When it comes to setting freelance writing rates, most new writers get stumped. I get it, you don’t want to start too low and end up making peanuts. But, you also don’t want to price your services too high and turn prospects away.
This is something many new freelancers struggle with. For me it wasn’t just about finding freelance writing fees that I was happy with, it was about sticking to those rates and not caving to cheap clients.
When I went onto sites like Fiverr and Upwork, or even on job boards… the pay was way lower than my rate. I always felt compelled to settle for low pay because I thought I had to get more experience or I just needed a quick gig so I could call myself a writer.
In this post, you’ll learn how to calculate and stick to your rates and not cave to low-paying clients just to land a writing gig.
Fixed vs. Hourly Freelance Writing Rates
I charge per project, this works for me because there may be some days I work fast, and some days I work slow. If I were charging per hour I’d get less pay on a fast day and more on a slow day. It may even seem like I’m dragging the work on purpose for more money.
I think it’s better to charge hourly when you are a more experienced writer aka you know how long it’ll take you to complete a project. So that both you and the client can get a rough estimate of how much the full project will cost.
Hence, I prefer to stick to a fixed fee, especially for blog posts, where you generally know how long it’ll take you to create the post from start to finish.
How to Calculate Your Project Fee
Your project fee is just a price for a certain type of content piece. If you are a blog post writer and you only want to write blog posts because it’s easy to get into.
To determine your fee for one blog post you have to look at some other factors:
How much money do you want to make per month realistically? And how many projects can you complete per month, would you have to complete to make that money?
For example,
If I want to make $2000 a month and I can write 3 [1000-word] blog posts a week…that’s 12 blog posts a month, so 2000/12= $166 per blog post
This is a reasonable fee, and it’s just one way to calculate your fee for blog posts.
Different projects have different fees, I got most of my project fees by using this guide from AWAI.
How to Calculate Your Freelance Writer Hourly Rate
New writers with 0-2 years of experience would charge $50–$80 per hour. You can also calculate your hourly freelance writing rate by dividing your project fee by the amount of time it takes you to do the project: If you charge $200/blog post and it takes you 3.5 hours to complete, your hourly rate would be $57/hour.
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- Can I make $1000 a month freelance writing?
- How do I prepare for a discovery call?
- WOW clients with these 7 copywriting SPEC pieces
Invoicing for Projects
There is invoicing software available like Honeybook to make the invoicing process simple, but if you’re just starting out, use a Canva template and send clients a PDF invoice through email. Or if you get paid through PayPal, they have an invoice generator you can use to create and send invoices to clients.
Always ask for a deposit of 30-50% before you start a project. Send the deposit invoice with the contract. When both are completed, you can get started on the project. If you want to win at client onboarding, grab The Freelance Writer Template Kit.
Get Consistent Work With Retainers
One of the cons of freelancing is having to constantly look out for the next gig, which causes immense stress for new freelancers. Setting up a retainer will help you get long-term clients and a consistent paycheck.
What are Retainers In Business?
Retainers are agreements in which the client agrees to pay you a sum of money — usually monthly — for a certain amount of work over a prescribed period.
Clients can make the payment for your services in advance or at the end of the month once the work has been completed.
Why Use Retainers?
Retainers are a great choice for service providers because it brings in recurring work, especially when times are tough and there’s a dry spell in your freelancing business.
By having retainer clients you don’t have to pitch as much as before because work is consistent and you know that you’ll get a certain amount of money each month.
Also, working with clients for a long period allows you to build stronger relationships with them and your chances of being referred by them will increase.
I offer two kinds of retainers, one is the monthly blog bundle as you can see below, which shows the number of articles and their price each month. This is for clients who want regular blog posts.
The other retainer I offer is a once-off or fixed fee retainer which can be completed in less than two months. This is for clients who need ebooks and funnel copy to build their email list.
Retainer Payments
If you have retainers like ‘monthly blog packages’ you can create a landing page where clients can pay directly, this can be done for free with Systeme.io. After your discovery call with the client, send them an email with the contract and link to the payment page.
FAQ
How Much Should I Charge as a Beginner Copywriter?
Many new freelance writers get confused with pricing their services especially when other writers are charging $30-40 for a 1000-word blog post – with this rate, you won’t have a sustainable business.
We also have to think of it from the client’s perspective: Would the marketing manager of a 7 figure e-commerce brand hire a freelancer who charges $40/article to take care of their blog? Unlikely, right? Your pricing kinda reflects how good your writing will be.
Digital marketing writer Elna Cain charged $70/hour for blog posts when she started freelance writing. It’s different for everyone because it’s dependent on your skills, but new writers with 0-2 years of experience would charge $50–$80 per hour.
So if you’re a complete beginner charging $50/hour and take three hours to write a blog post you’ll make $150 for that project. If you know how long it’ll take you to write a blog post you can charge a project fee and say: “I charge $150 per blog post,” instead of mentioning your hourly rate.
**It shouldn’t take you longer than 1.5 hours to write 500 words. Remember to time yourself when writing to become a faster writer.
How Much Should I Charge To Write a 1000-word Article?
For a 1,000-word article, a typical rate would be $200-$700, but it could range much lower or higher depending on:
- Your skills and experience
- Your writing samples
- Your niche
- Where you live
- Your expenses
- The time it takes to complete the work
- If there’s interviews in the article
A basic blog post starts from $0.10 per word. That’s why you should charge at least $100 for a 1000-word blog post. Niching down and having a writer website to encourage trust and credibility already means that you can charge more. Yay:)
How Can a Writer Make Money With No Experience?
Anybody can be a writer, this is different from most jobs where you have to work for someone else to get experience. You just need to write with correct grammar, and punctuation, and incorporate SEO best practices. Even if you write on your personal website or Medium it’s considered an experience.
Here are a few ways to build your experience:
- Write for marketing agencies
- Write on SPEC
- Launch a blog on your freelance writer website
- Pitch to local small-business websites
- Turn your former employer into a client
- Do guest posting on other websites
- Write for magazines and publications
- Report articles for local news media
- See if your friends or relatives need a copywriter
How Do I Start Freelance Writing?
Here’s what you need to do if you want to make it as a freelance writer:
- Decide on a writing niche
- Set up a website to promote our services
- Do client outreach and build your network
- Enhance your skills in copywriting and SEO techniques