Re: Freelancing fees - Reply

[Peter Kent <76711 -dot- 2557 -at- COMPUSERVE -dot- COM>]

>>Brett Peruzzi said:
This tops even what Peter Kent said the highest-paid techwhirlers made.>>

Oh, we're going for the record, are we? No, I didn't give a "highest-paid"
figure, I just mentioned what was found on the Rocky Mt. STC salary survey. I
know of writers making over $250,000 a year, one making over $400,000 a year.
(Actually he may be making $800,000 a year--he writes for a major computer-book
publisher, and one of the editors told me that he "makes $400,000." I'm not sure
though, looking back on the conversation, whether the editor meant that the
writer makes $400,000 per royalty period--which would be $800,000--or simply
$400,000 a year.)

Of course the immediate response to this from some writers is, "These people are
not really technical writers, they write books." Well, yes, they write
books...but they are technical books. I know someone in my area who wrote a book
about the Internet for some government department, at the same time I was
writing The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Internet. We were both doing the same
thing, really. We were both technical writing. In fact many of the computer
books you see in your bookstore are written by people who used to make their
living as technical writers (or still do).

Peter Kent

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Peter Kent: 71601 -dot- 1266 -at- compuserve -dot- com, 303-989-1869
Coming soon, an updated and revised Technical Writer's Freelancing
Guide. E-mail for more information.
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