Deciding how much to charge I

Having established that you shouldn't/needn't ever work for free, the next business issue you'll likely have to tackle is this: When writing for a publication where the payment rate is negotiable, how much should you ask for?

Whenever I'm contacted by someone who wants me to do some writing for them, I never commit or refuse until I've ascertained the following:

The deadline. If the editor wants the finished piece within a few days, I demand top dollar. Of course, if you think you can build a long-term relationship with the publication, you may be willing to accept less. Most editors are grateful when writers pull them out of a hole  

How much work is involved. Word count isn't very important. Doing the research usually takes more time than actual writing, so a decent 1,000-word article isn't much more work than a thorough 700-word item. Quote a price for the entire article, not per word, just in case the editor decides later to go for something shorter. (That's happened to me). 

Resale potential. If you're being offered less-than-fabulous money to write a piece that requires considerable research, but you're pretty sure you can repackage the information and sell it elsewhere later, I'd advise taking the job. The first time I wrote about sustainable architecture in Taiwan, I had to do a great deal of work - but that effort paid off in the long run as I've since written several articles about green buildings (like this one). However, if you can't see any way to leverage the work into additional income, politely say no.

Part Two of this post will follow in a few days.

Yet more superfluous words

Writing about Taiwan's countryside recently, I typed out these two sentences, and immediately saw words that would be better be taken out. As in the previous post, the superfluous words are bolded.

To give cityfolk a taste of farming life and the satisfaction of nurturing something which they can later eat...

Some sanheyuan are cramped; others have more than enough space for an extended family of 15.

Which often appears on lists of perennial candidates for editing out. More than is often not needed. If a house (a sanheyuan is a traditional Taiwanese bungalow) can accommodate more than 15 people, it obviously has enough space for 15; two words can be dropped, and you can get closer to your target word count.