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The Lisa Company | Process and Fees

Before you hire Lisa to write, edit or plan a project alone or with or her partners in design, photography or video production, here's a list of questions to consider:

• Who's the audience? You might have a project idea in mind, but it's important to spend some time thinking about who you really want to read, watch or listen to your message. Some might want to read; others might prefer video. Some projects work best with both.

• What's the objective? What do you want your audience to do once they've absorbed your message? We can help you clarify these goals and the right path to communicate them.

• Is there already picture in your mind of the finished project? If not, no problem. It's our job to give you choices. But if you've ever seen a project you'd like to emulate in terms of quality, we'd love to see it. We're not too proud to admit that we can do a better job if you show us an example of what might best meet your needs.

• How much planning and information-gathering needs to be done? Every project requires time to research data and interview people. Travel can be another factor. For video, people look better in front of the camera if they're prepped for broadcast. The information-gathering and planning phase of a project can actually be more time-intensive than the writing, editing or taping needed to complete it.

• When is it due? Everything has a deadline. Some writing jobs are easy to do in a 24-hour period. Reports, articles and video projects may take weeks to develop and finalize based on planning, production and final approvals. Books typically take months to complete before they even go to the printer. Realistic deadlines that are set early keep the project affordable and on time. We have plenty of experience helping you set those deadlines even if you don't.

About our fees:

Freelance writers typically work on a per-word, hourly or project basis based on the nature and timeline of the assignment. Proofreading is the cheapest thing we do. Complex projects like lengthy reports and full-length books are the most expensive. Editorial projects fall somewhere in the middle based on their complexity.

Sorry, we don't post our prices for competitive reasons. But here's what we can do.  Click here to give us your name, contact information and a basic description of your project. We'll e-mail back within 24 hours a ballpark estimate on your job with any details we think you'll need to make up your mind about us. We'll probably give you a call to make sure we understand what you're looking for before we give you that estimate.

If you like what you see, tell us and we can move on to a formal proposal.  The clearer we can be about your project goals -- the questions above should help get you there -- the closer the estimate will be to the final proposal. We understand money and time are tight, and we don't like to waste them any more than you do.

Any other questions? Just e-mail Lisa.