Thank you everyone who wrote to me about money
and poems. I’m not charging for them now. I’ll tell you when I do.
For as long as I can remember one of my jobs
has been book doctoring. Helping people with their books.
This started in high school when I was an office temp
assigned a job working for Serge Chermayeff
a Russian born architect who was at the Yale School
of Art and Architecture. Beautiful and imposing,
he was the first person I ever saw who actually
wore a cravat, forerunner of the necktie. His were
all blue silk. He was interested in community
(what did that mean from a building point of view)
and he wanted to write a book.
(And he did.) Since then I’ve worked on many books
and used this rule for money: I charge what the writer
charges for the work she does. If she’s a doctor
for instance I get paid well. If she’s a fast food worker
I charge nothing or minimum wage. This system
has usually worked well. Only two people both men
both lawyers said Why Should I Pay You That and they
found other people to work on their books. Today I’m meeting
someone who wants to write a book who doesn’t
want to tell me what she charges per hour. So I
won’t tell her either.
Brilliant! I LOVE this idea!