes everything but goes out to no one. Having this copy will help you keep up with all your jobs, skills, etc. and act as a quick reference for when you’re creating the resumes that do go out.
• Don’t shy away from having multiple writing resumes. Different jobs call for different experiences, and pretty soon you’ll have a nice stock of resumes you can make simple tweaks to and use over and over.
• Regularly update your writing resume. Whether it’s your master copy or the more targeted versions, make a point to update your resume(s) as you gain new experiences in order to prevent scrambling and trying to remember what happened six months ago for a job you’re applying for today.

Look at all my pretty eggs! This basket will hold them forever! Muahahaha!!!

One of the best pieces of advice I received when I first started freelancing was: Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.

Really, it’s pretty common sense advice for any freelancer or self-employed person. If you put all your eggs in one basket – in other words, if you devote all your time and attention to one particular client and job and come to financially depend solely on that job – you’re left with nothing when something happens to that basket.

Notice how I’ve used “when” instead of “if”; it’s been my experience that, eventually, something always happens to the basket.

Yes, this was one of those lessons I had to learn for myself, unfortunately.

Within my first few months as a freelance writer, I landed a cushy writing gig with a stable company (of the reliable, and not equine, variety). Work was plentiful (nearly 24 hours a day if I chose – and, as a newbie, sometimes I chose), the company paid well, and life was grand. I continued writing for this company for about two years, very rarely taking on additional writing gigs. Why should I? That weekly check certainly didn’t require additional jobs.

Then one day, the well dried up. Or, someone stole my basket. The company had no more work for its freelance writers because the project was complete. I felt an amazing sense of accomplishment – after all, I’d been working on the project for a long time – but that wasn’t enough to squash the feelings of fear and being lost.

Obviously, the story has a happy ending – I’m still here and freelancing, aren’t I? – but it didn’t come without some serious scrambling and the vow that I would never, ever, put all my eggs in one basket again.

Oh, the pain we can avoid if we would just listen to the advice of those who are experienced.

If you’re just starting out as a freelance writer, or if you’ve been freelancing for a while and just looked around to see that yes, all your eggs are indeed in one basket, here are a few ways you can ward off disaster before it strikes:

Regularly Apply for Writing Jobs

Applying for writing jobs when you already have a writing job might not make sense now, but the benefits will definitely be crystal clear when your big basket disappears. Set some time aside in your daily (or weekly) schedule to do nothing but search and apply for new jobs. You won’t get hired for every single job you apply for, so as long as you’re careful to only apply for those you can juggle with your current workload, you should be fine.

Of course, there are other good reasons to frequent the writing job boards. Deb Nj of Freelance Writing Jobs published an excellent post yesterday explaining why. Check it out.

Spread Yourself Out

This goes right along with regularly applying for new writing jobs. Having a big basket full of many eggs is a little safer if you also have a few small baskets full of a couple of eggs. Not only do having these jobs on the side help you in case your big basket disappears, but they also help build your portfolio, skill set, and contacts.

Just be careful to avoid spreading yourself too far out. It’s possible to have too many jobs that take up too much of your time and the finished products of which don’t accurately reflect your skills (i.e., you end up producing crap and having no life outside of writing).

Keep a Money Cushion

Many freelancers are familiar with the phrase “feast or famine,” and this should go without saying, no matter how many baskets you have, how long you’ve been freelancing, or really even what your job is: You need a savings account. Not just a savings account, but a savings account specifically for paying your bills and feeding yourself in the event you lose your big basket.

So, how about you? Have you ever made the mistake of putting all your eggs in one basket? What’d you do to survive it? What do you do now to avoid it?

Because I'm so creative with my images.

On Friday, I sort of joked about writing a post titled “The Top 7 Ways to Screw Yourself Out of a Writing Gig,” but over the weekend I thought, “You know what? I really could write that post. I really could list seven ways for a writer to shoot herself in the foot. Whether I’ve witnessed fellow writers make these mistakes, or I’ve made them myself.”

Of course, that last part doesn’t really sound like something to be proud of, I know…

…but, it means my writing career has survived some growing pains, right?

Right.

So, on to the top seven ways to screw yourself out of a writing gig, in no particular order.

#1: Lack Confidence.

This probably sounds like a no-brainer – and applies mostly to new writers – but if you lack the confidence in yourself, your work, and your abilities it takes to apply for a writing job, you’re most likely not going to apply for the job. If you don’t apply for the job, you’re not even giving the advertiser a chance to say no; you’re already telling yourself no.

While this might make sense if you’re looking at a job advertisement for a new Content Director at some high-powered, well-established blogging network and you yourself have only been blogging for a couple of weeks, it’s just not good business if the advertisement you’re looking at calls for press release writer and you have indeed written a handful of press releases in your career.

Of course, you can’t stop at having just enough confidence to apply for the job; you also have to make sure that confidence shines through during your application process. For example, if you receive a followup phone call from the potential client looking for a press release writer and said potential client says, “Tell me a bit more about your experiences with press releases,” replying with “The last press release I wrote was for a South Texas company ready to announce the launch of its new website” sounds far better than “Um, well…I’ve really only written a few.”

#2: Be a Know-It-All.

And by “know-it-all,” I don’t mean a person who knows it all; rather, I mean a person who knows it all (or, knows a hell of a lot about it) and is obnoxious about it.

Look, chances are the potential client already knows he needs help – that’s why he wants to hire someone. The last thing he wants is for someone to point out everything he did wrong until you came along, and everything he’s going to keep doing wrong unless he listens to you.

Which brings us too…

#3: Insult Your Client.

Maybe you think his company logo is tacky, or perhaps you’ve noticed several flaws with the layout of his website. Unless he specifically asks you for your opinion on these things, stick to the job you were hired for. For all you know, his wife designed the logo and his son built the website and his cousin is going to be writing the content if you can’t deal with it.

#4: Refuse to Budge.

At some point in your writing career, there will come a time when a client asks you to write something you’re not entirely comfortable writing. Maybe he manages an online store and has decided to add leather jackets to the inventory and you, as a vegan, aren’t comfortable writing the product descriptions. Or, perhaps he owns a political blog and wants you to cover a few weeks worth of posts about policies you don’t agree with.

Here’s the deal: Sometimes, refusing to budge is okay – as long as you handle it professionally. If writing about these things would bother you, then by all means, bow out. Politely declining a job because of your own beliefs, values, and morals doesn’t necessarily mean you’ve screwed yourself out of a job; however, becoming defensive and trying to change your client’s outlook, picking a fight and potentially burning your bridges (nice transition, there), can mean just that.

#5: Burn Your Bridges.

As described above, situations (unrelated to the completion of a project) might pop up when you and a client part ways. And, also as described above, sometimes these situations are unavoidable.

Regardless of why you need to part ways, the best way to handle it is politely and professionally. Just because the two of you came to a point where you don’t see eye-to-eye and shouldn’t work together anymore doesn’t mean you should end your last call by screaming insults and slamming down the phone.

After all, just because you couldn’t continue working together one one project doesn’t mean another one won’t come along in the future the client would think you were perfect for.

#6: Lack an Online Presence.

These days, many writers and editors turn to the Web for work. Why shouldn’t we? The Internet allows us to easily connect with potential clients and other writers from all over the world and we can, after all, do this from just about anywhere.

It only makes sense then to have an online presence – a “home base,” if you will, that introduces people to who you are and what you do. Some of us go all out with a website, blog, or both, and some of us keep things simple with just a Facebook account.

Whatever you choose to do, do something. Give your potential clients a way to get to know you and your work, and give yourself a chance to connect with your co-workers.

#7: Ignore Social Media.

It’s 2010, and if you’re not involved in some kind of social website – whether it’s a networking site like Twitter, Facebook, or yes, even MySpace, or simply a news-oriented site like Digg, Reddit, or Stumble – you’re pretty much asking the world to overlook you.

Social media sites are powerful tools for connecting with potential clients and fellow writers, as well as checking out the work of others and promoting your own.

Plus, freelancing can get lonely at times and these kinds of sites are nice “water coolers” you can swing by whenever you want and chat up your friends!

Do any of these sound familiar to you? I know I can raise my hand for numbers one and five, and in the past, six and seven, too. Or, have you done something else that’s voided your shot at a writing job?

Alicia