Costs

We don’t offer ‘ball park figures’ because every commission is unique and our pricing system reflects this.  We ask you to calculate your own price cost, but are always available by e mail or telephone (0044 121 454 5874) to help you.

How we calculate cost:

Base Rate

Please Note: Our cost is calculated at time of beginning you commission (when we receive your instructions) and not when it is delivered to you. Our writers’ working week is 35 hours. The rate is dependent upon the numbers of hours required (5 day week @ 7 hours per day or 7 day week @ 5 hours). Your date of final instruction for invoicing purposes is the date when we receive your last materials or receive a communication from you. Therefore it is important to instruct as quickly and as completely as possible.  

Our costing system is complex but transparent. Please read all sections before commissioning any work and ensure you have estimated your final cost correctly. Our pricing system reflects our ethos, we are more expensive than many sites but provide a more personalised and much higher quality service in all aspects. 

Work Commissioned at less than Base Rate

Work required in less time is calculated for Undergraduate commissions as;

When calculating for Masters’ and Doctorate rates begin from the appropriate Base Rate and calculate accordingly.

Length - we calculate all  commisisons upwards to the nearest 500 words and @ 8 hours per 1000 words. The smallest commission we accept, is 1000 words plus references and commissions instructed at less than this word count will be costed at this rate.

Hours per 1000 words

In this event your bill will show two pre-reading of own materials fees, one for articles and other secondary materials and the other for primary ones.
We undertake book reviews but these demand repeated readings and precise annotation. This is one of the most time consuming of commissions we undertake and as such has to be costed as a separate item. We levy a charge based upon the length of the book and the level of the required review but notionally this is 5 hours per 100 words. (Please see FAQ What materials do I send? on the FAQs page).

Our charges for editing are the same as for writing. We always undertake a full document edit on all manuscripts submitted to us, including second drafts of extant commissions and not chapters (if appropriate) or sections or parts of these. The document you require to be edited will go through a word count on arrival and again when despatched. The charge is levied on the upper word count whether this is the incoming or the outgoing document. Where a further edit is required in line with supervisor comments, whether on the client's draft script or one already constructed by ourselves, the edit is carried out upon the entire document and costed on the upper word count whether as an incoming or outgoing document.          

A pre-reading fee applies to all materials and is calculated on the number of words you require not the number of words you have sent. In the case of a dissertation where you have asked us to construct an individual section or chapter, pre-reading will be required upon all sections written to date to enable the writer to orientate themselves. A separate pre-reading fee also applies to primary research materials submitted as evidence from which the writer must work. In this event your bill will show two pre-reading of own materials fees, one for articles and other secondary materials and the other for primary ones.    

All commissions must be written from the materials you have sent or from research we will source for you, or a combination of both. No commission is accepted without either of these provisos. Where the material relates to privileged information which our researcher cannot access this must be provided by you; please see FAQS. Our writers are experienced and skilled but all commissions that depend upon material as supplied can only be as successful or as complete as that material enables them to be. Provision of the necessary information is the client's responsibility and once work is in progress your writer will work from what has been provided. Your writer will work with what you send, so please take care, you are responsible for sending the correct file, table, Excel sheet' eLibrary log in details or diagram etc. and ensuring it can be accessed by your writer. If your writer does encounter any 'opening' difficulties they will ask that it be accessed on up to three computers in different locations. If the file continues not to open and your writer must ask you to re-send then your date of last instruction, for billing purposes, will be taken as the day this replacement file, Excel sheet or diagram arrives with us for the whole of the invoice.

When sending your own draft for editing or for incorporation in a new draft this is subject to an incoming editing word charge and is charged as a seperate item from your secondary materials.

Editing of a manuscript that has been completed, but failed or is only partly complete is the most time consuming and therefore costly type of commission. It can incur charges for; pre-reading your draft, pre-reading of any materials you have sent which are needed to complete or improve the script. And if additional research is required to improve the quality and level of the draft and for which you have also contracted a researcher there will be a pre-reading charge for the materials that have been generated, making 3 pre-reading charges in all.  

If the commission is ongoing, for instance editing the draft in stages, the initial pre-reading of the entire draft is necessary for orientation before work on any stage can begin. In this case the pre-reading charge will be levied at the time of despatch of the first commission and submitted as a separate invoice so that you will receive 2 invoices (pre-reading and construction) each to be settled within 14 days. However, this is a one-off charge and there would be no further charge for any subsequent re-reading that may be required.  

As an example on a 30,000 word incoming dissertation script subject to a pre-reading fee of 3 hours per 1000 words (Master's Level) of 90 hours at Base Rate of £45 an hour (14 days before commencing work) the cost would be £4,050 and at immediate rate (£70 an hour) £6,300.

If you wish us to pre-read a dissertation submitted by another in order to gauge the level, or what is required, this is subject to a separate pre-reading fee. All commissions must be written with your own materials, our research or both. In the case of second drafts your materials, our research or both, as they have been previously costed will be replicated, with the addition of the standardized pre-reading fee.

Research once completed must be assimilated by your writer and we levy a research completed pre-reading charge:

Other costs include the verification Fee which is always at Immediate Rate and is calculated in 5,000 word increments:

To ensure the optimum verification each item  - such as a plan or a questionnaire for collecting primary data for a dissertation - is regarded as a separate commission. It is subjected to a verification process and incurs these pro rata costs.

All commissions are subject to verification to quality check your commission before delivery to you and we normally allow 48 hours for this process  But if you commission work at Express or Super Express rates and work must be begun on it at the time of your instruction or shortly afterwards this 48 hour period cannot be maintained.

Express expedited work is subject to an additional express verification process at an additional cost of 3 hours per 5,000 words (u/graduate), 4 hours (masters) and 5 (doctoral).

Financial and Data Analysis

Writers are subject discipline specialists and are contracted to undertake the provision of scripts excluding data or financial analysis. Such analysis can only be provided as part of a commission by out-sourcing these tasks to highly reputable data or financial analysts with the required expertise. This is, however, a relatively high cost option and, where you are able to do so,you may prefer to carry this out yourself or with the assistance of facilities at your own institution or organization. We have no control over such costs and they are considerably higher than those for writing, although where requested we can arrange a quotation on demand.

We can undertake data analysis as part of a commission by out-sourcing to highly reputable data analyists who have the required expertise. This is, however, a relatively high cost option and where you are able to do so you, using SPSS for instance, you may prefer to carry this out yourself through the facilities at your institution because we have no control over those costs and they can be considerably higher than writing costs.

It is the client's (your) responsibility to make this decision at the outset and advise us in the Formal Instructions whether providing the analysis or instructing us to contract it out for you. The quality of the finished product is dictated by the quality of the input. If you do not cite in the Formal Instructions the mode of supplying this data and it emerges after writing has commenced that this is required the consequence will be to return the invoicing of the whole of the commission to the date of receipt of your last materials, even where 95% of the material is already in place. Attend to this with care and ensure all your materials are received as soon as possible.

All commissioned work is subject to a word count and there is a minimum charge of 1,000 words for any commission. Where the commission has consisted of a cluster of smaller units of commissions (e.g. survey, questionnaire, interview schedule) these will be costed independently and itemised on your invoice as Commission, 1, 2, 3. In cases where additional script, such as tables and diagrams are requested during the free amendment procedure and the word count in consequence is inflated, this will be taken as the final word count for costing purposes, regardless of the initial instruction.

Once you have commissioned the work and a completion date is set the contract becomes binding and subject to a cancelation fee if you choose not to go forward. A charge also applies if the date of a commission is changed by days or weeks because your writer will have arranged their working diaries and have booked out the time to complete the commission for you. At times it may not be possible for your writer to accommodate to this change, in which case we reserve the right to brief another writer and to pass on your commission out of house, although for reasons of continuity we do not advise this.

Charges for the complete cancellation of a commission are £500 per commission + £300 per 1,000 words.

Charges for a changed date are as follows; a change of up to 7 days - £500 per change + £100 per 1,000 words; a change 7 - 14 days - £500 + £200 per 1,000 words; a change of 14 days + a charge of £500 + £300 per 1,000 words. The date of arrival of materials or final instructions, or the date of payment for a previous commission is of relevance only in the calculation of your invoice.

This is especially important in long term writing collaborations, where you may be asked to sign a Writer Retention Agreement to secure your writer for the length of your commission. If you decide to defer part of your programme or the final year dissertation your writer will require three months prior notice of your decision to do so. This is because your writer will have apportioned their time to you, turning down other commissions and must be compensated with sufficient advance notice to enable them to secure other work, unless a word count has otherwise been specified, a ceiling of 10,000 words for Masters and 25,000 words for Doctoral Writer Retention Agreements will apply.

*Clients residing outside the UK will be asked to make a payment contribution before commissions are released. If paying directly into our account please allow adequate time for transfer. Any direct payment must show in our account by close of trade the date settlement is due. If paying by cheque we strongly advise you send recorded delivery or cash by registered post. Mode of payment is dependant upon your ghostwriter’s instructions. Ensuring that payment arrives by the due date is the client's responsibility. Late payment surcharges apply at all times and in all cases, on any late payment.

For returning clients with a good credit rating we also offer a zero interest planned payment option. Please put this request in writing before  the commencement of your commission as this will need to be agreed with your writer.
For further information such as Office Hours, Vacation working and writer and PALO credentials check us out at About Us

All the information you require is on the site, so please read it thoroughly, especially FAQs. If you don’t find the answer there or you want to check out specific requirements before you register e mail us at info@elizabethhall.co.uk or telephone 044 121 454 5874. Someone is available during office hours to answer your queries, or by e mail at any time.

We are unable to accept instructions or files until you have registered. So if you are unsure, ask first. 

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