I'm going to have the means to set up a paypal (I think) when I turn 16. I want to do writing commissions, because that's something I can do, unlike drawing, but I have no idea what do for even basic things. Like, how do I set prices? Can I ask people to pay me for fanfic or is it just for original stuff?
You shouldn't ask for money for fanfic. Fanfic is already a legally murky area in the US, at least, and while you can probably get away with charging money off of someone else's intellectual property if you don't make a big name for yourself doing it, it's really, really looked down upon in the fanfic community. As for rates, if you're writing fiction, markets tend to pay per word. Look up markets you might submit things to and see what they pay out to get an idea of what the going rates are. You can average it out a bit so you can list rates as [x] amount for a 5000 word story, or suchlike. @Keffy, you're actually used to this sort of thing - any tips?
That makes sense, thank you. I just wanted to check. Okay. I though per word was how it works, thank you for confirmation.
Currently away from home & on my phone, but this probably calls for a massive "how do writers get money" post, which I might put in its own thread and then link here. Because I have Thoughts, but also have spent about a decade watching people succeed and fail. Super short version: Magazines pay per the word, but flat-rates can work for commissions as long as you have length limits. Money for fanfic is way more frowned upon than money for fanart for whatever reason, probably because writers are rattling pennies as it is. However, you should have some free reads available for people to see how good you are, and some of those can be fanfic as long as you are clear that they are samples, and that you will not be selling fabric.
