How should you calculate costs when quoting a freelance job? Beyond the work itself, freelancing has many hidden costs, like preparation time and travel. Utsudo suggests leaving room to negotiate: if you think a job is worth NT$8,000, quote NT$9,000 or NT$10,000, because once a price is out it usually only goes down. That said, she has also been turned down after raising her price slightly. By comparison, a critique service with open, transparent pricing feels most comfortable to her, while regular collaborations need much more back-and-forth.

Translated from Utsudo’s original Chinese column.

Costs I never considered before freelancing

Honestly, before I took on freelance work, I never thought about “cost” at all. So whenever someone asked how I’d price a collaboration, I usually had to think it over or search online for typical rates.

I used to naively think a price was just a price, until I realized freelancing hides a lot of “hidden costs”—prep time, travel expenses and hours, time spent communicating, printing costs and so on. If you don’t factor all of these in, your price ends up too low.

To put it bluntly, if you don’t negotiate well, it turns into sweatshop work.

Leave room to negotiate when quoting

A low quote may make clients happy, but you’re the one who suffers. Once a price is out, it usually only goes down, never up—not to mention some clients love to haggle a bit, since whatever they knock off is a win.

So here’s my advice: if you think a job is worth NT$8,000, quote a bit higher, like NT$10,000 or NT$9,000, to give them “room to negotiate.” I used to price purely by the amount of work, only to find later that I spent far more time on travel and communication. But the price was already set, and it was really hard to raise it.

Or rather, I didn’t know how to ask for more—I’m too timid (covers face)

And that time, the client even haggled with me… They hand out millions of US dollars to charity without a second thought, yet offered creators such a pitiful fee. I lost big on that job—it felt like being sold and then helping the buyer count the money. On top of that, the work and communication dragged on forever, as if our time didn’t count and only theirs was valuable. It felt awful.

Turned down after raising my price

On the other hand, I’ve also had a client write back to decline after I deliberately raised my price. Such a shame—I’d been really looking forward to it QQ

But honestly, I’d only raised it by NT$1,000–2,000 to give them room to haggle, and it fell through right away. All I can say is that negotiating freelance fees is really hard.

I’m still learning how to negotiate, and I hope everyone can have a happy freelancing experience.

Transparent pricing feels most comfortable

Right now, the freelance work I’m most comfortable with is probably critiques. The price is clearly listed, and it’s up to whoever needs it. The whole process is open and transparent, so there’s less room for disputes, and it basically keeps everyone satisfied. Later I may open more private lessons based on what people need.

With critiques, clients follow my rules, so it’s more relaxed—no need for both sides to confirm things. But regular collaborations require confirming and reconfirming, and the time cost of all that back-and-forth is really high.

If you enjoy communicating with people, I don’t think it’ll bother you. But with enthusiastic clients, there may be some chitchat beyond the work. Honestly, if I don’t see them as a friend, that back-and-forth is a bit stressful for me. It’s not that I dislike it, but if possible, I’d rather keep things strictly business.

Thinking this way may cost me some chances to become friends with clients. But I think chatting after the job is done suits me better—after all, I take work seriously.

Does anyone have better experiences or advice to share?

FAQ

Further reading

• Previous: Hey! I Heard You’re a Writer on Ghost Island #220: Sharpen Your Strengths Instead of Fixing Weaknesses
• Start from the beginning: Hey! I Heard You’re a Writer on Ghost Island #01: Utsudo’s Debut — A Road to the Dream Covered in Frost
• Utsudo’s books

About the author

Utsudo is a Taiwanese light novelist and novelist VTuber with more than ten years in the industry and 40 commercially published print books. Her novel 《遺失的情書》 received a 2022 Ministry of Culture youth creative award. The 《嘿！聽說妳在鬼島當作家》 series records her experiences as a novelist in Taiwan.