My accountant bill was $400 for taxes when it was just me and I believe went up to $700 now that Pix and I file jointly.

We actually track the checking accounts in Quicken and then I have a custom built filemaker database for running the business which includes inventory for my rentals, dealing with timesheets, and invoicing and estimates. I use a payroll service for my employees so I don't have to directly deal with that and they handle withholdings and workers comp and other issues win some of the studio lots I work on. They cost me 25% above the rate the employee makes for people in the field and something like 17% for folks in the office.

The links to the screenprinters are fantastic, because that's another piece I've been thinking about.

On the clothing design front, one of my oldest friends reminded me that her niece has a degree in design, has worked for clothing companies, knows how to take fuzzy sketches and turn them into CAD files for pattern manufacturing, is currently bored out of her mind at her current job, and would almost certainly welcome an interesting side project. So! Time for me to get some sketches done.

(Oh dear, I'm going to have to source fabrics, too. Woe. Woe is me.)

Ok, need feedback.

I'm wantint my website to go live in the next week or so, and I'm doing a lot of content and infrastructural work on it.

Right now, I'd love it if some peeps could offer me feedback on my rough draft of my rates. I'm looking for feedback from both sides of the fence: writers and peeps with experience in the publishing realm, and also people looking at the rates with a potential customer's eye.

Here's what I have so far, and it's taken generally from the mid-range of the Writer's Market rates section. I went middle of the road, because, although I don't have a lot of formal samples, I have a shitton of education and experience sans samples.

Rates:

Book Publishing:

Content Editing - Scholarly/textbooks: $45/hr; $4100/project/$7 per page

Proofreading: $30/hour; $4 per page

Copyediting: $45/hr; $3700/MS; $4.50 per page

Creative Consulting/Brainstorming: $35/hour (phone or email)

Newspapers & Magazines:

Book Reviews: $250/review; $1.00/word

Copyediting magazines: $50/hour; $5.75 per page

Fact Checking: $50/hour

Research: $50/hour

Proofreading: $35/hour

Small Businesses, Entrepreneurs, Individuals:

Copy for brochures, booklets, flyers, etc.: $80 minimum; $1.21/word or flat project fees can be negotiated.

Business editing: $70/hour

Copyediting: $60; $3 per page

Newsletters, writing: $60/hour or $100/page Resume Writing: $70/hour; $250/project with 1 re-write

Social Media Postings: $50/hour

Writing:

Articles Blog post: $50 per post Website Content Editing: $60/hour; $6 per page

Internet Research: $55/hour; Academic Research: $70/hour Phone Consultation: $35/hour

Like I said, it's a rough, and I'm still not sure what to wrote for article writing, since I am willing to write articles for a lower price to get some clips and experience.

Thoughts? Too high? Too low? Ideas for organiztion?

Are you planning to publish your rates, Erin, or did you just want to have them established for yourself?

I was planning on publishing my rates; I've seen that on many freelancing websites.

Or an amended version, at least.

Is it strange and off-putting? I was thinking it as a menu for my services, but is it declasse?

Erin, my main thought isn't too high or too low, but too complicated. Don't set a separate hourly rate for copy-editing vs. editing and for book publishers vs. magazine publishers vs. small businesses -- just set a rate (or maybe an hourly rate for some kinds of work and a page rate for others)

You may want to do a few fixed-price packages for the most common basic things on top of that, maybe resumes and brochure copy, but those are exceptions.

And remember that your rate is ultimately a target for you -- because you're making a proposal that you can shape (and not selling a manufactured product at retail!) you still have room to negotiate: offer fixed prices for larger packages, lower your rate for pieces that will be especially good for your portfolio, give preferred rates in trade for something else, raise your rates for a tight deadline, and so on, but your basic rate should stay your basic rate -- don't present people with a giant menu. It'll confuse, or worse, encourage clients to try to lowball you upfront for $5 less on the quote ("well, this is really more of a proofreading-type job, isn't it?...")

Many people do it and swear it makes people more likely to contact them. I'm not comfortable with it, because I'd rather approach jobs as a business collaboration and give a quote after I have a sense of the scope. I also want to feel free to take work at a variety of prices, depending on my interest and poverty level.

I would suggest not breaking the categories down quite so far. I tend to quote a single hourly rate, under the theory that my time is my time. I wouldn't want to get into a discussion about whether something is $45 an hour editing or $60 an hour editing.

The reality is that there are people who are writing for $3 an article and people who are writing for $300 an hour.

(eta: or what amych said)

Ok, that is extremely useful. I am feeling my way along; I'm happy to have that list as a personal guideline, but I also think simpler is better.

I have a tendency for precision and verbosity sometimes, and it helps to know when to rein it in.

(Amych, insent, coincidentally!)

Erin, my main thought isn't too high or too low, but too complicated.

This was exactly my thought.

In the early days, my rates were very complex because I'd taken advice from some marketing gurus about creating multiple packages to meet every budget. That was a worse idea than even charging on a sliding scale.

In the end, I came up with three packages (one of which has only been used 3 times in 10 years!) and an ala carte option.

I do publish my rates, but when I was doing business consulting, I did not for precisely the reason Ginger mentioned. I found that it helped to publish a higher-end package of services as a basic estimate. Then, when people said, "That's great but I need you to do it for less" I was able to say, "Of course, which service would you like to cut?"

Most orgs went for the whole banana, but if they really, truly needed to negotiate, we could find a set of services that worked for both of us and I avoided feeling resentful.

This last point is key for me. In the beginning, I did a lot of negotiation and then ended up doing so much work, that I was paying them for the privilege.

Also, I felt no shame in adding what I like to call 'the hassle tax' for difficult groups...too many changes, negative energy, etc. Funnily enough, the clients I charged higher rates actually listened to what I said and got more out of it.

Oh, man, yes, everything what Bonny said!