Writing Commissions Tips
Wednesday Writing Weekly #78
I’ve been selling writing commissions on DeviantART since 2019. It started out as a curiosity. Could I sell fiction? Would anyone want me to write for them? I was gung-ho on graduating college and diving into the writing world (business-writing, B2B, copywriting, journalism…) but I never would have guessed that those little 100-word fiction commissions would turn into my fulltime job later in 2021.
I hope to soon celebrate my 400th commission within these next few weeks. Looking back, there were many things I didn’t know how to do in the beginning. Setting prices felt impossible, planning orders was a massive undertaking, and how did I protect both myself and my client from making them feel comfortable with my work and also weeding out anyone trying to scam me?
In today’s article, I’m going to list a few helpful tips for the most important things you need to think about when setting up your own writing commissions.
Tips for Setting Up (or Improving) Your Writing Commissions
Here are some things you should be thinking about when creating commissions.
Set your Prices:
Prices are hard! Setting them too low (i.e. 1 cent per word) can make your work seem devalued or unprofessional. Start by estimating how much work you can get done in an hour (writing, editing, revising) and decide how much you want to make in that hour, depending on your expenses and goals. Of course, don’t over charge either. Start at a reasonable rate that allows you to make enough to meet expenses, then slowly raise your rates overtime as you gain clientele.
Pick Your Style:
What do you write? Have a clear list and guidelines about what you offer. There are many things to choose from such as fanfiction, original work and characters, not-safe-for-work, or safe-for-work content. Be sure to write what you are comfortable with and set those boundaries.
Story Planning:
Planning a story takes many steps. I recommend creating a document or form potential clients can fill out. Ask them questions about the word count, story genre, point of view, characters, setting, plot, and more. This will save you lots of time and get you all the information you need about the story right away.
Terms and Conditions:
Your commissions will need to follow a set of rules. A Terms and Conditions document will spell out your process such as when and how you accept payment, refund policies, rules, project cancellation process, work schedule, how the client will receive their products, and more.
I personally include these in my form and have a “please check the box if you have read and agree to my TOS. Payments and orders made by a client is confirmation that they have read, understood, and agree to these terms.”
These are so important if there is ever a dispute!
Invoicing:
Be upfront and clear about your deliverables. Use an invoicing system to spell out the terms, price, schedule, and deliverables your client is paying for. Having this piece of paper stating what they have ordered gives clients a big peace of mind too. That way if you do not deliver, they have proof of their purchase and your agreement to complete the job.
Payments:
Accept payments upfront. Unfortunately, there are too many people out there trying to get free work out of artists and writers. Do not complete the work for a client until you are paid. This then guarantees the time and effort you can set aside for a project.
Conclusion
These were just some quick tips for each topic. I can write a whole article on each one so if you have any questions or would like to see an article about any of the above topics, let me know!
I’ve been developing a few new commission products this month so setting up commissions and the whole process of running them has been on my mind. I’ll be diving back into more publishing-industry articles next week, but I wanted to take a nice and easy pit-stop and talk about some of these points today.
Happy writing!