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Topic: costs of textbook freelancing
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| Author | Message |
| dazzlethem | Posted – 2/4/2005 12:12:22 AM | show profile | email poster To earn some extra $$$, I've been writing an English textbook for middle-school kids in Singapore. (Random, I know.) Anyway, the company is kind of disorganized and I feel like I got sort of cheated at $7 an hour plus about 30 hours of non-paid revisions. I'm on my third round of revisions and I would do anything to have this book off my hands at this point. The guy wants to put me on another project, and I really want to ask for a raise or a different payment arrangement altogether. Am I justified, or just pissed off? Any suggestions? I just need the money. Thanks, everyone! |
| Poundsonkeys | Posted – 2/6/2005 7:07:40 PM | show profile You're definitely getting screwed, IMO. As the author of this textbook, you should not be getting paid by the hour, and at that ridiculous wage. You should be getting royalties. |
| thoth | Posted – 2/7/2005 9:20:11 AM | show profile Definetely I think I have to agree with NewAE. I work for a major Spanish publishing company cowriting textbooks (elementary and high school levels) and guides for teachers; I mean, two or three collaborators work on a project which consists of a textbook for a grade. I´m paid $45 per page which is a rate for field experts. I work on other subjects in which I´m not expert and the least I´m paid is $35 per page. The company holds any author rights in everything I write. And this $45 p/p rate is modest, it´s not bad but could be higher. Simple pages could take me 10 to 15 minutes; complex ones could take the hour. I´d say the average I spend is 40 minutes per page. Of course, sometimes I have to do some research before working the page but it doesn´t happen all the time nor every project requires it. I consult other books but mostly I use internet. This time is not paid but its ocurrence is scarce and it depends on the project. If your writing the whole text I´d say they are ripping you off. P.D. This is not my full-time job. It´s a sideline I render as professional services. |
| thoth | Posted – 2/7/2005 9:26:11 AM | show profile Correction Subject should have read ''Definitely''. |
| dazzlethem | Posted – 2/7/2005 1:47:37 PM | show profile thanks so much I really appreciate both of you coming to my rescue on this. I've felt intimidated negotiating fees because I am a student and my ditzy professor recommended to this guy that he pay me that hourly rate. Now that I've got a new assignment on the horizon, I'll definitely make sure I rework my arrangement. |
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