When I was just out of high school, one of my best friends would tell me details about his financial situation. I’m talking, “I didn’t have the money to cover the Mastercard bill, so I’m going to need to pay a penalty next month.” detail. These conversations would make me so uncomfortable because I always saw someone’s personal financial situation as their problem and only their business.

As far as mentioning rates, that can’t be anything but a good thing. When I was first looking into the freelance writing concept, I was shocked at how low the prevailing rate seemed to be. I say ‘seemed’ because I was going by looking at bids on elance and sites like that. I wouldn’t have even started freelancing if there weren’t people talking about how those rates were bottom of the barrel rates and usually bought bottom of the barrel writing.

This same disclosure that helped me decide to get started in the first place might also make someone new to the industry charge a decent rate for him or herself and manage some staying power, rather than being a quickly burned-out, bitter ex-writer.

I do agree though, that earnings don’t matter.

I will say that when I was a new writer, way back in the day, I found it really useful when people honestly told me what they made. Going in, knowing I had a son to support, it made me more comfortable knowing what I could potentially expect. Also, it’s one of the most typical forum questions ever, “How much do writers/bloggers really make?” Everyone wants to know.

I love reading about what other people earn as writers. Reading enough about what other people make helps me create an average in my head of what I can expect for certain kinds of work. I am especially interested in mysterious earnings like eHow, Hub Pages, Squidoo, etc…

I have to say–and this is a complete 180–I agree with you! Now, I’m not saying other people shouldn’t. I’m far too much of a libertarian to pass judgements like that. Just that, I feel like, right now, it is no longer the right choice for me.

So thank you once again, Deb!

Dawn

I finally found something I agree with. I would not mind seeing someone say they make $8000 a month if they would tell me what they charge an hour or per word and such.

Also, what type of writing are they doing. I can say that I make $700 last week, but more important is how I made it. Did I find a client with money to spend, or did I work 60 hours and almost die doing it.

If you tell people how much you make, you should tell them how you do it so that others can benefit from your information.

It’s also important to recognize income vs profits. I hire subcontractors for some work, which boosts both sides of the ledger, though it boosts the income side more. Highly recommend basic acccounting for those in or planning to be in serious income-earning mode. Things like revenues, expeses, profits, opportunity costs, depreciation (how quickly is that new computer outdated) and return on investment are invaluable concepts.

To say I earned x amount of dollars only tells you I earned that much money. What would help is to say, I earn $35 per hour writing web content, $20 per hour blogging and my freelance print rates are dependent on what they magazine pays. That’s helpful. It tells me what certain jobs earn. I have no way of knowing if this is the average but I can sort of gauge what I should be earning. (These are made up figures, by the way.)

Saying I earned $8000 a month and so can you…that doesn’t tell me anything.

Now if you and I wrote the same type of article – same word count, same research, same sources – for the same magazine and we both posted our income from that client it would be more helpful.

It’s ok. I understand I’m in the minority. I stand by what I said though.

And how does it help anyone to post your entire monthly income (without breakdown) on a forum? I can understand if you’re posting it on your blog – after all, it’s your blog, and you can do whatever you want in there.

Ultimately, learning how much someone makes isn’t going to help you make that much. It’s all up to you. You have to stop reading up on how much someone else makes, and actually go out there and start making some of your own!

I agree that some people are tacky about it or push it in your face, but others are just sharing their accomplishments and trying to show others how it’s possible to make a good living by writing. I think most new writers would find it encouraging.

I have actually been a lot more offended by the people who constantly say stuff like, “You write for XXX? Ugh .. I wouldn’t consider it. I don’t write for less than a dollar a word.” or “No writers should ever take jobs for less than XXX amount.” Everyone’s situations are different and there may be times when you need to work for cheap.

Anyway, I think it’s just a personal choice.

Re the comfortability factor… I have no idea how old you are. I’m 28, but online we all kind of seem ageless to me. (Is that odd?) I’d never considered age being a factor. But perhaps you’re right. My mother would probably drop dead if she knew I’d posted my rate (or my name even) on “the dangerous internet”!!

In my opinion, Chris is trying to encourage others to earn more and to let them know that a writing career can be lucrative.

If another writer feels inferior because Chris earns more than they do, I’d say they need to deal with their insecurity issues. I’m willing to bet your family doctor doesn’t earn nearly as much as a brain surgeon. Does that mean he/she isn’t a good doctor? If I see an attractive actress or model on television, should I feel inferior about my appearance? Feeling bad because another writer earns more than you is just plain silly. We’re all adults here. We should be able to praise others for their accomplishments instead of whining because we haven’t reached that level yet.

I don’t believe people who are posting their rates are wrong, I just don’t agree with the practice. Maybe it’s my age, but it’s not something that makes me comfortable.

As far as sharing earnings, as I said, it depends. I don’t think it benefits anyone to learn so and so makes $8,000 per month. It might benefit them more to learn so and so charges $75 per hour.

As I responded in Jodee’s post, I’ve told people my rates. I don’t go around spamming message boards with “I make $5000 a week, click here.” To me, that sounds more like a scam-artist ploy. I have nothing to gain from disclosing my rates. I’m not selling anything.

But I think sharing my rates (or earnings) once in a while is important. It’s the only way I can prove my point that not all bloggers are earning pennies, or that not all web content writers work cheap. I’m happy to send proof to anyone who wants it. I don’t see that as being impolite. And frankly, if someone feels bad about themselves, I don’t really see that as my problem. There are a lot of people who earn a heck of a lot more than what I make, and that doesn’t make me feel bad. I don’t feel the need to compete with anyone, and I certainly don’t think I’m creating a competition by telling someone how much I make.

I’m not saying anyone should ever be forced to disclose their rates, but I’m having a hard time seeing why those of us who do are in the wrong (or impolite). Maybe I’m missing something here, but if not then I wholeheartedly disagree with you on the impoliteness factor Deb. I respect your opinion, and I have the utmost respect for you always. I just disagree.

I like learning what others charge and how much they make because it helps me assess my own work and figure out where I am in my business and industry. Instead of taking an emotional hit, I think writers can use this information to their advantage.

Having said that, if someone wants to keep their earnings private, I completely respect that as well. I don’t go around publishing what I make to the world, but I talk pretty openly about it with friends and family.

I just had an email exchange with an employer who wanted to use me to write recipes. I’ve done this in the past. The last note I sent to her was my rate per recipe, as requested. Haven’t heard from her since. I’m bummed that it looks to have fallen through. But then I tell myself that I set a fair rate and if I did it for less, I’d end up cursing that I was spending the time for less pay.

So.. it would have been nice to learn more about what others charge per recipe (I researched it and didn’t find much.)

For a writer though a lot of it is always goign to be for personal satisfaction and fulfillment so if a job is motivating or you learn from it or make a friend- it was worthwhile whatever the pay! And somethings are never going to be worth any money…

There’s a lot of self-help writing in recent years about women and money and about the concepts of ‘underearning’ or ‘self-sabotage’. If you’re continually feeling dissatisfied with income it may be time to check out your own feelings around money, for example a common reason people underearn is they have beliefs about how money is negative or will change their relationships, so they might have to come up with strategies to counter that or undo beliefs!

But I don’t need to know how much someone else makes, because there are so many other factors involved. Plus, it doesn’t really motivate me or anything, to know someone is making 10 grand a month.

Now, rates? That’s another issue! Although there are plenty of lies and delusions of grandeur there too!

Now rates on the other hand would be good to have a general idea of, especially as a beginner, although again even those can be relative. One person may charge 50 cents per word minimum whereas a beginner may not be able to demand that same rate.