Selective perception, much?

“We do rockin’ work. We’re good at our jobs. We’re conscientious, caring and friendly.”

“I’m a writer, for god’s sake. Yes, I’m a very good one, but let’s be realistic.”

“Why should we inflate the price just because the Pen Men are doing the job?”

“We’re something of a small superstar.”

Damn.
Huh, all of that in the same article !

“I’m cocky, but I’m not that much of an arrogant ass.”

Well, I think many readers must have found the first part of this sentence to be quite obvious (that you are cocky), but many have probably raised some serious doubts about the second one (that you are not arrogant) as well.

[...] Services, by Steven Snell Nine Factors to Consider When Determining Your Price, by Collis Ta’eed Is Charging More the Right Thing to Do? on Men With Pens The Subtle Effects of Pricing on the Mentality of Clients, on [...]

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I absolutely 100% respect your feelings that what we do is art. I don’t agree, but I understand your take on it (more than you may realize) and am also glad that there are those in the world that do believe this for each of us that doesn’t. They’re both good, valid opinions, just ones that don’t agree.

As for horror stories? I can relate. Some of the stuff that clients tell us about their experiences and how they ended up here asking for our help is truly, really shameful. Some people really have no business being in business, and that’s something that gets me every time.

Cheers!

What is art supposed to do? When done properly, it’s supposed to move people on an emotional level. What do we do? We try to do the exact same thing, only we have a goal, to convince the individual viewing our art to become a client / buy a product.

I think the primary thing we don’t see eye to eye on is the view of creative being a commodity… and I don’t’ think I’ll be able to dissuade you from that belief, but I’m very glad that society at large does put value on creativity because I wouldn’t want to live in a world that didn’t!

All that being said, It’s great to come across a fellow Canadian in the industry who has integrity. You would not believe some of the horror stories that we’ve come across…. service bills for responses to email, companies that charged many thousands for a website that was broken and never worked and then tried to get the customer to hire them to fix their broken work and the list goes on.

DaveRH´s last blog post…RH’s Opinion Sought By National Post

You bring up some good points and I appreciate your opinion. I agree with some; I disagree with some. Let me see if I can clarify a little:

First, I do certainly believe writing is a commodity and not an art. I believe that what I do for a living is a trade and that I practice learned skills and honed techniques. Sure, there’s creativity and talent, but we’re not talking about Michelangelo, here.

Read more on my views about writing as a trade here: http://menwithpens.ca/is-writing-an-art-or-a-trade I’m definitely not in the “writing is an art” camp.

Price discrimination – Yes, we do a good deal of corporate work. Our rates are the same as any other individual, however, we *do* factor in the additional time corporate clients require and the quote that we provide does often come out to higher than the hobbyist who needs a cleanup of an About Us page.

I highly agree that corporate clients make you sweat like a bastard before you even see a dime. We’re fair, yes. We don’t play pricing discrimination. But we do get compensated for every drop of sweat people squeeze, trust me.

Value and confidence – I have differing views here. Our whole business is all about helping others earn money with their business. If a piece of copy I write creates millions for someone, then good for him! My confidence level in the potential returns of working with me does not justify (I feel) a hike in rates.

There are days where 15 minutes of my time means the difference between 0 sales for someone and steady, continual, rising sales and better business. I *expect* that to be a result of my efforts, and I don’t think that a client’s success from my work means they’ve taken advantage of me. My time is paid, my efforts are paid, my skill levels are paid…

Cripes, I’d be very ashamed if they *didn’t* have success!

(Note: I may be missing your point here; it’s late and I’m tired, so feel free to say, “James, you twit, pay attention, would you?”)

You made good comments, Dave. Feel free to come back and carry on the discussion; it’s interesting!