Reply To: How Much Should I Charge For Editing Someone’s Story?

[riva pomerantz]

So Riva’s take is that you’ve gotten some great answers from Sherry, Bookworm, and Brocha.

It sounds like you started out this project as a chessed/hobby and now you’re trying to shift into being paid for it, which is a good idea. In general, unless there is a case of great need, it’s best not to give away your professional services because by doing so you risk unconsciously devaluing yourself to…yourself!

If you are just starting out, you probably want to charge less just so that you don’t feel tremendous pressure to do something that you’re not yet sure you can do well. $15 an hour seems like a good starting point, but you can definitely ask for more if you’re comfortable doing so and if it won’t create too much pressure for you. In general, the “market value” is anything the market will pay :-). I do think that it’s really important to establish the price up-front; it avoids A LOT of trouble later on. We all have a bit of squirmy squeamishness around money, so try to get that out of the way immediately or you may end up procrastinating on having that conversation and that could mean awkwardness at the end. Let us know how it goes, ‘kay?

And awesome for you, Passion, for putting yourself out there and doing this! Yay!!

[riva pomerantz]

So Riva’s take is that you’ve gotten some great answers from Sherry, Bookworm, and Brocha.

It sounds like you started out this project as a chessed/hobby and now you’re trying to shift into being paid for it, which is a good idea. In general, unless there is a case of great need, it’s best not to give away your professional services because by doing so you risk unconsciously devaluing yourself to…yourself!

If you are just starting out, you probably want to charge less just so that you don’t feel tremendous pressure to do something that you’re not yet sure you can do well. $15 an hour seems like a good starting point, but you can definitely ask for more if you’re comfortable doing so and if it won’t create too much pressure for you. In general, the “market value” is anything the market will pay :-). I do think that it’s really important to establish the price up-front; it avoids A LOT of trouble later on. We all have a bit of squirmy squeamishness around money, so try to get that out of the way immediately or you may end up procrastinating on having that conversation and that could mean awkwardness at the end. Let us know how it goes, ‘kay?

And awesome for you, Passion, for putting yourself out there and doing this! Yay!!