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kamicaldwell
Community Member

Fixed Rate Writing Milestones

Hi everyone,

 

I'm looking for advice on fixed rate writing contracts. How do you set up milestones?

 

Twice now, I feel cheated because I've allowed a milestone for a first draft at half the agreed upon price. Obviously, a first draft is most of the work so I shouldn't do that. But I did. So I do the work and have the milestone accepted and the contract closed at that rate.

 

What's a good way to set up fixed rate writing contracts? I'd love to hear some other ideas.

ACCEPTED SOLUTION

Anything up to about $ 1000 - one milestone, fully funded, full amount.

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6 REPLIES 6
datasciencewonk
Community Member


@Kambria D wrote:

Hi everyone,

 

I'm looking for advice on fixed rate writing contracts. How do you set up milestones?

 

Twice now, I feel cheated because I've allowed a milestone for a first draft at half the agreed upon price. Obviously, a first draft is most of the work so I shouldn't do that. But I did. So I do the work and have the milestone accepted and the contract closed at that rate.

 

What's a good way to set up fixed rate writing contracts? I'd love to hear some other ideas.


 Make sure the client funds each milestone before beginning work.

 

Reiterate the agreement before accepting the contract...

 

"So, to clarify, milestone 1 is x amount, milestone 2 is y amount. I'll be glad to get to work on this once all milestones are funded."

 

For fixed rate contracts, I don't do "first drafts" unless we have an agreed upon editorial cycle (milestone 1 is the outline, milestone 2 is the final draft with one free copy-edit -- no adding to the word count or rewriting the piece). I write, copy-edit, and send. But, also, fixed rate writing clients must have detailed specifications such as a writer's style guide, examples of the style and tone they prefer, and/or an outline already in place.  No generalities (e.g. I want the writing to be "muscular").

 

Otherwise, it's an hourly job for me. 

 

 

 

 

tlbp
Community Member

Charge the amount you want to be paid for your work as the first milestone and add an extra fee for revisions. 

allergywriter
Community Member

What I do for fixed price jobs (the only jobs I do) is to specify in the proposal the number if editing rounds I do as part of the job.

 

Most times, I submit the "draft" and it is exactly what they want and the milestone is released. Rarely, they will ask for a revision and I do it.  The milestone is released.

 

My best advice to give you is:  be completely clear on the job before you start writing and then specify the number of edit rounds included in your price

I don't take on hourly jobs.  Depending on the size of the project, the way I set up fixed job milestones is:

 

Milestone 1 - discuss (preferably Skype call) with client the needs and goals of the project; establish required style and tone; begin work > release funds.

 

Milestone 2 - draft content  (1/2 of project) > release funds

 

Milestone 3 - draft content (2/2 of project) > release funds

 

Milestone 4 - edits required - usually minimal > release funds. The final milestone is always a  minimal amount of the full payment for the project.

 

If the job is not lengthy use only milestone 2 (v. 3).

 

I split the bulk of the project costs between milestones 1 and 2.  

 

 

 

Anything up to about $ 1000 - one milestone, fully funded, full amount.

kamicaldwell
Community Member

Thank you all for the suggestions. There are so many ways this could be set up and the next time I do a writing job, I will make sure to clarify up front what milestones I am willingness to use. Fortunately, I don't do much writing but I will be more firm in making sure I have it set up to get the full contract price.