I think you are right in line. I charge mileage, lodging, and $100-250. I give the discounted rates for Master Gardeners and non-profits.

Paul

They said they were a non-profit, that's why I cut my fee to $100. I think they need some sort of fund raiser so they can afford to hire outside speakers.

Did you suggest that to them?

Lodging, travel expenses, meals, AND a speaker's fee sounds reasonable to me.

otherwise they would end up costing you way more than the lecture brings in.

Thanks for this post. It's a tricky issue and I really like hearing what other people are doing. I agree that $250 plus travel is a very reasonable price, and dropping that to $100 is really doing them a favor.

I sometimes suggest that my travel expenses could be shared if more than one event can be lined up in the area--if a group is well-connected, they might be able to help with that.

I have also agreed to consider books I sell at the event as part of my fee, within limits. Here's a hypothetical: I would normally charge $500, for speaking plus a little travel. 25 people sign up in advance to buy a copy of the book. The book sells for $20--I paid $10 for them by buying them from my publisher. I reduce my fee by $10 per book sold, or $250. So the garden club pays me $250 and the other $250 comes from book sales. If I end up sellng more than 25 books at the event, that's profit to me--the garden club still owes me the full $250 they agreed to.

Because this can be a little tricky, I don't advertise it right off the bat, but if a group really wants me to come and they're having a hard time affording it, I will offer them something like that and also ask them to suggest other venues I could do while I'm in town.

Does anybody raise their fee if they're really busy (or, lucky you, in high demand?) For instance, if you've got a million deadlines & other things going on, will you charge $1000+ as a way of only taking on more work if it is financially worthwhile?

My speaker's fee goes up depending on how far I'm traveling (in addition to the .35 per mile travel charge or travel expenses) but since most of my dates are booked a year or more in advance, I couldn't charge based on how busy I am. In general, many dates fall in March and April and I always end up with at least three "hell weeks" when I'm speaking every day and twice on some dates.

Most people set a speaker's fee based on what their local market will bear, what they enjoy doing, and what the speaker needs to support himself or herself. If you can make more money consulting or writing (please God) why drive miles away to speak? You have to charge what you think is fair, and if a group can't afford it they won't have you speaking. I always suggest to groups with limited budgets that they can get together with other clubs in their area to share the costs.