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- On the subject of price
I talked about pricing in a previous post but it was buried in my announcement post, so I’m going to give pricing a little more oxygen.
As a freelancer I’ve done a number of pricing models depending on the client; flat rate, hourly rate, variable rate and project based.
Flat Rate: Some of my most longstanding clients, a flat fee per edited episode is the way to go. Episodes tend to be around the same length, sometimes it runs a little long sometimes it runs a little short. I of course enjoy the consistency of the amount.
The one challenge with flat rate has is a lot of smaller tasks like revisions, correspondence and troubleshooting are not tracked. So ideally you want to raise your price to factor in these additional tasks.
Hourly rate: Now mind you, this doesn’t factor in jobs that I’ve had just ones where I was contracted. Being able to track time on any service means you can justify having your tracker on no matter the task, like those small ones mentioned above.
I found this did lead to some unease; of course I know my value and that I’m worth the time but you have to consider the value of your most important role, compared to the value of your least important ones.
Don’t blame your clients for taking roles away from you so someone with a more economically viable rate can do them.
It really is the best scenario for contractors, no doubt some of what we do is high-pressure, so if a company is willing to compensate you to answer relevant emails or even attend meetings, you did well.
Variable rate: This one doesn’t come up much for me, but essentially the length of the work (for editing) determines the price. Seems fair, but there are two situations where one side is missing out.
Let’s say you charge based on the amount of raw content you receive, this means I as the editor can cut as much as I deem necessary. But let’s also say there were long stretches of unrelated content, an interruption, a police siren, a dog… you’re being served a subpoena. It would be a bit irritating to have to add up all these clearly non-contextual incidents.
But there can be contextual ones, if the client knows the more they record the more it costs, this can put pressure to create shorter episodes when their format is much longer.
Now, even rarer, is having the length of the episode charged based on the result. This would actually create a situation where I would be incentivized to edit less so that the final result wouldn’t cross into a lower price threshold.
So clients out there, please understand that as artists and creatives, we want to bring our best every time, you never know what work needs to serve as leverage for applying elsewhere. If there’s potentially lost money for essentially doing a good job, you pretty much compel your editors to work less.
Finally, my experience with Project rate: My experience with this was a problem only because the amount of involvement – Hey did you know LinkedIn has a character limit? I just reached it. - Can’t afford to support Adobe
From my LinkedIn
I know I’m not alone when it comes to issues with Adobe, having subscribed to some of it’s software individually as well as the year I went with the full creative suite, I have put some skin in the game on this.
Not a lot… but that’s what makes it relevant.
Two amazing products you could get from Adobe are the Elements versions of Photoshop and Premiere, I own the latter. But what I don’t understand is what’s stopping the company from releasing Elements software for their other offerings like Illustrator, Animate, After Effects and Audition?
Is it production cost? As far as I can tell, the products already exist… They just need to be sold as stripped down, standalone pieces of software. An effort of some degree, but only really needs to be done once.
Is it value? The Elements products do seem like loss leaders, but long-term it makes excellent business sense to offer this kind of software for entry-level creators before they transition upwards into more industry standard offerings.
Is it because subscriptions would otherwise decline? Well what does that tell you about the business model? I shouldn’t be subscribing to HAVE the product, I should be subscribing to AUGMENT and ENHANCE the product based on my needs.
The fact is, access is walled off by a serious financial burden for burgeoning creators because without the core product, the subscription wouldn’t be worthwhile.
I knew Animate back when it was called Flash which has an even longer legacy than that. It is the program, nay the community of it’s users, that gave me my creative spark.
It’s not like I’m saying don’t give Adobe your money…
I’m trying to talk Adobe into taking it!
Without these entry-level, consumer friendly offerings, Adobe has done a considerable favor to their competition. The number one reason why these products have any position in the market is because people can’t afford whatever product Adobe has for it.
Instead of Premiere I use their Elements software but mostly DaVinci Resolve. When I can afford to advance my video editing who do you think I’ll support?
Instead of Audition I use Audacity, augmented with RX plugins. When I can afford to advance my audio editing, who do you think I’ll support?
Instead of Photoshop I use Gimp and Canva. When I can advance my illustration and graphic design, who do you think I’ll support?
And instead of Animate, I searched high and low for the best alternative that recreates the vector based illustration sublime in design. I fell upon a small project by the name of Wick that has yet to see an update for a few years but has done a pretty decent job of providing the same tools I got used to all those years ago. https://lnkd.in/g_8-gwYp
I’d support Adobe more if they’d let me. 🤷♂️
EDIT: Just to be sure, I checked if the Elements series has changed, and it has! Now they’re selling three-year licenses. Great. It got worse. - Announcing Conjure.Media to Linkedin
Taken from the Linkedin post:
I’m pleased to quietly but confidently announce Conjure.Media.
Having worked in web-media for a solid ten years, I’ve worked for projects big and small, onscreen and behind the scenes, on behalf of individuals and agencies.
I’ve produced content in the fields of art, law, politics, games, healthcare, sports, military and… more politics. It came time for me not to start a new business, but to evolve my current business.
To be courageous about it, I’d have done this years ago when I wasn’t sure it would work. To be confident about it is having done it for so long that it’s as much a part of me as my own vital organs. I look forward to being gradually more vocal on Linkedin as I do what we’re all clearly here to do, drum up more business.
The one aspect that I had to think over quite a bit before going forward was how to handle pricing; Web-media, especially podcasting, is a giver’s medium. There’s no shortage of benefits to making it but hoping to turn it around into something profitable is a life’s pursuit.
I can assure you that time, consistency and constant improvement work, I can not assure you how much you need of each. Sorry but there’s no code to crack here, so unless you win the lottery either literally or in a metaphysical sense, it’s into the grinder we go.
My approach has boiled down to charge based on the scope of the client’s operation, the larger the operation, the more we can infer a larger impact, the more pressure this naturally causes, the more it’ll cost.
Likewise, I got into this to help people regardless of their place in life and so I endeavor to charge individuals or small groups the lowest rate possible… so long as I can still afford to eat. - Portfolio Page Activated
Over the years, Conjure.Media has produced works in Law, Politics, Military, Healthcare, Comedy and the Arts. The portfolio will show you some of the finest works, and the best is yet to come.
- Services Page now a go (over to it and have a look)
I split my services into Basic and Prestige. Would you like to know more about my services page? Head on over.