Author Incomes Streams, 12 of 15: Hourly Fees

Photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash.

Finally, there are the services you can provide clients that are billed at an hourly rate. Authors I know provide such services as editing, copywriting, making infographics, mapmaking, indexing, coding, digital marketing services, consulting, and project management by the hour.

When to charge by the hour

• When you don’t know what it’s like to work with a particular client. When you charge a flat fee, there will be clients who will want to maximize their expenditure at the expense of your time — lots of emails, endless rounds of revisions, longer phone calls, a scope of work that is stretched before you know it. An hourly rate can keep this at bay.
• When you don’t know how long it will take you to complete the work.
• For open-ended, ongoing work.
• When the work you do is very proportional to the time put in.
• When your high hourly rate reflects your value and expertise relative to the competition (e.g., if you’re a more efficient and skilled editor than others).
• If it makes predicting your income and scheduling the necessary work easier for you.
• To make it easier for your client to compare your rates with others (this may or may not be important or relevant).