How much would you charge to mae a 200pg ebook. [honest]

There is a trick I use to get quality content written for at least half of what people are saying here, sometimes even much less.

I've shared this with clients of mine and they have also used it quite successfully.

As you know, when you post projects to outsource sites like elance or vworker (Rentacoder)...quality writers will typically charge what people are talking about here - in the $8+ price range.

But, if you place multiple projects for articles (basically equivilent to a chapter or even section of a chapter) you can get them done at much less.

So - I post projects for 10-15 "articles" making sure to specify that you want them well researched instead of just crappy keyword loaded articles (what many freelancers are used to being asked for) and then farming them out.

I have gotten quality ebooks written for a few hundred dollars this way instead of thousands.

Jeff

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blackhawkup

Banned 13 years ago

Really good ideas here...thanks you guys..

But what do you think about hourly charging...

i did a search on elance.com and it seems all of the writers are charging by the hour.

cant they easily inflate this cost? how will how will i honestly know how many hours they've worked.

as far as the pictures are concerned i will add all of that stuff later.

i just want the book written ill take care of the extra jazz.

hmm maybe i shouldn't be concerned about how many pages. and just worry about finding a quality writer,

Thanks
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NicoleBeckett

13 years ago

Originally Posted by Mr Swaggs

But what do you think about hourly charging...

i did a search on elance.com and it seems all of the writers are charging by the hour.

cant they easily inflate this cost? how will how will i honestly know how many hours they've worked.

There is absolutely no way to prove how many hours they actually spent working, which is why I would never personally pay someone by the hour for a project like this. Plus, you're in an industry where time really *is* money, so you certainly don't need someone dilly-dallying around with your ebook to pad their own pocket!

With my ebook clients, I do pricing by the page, and I tell them up front that a page is considered to be about 300 words (once you factor in white space, headers, footers, chapter breaks, etc). And, once the book hits 30 pages, the price per page goes down.

If you're looking for a 200 page ebook, it's going to be expensive. However, with the right writer, it can be well worth it.

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DeborahDera

13 years ago

Originally Posted by Mr Swaggs

Really good ideas here...thanks you guys..

But what do you think about hourly charging...

i did a search on elance.com and it seems all of the writers are charging by the hour.

cant they easily inflate this cost? how will how will i honestly know how many hours they've worked.

as far as the pictures are concerned i will add all of that stuff later.

i just want the book written ill take care of the extra jazz.

hmm maybe i shouldn't be concerned about how many pages. and just worry about finding a quality writer,

Most writers on Elance aren't actually charging by the hour; though they may be asked to put an average price per hour into their biographies. When I bid on Elance, I end up calculating my rate based on a per article rate and then making it fit within the client's "per hour" job description. I always tell them that I work per article and not per hour.

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Dan C. Rinnert

13 years ago

How many words are you looking for?

A page with 1" margins, double-spaced in a 12 point serif font would be roughly 300 words. Single spaced and it's at about 600 words. Vary the margins and type size, and the word count can vary even more.

Going by page count does not have the precision of word count. Do you want a book that's 60,000 words in length (300 words/pg. at 200 pages) or one that is 120,000 words in length (600 words/pg. at 200 pages).

What about images and spacing and formatting? Are you counting scrolling pages as in a Word document, or finished pages with nice looking chapter openings and such.

Will there be images used? Do you want an eBook that's 200 pages in length in straight text, plus however many additional pages may be required for images? Or, do you want an eBook that's strictly 200 pages in length, inclusive of any images, such as photos or graphs?

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Andrew_Cheyne

13 years ago

Wow really good info here.

I am writing my first eBook and had decided to do it myself and outsource the content for the website instead of vice versa... On e-lance I got a quality company writing 600-700 word pages for about 11 bucks a page so it was quite a good deal i.m.o.

Seems that the 10 bucks per page for an eBook would have been a bit more expensive as I am planning on making my eBook between 30-50 pages.

Thanks for the info and posts... I am going to follwo this thread.
Andrew

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Rough Outline

13 years ago

If you didn't mind doing a little bit of work to it, you could structure the whole ebook into "articles" then get a much cheaper rate on them and turn those articles into an ebook. It would work and would be a lot cheaper.

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Justin Boland

13 years ago

Nobody is going to read a 200 page ebook, though -- you could probably cut it down to 50 and have much better content, too. Everyone appreciates concise copy.

Also: professional copywriters charge for completed product, not time spent pacing around the study trying to nail the right phrase. It's the only ethical way to do this gig: charge for copy...not time.

Thanks
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Don Schenk 13 years ago

Originally Posted by Justin Boland

Nobody is going to read a 200 page ebook...

Justin, don't be so sure about that. I've read dozens of ebooks in excess of 200 pages, and as I look around our house, there are over 3,000 regular (printing press produced) books.

The first ebook I bought, the S.A.H. book from Rosalind Gardner, is 237 pages.

Maybe there are some folks who don't want to read, but if a book is interesting, well written, and spot-on about what the reader needs to know, the lengeth is not an issue.

Have you ever read the Lord Of The Rings trilogy? It's just under 1,200 pages. Okay, that is fiction. So what about non-fiction (how to do something) books?

Reading a good non-fiction book is like climbing into the head of the writer and learning what it is he or she knows. Sometimes that can't be done in 40 or 50 pages for lazy readers.

Of course, if it teaches a process, one that is better taught by example, then video is better. Yesterday evening, I bought a 6 hour set of videos on WordPress and am about half way through. A book would not have been able to demonstrate actions as easily.

:-Don
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- Robert Boduch 13 years ago
  
  Why not write it yourself?
  
  After all... you've already done the hard slogging of ferreting out the facts and juicy details with research. On top of that you've taken all your raw data and organized it into a complete outline. Any writer with some background in your subject area could really go to town with this. But you could say it in your own words just as well, if not better.
  
  What you're holding in your hands is gold ore. All you have to do is craft your raw notes into a finished product. You've already done what I would consider the most challenging and time-consuming part of your project.
  
  The writing is easy. It's like turning the oven on and sitting down to enjoy a delicious feast after your worker-bees have first cleaned the kitchen, picked all the fresh produce, and carefully prepared every course for you in just the right way.
  
  Robert
  
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blackhawkup

Banned 13 years ago

Originally Posted by Justin Boland

Nobody is going to read a 200 page ebook, though -- you could probably cut it down to 50 and have much better content, too. Everyone appreciates concise copy.

Also: professional copywriters charge for completed product, not time spent pacing around the study trying to nail the right phrase. It's the only ethical way to do this gig: charge for copy...not time.

thats so wrong..haha my whole business model is based around selling 100 - 250 page ebooks accompanied by and audio recording of the book.

my target market, by the way, is groomed to reading long books. Their mostly college graduates and business owners.

all of my ebooks sell for $147 - $167 depending on how many pages.

I have been writing all of my books in the past, but that crap has become tiresome. Although i can afford to pay $2,000 for the writing. the businessman inside me, is forcing me to look for a quality writer at a good price.

it usually takes me about 3 days to write 80 pages..but also im a single dad (and my 3 kids arent in daycare right now) . i could imagine i could fully write a full ebook packed with pictures and the whole 9 yards in 2 days if i had the time.

But i figure ill save time by spending on the ebook creation from this point on.

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winebuddy

13 years ago

I just hired a great writer on Elance and paid $950 for 200+ pages

He has laready delivered the rough draft and is working on the final now and it will already be formatted for Createspace.

So I would pay $950

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GarryMSayer

13 years ago

I'm with Robert here.

If your outline is strong enough then the process of writing is a simple join the dots exercise, plus you'll be incorporating your own writing 'voice' thereby embellishing your content with more character and substance.

Why not start writing that first chapter, without stopping or correcting or worrying about grammar and spelling, until it's done? Leave it for a day, reread and edit tomorrow, then crack on with the next chapter.

By breaking the project down into easily manageable chunks you'll be less overwhelmed with the quantity of what you need to write, plus you'll be able to see the progress you're making as each project (chapter) is crossed off.

Your finished ebook may be 250 pages, it may be 150 pages. By writing it yourself you'll KNOW when it's done!

Good luck!

Garry.

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jasonsluck

13 years ago

personally I would go to odesk, its way cheaper than elance and you'll get more bids. Additionally, you can make the offer only available for US candidates if you prefer.

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blackhawkup

Banned 13 years ago

Originally Posted by jasonsluck

personally I would go to odesk, its way cheaper than elance and you'll get more bids. Additionally, you can make the offer only available for US candidates if you prefer.

odesk sucks for content creation..i wouldnt even pay them for a crappy article. They are decent for backlinks and small stuff like that. But definitely not for writing a book that will be sold to a "bright" market.

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ThrillerAuthor 13 years ago

Mr Swaggs, I sent you a PM
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Justin Boland

13 years ago

Don't get me wrong. I used to read a ton of material online -- my very last was Prof. Carroll Quigley's "Tragedy and Hope" which was 1348 pages, and I vowed it would be my last. I re-read it a few months ago, in hardcover. I eat books every day, but when it comes to "ebook" material, I really think short and sweet is the winning model.

If you've built a business model around moving product that's over 200 pages, obviously I'm not your target market...although I am grateful to know that such a demographic exists. Something new, every day.

My prejudice towards long format ebooks is mostly based on experience reading inflated copy. Most ebooks are filler content to begin with, and if you've really got something worthy of 200+ page treatment...it's probably worth getting a publisher, right? (Then again, there's no better way to step to a publisher than with a database full of proof that your product has an existing demand and proven track record of sales already.)

I think the reason guys like John Jantsch and Brian Clark are successful is their short (less than 50 pages) and powerful ebooks. Every page was an education -- all killer, no filler. In other niches I've worked in, I see the same pattern: the most successful ebooks are short, perfectly organized and polished product.

Of course, we're not in the aesthetics business. If you've got a model that works, the more power to you.