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<blockquote data-quote="Bedrockgames" data-source="post: 9272223" data-attributes="member: 85555">Just one point. Paying by the word isn't what causes this. Writers and designers don't add words to get more money. When you are hired to freelance you are given a word count range, and you are expected to stay within it because the rest of the project is based on that page count estimate. And they will happily edit you down if you are using excess words that don't need to be there. I don't hire writers anymore, but when I did, the word count was just a way for me to plan page count. That said, some projects paying by the word may be suboptimal. If you are saying you want something like a three page manual, where the designer is largely being paid for the effort of design rather than a word count, I think that makes sense. Saying to a writer, what we value is content and we will pay you well for 10 pages of well thought out, well written, and cleverly designed material, certainly would lead to something different than telling a writer to write a 100,000 word rule system. Realistically though, most game companies can probably only afford so much for designers and writers, unless they are in house on a salary. A book that is smaller is also likely to have a lower cover price and make less revenue.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Bedrockgames, post: 9272223, member: 85555"] Just one point. Paying by the word isn't what causes this. Writers and designers don't add words to get more money. When you are hired to freelance you are given a word count range, and you are expected to stay within it because the rest of the project is based on that page count estimate. And they will happily edit you down if you are using excess words that don't need to be there. I don't hire writers anymore, but when I did, the word count was just a way for me to plan page count. That said, some projects paying by the word may be suboptimal. If you are saying you want something like a three page manual, where the designer is largely being paid for the effort of design rather than a word count, I think that makes sense. Saying to a writer, what we value is content and we will pay you well for 10 pages of well thought out, well written, and cleverly designed material, certainly would lead to something different than telling a writer to write a 100,000 word rule system. Realistically though, most game companies can probably only afford so much for designers and writers, unless they are in house on a salary. A book that is smaller is also likely to have a lower cover price and make less revenue. [/QUOTE]

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