#freelance-talk
Thread
Hi everyone, I find myself spending way too much time prepping images for articles and I'd like to change that.
Mine often involves using multiple tools since the brand's product is a creative product. I do have a simple workflow and templates, but it doesn't change the time invested for most pieces and it's generally not an activity I enjoy.
How do you manage image prep for clients' articles without investing hours into the process? Please let me know 🥺
What types of images are you making?
Curious what you’re prepping exactly. I take high res screenshots and offer a suggestion for alt text. Takes seconds per image.
Hii @Eric Doty (Superpath) and @Dominic Kent I typically create collages of step-by-step guides, before/after photos (again, a creative platform for visuals, so I test and show the results of using the tools), and 'final result' photos (similar to the goal for before/after photos).
some visuals also require prompt generation. I've started using ChatGPT to speed up this part of the process too but this is often a key part of the process.
following!
It sounds to me like the time is warranted - but perhaps you're not factoring that into your costs?
Hmm. Good question. I currently charge per word for blog articles and always regarded image prep as part of content production. So, no I'm not. What would you recommend for pricing this type of image prep?
Flip to pricing per article. If the words don’t take the time (I.e. I can write a 2,000 or 3,000 words post in the same time sometimes - but I’d like to be paid the same price for my deliverable that day) then make sure your article price reflects what you expect to earn for that output.
I’ve charged a rate per article my entire career. I earn X per day regardless of the time, word count, etc.
Thanks a lot Dominic. By rate per article, is that essentially a project rate? So: X amount for X-Y word count?
Or is it X amount for X-Y word count for different types of articles. So, this same pricing structure but different rates for how-to articles and different rates for, say, content types like case studies, etc.?
I’ve never billed per word as there’s a weak correlation between how many words I write and how long it takes.
I simply have a price per blog post and a price per whitepaper. We might agree discounts for bulk buying but my customers know that a blog post is worth X to them over Y amount of time and will pay for the value of the end product, not the time it took me to create it.
Example:
I literally just wrote about this on my freelance site too:
There’s a link in there to Tom Hirst’s killer pricing freelancing projects Twitter thread as well
Thank you @Dominic Kent! This is helpful info. I'll give the article a read