Looking into doing Commissions... · 10:32pm Jun 30th, 2019
So, like, the reason I haven't had time to work on the Fanfiction stuff lately is I've basically been overwhelmed between paying work, mental illness, and physical illness. If I could make a bit of extra money without having to go out, that would probably be better at this point, and seeing as I'm making the transition to professional author this year, I've decided that I'll be opening commission requests soon.
I'm thinking of charging 2 cents a word, and counting the outline I'll have to write separately, then charging 1/2 a cent per word to proofread. This would mean every 1000 words would run about $30. ($5 outline, $20 prose, $5 proofread) It also means you could shave off some of the cost by handing me a complete outline and/or not making me proofread it.
Stories would not have to be Pony in nature, nor would there be a specific genre, but remember that I don't watch much TV, so if you ask for an anime I probably haven't seen it. I'm also transitioning to work on original-setting stuff these days, so it doesn't need to be fanfiction, and I'd be happy to write just about anything. (I read a ton of real-world history, science, and especially pseudoscience / debunked theories nowadays)
People have been asking me to do this for quite some time lately, so I guess the only question is, who is interested in commissioning a story at that price?
All that said, I spent most of the last week with low blood pressure and crippling depression, but hopefully I'll be getting something out for one of my fics in the next week. Once again, thanks to my Patreon people: I have a lot of trouble finding the time for this stuff, and that definitely helps...
As someone who has had several commissions written here are my thoughts.
There are plenty of authors who charge $30 or more per thousand words and get it. The thing is most of them didn't start out that way. Generally, people start at $10-$15 per thousand words and gradually raise their prices as their reputation builds. For what you want, a pretty high level of professionalism is expected. A very high level of both writing skill and editing. The ability to stay in reliable continuous contact with the commissioner. The ability to consistently write in a timely fashion and meet deadlines. Also, a simple fact of life is that authors who are willing to write porn can get away with charging more than authors who aren't.
Then there's the method of payment to think about. The most popular way because it's the simplest is a 25-50% down payment up front with the rest upon completion of the final draft. The second most popular is chapter by chapter. The commissioner pays for the expected word count of 1 chapter. Then when that chapter is fully edited and the commissioner is fully happy with it they pay for the next chapter, and so on until the story is complete. Then there's splitting the difference between those two with payment in thirds. One third as down payment, one third upon completion of the first draft and one third for the fully edited final draft.
Finally, there's the decision between minimum versus maximum words. Say a commissioner says they'll pay for 10,000 words. The most common policy for the author is to say that's the maximum they'll write. But depending on writing and editing style an author might find that they regularly go over and then spend tons of time editing it down to 10,000. That's why some authors would make it the guaranteed minimum instead with any words that go over that are done gratis. It makes more sense for them on a per hour of work basis. To figure out which works better for you I suggest timing your amount of hours writing versus hours cutting down in editing during your first few commissions. You can then math out which makes more sense.
Brutal honesty time. You only have 9 stories on this site and only three of them have over a thousand views. You are a relative unknown. As it stands I suspect you have a handful of diehard fans who will be willing to pay your price then commissions will dry up after that unless those first few are big hits in their own rights. Commissions like any commodity face fierce price competition and mean you have to accept the small bucks at first to build your reputation before you can make the big ones.
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This is different from the advice I read when I was looking up what other writers were saying, and I'm not sure how useful it is here. I'm talking about that price because it's lower than what I've been paid in the past, but high enough that I won't get swamped with a ton of people right away: I don't have time to juggle more than a couple commissions. Pricing high and then being willing to negotiate down is very common for these things.
As for the word count and payment plan stuff, I'm still thinking on that, so that's useful input.
I am curious though... How did you find this if you don't know about any of my work? This seems a bit out of the blue...
I said you're a relative unknown. Not a total unknown. I caught some of your work in popular stories and thought you were good enough to follow.
As to prices here are some examples of what you're competing with.
TheVClaw $9 per thousand words.
Honeydrops $10 per thousand words.
MassDriver $12 per thousand words. He hasn't updated his commission information in a while he's actually open right now.
https://www.fimfiction.net/blog/860426/story-commission-offer-idw-pony-comic-cosmos-story-arc-spoilers