I am considering paying a freelance writer or just wrtiter in general for a 200 pg ebook. Is $600 a good amount to pay? If not what do you think I'll have to pay for a 200 pg ebook? I'm oblivious and my wallet isn't that fat right now. My second question is if my ebook is on a smaller niche will the writer research for himself...like there are enough books and articles flating around on my niche?
Wht is your topic? I am currently writing a book on a niche, so probably I could help you with the figures...
$600 for a 200 page ebook is dirt cheap, almost too cheap. It doesn't leave the writer much room for having the ebook edited before turning it in to you. I'd question the quality of the writing at that low price. To protect your interests, make sure you view samples of the writer's previous work. Also, in your contract specify that you will review the work periodically, say every 50 pages. That way you'll be able to tell early if the work isn't meeting your expectations. Regardless of the size of the niche, the writer should do research to write the book. I can't tell you how many sources are out there on your niche, especially not knowing what it is.
chickut - You will have a tough time finding somebody to work at that rate. Even at $10/page, you are looking at $2,000; and that is even low.
I'm curious as to why you want something as long as 200 pages to begin with. That's quite on the long side for an e-book. It sounds like it's your first (otherwise you'd probably have an idea of pricing already), so maybe re-thinking the length would be a good idea first.
$3 a page is quite low, especially if you're hoping to have a very detailed book. As the previous poster said, why not re-think the length of the book? You could probably get a decent book for 50 pages and pay $10 per page ($500 for the book).
Ebooks really shouldn't be that long. The ebooks I have written for companies have been only 50 or so pages. You can get someone to write a decent one for $10 a page, and with graphics and easy to put together useful content, interviews and such, you'll get something people will actually buy. You certainly don't want to end up with 200 pages of nonsense. People don't want 200 pages on the Internet anyway. Especially in nonfiction. They want the core information and want to get out of there. And you'll have to trust the writer to write from research. It depends on the topic of course, but a smart writer will not only use the Internet, but experts interviews and resource libraries for information. This is another reason why you'll want to consider paying more per page, someone with fewer skills is more likely to just rehash old info and not very well.
Well it's funny that you say $500 for a 50 page ebook...I can write that in two hours. It seems that even during a struggling economy some people still over value themselves and what their time is worth. A 200 page ebook should take you approximately 4 days to accomplish for $600, about $150 a day. Each day you may work four-eight hours or so which works out to be $18.75 for each hour you spent during those 4 days, 32 hours to write the full ebook. Why does that not sound reasonable; obviously I am new to this process, but by my understanding you guys don't even provide the graphics so? Tell me where I went wrong with my price estimation. Last time I checked that is 2 & 1/2 times the pay at publix for an hour...?
Good quality content takes one hour per page minimum, UK minimum wage is basically $11 an hour, so i wouldn't be doing 200 pages that's for sure, but if the writing is up to standard, no reason not to take them on, i'd check for unique content though.
Writers, quality writers, should charge much more than what you are offering. If you are looking for a smaller E-Book written, recommended, then hit me up.
The fact that you can slap words on a page to the equivalent of 50 pages in two hours doesn't constitute quality writing. As you'll see in another recent thread here, some of the best writers around these forums have noted the time it takes to put together even a single quality blog post (with half an hour to an hour not being uncommon at all). Two hours doesn't allow for research, proper writing, effective formatting to make the e-book more attractive, and perhaps most importantly, the editing. As for hourly rates, I'm not getting into the whole discussion about it again here, because it's already been discussed. But the short story is that for any reputable independent professional, the hourly rate you bill is not equivalent to A) the actual hourly rate for all working hours, or B) an hourly rate under other employment circumstances (such as being a full-time employee). You might be able to find the more detailed explanations by searching the copywriting forum. If not, I'll point you to an article I have on setting writing rates that lays it out a bit more in long form.
I have seen ebooks that had about a very small amount of content on each page... and some that had 2-3 times as much content. SO - a 50 pg. Ebook in some niches is about 15 pages of word-processor content at 10 point. Also it depends on how much research and thinking the writer needs to do to create a quality product. Quote of the day: "If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys," - Drayton Bird.
Its really cheap, I know I would never take up such a project. Of course someone else can, but honestly speaking, be sure that the content will really be of no quality at all.
Have you thought about publishers who will pay half of your publishing fees? Or you could buy an Adobe writer to write it yourself with time limits so that the people can only read it for a short amount of time. Just a thought.
I agree. You have to really research alot to do with your topic. If not you will not be a best seller in the ebook department. I think that it is important to have others read it as an outside source to see if it makes sense.
I agree. You have to really research alot to do with your topic. If not you will not be a best seller in the ebook department. I think that it is important to have others read it as an outside source to see if it makes sense.
I seriously doubt you can write 50 pages in 2 hours. Even the fastest typist in the world types 150 words a minute but only for 50 minutes. That'll get you 15 pages max. Probably not even that because you'd at least have to stop and think about what you're typing. You're also operating under the assumption that writing an ebook involves nothing but mindless typing, which it does not. It takes research, planning, writing, proofreading, and if you're using a good writer, multiple iterations of rewriting and re-proofreading, possibly even more research and planning. A 200-page ebook cannot be written in 32 hours.
I couldnt do 50 pages in two hours just hitting random keys fast. You would have to be typing at 250 words per minute for the whole two hours to complete that. I would not want to see your writing.... ever.
If you can write 25 pages in an hour, I suggest you do so and stop bothering people who are trying to earn a reasonable rate. Like others in this thread, I think you are a liar for claiming this. NO ONE ON EARTH can write 25 coherent pages each hour, hour after hour, on an assigned topic. Some elite typists may be able to transcribe at this rate. The problem isn't people overvaluing their work; the problem is that you have no respect for writers. If you did, you wouldn't be asking questions like this. Where you went wrong with your estimation is that writing is not simply a task of tapping keys; a writer is paid to think, to arrange words carefully, to optimize each sentence.