# Pricing on Commissions?



## Waffles (May 7, 2011)

Story commissions... How much is a reasonable amount per page? I've had people tell me my current rate of 3$/page (~700 words) is cheap, and that it should be higher. The time spent on a page varies from 30 minutes to 1.5 hours-ish. So.... Pricing help? :s


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## TakeWalker (May 7, 2011)

If you're sure people will pay for it, follow the advice given the visual artists:

Decide on the wage you would like to earn.

Calculate how long it takes you to do a unit of work, in this case a page.

Simple math, there's your per-page answer.


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## Strativarious (May 22, 2011)

I agree, $3 a page is incredibly cheap, especially since like you said, it's a a process that can either take a half an hour or 1.5 hours. I don't do story commissions because I take so long to brainstorm before actually going to the writing process, but I would be charging $7-$10 per 1.15 spaced page depending on what the content is. I'm also an English major, so I'd be grammar checking it as I went along and when rereading it. But like TakeWalker said, just decide on your hourly wage you want and go from their.


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## Waffles (May 22, 2011)

Strativarious said:


> I agree, $3 a page is incredibly cheap, especially since like you said, it's a a process that can either take a half an hour or 1.5 hours. I don't do story commissions because I take so long to brainstorm before actually going to the writing process, but I would be charging $7-$10 per 1.15 spaced page depending on what the content is. I'm also an English major, so I'd be grammar checking it as I went along and when rereading it. But like TakeWalker said, just decide on your hourly wage you want and go from their.


 Well I've already moved up to 5$ per page.... Maybe 6-7 would be better. :x
And hourly wage I can't follow because pages sometimes take 30 minutes, sometimes 2 hours.


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## Strativarious (May 22, 2011)

I'd go more towards $7 because where I am, minimum wage is $7.25, so for me, I'd want to actually be making money on something I'll be doing as a (hopefully) permanent job later on. But with the hourly wage thing, I see it as more of a guideline of what to charge then per page, not necessarily how long it'll take.


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## M. LeRenard (May 22, 2011)

Most magazines pay a flat rate or by a per word basis, so you could do something like that.  I've never liked measuring things in pages, because a page means something different for every piece of software or paper you happen to be using.
Just to think about: 1/4 cent per word = $10 for a 4000 word story (generally 10 double-spaced pages), or 1/2 cent per word = $20 for a 4000 word story, etc.  These are pretty standard prices for publications.  So yes, writers get paid crap wages most of the time.
Market's important too.  Furries are notoriously cheap about writing, so don't overprice or you won't sell anything at all.


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