On Prices for Work: A Query

[Pedant]

Guys, quick question.
So I managed to get myself a position doing some conlanging work with someone, and it’s a nice job. But I was thinking about expanding it a bit beyond the initial contract, make a script or something. What do you lot think would be a fair price to offer? I don’t know if this is against board rules or etiquette, and if it is then I’ll delete it.

EDIT: conlanging, not commanding. What a mistake-a ta make-a...

[zompist]

I assume there's some spellchecker error there? If not, congrats on the commanding job.

You don't give details about the client, pay, or anything else, but as a general rule, if someone's given you $x for a job, that's a good indication of what they're willing to pay for more work. If the script takes you 1/2 the time the contract did, ask for x/2.

[Pedant]

I assume there's some spellchecker error there? If not, congrats on the commanding job.

You don't give details about the client, pay, or anything else, but as a general rule, if someone's given you $x for a job, that's a good indication of what they're willing to pay for more work. If the script takes you 1/2 the time the contract did, ask for x/2.

Heh, whoops, just going to fix that right now...

Naturally not--that rule I am coming to learn, and very quickly indeed. But this sounds like good advice! Many thanks!

[zompist]

I figured that was it, but wanted to make sure.

The other thing I'd say is, value your own work and don't undercharge. I am generous with questions and extra words/samples, but if something will require an additional charge, I tell the client. I probably undercharge myself, but not so much that I'd be embarrassed if other conlangers got paid the same thing.

Good work is worth paying for— avoid people who are vague about payment or kind of hope you'll do it for nothing.

[masako]

Good work is worth paying for— avoid people who are vague about payment or kind of hope you'll do it for nothing.

hear! hear!

[alynnidalar]

A rule of thumb for determining whether it's worth it is to look at how much time you expect to spend on working on a project, then how much money per hour you'd be willing to do it for, and use that to calculate a minimum. e.g. if you're willing to spend an hour on something for $10, and you expect it'll take you 5 hours to complete, then you'd better be charging at least $50 or it won't be worth it to you!

(of course, that doesn't mean someone would want to pay you $50 for it... but it helps with the undercharging problem if you determine up front, "I won't do this job for less than X".)

(also keep in mind everything takes longer than expected... add at least an additional 50% on any time estimate and you might be closer to correct)