Who Sets Your Freelance Writing Rates?
June 10, 2009 by Deb
Filed under Customer Service, Freelance Writing, Freelance Writing Business, Writing Tips
Sweatshop: Chicago 1803
Did you know many freelance writers won’t give a rate quote to a client and would rather the client set the rate? There are many reasons for this:
- The freelance writer doesn’t know what to charge
- The freelance writer is afraid of bidding too low
- The freelance writer is afraid of bidding too high
- The freelance writer is unsure of the “going rate”
- The freelancer lacks to confidence to request what he deserves
To me, this can be a big mistake, especially for freelancers who wish to break out of the low paying rut. Even if you don’t mind writing with a a particular client’s budget in mind, it’s still a good idea to have some sense of what you should be earning.
Why You Should Set Your Own Freelance Writing Rates
The main reason you should set your own freelance writing rates is to get paid what you feel your writing is worth. As a contractor, you determine what you’re paid. Many writers are afraid of a client balking at a set rate and hiring someone else, and it’s true this can happen. If you’re a good writer, with a good reputation and stellar references, clients won’t mind paying your asking price. If anything, you can use your rate quote as a negotiation point without allowing the bar to be set too low.
Here’s something else to consider. Do you know why so many webmasters pay $1, $3 or $5 for an article? It’s because they can. They believe it to be a going rate. Since so many freelancers accept the client’s terms and price, the client is able to dictate the payment. If less writers accepted these rates, employers would be forced to pay more money. If you want to break out of the low paying rut, you have no choice but to set higher standards.
What is Your Writing Worth?
I can already see the comments. “But Deb, that’s fine and dandy, but how do I know what to charge?” Rates are subjective. In many areas $10 per hour is a great hourly wage, in others, it’s peanuts. Only you can determine the payment that works best for you. I can tell you what I get paid, but I also factor in experience, expertise in a topic and more. I’ll tell you this though, if I worked in the real world and was offered a wage less than minimum wage, I’d turn around and walk away. It’s the same with writing. To determine your rates, consider the following:
- Experience – I’ve been freelancing for ten years now, it’s a given that I would charge more than someone just starting out. If you’ve been at this for a few years and you’re still being paid $5 or $10 for an article, something is wrong.
- Labor - How much research is involved? Are you expected to add tables, graphs, charts and footnotes? Will you be required to promote the piece, moderate comments or bring in traffic? All of these are to be considered. For every new task added, the rates should go up a little more.
- Expertise – Are you an expert in your field? Just as someone receiving management wages worked hard to receive top dollar, so did you. You also worked hard to get where you are and that knowledge shouldn’t come cheap.
- Client’s budget – Clients don’t generally tell you their budget but sometimes it’s ok to ask. Also, by researching the company and other projects by that client you might be able to gauge how much he’s willing to pay. An individual with limited funds can’t be expected to pay the same amount as a big business. Also, if it’s for a website or blog, what’s the advertising situation like? If you’re working for someone like John Chow who earns $30,000 a month or more, you can set a good rate with confidence.
YOU have to determine your own rates’
The bottom line is this, only you can decide the payment that works best for you and your situation. However, that is up to you to determine. By letting someone else set your rate, you’re doing yourself a great disservice. Writers should have an idea of what to charge before embarking on a freelance career. If you enter into it with the mindset that you have to take what is offered, you’ll never be paid what your worth. Remember, you’re freelancing because you want to take charge of your career and your life. How can you do this without knowing how much to charge?
- The Best of FWJ:15 Blog Posts About Rates
- On Rates and New Clients: Does It Ever Make Sense to Accept a “Starting” Rate?
- Yet Another Post About Wages: Yes I DO Want You to Succeed
- Do You Need to Raise Your Freelance Writing Rates in 2010? 5 Signs to Help You Decide
- Should You Include a Rate Quote with Your Cover Letter?
Deb, this is awesome. It is so true, and seems so simple and yet so complex. Money is hard to talk about for many…and lets face it, sometimes there is the fear of losing the gig because you can’t gauge what to ask.
Great article, Deb! Empowering! We really do need to gauge our own level of expertise in not only the topic but in our writing abilities and years of experience and to view a prospective project from a client like an interview with a prospective company. Would you say “yes!” to a job that pays you $1-3 an hour or $1 per piece?? Of course not! When we can see it from that perspective, it makes it much easier to set our own rate. I agree. If you don’t see your own worth, no one else will either.
I think confidence is the key. I used to be SO shy about naming a price, until I realized that website owners are going to go as low as they can. My writing is high quality, I have dozens of clients who can attest to that, so now I just state my prices and if they don´t like it, they can look elsewhere. So far that has worked just fine . . . in fact, I recently raised my prices because I have so much work flooding in! That being said, I do sometimes get nervous still about quoting for projects I´m not accustomed to, like an email series or ebook.
All it requires is a little confidence and firmness. I started out at $0.02/word for web content, $0.03/word if the content was more technical than usual, and $0.05/word for e-books and reports. I moved up from there.
It is doable, you just have to stick to your guns. People will take advantage of you in some big ways if you don’t.
Deb, you know how rare it is to see eye-to-eye on rates – I still think your “why” of webmaster rates is over-simplified – but we won’t go into that, especially since it needed to be simple in this piece!!
What I will do is add to the praise here! This is probably the BEST “How much” article I’ve seen, to date. Sound, solid advice on deciding a rate that is appropriate for your area, but remaining flexible if there are extra benefits.
The weirdest thing I have noticed online is that people forget to work out how much a gig pays per hour. Virtually everyone who is prompted to work that out says “I never thought of it like that…” – we all seem to switch off the “decent pay” part of our brains when we connect to the Internet!
Thanks for the useful info. It’s so interesting
So true! One of the biggest things I hear about working at a company that supports independent consultants and freelancers is that they don’t know what to charge or are nervous about setting their rates. I’m so glad you laid out some clear guidelines. Gene Zaino, the CEO here at MBO Partners, gave out a really good worksheet in a recent webinar on bill rates. If anyone’s interested they can find the bill rate webinar here.
I tend to compare business decisions to those of my car mechanic. Does she let me set the rates? I don’t think so! She says $90 and I happily (kind of) pay it because she gets the job done right. There’s a lesson to be learned there.
Setting prices can be scary for most people no matter what your business. The important thing is to know your personal bottom line and be willing to walk away if there is not a balance that can be met.
@Marye – I think the biggest fear is not getting a gig because of the quote. Every writer needs that epiphany – the moment where she says “wait a minute. I’m good at this. I should be paid $____”. Confidence is key.
@Lisa – It’s true though. We all joke about fast food, but fast food pays more than a lot of writing jobs.
@Spike – There are so many reasons webmasters charge what they do. If you visit Digital Point or Warrior Forums where they’re all talking about how the going rate for writing is a couple of dollars an article,it’s kind of scary. But why do they think this is so? There may be a lot of factors but the bottom line is that if writers didn’t accept the rate, clients wouldn’t be paying it.
Good article on a question that gets asked all the time.
I’ve also come to the conclusion that it’s important to charge what’s right for me even if the writer “down the street” is cheaper.
The fact is, there will always be someone cheaper and that is not a reason to lower your own rates.
I try to make quality my distinctive rather than price.
Hi Deb – Great article, your points make sense – but it’s interesting to note that your advice is the exact opposite of the UK National Union of Journalists’ advice on this. They say: “Rule One in negotiating is: always get the client to put their offer first.”: http://www.londonfreelance.org/feesguide/genegtxt.html
They advise to listen to the client’s first offer, then try to negotiate it up. It’s not something I’ve ever been able to do myself, I incline more towards offering a rate up front – but it certainly would spare that sinking feeling you get when you hear the client say, “Oh, that sounds extremely reasonable”, and you know you’ve accidentally lowballed yourself…
All good advice, Deb. I’ve learned that it gets easier to come up with rates and feel good about them with practice. I go with my gut.
Great article and worth bookmarking. (But I think the date on the photo should be 1903 not 1803. There was no photography in 1803.)
Deb, as usual, great article! I completely agree with you that buyers pay $1 for articles because freelance writers accept those rates. Needless to say, it is becoming sooooo difficult to find a decent paying writing gig online. I have been sticking to my decent rates since 3 months without much success. Wish there are more writers who would say no to low wages and buyers would be forced to pay what the words are worth for…but the key is to just hang on there. Your articles definitely make a difference! Thanks a ton!
Fabulous article Deb!!!
I read it when you wrote it last week. I decided to re-read it today because I received an offer for a blogging job found on the site. Unfortunately, it is for less than my normal rate but they are looking for a total of 60 articles in 30 days.
The decision is in my hands and I have to make up my mind today to either take the job or not. Taking in consideration that large volume for the month, the total pay would be sufficient, but then by doing so, I am lowering my rates per article/hour.
Well needless to say, re-reading your article has helped make my decision. I am declining. Thanks again for putting the question of rates in the correct perspective.
Sometimes we tend to say, well maybe this once because I do not see anything on the horizon for the week.
The how-to was correct, as far as it went. When you work with publishers, not clients, the governing wisdom is to mold your fees to a competitive amount. This means you may charge a startup less than someone who’s been around for 40 years. I think offering a flat-fee is the way to go, but some flexibility beyond take-it, or leave-it must enter the picture.
I have to agree with Ed, especially in this economy. However, you have to be careful any time you offer lower than your normal rate — speaking from experience here — those who ask for concessions on rates will tend to be the most difficult customers.
Yes this is true, I must say that I was guilty of this for about a year until I really had to take a look at my client situation then I began to take more control over my rates. Even when looking for more work, I would NOT take anything less than what I am willing to pay myself.
Thanks. I’m going through this right now with a business plan quote. I was asked what I would charge. I am leaning toward $75/hr with a minimum 60 hours, with a deposit of 1/3. What has been everyone’s experience with quoting this type of rate for business plan writing