Guidance with "extras" for writing articles

[Guest arathert]

Hello,

I hope I have this in the correct section, for I’m hoping to receive some help with determining how to best utilize my “extras.” I recently made an error by using them for adding additional gigs, thinking it would help some buyers since I had some who wanted to buy several at a time. My attempt to make it easier for them ended up costing me money and 12 gigs that will not be recognized on my total number. Not the worst thing in the world, but a “shucks” kinda thing. Lesson learned.



Now I’m trying to determine what is an appropriate “extra.” My gig is writing short articles on animals. What I’m finding is that I’m spending a lot more time with medical research than I planned on (I’m a stickler on accuracy), and therefore probably making about 25 cents an hour. I am grateful for the work and the wonderful reviews, and enjoy doing the work for the people, as they’ve been very pleasant. However, I can’t put so much time into it for $4 and risk losing other work.



I considered making an extra as “for medically researched articles” and then an additional charge. However, I don’t really know what sort of other extras I could do for the writing and was hoping to get some suggestions. Would love to hear ideas.

Thanks!

arathert

[ryangillam]

Take a little look at my gig extras 🙂 They work well for me.

[freelancemm]

I tack on what I refer to as a “research cost”. Essentially, if I feel the time it is going to take me will be exceedingly long for research, I require them to purchase that “research fee” or provide the research themselves. When they try to start researching, they realize the time investment is exceedingly long and usually purchase the extra in fairness. Offer a short length of an article initially, and charge an extra to get up to that word count. For example, 250 words for starters, and a lot of people seem to look for 500 words, so charging 5 to 10 extra is still a relatively low cost especially if they find you through a search engine or somehow directly land on your gig. Research extras+longer length extras have worked well for me off and on.



@ryangilliam Any tips on getting a bigger order queue? I can’t imagine the queue is getting that big on the offer of two articles per order?

[Guest arathert]

Thank you both so very much! That is a great idea to have them do the research so they understand. I will definitely incorporate that bit if information. I will look at your gigs ryangillam - I appreciate your letting me do so.



Again, most thankful!

[marshagrey]

I found this pretty useful as i am now being asked to do articles by repeat customers. I may have to generate a gig for that.
Thanks.

[mhwoolz]

I agree with @freelancemm that a gig extra for more time spent researching is a very fair idea. That way you get paid for your valuable time and work! I have a gig extra for adding in stock images (you could use the Fiverr option or make your own and do your own searches for public domain images). You could also add an extra for including detailed references (footnotes/a bibliography section) if you think that’s something your customers would be interested in. An express delivery extra is usually a popular option too.

I have a bunch of extras for longer articles on my gig, but often I find it’s easier to provide people with custom offers if they want something longer.