Should I Bid on Writing Jobs?

As a freelancer, I am used to editors and publications stating that they will pay flat fees for a certain word count or pay so much per word, but I have come across a situation that is new to me and my circle of writing friends.
A local business with international contacts is looking for freelance writers. This business does quite a bit of work with government and commercial contracts and the freelance work is for a company publication which will go out to employees and retirees. I have submitted a resume and clips to them and now the department which solicits bids needs to contact me. At this point I will be asked to submit bids regarding the articles possibly based on word length or even number of sources.
How should I approach this as I am unfamiliar with what would be a good market rate and what if they want a bid based on something other than word length or type of article?

More Maxisms

Gifford’s opened for the season last weekend and we were very excited. The opening of Gifford’s is a sign that Spring is imminent. We asked Max (age 4) is he remembered what Gifford’s was. His response was a puzzled look.

When Writers Steal from Other Writers

When Writers Steal from Other Writers

We received a huge response to our article two weeks ago about the writer who received $500 for the unauthorized use of her work, and an even bigger response to last week’s article, When Someone Steals Your Work. What all authors need to know is that there are not just companies and websites that steal from writers. There is also a growing problem of writers stealing from other writers…

You Want to Bill Them HOW? By Crystal Schwanke

If you’re like me, the, “How much would you charge me for this article/project” question brings a clammy coating to your skin and you could swear the temperature in your office just dropped by at least a few degrees. There are several ways to calculate costs. Take into consideration how much research and time will be involved in the completion of the task. Work from there to discover the best way to bill your clients in order to remain fair to them while also remaining true to yourself and your financial needs.

How Do I Know If It’s Selling or Not?

There are some writing sites where you can purchase a writer’s story, and the site owner gets a cut, and so does the writer.
Well, I put one of my previously sold stories up at the site, but I am getting very suspicious of the site owner/editor just because of some things that I will keep to myself for now.

Maxisms

Last week, I told you Max (age 4) said he was pregnant. The other night, he crawled up on our bed, lay down, and started rubbing his stomach and moaning. I looked at him and noticed his face was quickly turning red. I knew he was pretending something and asked, “What are you doing?”

When Someone Steals Your Work

Every week, I get emails from writers who have discovered their work published illegally online. Some of the copyright crooks ignorantly don’t realize they can’t publish someone else’s work online (meaning some people think the entire Internet is the public domain). However, in my opinion, most people know they can’t put someone else’s work on their website, but do it anyway, hoping they won’t get caught, not really caring, and/or deciding they’ll just remove it if anyone ever complains. However, it doesn’t work that way.