# Tips for Writing Commissions



## Scribe19 (Feb 27, 2018)

I've recently started working on writing dirty stories, and while I'm still in the 'taking suggestions' stage of my writing, I've been looking for any advice when it comes to taking commissions, especially regarding how to write kink-focused commissions and deciding on decent pricing. 

As such, any and all constructive advice would be greatly appreciated!


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## Chex (Mar 20, 2018)

I'm actually looking for the same sort of help, at least as far as commission pricing goes. I'd assume word count would be a better way to price than anything else, but as far as cost/word goes, I'm at a loss. I suppose the easiest thing to do is sort of check out the writing category on FA and see if you can spot commissions, then check and compare prices for them.


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## Le Chat Nécro (Mar 20, 2018)

haven't done commissions myself, but i've seen a few that are pay by word or a set price for a bloc of words (500/1,000/etc).  i've seen someone charge $5 for 1000 words, and someone else charge the same for 500 words, so it's definitely up to you and how much you think your work is worth. also, give examples of what a chunk of words adds up to. not everyone knows that a paragraph is about 200 words so they may think that they're getting a lot more (or less) than what you're actually going to write. 

definitely have examples of your work on hand so people can see what they're getting. 

for kink shit, ask your commissioner a lot of questions. like a lot, a lot. don't assume that how you would do a knife scene is how they would do a knife scene or whatever else they fancy. unless they say "i dunno, just write whatever", make sure you know exactly what they want their smut to be. people get very particular about smut. ​


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## Chex (Mar 20, 2018)

Did a bit of hunting!

Just on the first page of 'commission' branded stories, I got a range of prices and things, but it seems to fall roughly at ~$1/100 words. Some people seem to undervalue themselves (I saw $12 for like 9 pages somewhere, and another that was $4/2000) but about a USD penny per word seems the norm.

As far as anything else goes, what Chat said, but also outline for yourself what you're willing to write, show examples, use the tools at your disposal (the commission tab, for example, I don't want to have to search all your journals to find your commission prices). Your sanity is important; don't just take a job because it's quick bucks, make sure you can/will/like your writing.


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## TesseractFA (Mar 20, 2018)

$0.01 USD per word sounds about right to start, also be sure to charge for major rewrites (about 1/2 that rate) unless they want a complete do over and its not your fault then charge them like its a new story.

If you are writing "questionable content" write under a pseudonym is suggested and likely charge $0.02 USD per word; not because you are greedy but almost certainly there will need to be some minor adjustments, as Le Chat Nécro mentioned, people are particular about there smut. That equates to extra time/effort on your end.

You can up your rate when you are getting more requests than you can timely fill (supply/demand), better solution than going off commission because you are overbooked.


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## Skychickens (Mar 31, 2018)

When I did them, it was $0.01 per word, which leads to $1 per 100 words. Granted I mostly wrote articles for people.

You’d need to also factor in time. I don’t allow myself to take less than $10/hour of work. What’s your wpm? I can do quite a bit of words per minute, but mine is much higher than average. Don’t let yourself be working for less than that. Average page is 500 words single space 12 point font. How long does it take you to write that? Going by our $0.01 per word that should lead to about $5 per page. If it takes you an hour to write that page, don’t you dare charge less than $10.

Oh and definitely charge for rewrites. That will a: force people to be clearer b: prevent people from taking advantage of your time. Charge half rate for rewrites. If they want to keep being particular, they need to pay. Don’t ever work for free.


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