ebook writer's fee

13 years ago

Originally Posted by karrydee

yep. how much is it actually? i'm an outsourced ebook writer and i finish a 80,000 characters ebook in two months. what's a reasonable fee for my work?

If you're asking here after you've written the piece, it's a bit too late I'm afraid.

- Rick Duris

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BrianMcLeod

13 years ago

What does 80,000 characters actually MEAN to anyone in terms of VALUE?

Are readers going to say, 'Wow, that was an IMPRESSIVE collection of characters!".

No. They won't...

Right off the bat, you're positioning yourself as a commodity writer who merely fills up empty pages with little blobs of pigment.

Is your ebook a complete solution for someone?

What makes it special or different in the marketplace?

That's what creates the value that people will pay you for.

There's no set "rate card" that all freelancers use as a guideline.

You get paid what you are worth to your clients in terms of results.

The better the results you deliver, the more money you can demand.

Make sense?

Best,

Brian

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DanielleLynnCopy

13 years ago

Brian made some good points - really, is your ebook creating a solution of some sort? Is it offering a revolutionary, new idea?

One place to start is to consider how much the ebook is going to be marketed for, how much profit is there to be made, then perhaps ask for a fraction of that. Depending on the quality of an ebook, ghostwriters can make a few thousand per book

... But for the lack of better information (both on your ebook and your situation) I'd say figure out how much time you really spent in hours, multiply it by your hourly rate, and there you go.

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dorothydot

13 years ago

Hi,
One approach you could take would be to...
1) decide what is a reasonable HOURLY pay for you as a professional writer;
2) guesstimate how many hours it took you to write your ebook;
3) multiply one by two;
4) use this as starting point. If it feels too high, reduce it. If too low, increase.

But it is one realistic way of gauging how to price yourself and your writings.
Dot

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ARSuarez

13 years ago

Originally Posted by dorothydot

Hi,
One approach you could take would be to...
1) decide what is a reasonable HOURLY pay for you as a professional writer;
2) guesstimate how many hours it took you to write your ebook;
3) multiply one by two;
4) use this as starting point. If it feels too high, reduce it. If too low, increase.

But it is one realistic way of gauging how to price yourself and your writings.
Dot

Hey Dorothy.

I think Dan Kennedy has said, somewhere, this is more or less what he does. The client is not advised of this, however.

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John_S

13 years ago

A very rough rule of thumb:

An ebook that successfully differentiates the client from competitors, establishes the client as a high value expert (that'd be with case histories of past work): $10,000

An ebook that barely gets the client into competition with 50,000 "me toos," wanabe material based on not a shred of actual experience, and utterly common information found in every ebook: $100.

An ebook. Period. : About two bucks.

Two months. Two weeks. Two years. Makes no difference.

Finally, you "value" your time. All clients will do is agree or disagree.

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Sweetcheeks12354

13 years ago

Charging a flat rate isn't good.

If I was writing a book on how to make money and how to potty train your toddler, I'd charge two different rates. Both take WAY different amounts of research and also will bring in different amounts of money.

If that guy is making $10000 for one book and $100000 for the other, you can afford to ask for more.

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nemock

13 years ago

Originally Posted by karrydee

yep. how much is it actually? i'm an outsourced ebook writer and i finish a 80,000 characters ebook in two months. what's a reasonable fee for my work?

Characters? Or Words?

It's all about the value you create for the client.

Economics 101:

Person A gives money to person B
Person B returns value to person A which is greater than the money given

Result = economic growth

If you're ghostwriting a book for a speaker getting $10,000 honorariums, a book should double that. I know someone who increased her's by 10x because of her book.

So what's the value of that book?

I've also known people--yes, more than one--who did a book and did nothing with it. Kinda sad, but there you go.

This is why I never accept ghostwriting deals for "a share of the sales." Yeah, whatever. I'll writing books for myself for a share of the sales, thank you very much. ;-)

Be more than a writer. Be a consultant and seek to solve the problems of your client through what you do. That right there boosts your value substantially.

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karrydee 13 years ago

Thank you for your replies. I found them really helpful and insightful.

The thing is, I love writing a lot. I'm not very particular about reaching 80,000 characters and typing characters just to keep up with the requirement. I'd like to think I write value, considering I am some sort of idealist. I often see to it that I add a novel dimension and a different approach to my work.

Measuring the hours of work is fine, but I think I'd go for what DanielleLynnCopy said: consider how much the ebook is going to be marketed for, how much profit is there to be made, then ask for a fraction of that

I'm actually just starting out and I've made 3 ebooks as a ghostwriter already. But I do need to improve on my style and skills. (I think I need a mentor).The pay was reasonable, but at this point, I think I should concern myself with getting recognized (by the boss) first. If he gets impressed, then that's when I can call the shots about the pay I guess. Especially if the book will sell well.
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psynaut

13 years ago

Have a look at the many freelance sites out there. I always see projects for ebook writers listed on them. View the bid prices ... this will give you an idea of what others are charging to similar services.

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attorneydavid 13 years ago

writers fees are all over the map. you have to remember there are people out there who can crank out 1000 researched words an hour. I use an english native writer on odesk who writes about 1500 words an hour. I read about 1500k words a minute and write a good clip as well. Alot of writers estimates to me seem like they take alot of breaks.

Time spent is irrelevant unless it's research heavy and resourced heavily to me.
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- karrydee 13 years ago
  
  thanks. these tips and ideas were really helpful.
  
  Thanks
  
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burnbebe

13 years ago

You took the ebook writing job and you haven't agreed with the client how much you'd be charging and how much he'd be willing to pay you for it? Hmn... that's risky business. Always set the financial terms first. What if you charge him a specific amount and then look for reasons to set it lower?

Anyway, I agree with the others about estimating the number of hours you spent on it, and then multiplying it by your hourly rate. You should also consider the amount or extensiveness of research you have to do.

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WickedWally

13 years ago

Try This Morning Glory

When you are in a situation where you have to justify yourself before your buyer...BEFORE you write the whole book (lets say the title of the book the buyer wants is "Tennis For Dummies") the buyer is going to ask you "so why should I hire you???"

Pre-empt that question by already writing at least one chapter of that book, create a squeeze page spend about $50 on Adwords to flood that squeeze... get people to opt-in at least 20% (which is pretty easy)

Total spend = $80

And your answer to the question;
"So why should I hire you???"

Your answer;
"Because if you don't, you'll risk hiring an unproven writer. See... I've already generated interest writing a book called "Tennis For Dummies"...

SUPER TIP - Write only 1 chapter of the book BUT... put the buyers name on the eCover of the book.

There.

You win.

Now you can ask for YOUR price... instead of asking other people what THEIR prices are.

GO!

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ebook writer's fee

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