Two Drafts Finished; Anyone for a Third?


I may never hear from Mr. Jones again. He has paid me for my work on his first draft and for one hour of work on his second draft. He still owes me for the additional hour and twenty-three minutes of work on his second draft. He may decide not to pay me for it, but I’ll take that chance. At $25 an hour, that additional time is worth $34.57. If Mr. Jones is certain that he has learned enough, or if he feels my services are no longer worth paying for, he does not have to pay, and I won’t complain.


Like Mr. Jones, you will receive value beyond the money you pay me. I will earn your respect before you pay for my time, and if I can’t earn it, you won’t pay. It’s that simple. Incidentally, if you become such a fine writer that I am unable to help you improve further, I will so inform you, free of charge.


If Mr. Jones wants to continue the redrafting process, he will rewrite his work and submit it along with payment of $59.57 (the amount owed, plus $25.00 in advance for my first hour of work on his third draft).

 

If you become one of my writers, you will receive a copy of my revision manual, the one I spent countless hours developing, writing, and editing.You will receive my corrections, my advice for revisions, my instructions in the use of the manual, and a bill. But on that bill will be a note explaining that you are under no obligation to pay it.


In our scenario, Mr. Jones must make a decision. If he has had enough at this point, he pays me $0.00, not a bad deal at all for him.


On the other hand, if he decides to take the next step, he will need to pay his bill for $57.08. It will consist of a charge of $32.08 for my revision manual and for the time already spent evaluating his writing. The absolute minimum charge for my first consultation and the manual will be $25, whether I spend a full hour evaluating the work or not. There will be an additional $25.00 charge in advance for the first hour I spend on the second draft. I will never spend less than an hour on the second draft.


Upon receiving the required $57.08 and that second draft from Mr. Jones, I will read, evaluate, and respond. I will once again keep track of time spent. Here is how it all might look. Note the second row of numbers on top, referring to the date and time when I began correcting this draft: