Hi,

I've landed a 18pg. monthly newsletter for a very upscale private golf
community and was hoping to get some ballpark estimates for a piece of
this nature...

Details:

4-color printing from professional printer on upper level "newsletter"
paper 100lb Cover body 80lb. Estimate came in around $4200 for 1500
copies as a "favor" for previous and future work with printer.

The question: If you remove the labor variable and simply look at the
piece dimensions itself, what might be a customary charge per month
for design and printing bundle of this nature?

Thanks in advance for any thoughts,

Billy

On 15/1/04 6:23 am, in article
cb878ab2.0401142223.1053ea44@posting.google.com, "Billy"
<Thirdcatgy@aol.com> wrote:

I'd charge printing based on the printer's normal rate and *not* the favour
rate as the client will (true to client form) expect future prices to be the
same as the favour rate (or heaven forbid, lower)...

Cant help with the rates, been out of the freelance loop for a while!

HTH!

Les
------------------------------------
Studio Project Tracker for Mac & PC
http://www.project-tracker.co.uk

What you charge really depends on how much work you have to do. It's
variable.

Will you write articles as well as design? Will you design ads for third
party vendors? Do you have to communicate with outside writers, vendors,
etc...

You will need to charge more for the first newsletter as you will have to
set up the masthead, format/template, etc.

I do some B/W newsletters and they are all different in price.

Ann - iforte


"Billy" <Thirdcatgy@aol.com> wrote in message
news:cb878ab2.0401142223.1053ea44@posting.google.c om...

Hi Ann,

Little to no copy,no 3rd party ad design, and little communication
beyond the company contact compiling the info and the printing
company.

Text and Picture Layout mostly. Will be picture intensive because it's
a member piece. In addition, a few calendars and schedule of events
and that type of nature.

My ballpark estimate was for the 20-pages design/layound plus printing
(1500 copies)was around 8.5 to 9K per month - with the initial month
costing a bit more for design of the original template.

Any additional comments much appreciated,

Billy



"iforte" <iforteNOSPAMPLEASE@comcast.net> wrote in message news:<bu6kfm$dho26$1@ID-83595.news.uni-berlin.de>...

In article <cb878ab2.0401142223.1053ea44@posting.google.com>,
Thirdcatgy@aol.com (Billy) writes:

18pg? Not 16, or 20?

Anyway, are you looking for a total fixed price to give them? Are you creating
the original design, or are they giving you an existing format that you will be
handling just the monthly production? In either case, you'll probably need to
charge a bit more for the first one you do, or build a little extra cushion
into the normal price to cover your time and costs for setting up the first
one.

Will they be providing all content (copy and images) to you or will you have to
create or acquire any of it? You'll need to take these things into
consideration when quoting them a price. If all you are doing is pure
layout/production, using content provided by them and an existing template, I'd
say a minimum of $20-25 per page for your part. The more "design" you need to
do with each issue, the more you'll need to charge. You'll also want to mention
a charge for "Author's Alterations," where the client makes changes to the
content after you've already laid everything out. Depending on the client,
these can be extensive. I have one long-term client that just can't help
rewriting his copy quite a bit.

And, as someone else pointed out, use the normal price from your printer, not
their "favour" price. You may even want to get a couple of other quotes from
different printers as well, and take the average.
Michael Dion
MDGraphics
www.mdgraphics.com

Mike made a good point about author changes. They will inevitably find
something to change after the layout. Include that in your price. I always
stress out on high end color work. Not sure why, because it always comes out
fine. And don't forget about your time at the print run, etc.

Good luck!


"Billy" <Thirdcatgy@aol.com> wrote in message
news:cb878ab2.0401152105.3d6d9a48@posting.google.c om...

Hi Billy,

I did one of these a few years ago and was in a similar quandry. What I
finally suggested, and the client accepted, was on a price based on how
we thought the workflow would occur, subject to adjustment every 90
days after we had some experience; no retroactive adjustments though.
This worked out great because it gave the client incentive not to waste
our time and gave us incentive to work efficiently as well. As a
practical matter, we never did vary more than 5% over the life of the
project, which was about 18 months.

One note: This was a fairly large company that had an in-house PR
person and some other resources. They were UNABLE to come up with
enough content to keep the magazine going. I have never seen one of
these projects last very long. They go from monthly to bimonthly to
quarterly, etc., eventually becoming sporadic or not at all.

To a new practice, a project can look like a lifestyle changing event.
Instead, enjoy the dollars, but don't bet your mortgage payment on it.
Better yet, build your working capital reserves. Your 8.5 to 9K/month
does not seem far from the mark to me. Also, as someone else said, do
not base your price to them on special pricing from printer or any
other vendor. Things change, but clients have memories like elephants.

Gary

In article <cb878ab2.0401152105.3d6d9a48@posting.google.com>, Billy
<Thirdcatgy@aol.com> wrote: