
Writing
Words are powerful. Choose carefully.
Words can make you laugh, cry, feel, give, donate, volunteer, inquire, buy, enroll, join, follow, retweet, apply, order, visit and so much more. But for many, words don’t come easy. Whether it’s an email, website, blog, ad, catalog, news release or feature story—finding the right message and words to express it can be downright painful, especially if you don't write that often. Or you’re just too close to the subject matter. Maybe you just know too much to boil it down to a few paragraphs or pages.
Fortunately, I have the distance and perspective to help you verbalize your message. And I love doing it. Along with my more than 35+ years’ writing experience, I taught writing for 10 years which further developed my writing and editing skills. And I love a challenge. I'll dig in and learn about your company, organization, product or service—then find the most effective way to communicate with your target audience.
It's all about understanding and empathizing with your audience, and writing to your readers in language they understand. Sometimes it's taking something that's very complicated and boiling it down to something simple. And sometimes it's just about starting a conversation.
If you know what you want to say or accomplish, I can put it into words for you. If you don’t know, it will take a little more work. But the more information and resources you provide up front, the lower your cost. Of course, I’m happy to help you figure out what to say and why. It'll just take a little more time. Below are costs for a few typical projects. But if you contact me, I'll send you my top-secret, confidential writing fee structure.
Small Project
This is usually a quick, one-shot writing project like a:
- short (500- to 1,000-word) blog or Linked-In article
- single ad copy
- news release
- marketing email
- persuasive letter
- short audio script
- website home page or single-page copy
These types of projects can be pretty quick-turnaround—as little as 3 to 7 days, if necessary.
Medium Project
A medium-sized project is a one-shot, content-rich project such as a:
- case study
- article or feature story
- three-panel or 4- to 8-page brochure
- series of ads
Medium-sized projects take a little longer—as much as three weeks—or perhaps less depending on how much information you provide up front and my schedule.
Large Project
A large project is usually a content-heavy, research-intensive project that requires frequent client contact and significant development time. Examples include:
- a 12- to 16-page company or product brochure
- multiple-page newsletter
- website content overhaul
- long-form video script
- white paper
- content series (e.g. series of blogs, LinkedIn articles or short video scripts)
Allow four to eight weeks for large projects. But the better prepared you are and the more clear you are about your goal and content requirements, the more quickly I can turn it around for you. Of course, if you may have a BAP (big a$$ project) like a catalog, I'm happy to provide a quote for you.
“I have had the pleasure of working professionally with Katrina since 2009. Creating her own consultancy and working across a variety of industry categories have given Katrina an impressive breadth of knowledge that informs all of her work. Given that many of these product categories are technical in nature (e.g. everything from the electrical industry to healthcare), Katrina knows how to immerse herself in product categories to acquire the knowledge necessary to then in turn effectively communicate the nuances of it to others. Her proven communication skills (both verbal and written) make her a natural marketer and advertiser. It's not surprising that these same skills have also made her a recognized educator. An educator both in the classroom helping students working toward accredited degrees as well as outside the classroom where she generously shares her knowledge with clients to help them meet their own challenging business objectives.”
Shad Thomas
President
Glass Box Research Company
Chicago, Illinois
“I've always enjoyed working and interacting with Katrina because of her energy, knowledge, ability to generate enthusiasm for concepts, the quality of her communications, and more. Katrina has developed interesting projects and brought talent together to do high quality work. She has vision, she's diverse, and truly entrepreneurial. If you have the opportunity to work with Katrina, I highly recommend that you do so.”
Brendan McGinty
Director of Corp. Engagement
University of Illinois
Urbana, Illinois
These are average costs and turnarounds, but they're based on years of experience. Once you provide a detailed description of your project, you'll receive a hard and fast estimate. That number changes only if the scope of the project changes, or you choose to change the parameters. Also, these quotes are for writing services only. Any photography, programming, printing, or other outside service will be quoted separately. You can arrange for them yourself, I can make recommendations, or I can handle them for you.
To discuss any of these options, email katrina@katrinaolson.com, call 217-721-1679, or submit a request via the contact page.
If you're not sure what you need, see the Products or Consulting page for options. Or download the "Communications Brief" template on the "Free Tools" page.