Help For Those Who Want It. Forum The Battle of the Writing Edit..

0.05 (five cents) per word up to 100,000 words and anything after that is 10.00$ per hour, for those wondering.

I even go so far as to tell them that I am willing to accept a payment plan, if they can't afford to pay me right away. Such as, if they paid me 20.00$, I'd edit 20.00$ worth in words of their manuscripts.

Well, this had been going rather well for me. I'd gotten a few clients and had made some money editing their work and everyone was relatively happy with how everything turned out. That is, until I had to deal with family and then a couple people that I'd met via Facebook.

For whatever reason, these people seem to think that it is acceptable to demand that I edit their work completely for free. Seriously? Would one go to a doctor and beg them to fix a broken arm and then refuse to pay that person for their hard-earned skills in medicine? Would one go to a grocery store and fill up their cart with all the food they'd want to get and not pay the farmers for growing it or producing it or the store owners for providing that store as a safe and clean place for you, the customer, to go to so that you can get whatever it is you needed? No. Then why are editing and writing seen as being different; as something that can be done completely for free?

They shouldn't be. And yet, they are seen that way by a lot of people. And that angers me. I've worked hard over the last twenty-five years to learn how to be a very good writer and I have also studied hard to become a decent editor, so why shouldn't I charge people a reasonable rate for my services? Why can't I expect to make money on something I love to do? Is it wrong of me to expect compensation for the effort I put into editing something someone else wrote, even if I know that my editing of their manuscript may eventually help make that person a superstar in the world of writing?

I don't think it is wrong to expect payment for my services, nor unreasonable, and yet whenever my family or closest friends want something of theirs that they've written edited, they come to me and then refuse to pay me! Therefore I refuse to help them. Sometimes, as with the people on Facebook that I mentioned earlier, people say that I should do this for free because I "need the exposure." Well, guess what? If I wanted the exposure that badly, I'd take an ad out on Facebook and Twitter and all sorts of other social media sites. I'd create spam mail designed to lure in audiences and send it out as often as I could, all hoping that in doing so, I'd generate enough "exposure" to create my business.

Um, no. Just no. I won't do that, because I don't need to. If I am going to take time away from my own writing and my own creativity, then I am going to expect fair compensation for that lost time. I enjoy the world of writing, really I do. But I find that this need; this demand to write things and edit other things completely for free is both irritating and rage-inducing because of how long and hard I have worked to get to where I am at now.

So I ask you, Dear Reader, if you were really good at something -- something that you absolutely loved to do with all of your heart and soul -- would you want to do it for free, every day? Or would you prefer to use that skill or talent or ability to earn yourself a decent living and a decent wage?

What would you do?

Just wanted to let you all know that I am still having trouble getting my messages from the site, so anything that folks may have sent to me will take a bit of time to get to me. I try to check back here at least three times a week, Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, so I'll get your messages sooner or later. Anyway, I guess that's all for now, and thank you very much for responding to my posts here. I appreciate it! Have a great day, folks!

This is also a way for you to help them and in return, they also help you out through payment. I guess you will need to tell them first that you are not for free. People that we know do really abused this, taking the friendship or familiarity for granted. 

Writing a book, or any other kind of manuscript is expensive and everyone involved takes risks with it. I need to minimize my own set of risks by charging a fee for what I do. I don't enjoy breaking their dreams, but if they can't afford to pay or to trade something for my time, then I'm not going to help them. There are hundreds of groups that they can join here or on Facebook or via other social media that are populated by people willing to critique and edit a certain number of words basically for free, but it's because most of those people have full-time jobs that pay all their bills and then some. I don't. Editing and writing IS my full-time job, so I am stuck with either being paid or I don't pay my bills. Sad, I know, but that's way the world currently works.

Anyway, sorry about the extra ranting. And, thank you for the comments you've made so far. I appreciate your perspective on this. :)