Placing a Value on our Freelance Writing Jobs
The other day I wondered about a livable wage. In that post, I wasn’t encouraging everyone to work at the minimum, just defining a term. When it comes to earning a living as a freelance writer, I believe there’s a big difference between just getting by and placing a value on our individual freelance writing jobs. Our writing is worth money, if it wasn’t there wouldn’t be such a boom in freelance writing jobs. People are willing to pay us for what we do, but are they paying us what we’re worth?
Let’s consider the value of our words.
- How long does it take you to write a single piece from start to finish?
- What type of research is involved?
- What is your name worth?
- What is your brand worth?
- What is your experience?
There are so many factors going into setting a rate and it goes beyond word count. Someone who has a famous name values his work at a higher rate than someone just starting out. Someone with a good reputation has a higher value than someone who is unreliable. Our words do have a value and there’s a difference between getting paid enough and getting paid what we’re worth.
How do you place a value on your words?
As you mentioned, different rates for different writing. Some publications have set rates, and one has to determine if they’re worth it. I find that 50 cents a word is a good barometer. Work that pays $1 a word tends to take twice as long, work that pays 25 cents a word can be done in half the time. If those time factors are different (and not in the writer’s favor), then the question is whether there’s enough work out there at a better rate, or if your time would be better spent marketing, spending time with family, or doing other things of value (but no pay) or accepting the lower-pay work.
Hello, I was wondering what a good rate would be for me to set my writing assignments at? I just started freelancing about a few months ago, so although I am pretty much at the beginning stages of my freelance writing career I would still like to be paid a fair wage.
quite honestly, my experience tells me that the answer is “it depends upon what the market will bear.” it’s about perception, institutional culture, and the usual supply versus demand.
it doesn’t take me twice as long to write a piece of direct mail than it takes me to write a feature article. yet it may pay twice as much (or even three or four times as much) because (a) that’s the going rate for direct mail; (b) direct mail is a money making device while feature articles aren’t; (c) there are a thousand feature writers out there but only a few really good direct mail writers; (d) the client is a corporation, not a publisher – and corporations by and large pay higher wages.
if you want to make big bucks, build a specialty in writing marketing materials for major pharmaceuticals. if you want to write what you want to write, as often and when you want to write it (poetry, fiction, blogs, etc.) – prepare to struggle financially.
after all, the expression “starving artist” has survived the centuries for a reason!
of course, the best solution IMHO is to do it all, and that way you get cash AND satisfaction.
Lisa
It’s all well and good for an author to value her time highly, but it’s a personal detriment to expect others to value it the same way. A product or service is only worth what someone is willing to pay. While the majority of authors can find work at approximately their set rate, from time to time there will be situations that require them to take “$**t work.”
As Lisa said, it’s “what the market will bear.” While running an in-home computer repair business, I was able to charge $50 or more per hour for the longest time. That is, until the economy went downhill and people were most inclined to let their kid fix it. I valued my time at a minimum or $50 per hour. The people paying me didn’t.
Many freelancers – whether authors, computer technicians, network experts or translators – refuse to drop below the rate at which they “value” their time. Unfortunately, when pay day comes around, our services are only really worth what we get paid for them.
Rebecca and Lisa have a point. You can set a rate, but that doesn’t mean the potential employer will listen. My nephew spent a year in NYC after graduating with a journalism degree. He was offered jobs, but none of which paid him what he felt he should earn. As a result, he spent that year as a waiter and finally got fed up and returned to Vermont.
Now in Vermont, he’s working for a newspaper, but for less than he would have been making in NYC. The only difference is that at home he can live with his parents and not have rent or a mortgage.
I make as much as he does from the comfort of my own home and not in a cubicle. Plus, I’m not paying off college loans for the next 20 years. I have a mix of high paying clients and fill in gaps with sites like Internet Brands who pay minimally, but for topics I don’t need to research and they always have work available.
The way I look at things, I have income coming in and I can pay the bills. I have a lot of friends looking unsuccessfully for jobs, so I consider myself very lucky. Putting any value on freelance writing is very subjective and what is good for one isn’t suitable to another.
Great post, Deb. Whenever someone asks me about pay rates and what’s good or not, I always point back to the amount of time it takes to write the piece, the research involved, and the expectations. If I can knock off two $15 articles an hour, that’s $30 an hour, which isn’t bad.
As for livable wages, before anyone starts shouting or posting nasty comments, they need to remember that people live in different communities, with different lifestyles and different needs. When I lived in New York City, what I make now freelancing was NOT a livable wage. Now that I live in a rural community, work from home, and keep my budget modest, I can make a living freelancing. It’s not easy, but it’s do-able.
Easier said than done, but the secret to getting the wage that you want is to have more work than you want to do. Then you’re free to take the work that pays the best and ignore the ads that want to pay you $0.01 per word.
I respond to ads that ask for my rate, but I’m guessing most of my responses get laughed at as they were looking for (and found) slave labor. It makes the rare time, when you get someone accepts your rate, all the more enjoyable.
How do I place a value in my words? I take into account all of the factors you mentioned, especially the ones about time spent on writing and research. I also evaluate my experience from time to time. The more experienced I am, the higher my work’s value get.
I also use my intuition when pricing my work. I know this is too subtle, but sometimes it makes a positive difference.