in Christopher’s case, either his portfolio is too great, that he immediately gained the trust of the client in his quality of work,
or he got lucky and his competition was too low,

other than specific fields where competition is low, how do you take into consideration the competing prices ? the free added values ? the time frame, others don’t have a day job and can deliver faster etc … ??
Many thanks and Happy new year!

Bethanny, for some projects having an advanced degree is actually required, and the pay can reflect that. However, that’s not always the case.

Often a company has a maximum fee they are willing to pay. Our goal as writers is either get that max amount or very close to it.

And sometimes when writers are early in their careers, they focus more on actually getting jobs so they can gain experience, even if the pay is less than what they’d like.

And $40 per hour is not bad. If a writer gets $40 per hour for 30 hours a week, it works out to $60K per year. (two weeks vacation)

I get $50/hour or more on most projects, and I never finished college. I would think that someone with a PhD would be able to get a whole lot more, especially when working in his area of expertise.

I think he estimated his time very well Anne. He came in a couple of hours under his projection.

Lori, I’ve also had some clients who are major talkers. It’s smart to include that in the bid.

I read recently about another freelancer who’s spent hours on the phone talking with various people in the client’s company, and still no definite contract. In those cases we should consider billing for our time.

Right now I’m working up an estimate for a project, and one thing I have to factor in is the client phone calls — dude is a talker. I don’t mind if it’s useful and I’m compensated for the time.

Lori, I agree completely about getting a budget figure whenever possible. I’ve also received some very pleasant surprises that way.

Good points Graham.

Chris states that the client asked for a bid. If the client doesn’t provide a specific fee, I usually ask if there is a budget for the project. However, many businesses are hoping the writer will bid a lower fee, which will leave extra money for the business, so they won’t give a budget figure. Or they are getting multiple bids on the project.

Having a PHD in the subject definitely helps, but the client may have been fine with someone who had a master’s degree, or perhaps even a bachelor’s degree.

I imagine next time Chris will ask for more money for a similar project with the same client.