I’ve never known how to answer the question, “How much do you charge?”–one that came up when I was more in demand as a speaker. And I’ve always been too shy to ask other people what they charge (with one or two exceptions).
Rachel Singer Gordin, the Liminal Librarian, is trying to do something about this situation. She’s doing an online survey.
I’ll be very interested in the results. So will lots of others, I suspect.
Thanks, Walt. I think we’re all too shy to ask, so I figured an anonymous survey might pull people out of the woodwork.
There’s various rates available on-line, though it may misleading data for “top rates” (though it was amusing to look up some blog A-listers).
http://www.goldstars.com/index.html
http://www.speaking.com/
Seth, I don’t know that those rates are particularly relevant to this issue. Celebrity speakers get much higher fees than speakers within a field speaking to the field (unless someone’s both). I’ve talked to a couple of the people who I’d regard as celebrity speakers *within* librarianship, and got “$1,500 plus expenses, but I’ll negotiate” and “I don’t accept fees” as answers. It’s a different field; the survey may add a little transparency, but not bring most of us five-digit fees.