by Lucius Trae

Created on: July 08, 2010

Many professions charge by the hour, and freelance writers may be tempted to do the same. However, there are a variety of reasons why you should refrain from this practice. Instead, you should commit to providing writing of the best possible quality in accordance with the expectations of the client.

If you charge by the hour, people will be less inclined to hire you for projects. A person wants to know they will receive a completed work for a fixed price. This allows them to manage their assets efficiently. If you hired a plumber that committed to completing the job for the cost of the parts and the labor estimate "as estimated," you would know what you're paying. While this is uncommon in that industry, people frequently feel taken advantage of by those who charge by the hour for projects that will take an undetermined time to complete. Furthermore, writers are almost everywhere, it's easy for an employer to hire someone who does not charge by the hour.

When you charge by the hour, you may still have a deadline to meet. The problem is that in most cases, they can't ensure that you are being honest about the time you took to write something. If your work consistently takes longer than expected, people will start seeking other writers to hire for jobs. Even if you're honest, what happens if you complete an assignment in thirty minutes? You might be incredibly talented, but you've penalized yourself for having that talent. Furthermore, informing someone that you worked thirty minutes on something will bias their opinion. You can test this yourself. You take two of your written works and ask people which is better. Each time, tell them beforehand how long it took to write them - except keep changing the time.

As you'll discover, human beings have certain expectations. If the average person couldn't complete a quality piece in thirty minutes, they might be cynical towards your writing. If people are told something is more expensive, they typically report it to be better quality than it actually is, according to psychological experiments. Similarly, I've witnessed amateur sculptors sell items on commission, and my employer at the time had difficulties. They were insistent that the art was worth a certain amount because of how much time they worked on it. Obviously, time isn't what determines quality - but it does bias how people judge something. This fact about human psychology is another reason to avoid charging by the hour.

To conclude, you want to provide your best effort to all your clients. This establishes a good relationship and can lead to future opportunities with them and others. Furthermore, ensuring that you put your best effort into something will work to improve your writing. Contrastingly, merely dragging out an assignment will not. Also, if you can complete projects quickly, the client is kept in the dark about the time it took to complete the project. If your work looks like something worth $200, it doesn't matter if it took twenty minutes or three hours. It will matter if you tell them because then they will naturally want to pay less for your work. Having a fixed price is best.

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