Jeanne Grunert's Blog Member of the National Association of Independent Writers and Editors

Pricing: How Do You Price Your Work?

Pricing is one of the four P’s of marketing. How much thought have you given to pricing your services?

Pricing: The Endless Question

“How much should I charge?”

“No one is buying my editing package. Should I offer a discount?”

“I think my prices are too high.”

“I think my prices are too low.”

Pricing…the endless question. I don’t know how many meetings I’ve been in, how many conference calls, or how many discussions I’ve participated in surrounding pricing. Whether you’re a new consultant, coach or service provider seeking guidance on setting basic pricing structures for your business, or you’ve been in business for a while yet have that sneaking suspicion you’re undercharging for your services, setting prices for your services isn’t an easy thing to do.

It’s fraught with second-guessing: am I charging too much? Too little? And if you charge too little, you could be leaking money…money that could be going to your business’ bottom line.

Pricing your time – which is really what it means to put a price tag on your services – is both a science and an art. Some of the tips in this book focus on the science of pricing such as the psychology of pricing, knowing your industry’s standard rate and so forth. Other sections delve into the art of pricing: changing your money mindset to price your work more aggressively, understanding price perception and so forth.

Know What Your Time Is Worth

 Time is money. Each hour of the day you spend serving others is time you could spend in a number of ways. In a service-based business, you exchange your time, talent and expertise for money from your clients. But how much is your time worth?

Start by determining how much you wish to gross annually. Let’s assume for the sake of this example that you wish to gross $100,000 annually. Gross means the total amount you wish to make from your business before any bills are paid. It’s an estimate of all the money flowing into your company.

If you run a service-based business, time is money. Let’s assume you and you alone, will provide services for your business.

There are 52 weeks in a year, but let’s set aside 2 weeks for vacation. That leaves 50 weeks in which you must earn $100,000.

$100,000 divided by 50 weeks = $2,000 per week.

Now let’s assume you work a 40-hour workweek. You probably need to invest more time in your business than that to handle accounting and operational tasks, marketing your services and so forth. But again, for the sake of this explanation, let’s assume you will work 40 hours per week solely on providing billable time services to clients.

$2,000 per week divided by 40 hours in a week = $50 per hour.

To earn $100,000 per year, you have to work a solid 40 hours per week, which means 8 hours a day doing nothing but serving clients. That doesn’t include time for lunch, time to do your office tasks or whatever else you need to do to promote and manage your business. But it does demonstrate how you can back into an hourly figure that helps estimate what your time is worth and provides what you need to start thinking about an hourly rate to achieve your goals.

(This article is an excerpt from my book Pricing Your Services: 21 Tips for More Profits)

Marketing Basics: Your Product – What Are You Selling?

Welcome back to our series on marketing basics! In my first article, I discussed the basics of marketing and the marketing mix: product, price, place, and promotion. Although most people equate “promotion” (advertising) with marketing, the intersection of the so-called “four Ps” of marketing—product, price, place, and promotion—forms the basis of a strong marketing plan and helps you sell your products or services effectively.

four p's marketing diagram

Today, we’ll dive into “product”: the services or products you offer as an independent writer or editor and how to find the right blend that appeals to your market or audience.

Definition of Products in the Marketing Mix

Because you are an active member of NAIWE, you likely have significant time invested in your “products.” (To all the creative, independent writers out there – the novelists, the short story writers, the poets, the creative nonfiction authors – please forgive me for using such a prosaic term as “product” to describe what I know from firsthand experience as a fellow novelist is an intense labor of love, creativity, and art.)

These products may include physical products for sale, such as books, short stories, essays, and courses. They may also include services such as copywriting, editing, indexing, and proofreading. We will use the term “products” to encompass physical products, digital products, and services.

Creating the Right Products

Creating the right products can be challenging. Marketers typically conduct extensive market research to understand their audience the people they believe will purchase their products. Next, they assess the competition in the marketplace and design products that stand out from the competition. Finally, they create their product, choosing everything from ingredients (flavors, colors, scents), composition (plastic, wood, metal), and packaging (external packaging, boxes, containers, shapes) to make the product appealing to the target marketplace.

Creative artists typically do not begin with such a logical product development process. Their product creation phase often begins with seemingly random inspirations that gel into a coherent story.

I remember when I wrote my first novel, I Believe You. The novel’s genesis began with a daydream about a tall, intense, dark-haired man arguing with an older man who looked like Will Geer, the actor who played Grandpa Walton. The images seemingly appeared out of nowhere. Who was this dark-haired man? Why did the old man have an Eastern European accent? And then suddenly, a young boy appeared in my imagination who seemed afraid. All of this was a series of daydreams of random characters who looked like actors I had seen on television. Suddenly, I “knew” that the tall, intense man was David, that the young boy was named Eddie and was his son, and that the old man was his father, and while he loved his father, “Papa” could be overbearing at times.

The unconscious works miraculously, or so it seems, knitting together various threads from seemingly disconnected events, observations, and experiences in our lives to form new and ever-fresh inspiration. I have had the honor of watching this process unfold many times, resulting in stories I have written and shared with the public via my novels and short stories.

However, even these creative inspirations needed to be shaped by logic. It wasn’t enough for me to experience this vivid daydream and to write it down. I had to shape it many times into a salable “product” called a novel. I chose to shape it into a paranormal mystery novel since I enjoy that genre and am very familiar with the audience’s expectations for such books.

Through at least three completely revised drafts, I shaped the story into the final novel. And I wasn’t done yet with refining the “product” I was going to market. Donna, a dear friend, amazing fantasy and science fiction author, and a former editor, was my beta reader and editor, catching elements that made sense to me but did not make sense to the reader. Through this stage of careful editing, I was able to shape the story further into a salable product. Finally, Eleanor, my proofreading friend, helped me ensure “quality control” of the final “product.”

This is an example of how creative writers apply the concept of “product” to the marketing mix. Cover selection is another important element of creating the ‘product’ of a finished book. A book cover is its packaging and one of the most important factors in its salability. My own covers need further work, and I have plans to invest in improved “packaging” for the novels’ re-release.

Non-Fiction Writers, Copywriters and Editors: Productizing Services

Now, we will talk about applying these concepts to professional writing, editing, and proofreading services.

For those of you who offer services, the concept of ‘product’ as part of the marketing mix is a little different. The services you offer are personal but can often be grouped into easily identifiable categories for your customers: proofreading manuscripts, indexing services, writing articles or web pages, and so on.

Each of you offers such a ‘product’ to your market. Many people who offer services consider packages of services or bundles of their most frequently request services. This is how you can package up a service, so to speak, into an attractive offer for your clients.

An example may be a professional writer who ghostwriters blog articles for clients. She may package up her blog writing service into a bundle of four per month for an attractive price. Or, she may offer a discount to clients who secure her services in prepaid six-month increments. The bundle of services or the time-bound offer are examples of how services can be treated like a product.

Remember: Products Are Purchased Based on Benefits, Not Features

As you consider how to package up your product – your creative work, your course, your services – it is important to avoid the ‘feature-based’ marketing trap.

It is very easy to think only about the features of your product. You’ve written a paranormal fiction book about a wealthy widower with a deaf son (that’s my book, by the way.) You offer blog writing services. You offer editing services. This is what a client receives when they hire you…

People buy based on a combination of factors, but the one that catches their attention quickly is the benefits of what you offer them.

A “feature” is a specific characteristic or attribute of a product or service, while a “benefit” is the positive outcome or advantage that a customer experience as a result of that feature; essentially, features describe what a product does, while benefits explain why that feature matters to the customer and how it improves their life.

Book Example

Feature

  • A paranormal mystery about a wealthy widower, his deaf son, and his close, extended family.

Benefit

  • A compelling story with believable characters that advocate for the disabled with a hint of the paranormal that will make you forget the time and get lost in the story.

Service Examples

Feature

  • Proofreading services for freelance authors.

Benefit

  • Save time and embarrassment by catching every pesky typo every time!

Feature

  • Expertly written and researched search engine-optimized blog posts.

Benefit

  • Save time and gain valuable organic search traffic with well-researched, accurate, and properly optimized blog posts.

As you think about your products, consider writing a list of its features, then the corresponding benefits – what people get out of buying it. Then, when we talk about promotions, we will refer to the features and benefits list (especially benefits) to help you craft compelling promotions.

I hope this explanation of the ‘product’ section of the marketing mix helps you understand more about marketing in terms of writing and editing services. We are a unique breed, us writers and editors, and we can benefit significantly from the application of smart marketing and branding processes to our work. As your NAIWE marketing and branding expert, I hope to share what I have learned by wearing all three hats – writer, editor, marketing manager – and how to make the most of marketing your work.

What Is Marketing?

Have you ever wondered what is marketing? As NAIWE’s Branding and Marketing Expert, I thought it might be helpful for our members to define marketing terms, starting with the definition of marketing. It’s a term you hear frequently, but have you ever wondered exactly what it means?

What Is Marketing?

To get started, let’s explore the definition of marketing. Many use the term marketing synonymously with advertising, and while advertising is part of it, marketing is much more than the methods you use to promote your goods and services.

Marketing Is More Than Advertising

Thirty years ago when I entered the marketing profession, I thought marketing was only about advertising, too.

Marketing was what you did to promote your products. It might mean the promotional activities we did to get the word out to the customers that we had this product or that service. Sometimes, it meant thinking about prices, such as discounts. It also meant who were were selling to – what marketers call the target audience.

To better understand the full definition of marketing, it may be helpful to look at a traditional way of defining it, called the “four P’s” of marketing. (Today, many have added other “P” words to the definition, but for the purposes of this article, we will stick with the traditional four-P model.)

In 1960, E. Jerome McCarthy introduced a simple phrase, the four P’s of marketing, to summarize this concept: Product, Price, Place, and Promotion.

four p's marketing diagram

  • Product refers to the goods or services sold
  • Price refers to how goods or services are priced vis a vis the competition
  • Place refers to both the geographic area, such as the United States, the industry, or the people we sell to (the target audience)
  • Promotion refers to the method by which we get the word out.

It is the intersection of these four core concepts that form the basis of marketing. Marketing management means the overall guidance of the marketing program, including assessing the products and services, determining the audience for them, pricing goods or services in relation to the marketplace, and then promoting the benefits and features of the goods and services to the target audience with the goal of making revenue.

The Ever-Changing Dynamics of Marketing

When I was a little girl, my dad’s company held an annual company picnic every June. They used to give the children “goody bags” filled with small toys. One such toy that always fascinated me was a toy called a fidget, or a space fidget. It was a small, round disc, about three inches in diameter. The back was white plastic, and the front was clear plastic, and in between was a liquid that changed colors if you pressed it or drew your fingernail across the plastic. It looked a little like the colorful pictures one sees of galaxies. It was oddly soothing but ever-changing; if your fidget created a really neat picture, in one second, it could disappear just by putting the toy in your pocket.

Marketing is a lot like that little space fidget toy. The colors that swirled and danced between the two sheets of plastic are like the marketplace itself, dynamic and ever-changing. There’s a consistency about it, like the fidget, but it is always changing, too. Fidget colors were pink or green, and that was always the same, but the patterns it made changed depending on how it was shaken or touched.

We have the same dynamic in marketing today. Some elements of marketing are constant. People always want good things cheaply or for free! (Product and price). Marketers always struggle to get attention (promotion) for their products and services. And the target marketing (place) can be fickle.

Your marketing approach must strike a balance between changing to adapt to shifting circumstances and the consistency needed to gain traction in a cluttered, saturated marketplace.

How you handle this depends on many things, and we will talk about this in subsequent blog posts as we get more granular about key marketing concepts.

Key Takeaways for Independent Writers and Editors

  1. The term marketing is often used synonymously with advertising, but the two terms mean different things. 
  2. Advertising (promotion) is one of four aspects that comprise modern marketing. 
  3. It may be helpful to think of marketing as the intersection of four “P’s.”
  4. The four P’s are product, price, place, and promotion.
  5. Considering all four aspects will help you market your products and achieve positive revenue.

What questions do you have for me about marketing? I’d love to answer them. Drop me a note through NAIWE or at jeanne@sevenoaksconsulting.

 

 

November Is Family Stories Month

I look forward to reading my NAIWE newsletter. Today’s newsletter included a tiny mention that November is Family Stories Month. I felt inspired immediately to write down my family stories and encourage my friends, relatives, colleagues, and readers to write down their stories, too.

Why? Because we are rapidly losing our connections with our ancestors, as my oldest sister calls it. I know what she means. I grew up in a large, noisy, extended family. My mother’s relatives all lived within a short drive of our home. My grandmother lived with us, and one of her seven siblings visited almost every Sunday – sometimes several at once – bringing Carvel ice cream or a coffee cake from the bakery and an afternoon brimming with laughter and stories.

I heard how my grandparents met at a baseball game, circa 1914 or 1915, and how my grandfather was fascinated by the new-fangled automobile and brought a Model T Ford engine into the house to study it. It dripped oil all over the living room carpet. I heard about the house on Elizabeth Street in Floral Park and how my mother hid lumps of sugar in her pocket to give to the horse who pulled the ice and coal man’s wagon. I discovered that the sleds my sisters and I loved to pull out on a snow day were over 50 years old and beloved by my aunt. I heard how my father and Uncle John used to skitch rides on the back of trolley cars in the Bronx on snow days. It turns out my dad was somewhat of a troublemaker back then…

Oh, so many stories! I think of my precious goddaughter, my great-niece Olivia, and I wonder how many of the stories my sister told my niece, Olivia’s mom, and whether or not we remember the same stories. I have found out, for example, that my other sister remembers things differently than I do, and because both of my sisters are older than I am, they remember events in our lives better than I do. For example, my dad loved growing chrysanthemums for flower shows, and I thought he had won a Best in Show for his flower in 1975. My sister, however, corrected me and said it was Best in Class. A difference. A blue ribbon and a trophy, but an important distinction.

This November, I encourage you to participate in Family Stories Month. Take the 30-day challenge and use whatever writing tools you prefer: pen and notebook, laptop, desktop, pencil and paper. If you’re stuck and need prompts, try the following resources:

Write and Share Family Stories

Family Stories Month

But, most importantly – write. Write those stories down. There is no better way to preserve the past!

 

 

 

Why Should Freelance Writers Learn Marketing Basics?

All I ever wanted to be was a freelance writer. My high school yearbook lists my future career as a freelance writer of fiction and nonfiction. However, fate turned my path in a slightly different, albeit related, direction. I was working as an administrative assistant for a company and the marketing manager to whom I reported abruptly quit. The CEO asked if I could take over her role and I said yes, and that was how I launched my marketing career. Eventually, I returned to school and obtained the formal credentials, my M.S. in Direct and Interactive Marketing, but that was the start of my marketing career.

I had a slight advantage when I started working as a writer in that I had studied how to sell my writing, and selling is related to marketing. I understood that I needed to learn more about my audience, for example, and only pitch magazines on article topics their readers would love – in other words, matching my product to the audience.

However, far too many writers lack the fundamentals of marketing, and this keeps them from having the thriving career they deserve. Below are 10 good reasons why you as a freelance writer should learn more about marketing. Can you add any to the list?

10 Great Reasons Why Freelance Writers & Editors Should Learn Basic Marketing Skills

Freelance writers can benefit significantly from understanding marketing basics for several reasons:

1. Attracting Clients: Knowing marketing basics helps freelance writers promote their services effectively. By understanding target audiences, creating compelling messaging, and using the right channels, writers can attract potential clients who are interested in their skills and expertise.

2. Building a Personal Brand: Marketing knowledge allows freelance writers to build and promote their personal brand. This includes creating a unique identity, establishing a strong online presence, and showcasing their skills and achievements. A well-defined brand can set writers apart in a competitive market.

3. Effective Communication: Understanding how to craft persuasive messages, use storytelling techniques, and engage with potential clients helps writers communicate their value proposition and convince clients to choose their services. You are already a skilled wordsmith; now take it to the next level with marketing knowledge!

4. Client Relationship Management: Marketing is not just about attracting clients but also about maintaining long-term relationships. Freelance writers who understand marketing can provide excellent customer service, stay top-of-mind with clients, and encourage repeat business or referrals.

5.  Setting and Communicating Prices: Marketing knowledge helps freelance writers determine fair pricing for their services. By understanding market demand, competitive rates, and the perceived value of their work, writers can set prices that reflect their expertise and attract clients willing to pay for quality.

6. Adapting to Market Trends: The freelance writing market is dynamic, with trends and preferences constantly evolving. (ChatGPT and AI, anyone?) Understanding marketing basics enable writers to stay informed about industry trends, adjust their services accordingly, and position themselves as experts in emerging areas.

7. Utilizing Online Platforms:Many freelance writers find clients through online platforms and social media. Understanding digital marketing basics can help writers optimize their profiles, leverage social media for self-promotion, and navigate online platforms to connect with potential clients.

8. Portfolio Development: Marketing skills are essential for creating an effective portfolio. Writers need to showcase their best work, highlight their expertise, and present their skills in a way that resonates with potential clients. A well-constructed portfolio can be a powerful marketing tool.

9. Self-Promotion: Freelance writers often need to promote themselves, especially when starting their careers. Marketing knowledge allows writers to create compelling marketing materials, such as a professional website, business cards, and social media profiles, to promote their services effectively.

10. Business Sustainability: Ultimately, freelance writing is not just about writing—it’s also about running a business. Marketing knowledge contributes to the sustainability of a freelance writing business by helping writers find and retain clients, adapt to market changes, and thrive in a competitive landscape.

 

Marketing a writing business requires the same skills needed to market any small business. Mastering the basics of marketing will help you build a thriving, sustainable freelance practice.

Money Lessons for Freelance Writers – Managing Cash Flow

Do you struggle with cash flow issues in your freelance writing business? Many freelancers feel like cash is always flowing out and rarely flowing in! If this describes your freelance business, then you may want to read my latest article on Medium: Budgeting Basics for Freelancers – The Cold Hard Truth About Cash Flow. 

I have been a freelance writer, editor, and content marketing consultant for over 15 years. To celebrate my content marketing agency‘s 15th anniversary, I have put together a series of lessons learned and advice for freelancers. This is article 12 in the series. You can read the series in order or simply choose a starting point that interests you. The articles stand alone but you’ll definitely receive more benefits from reading all of them.

Now, on to cash flow…

Cash flow refers to the flow of money into and out of your business. Cash flows in when you receive payments: a royalty check, payment for an article published, payment for a client invoice. Cash flows out when you pay bills: your health insurance premiums, internet expenses, office supplies.

The Rollercoaster Cash Flow Effect

Freelancers often suffer from what I’ve dubbed the rollercoaster syndrome. Their income, when charted on a line graph, resembles the peaks and valleys of a theme park roller coaster. The peaks represent times when they receive a large payment or have a significant client rosters of well-paying customers (feast). The valleys represent times when work dries up or they are between clients or engagements (famine).

Nearly every freelancer, at some point in their career, faces the rollercoaster syndrome. The trick is to smooth out the peaks and valleys to have either a steady chart or a rising line on the graph. To do this, you need to build a business around core retainer clients (anchor clients), large recurring clients, and one-off projects, or a similar model. Indie authors may build a business around core income-producing products (a romance novel series, a mystery novel series), large single projects (a single romance novel, a single title) and passion projects or one-of projects (hosting a writer’s workshop, teaching a class, editing other author’s manuscripts). The idea is the same regardless of how it works out in your unique business.

What’s Your Net Profit?

Few freelancers consider their net profit. Most think only in terms of the gross profit, or the total amount of money billed or received in a particular time period.

However, that number is misleading.  Net profit provides you with a better indication of your business’ health.

Net profit = gross profit – expenses

Simply take the gross profit number, subtract the total expenses for an equal time period, and the resulting figure is your net profit.

Cash Flow and Net Profits Are Not the Same

Think of cash flow and net profits like verbs. Cash flow is active, while net profits is passive. In other words, cash flows, like water in a river, while net profit is still, like a pond. Yes, net profit changes, but cash flow is often called the lifeblood of a business, because money must be constantly flowing into and out of a company to build health.

Cash flow often stagnates for several reasons:

  1. Lack of business – you can’t bill for what you’re not doing! If you aren’t getting enough new clients or repeat business, it’s time to focus on the basics of client attraction, retention, and loyalty – in other words, branding and marketing.
  2. Late billing – you aren’t billing your clients on time. Decide when you’ll bill clients and then follow through consistently on your billing practices. Do you require a percent downpayment on a large project and bill at milestones or installments? My own billing practice is to bill for work after it is complete and accepted by the client. Retainer clients are billed on the first of the month for the work from the preceding month (i.e., I bill on June 1 for services rendered for May 1- 31).  It doesn’t matter whether you bill weekly, monthly, or quarterly, just be consistent and on time sending out invoices to clients.
  3. Late payment – are your clients paying you later and later each month? You must follow up with them. Start off gently. After all, things happen. I have one client whose CEO must sign off on all contractor invoices, but he travels frequently for business, and when he travels, payments can be late. Reminders to their accounting department help. Set up reminders in your calendar or however you manage your business billing to follow up on unpaid invoices.

 

For more tips on managing cash flow, and creating a thriving freelance practice, do check out my article series. I’m on article 12 of 15 and many freelancers have commented on how helpful the series has been. It’s not the usual stuff to help you set up and run your business, but insights into the odd nooks and crannies of the freelancing life that few think of when starting their business.

Read: Budgeting Basics for Freelancers – The Cold Hard Truth About Cash Flow. 

 

 

 

Latest Posts

Pricing: How Do You Price Your Work?

February 15, 2025

Marketing Basics: Your Product – What Are You Selling?

February 8, 2025

What Is Marketing?

January 18, 2025

November Is Family Stories Month

November 1, 2024

Why Should Freelance Writers Learn Marketing Basics?

November 21, 2023

Money Lessons for Freelance Writers – Managing Cash Flow

July 17, 2023

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