Raising fees may seem like a good way for a writer to increase revenue. Hike the hourly rate from $75 to $100, multiply by the number of billable hours in a week and - voila! - more income. But there's a problem with that approach.

The client will balk, you say, or a new prospective client will choose a writer with lower fees. These scenarios are certainly possible. But in my experience the problem is far more difficult to assess. Why? It is hiding. Where? In the writer's mind. To paraphrase my buddy Bill Shakespeare, The fault lies not in our clients, dear Writer, but in our selves.

Yes, we are the problem, and we have a willing and able accomplice: hourly rates. The hourly rate is a seriously flawed way to bill, though often necessary when beginning. It sounds good at first, yet quickly falls out of favor for those writers who want to increase revenue. The writing is on the wall: You can only work so many productive hours per week. Add more work and you'll burn out. Raise your hourly rate and you may lose work, so you think, to other writers.

Megastar consultant Alan Weiss has a solution: Value-based fees. He has written extensively on this issue and I highly recommend, Value-Based Fees: How to Charge - and Get - What You're Worth. But I warn you. After teaching you how to establish your unique value - the basis of your fee increase - he'll confront you. He'll tell you the problem is not convincing others to sign on the dotted line. Instead, he'll recite Shakespeare and reveal the real reason you don't ask for more: you don't - yet - believe you're worth it.

In Wealth for Writers: Part 1 - Assess & Attack, I suggest making a list of what you do best. This list should go well beyond writing skills, because writers are more than the sum of their parts. By appreciating all that you have done to become a good writer, you begin to see your inherent value. This is what you bring to the ballgame. Not just a PC and a work ethic, although they help, too.

Next, consider your hourly rate. For this example, let's use $100 per. If you work 20 billable hours you receive $2,000. Sounds good.

But what if there was a way to earn that same $2,000 while working fewer hours? The theory of value-based fees is not a shrewd tactic to swindle clients out of their money. It's quite the opposite. What you charge for is not only the precious time you spend, but the long-term value your services provide the client. Intangibles? Not always.

If your press releases, sales letters, web copy, internal memos - etc., etc. - have helped your client increase productivity, perhaps you're worth more than $100 per hour.