Professional Writers of Austin
This question seems almost impossible to answer when you first start out in the world of copywriting. There are lots of articles that aim to help you figure out what’s fair to charge a client given your skill set, experience level, the technical difficulty of the work involved, time required to complete the mission, etc., but perhaps the most important question to ask yourself is this: What would make ME feel right?
As some writers will tell you, they don’t get out of bed for less than $100 per hour. Be that as it may, your requirements may be much less grand. Perhaps you’re willing to accept $10 an hour or even $20 an hour. Does that make either of you wrong? Absolutely not!
Maybe someone who says they don’t get out of bed for less than $100 an hour is an insanely experienced writer who only works on super-technical pieces on the subject of nuclear engineering. You, on the other hand, may write blogs about the hardships of parenting, and have just joined the mommy-blogger circuit. There’s clearly a difference between the two types of writing (no offense to either of them), and one clearly deserves more monetary compensation than the other.
I guess my point is this: don’t take jobs where you feel you’ve sold yourself short, no matter what they are, or you’ll regret it. This particularly applies to corporate and copywriting, because honestly, those people can afford far more than you’ll ever ask them for, and any client who claims otherwise is a straight-up liar (or cheapskate—and which is worse?).
To get a fair amount for your writing, here’s my advice: first, ask yourself what’s the minimum amount you’d be happy with on the project in question. Ponder this as long as you need to. Then, double it. Maybe even triple it. And then tell your client that’s the minimum fee. This way if there’s haggling involved, you won’t feel ripped off when they lowball you, and if they give you a truly insulting budget, you can walk away without feeling like a chump.
Some other tips to remember when figuring out fees:
- $1 a word is pretty standard for corporate and copywriting gigs; anyone who wants to hire you for less should quit wasting your time
- Magazines will usually tell YOU what they pay, and you can take it or leave it
- The more technical the writing involved, or the more research required, the more you can charge
- Non-profits usually get discounted rates, so be a bit generous, but NEVER work for free!
- Be sure to tell your clients that more than two rounds of revisions will cost them, to avoid finding yourself stuck in a never-ending cycle of edits with clients who are never satisfied
Got more questions about what to charge a new client? Leave your comments below or hit me up with questions at laura [at] buttontapper [dot] com.
Laura Roberts is the editor of the rebellious literary magazine Black Heart, and a writing coach & manuscript consultant at WriteByNight. You can follow her on Twitter @originaloflaura, or check out her personal website.
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11 Responses to How much does good writing cost?
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As someone who hopes to one day be in the position of charging people for my writing, I found this to be quite helpful. Thank you!
Thanks Laura,
This is really useful. I have a question about magazine rates. A few months ago a mag asked me for my rate, I told them and … they never got back to me. When I finally got in touch with the editor, she muttered something about ‘writing the piece in-house’. That, to me, was ed-speak for: “Your rates were ridiculous!” But she hadn’t given me a chance to negotiate. So I feel that by pitching too high, I lost the gig entirely. How would you have handled that situation?
Thanks,
Carolyn
Carolyn,
That’s pretty odd that a magazine would ask what your rates are, instead of telling you “This is what we pay,” which is usually how it works. I once asked a bridal mag how much they paid, and they turned around and asked me about my rates, which were higher than they wanted to pay. They offered to only take regional rights, so I could potentially re-sell the article elsewhere, but it just seemed very odd to me that they wouldn’t list their fees up front and let writers decide whether that compensation seemed fair, instead of dancing around it.
I think that no matter what, you should always state a fee that will make you feel fairly compensated. Yes, you may lose the gig because the publisher is too cheap (or doesn’t want to negotiate), but they will likely learn that paying too little for a piece isn’t really worth it in the long run, since they will have to have things re-written again and again instead of simply having them done right the first time by a true professional. (And if they don’t care about quality, then it’s best not to work with them anyway!)
This is the hardest thing to navigate in the freelance world, and yes, it can cost you clients. I think the only way to gauge this is to set your own boundaries and know in your heart how much you’re worth.
Just for argument’s sake, you can be an “insanely experienced writer” and also someone who writes about parenting from time to time on something like a blog. It just comes down to talent. I’m sure there are some Mommy bloggers who could write circles around a more mediocre technical writer. Should they really be paid less just because of the subject matter for which they write, even when the quality of their writing might be greater? And more widely read?
I agree with you, Stefani, and didn’t mean to cast any aspersions on the writing abilities of mommy bloggers. I just wanted to draw a comparison between opposite ends of the spectrum: one being a total newcomer to the field, writing in a relatively easy-to-access niche (mommy blogging really only requires that you have a kid… and I guess technically you could even write a blog about kids if you didn’t personally have any, so that’s pretty low-barrier!) versus someone with years of experience in a niche that requires advanced education and more technical skills outside of the writing end of things (tech writing).
As for whether or not the mommy blogger SHOULD be paid less, versus the reality that they ARE paid less than technical writers, I won’t comment, since I don’t think they are comparable in that sense. Technical writing pays more mainly based on its complexity, not based on the quality of the product. I would suggest it’s a question of scarcity of writing resources, in that field, whereas mommy bloggers are a dime a dozen. Yes, you may be a better writer in the parenting niche, but since millions of other people are willing to write the same thing for less money (or no money!), you can’t really expect payments that compare to tech writing salares.
This article actually made me feel a lot better. I’ve been reading a lot of articles recently about what to charge for copywriting. I don’t think there’s an easy answer. The rates I’ve actually have been most happy with are those that the client has said, “this is what we pay.” Usually when i’m asked what my rate it, the client wants to know — seemingly — so he can negotiate down.
Wait, what writer doesn’t get out of bed for less than $100 … per hour?! I am both shocked and dismayed.
Justine,
I can’t remember which blog I was reading, but I remember this writer saying she wouldn’t get out of bed for less than $100/hour. I think she may have been a former lawyer, though, which both implies a technical background as well as an ability to argue for higher wages.
Seems like it costs me $5 just to get out of bed.
“NEVER work for free!” Well, except for http://bit.ly/ra7jO1.
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