bluebird
I have several years of editing and copywriting experience. I am currently working as the administrative assistant to someone who is writing an autobiography. He has asked me to meet with him to discuss editing his book, which he is just starting to write. This would be my first manuscript editing project.
I would like to draw up a preliminary contract prior to our meeting. My challenge is determining the best way to bill him. I am concerned that billing "by the page" will make my fee seem high. Up until this point, he has thought of me as "just an admin," and I’m afraid he might balk at paying me market rate for my editing skills. I also know that my boss is somewhat distrusting about matters that involve money, and I feel that if I bill "by the hour" he will worry that I'm not working as fast as I should be. He also tends to underestimate how much time things actually take. I will most likely be doing this freelance and therefore will not have health insurance or benefits, so I really want to be sure I charge enough to make this project worth my while.
Since I have never worked on a project like this, I am also having a hard time estimating how much time it will take and how many pages I can reasonably edit per week.
I hope to spend much of the summer working on this project. I plan to enter graduate school in the fall, so if the book isn’t complete I need to be able to determine how much time per week I could devote to editing. This is difficult because I really don’t know what my school obligations and schedule will be like.
Another question—if I am working outside of an office setting, I would like to have access to a laptop. I don’t currently have one—is this something that he might be willing to provide in order for me to work on the project or is this something I would be expected to furnish? It would be really nice to have use of one so I could work outside of my home.
I’d greatly appreciate any suggestions for handling these issues.
I would like to draw up a preliminary contract prior to our meeting. My challenge is determining the best way to bill him. I am concerned that billing "by the page" will make my fee seem high. Up until this point, he has thought of me as "just an admin," and I’m afraid he might balk at paying me market rate for my editing skills. I also know that my boss is somewhat distrusting about matters that involve money, and I feel that if I bill "by the hour" he will worry that I'm not working as fast as I should be. He also tends to underestimate how much time things actually take. I will most likely be doing this freelance and therefore will not have health insurance or benefits, so I really want to be sure I charge enough to make this project worth my while.
Since I have never worked on a project like this, I am also having a hard time estimating how much time it will take and how many pages I can reasonably edit per week.
I hope to spend much of the summer working on this project. I plan to enter graduate school in the fall, so if the book isn’t complete I need to be able to determine how much time per week I could devote to editing. This is difficult because I really don’t know what my school obligations and schedule will be like.
Another question—if I am working outside of an office setting, I would like to have access to a laptop. I don’t currently have one—is this something that he might be willing to provide in order for me to work on the project or is this something I would be expected to furnish? It would be really nice to have use of one so I could work outside of my home.
I’d greatly appreciate any suggestions for handling these issues.