#and it genuinely feels as though my writing isn't as good as it usd to be either but I can't be bothered to care about that either

[cerise-on-top]

Sorry for being annoying on main again, but does anyone have any tips on how to regain your writing spark? Writing feels like a chore more so than anything else these days, and it feels like those short breaks aren't cutting it anymore. But I'd feel guilty if I took another break, I just took one last week, after all. Has anyone been in the same boat? Does anyone have any idea regarding what I could do?

[mdhwrites]

Talking About Commissions

So this is not just about taking commissions. This is genuinely about writing commissions in general, why I price things as I do, etc. like that because I don't feel like writing commissions come up often in online spaces for... a lot of reasons that I'm not getting into. So to begin, what do I set my own commission rates at?

Actually, no, that's going to have to wait because with writing... How do you charge for it in general? With an art piece, you are asking for ONE thing. One piece of art. Well, with a writing commission, aren't you just asking for a short story or every chapter? Sure and you can charge that way but it presents a lot of potential problems. After all, if you claim 30 dollars for a one off story, what as a writer are you really signing up for? And what as a consumer are you?

First for the writers: I have one offs, that are one contiguous scene so wouldn't be split into chapters or the like, that go up to NINE. THOUSAND WORDS. I have chapters that have become the same length. That is one almost HALF of a complete novella written... for thirty dollars. For most writers, that is probably at least nine hours of work as well and that only counts the writing part of it. Not any revisions, thinking about it, planning etc. Even for me, who writes at about 2k words an hour and doesn't usually need the planning portion as heavily as most, that's still over four hours of work and I consider myself to write at a professional level so I don't want to undersell my capabilities, nor should you.

How about for the consumer though? This all sounds great for them after all? Well, what if the concept is really short? Just a sweet scene that ends up about only a thousand words. It's still well written, gets the point across and more fluff wouldn't really benefit the work. It is the best version you can get... But you spent thirty dollars on it. Non-negotiable. That might leave you a bit ticked as the buyer. Shouldn't the price be equivalent to the work needed?

That's why I charge more based on common freelance methods which is equivalent to how many words are written... Not that that's simple. After all, the story isn't written. I don't know how many words it will be. I can estimate because I know my style and what not but I can't guarantee it.

For me, partially due to my mental health, I do not charge up front and I request a budget effectively. A maximum amount that someone is willing to pay for the story. That way I know what to expect for the work but I also know what my limit is before I'm working on it pro bono, because I will not charge beyond that limit, no matter how many words I write. We established a budget, I will not ask for more. I imagine what a lot of authors would/may do is that they do this same sort of estimation and effectively ask for what they expect for the rock bottom amount of words the concept will take and charge that much as down payment. That might be the full price or they may ask for a budget like I do. That's up to the author.

So... What is my personal price?

10 USD / 1k words, rounded up at 700 words. Half price for original works.

So first: Why the rounding policy? It's effectively so that neither of us feels screwed over by the word count. After all, if I write 3124 words and charge $40 for it, you might be reasonably annoyed because you got shortchanged 8 dollars. If I were to write 3895 words with a budget of 50 dollars, I might be tempted to just find another hundred words to cram in, even if it makes a part awkward because I want to be paid for those extra 900 words. And I set the rounding policy like I do to favor the commissioner because, well, that's just kind of good business.

But couldn't I remove the rounding policy if I just charged 1 USD / 100 words? Yes. I could. I can't actually give you a real reason why I don't. I just like the larger, more even numbers I guess. It also makes it clear that any story should be expected to be 1k words. I don't want someone coming to me with 2 dollars and wanting a story because while I can technically do that, I'd honestly rather take something so short as just a request.

Why the 10 dollars as the rate? This is probably the part of my commission sheet I've warred with the most due to the reasons why you don't see writing commissions much. After all, with my writing speed and how I can generate a story in SECONDS, why not charge something like five dollars per 1k words? It'd be 10 dollars an hour then as a wage, upwards of 15 when I'm really in a flow state.

Well I live in the US and 15 dollars is what the minimum wage honestly SHOULD be here so at best, I am earning the minimum wage for my country on any given commission but that's only if we talk about specifically the time spent writing. Not the time spent doing revisions, thinking about it, etc. like that and that's without a potential editing pass since someone is paying for this rather than my own works which I don't usually do a self edit on. And remember: I am willing to PUBLISH my works. I consider them good enough to put out into the world and charge money for them. That further complicates how much I should or shouldn't shortchange myself on my prices, especially when I don't charge ahead of time and can ONLY deliver a finished product so if someone wants to commission me and bale, it's very easy to do so.

That part about me being willing to sell my works as books is also why I don't charge as much for original writing. I am not selling you the rights to commercialize the work I do for you. That complicates EXTREMELY and I probably just straight up wouldn't be willing to do proper, commercial commissions. However, if you do want me doing an original story, that means there's a lot of benefits for me (an excuse to market my original writing abilities, a short story I could publish in a collection eventually, etc. like that) and honestly the word count will probably be larger in fanfiction simply due to the necessities of original writing versus fanfiction (a whole other blog I could do).

It complicates things on all sides in a way that makes me commonly want to favor the commissioner over myself with the price of the work. Not that that has come up very often because I haven't done many original commissions and the last commissioned work I did was... six years ago? At least?

And that brings up the last question: Am I currently open for commissions? I... Am kind of in a limbo where if you want to talk to me about a potential commission, I will be willing to discuss it with you. However, due to my mental health problems and how bad they've been, right now I'm more likely to either turn it down or just allow it to be a request (I have made multiple short stories based on people just throwing me a prompt in my asks, not even asking for a story) because I don't want that extra pressure despite REALLY needing the money. Honestly, I'd rather you just bought my books. You get a lot more bang for your buck that way, even if it's less tailored to you.

So yeah, I hope you found this interesting and chew on it a bit if you're considering opening commissions yourself. See you next tale.

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I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead. If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

A Twitter you can follow too

And a Kofi if you like what I do and want to help out with the fact that disability doesn’t pay much.