Advance Payments / Payment Plans

Advance Payments

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Occasionally I get asked whether I take advance payments. This usually happens at the end of the calendar or financial year when clients have budgets that will expire. It's much more common for my cultural anthropology services than for my fiction services.

 

The answer is a resounding yes! They are good for my cash flow and I know they suit clients with expiring budgets who can’t spend those funds on conferences, etc.

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The problem with advance payments

 

I do have a few rules about advance payments, though, which I’ve developed over the course of my editing career.

 

One big issue is that I might agree on a rate and then the client might come back several years later after a long radio silence. By that point, I’d have accounted for and maybe even spent the money, and could end up doing a job at rates that don’t take into account several years of inflation.

 

To avoid this situation, I've developed the following rules ...

 

Advance payments: How I work

 

When we agree work in advance, I’ll quote you a rate (usually per word) and we’ll sign a contract. The following rules apply:

 

My rules for advance payments

 

1. For advance payments, I request a rough schedule of when each task will be completed so I can pencil the work into my schedule (don’t worry: It's okay if there are delays—I know how nonlinear writing is). This is especially important for book-length projects, as I usually book two or three weeks of my schedule for these.

2. I can't do work paid for in advance to very tight deadlines (unless we later negotiate a rush fee for that work).

3. Any funds paid in advance expire one year after the payment has been received. I will contact you after ten months to organize a plan for any remaining funds. (I do this because setting an expiry date is good for my cashflow and keeps you accountable; it avoids money remaining unused for several years.)

4. From now onward, any expired funds will go into a pay-it-forward pot for marginalized authors. This pot will fund editing work charged at the CIEP suggested minimum rates. When there is money available in this pot, I’ll advertise this fact.

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Payment Plans for Editorial Services

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Payment plans make it easier to spread the cost of a payment. They help my business, too, by making my cash flow more even. It can be handy having smaller amounts of money arrive over a period of several months!

 

This is especially relevant for services authors are paying for out of personal funds. A manuscript or developmental edit might cost the same amount as a holiday: It’s a substantial outlay, so I understand the need to spread payments.

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That said, I have some rules about payment plans to protect myself and ensure the plans are fair.

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Oh, and I offer payment plans only for editorial services.

 

If you hire me for coaching, I can charge per session anyway, so if you pay for each session individually beforehand, that spreads the payments.

 

What a payment plan is not

 

My standard payment terms are to charge two payments, with 50% payable when you book the service and 50% payable when you receive the editorial report or edited text. This spreads the risk evenly between you and me, and it spreads the payments out, too. I don’t refer to this as a payment plan.

 

What a payment plan is

 

As needed, I can split the payments into three, four, five, or more, with one payment made per month. Here are the rules involved:

 

Rules for payment plans

 

1. Payment plans cost the same as paying for a service all at once.

2. As needed, I can split payments into three, four, or more. We’ll define a precise schedule in advance, usually by email. You’ll receive an automatic invoice once a month for x months.

3. Once a payment plan is set up and the first payment is made, you have a legal obligation to make the remaining payments after a two-week cooling-off period. If your circumstances change, contact me to discuss, and check my general Terms and Conditions for rules about refunds.

4. For payment plans, my rule is that I won’t start work on the project until 50% of all payments have been made, and I won’t return the editorial report or edited text until 75% of payments have been made.

5. Once we’ve worked together on multiple projects, the rules mentioned in point 4 may be relaxed.

 

If you have any questions about payment plans, just send me an email!

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