How Much is “Good” Pay for a Freelance Writer?
A freelance writer can set his own rate based on self-assessment.
When I started out as an online freelance writer, online writing was in its infancy. Big websites had just begin to realise the power of words on Internet and the glory of keywords. In such conditions, the demand for writers had shot up immensely. The hitherto unnoticed writers languishing in poor corners suddenly got a shot of life and job opportunities sprang up on to their faces. The writers who chose to freelance, however, had a tough choice to make. Availability of so many writers online and the subsequent outsourcing got the rates down drastically and $1 writing jobs are now the rule of the day. However, is that how much your writing is worth?
Determining a decent rate for a freelance writer is a tough job. There are various things that one needs to consider before they set their price. It includes your Internet charges, travel costs, etc. However, according to me, the most important thing to analyse before setting a freelance writer’s rate is self-assessment. Your self assessment should include the following:
- How well do you write?- It is easy to admire your own writing and there is nothing wrong in it at all. You are your best critic. Yet, are you that honest with yourself all the time? Don’t you sometimes let away a mediocre piece by you as “decent” because you are too tired to correct it? It happens with everyone and therefore, it is essential to get them reviewed by someone else. Choose these reviewers carefully. They should not be your friends or ones you are comfortable with. You would not get your maths exam answer paper corrected by your English teacher. Similarly, get your writer community to analyze it. The best and critical comments of your writing would come from them. That would give you a basic idea of how good your writing is. Compare it with your own rating and settle on one idea of it.
- Your experience- This is no secret that your pay would always be proportional to your experience. It would be very wrong to charge 50$ for an article in your first month just because the market rate of a 500 worded article might be that. No one would pay you so much money on your first job. However, that also doesn’t mean you should make a habit of writing extremely lowly paid articles. One can start of with a 1$-$2 writing jobs only to gain your first client. Ensure that you make it clear to your first client that you are expecting a raise after your first job. With high quality writing as yours, a hike from the same client should not be a problem. If the client is too reluctant to raise, it is time for you to move on. One tends to get stuck with such jobs and coming out of it gets difficult. Slowly but surely, raise your rates as and when you gain experience
- Your aspirations- The last bit of self-assessment to determine the rate for a freelance writer is aspirations. How much would you like to earn in your first year of freelance writing? Analyse and set a realistic target. Based on it, one can keep reforming the rate as and when clients flock to you. Do remember that no matter what aspirations you have, there is no substitute to hard work and quality. If these are intrinsic in your writing, good opportunities would definitely flow.
I hope this would help some of the new and upcoming freelance writers to set their rate. Do you think there are more things to consider? Lets share!
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October 7th, 2009 at 3:01 pm
I just read carefully what you’ve written. I’m new to this field. Your article is a good source of thought to me. I appreciate it. Thanks for sharing views and opinions.
October 7th, 2009 at 3:03 pm
very informative article, but Internet advertising and marketing is killing the market of good writers. You may find some blogs on the first page of google with unacceptable language and errors.
October 7th, 2009 at 4:38 pm
I don’t know how true any of this is. I would think the Internet has made it very difficult for freelance writers. But like I said, I don’t.
It’s my experience that writers are very poor judges of their own worth.
October 7th, 2009 at 8:28 pm
every piece of advise on freelance writer is valuable to me as I have been thinking of becoming a freelancer, Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
October 7th, 2009 at 9:02 pm
@Sourav and Agnes – Glad it helps you and would be great to see you guys doing well..Triond is good place to polish your skills!
@writing4angels – Agreed that internet marketing is killing the art, but serious writing still exists. There are many quality sites that do require good pieces and according to me, the well-paid writers are there. Thanks for highlighting it. It is a matter of concern…
@Guy – I cant agree with you more on writer’ s judgement of their worth. They often overrate themselves. The key is to get it reviewed by other writers and not by their own. However, writers have big egos too! Not sure how many can take a bad review. I myself had to swallow my pride quite a few times when rejection was the order of the day. It was very difficult. However, since things have slightly improved. I am taking it well! Thanks for your invaluable comments as always!
October 7th, 2009 at 9:36 pm
Excellent article. You have given very good advice. I’m not a freelance writer, never intended to write articles. I want to be a published novelist. But you have given freelancers good advice.
October 8th, 2009 at 3:09 am
Thank you for sending me the link to this article. I am just starting out and learning all I can about freelancing so it was very good advise for me.
October 8th, 2009 at 3:25 am
Good, informative article. It is quite hard figuring out what rate to charge, this article gives everyone a few ideas to go by. Well done!
October 8th, 2009 at 7:27 am
What you’ve said is 100% correct. Well done!
October 8th, 2009 at 10:08 am
When you say
Free lance
It means for free.
No site will give you
More than
Upended
So please write a book,
A thesis,
Self print it.
Here writing is for fun,
Just to satisfy ones bloated ego
Those who comment meaningfully
Are a miniscule few
Just write,
Read,
Enjoy a comment or two
That would do.
October 8th, 2009 at 8:29 pm
WE…Breaking into the freelance market is tough slogging…a person may have a great angle on a story idea but the toughest part is finding the right market. And the competition is increasing as more and more published writers (as in media types – like myself) are shown the exit door – so timing is an important factor to consider. I re-located five or six years ago…before doing so I checked out writing opportunities and was told that were plenty of opportunities, so I moved without a secure job…shortly after arriving, one of the biggest magazine publishing companies here fell on some toughfinancial times and ended up dumping a number of magazines thereby greatly reducing the “plenty of opportunities” to a slim few. Anyway, interesting topic for discussion. Thanks.
October 10th, 2009 at 9:33 am
@jimbob1 – I am sorry to hear you had to go through such tough times…and thankful that you found this forum good enough to share your experience. I hope things have picked up now. It is always the timing I suppose…i will keep that in mind.
October 10th, 2009 at 9:34 am
@lovely honey – no one had written a poem for my writing…;) So nice of you and as always, it is very nice!
October 10th, 2009 at 9:37 am
@Mrs. Heart – glad you agree with me and hope it helped you…thanks for stopping by!
October 10th, 2009 at 9:40 am
@Mary, Ben and Lillyrose – I am so happy that you liked it! I had taken lot of time to put this article in place…feels good to see that it is helpful to my fellow writers like you guys…thanks a lot for stopping by!
May 14th, 2011 at 10:01 am
I usually get £50 per 200 words or £225 for a two page feature. I’m happy enough with that and get more if I provide original photos for inclusion. I know many people find The Writers and Artist Yearbook useful. I have always preferred to submit to editors and have got work out of the blue since people know i can meet the editorial deadlines.