When I think of negotiating the terms of a new project, for some reason, I think of my senior trip to the Bahamas. Literally, every time. It gives me a chuckle, anyway. I picture small, sun-browned people in straw hats and brightly colored mumus, standing under shaded little huts, haggling over their wares. Pricing your work can be about like that. You haggle with yourself, thinking, "What if I charge too much? Will they turn down my offer? What if I underprice myself and wind up losing out?" Here's an example I have seen offered by many other freelancers: My very first gig. Oh boy! I was so excited! I was going to be a real, true, honest-to-goodness professional writer! Oh what do I charge, what do I charge? So, just to get the job, I went against the advice of all the pros, Jennifer, Anne, Allena...and charged five dollars a pop for three blog posts a week. I figured I could churn out three blog posts in an hour easy, and then I'd be making fifteen dollars an hour!

Many gigs and lots more professional experience later, I still remember sitting up all hours of the night, trying to make these three little posts just absolutely perfect. It took me way over an hour to do each post, because they wanted additional research and an image for each one. Not that I'm blaming the client, I don't blame them at all. Heck, if I were looking for a problogger, and some nincompoop like myself offered to work for less than minimum wage, I would probably take them up on it. Actually, these days, I would probably tell them they were giving themselves the shaft and undermining their own talent. That being said, I was so proud to have the job, I didn't care. I would probably have done it for a dollar, to be honest, just to have something on my resume. Besides, at the time I figured I had been writing for pennies for Triond, Helium, and Ground Report. Five dollars was way better, right? Now I know better. Ah well, live and learn.

Nowadays, I'm aware my skills and time are far more valuable than rates less than minimum wage, and so I quote accordingly. I quote what I am absolutely positively sure I want to work for, and then, besides a little negotiating here and there, I stick to it. And it works! Other people agree my time and skills are valuable, and they are willing to pay me for them. The first step in pricing your work is to figure out how much you want to make. Duh, right? Sounds simple. Then you will probably have to consider this amount and tweek it up or down according to reality.

We would all love to sit at home in our pajamas and eat Cheetos while making a fortune banging out blog posts, but unfortunately this is the real world, and currently, it's in a state of crisis. That is another matter to keep in mind. Freelancers of the world hear this: the terrible economic client is making it easier than ever for contract workers in the publishing industry to find work. Clients are avoiding the big publishing and marketing firms, and going for the contract worker. Freelancers don't require benefits, or workers comp.

Companies are wanting to spend less on their advertising. I advise all my clients and prospective clients to maintain the same ad budget as much as they can, because when sunny days are here again, the big boys will be holding strong (unless they invested with Madoff), and the little Mom-n-Pop will need to have stayed in the loop. The only way for them to do this is to keep an active market presence. This is where you, the contract worker, comes in. As I have pointed out on my site, it is essential for businesses to maintain an active presence to keep up with those big guys who aren't necessarily going to be forgotten in the midst of an economic crisis.

Bottom line: If you underrate yourself, most clients are not going to be good Samaritans and let you know that you are doing so. It's not in their best interest to alert you that you are shortchanging yourself. If you have been doing this for any time at all, you have probably already figured out this takes a lot of trial and error. Such is true with fees and rates. Try this and that. You will come to find you will probably charge differing amounts depending on the service. This is why it is contract work. Most of the time, you will base your rates on the total amount of work, plus the intricacy and amount of detail. If the client wants you to do research or add imagery, you may want to increase your rate a little. If the client has several projects and wants you to consider a package deal, you may want to knock your rate down just a little for the whole package. This is still, for a while anyway, a free market, and you have the right to charge pretty much what you want.

That being said, keep in mind if you charge too little, all your freelancing friends out there will hate you, and you will be considered to be "wh**ing" yourself. You may not care if strangers hate you, but you will become burnt out very quickly if you're only charging a pittance for your work. Discouragement may begin to set in. That is why is is imperative you figure out quickly what your time and effort is worth to you, and begin to fiddle with market rates. All of this may sound kind of sketchy, but it really is a matter of trial and error. With all the freelancers out there hitting the newly discovered cyber-media market, good paying jobs are not going to jump into your lap. So, you just have to jump into the fray.

What are your thoughts about fees and rates? Have you been burned? Tell us your horror stories about being a greenhorn freelancer.