A Basic Guide To Freelance Writing Rates: Understanding The Essentials


The hardest part of freelance writing is often deciding on how much to charge a client. Like anything else, more experienced writers tend to make more than newbies, and you want to build upon a portfolio that you can showcase to your clients so that if they are impressed by your work, you can charge more. In general, there are three different ways you can charge clients for a project. You can charge them by how may hours it takes you to complete a project. You can charge them per word and then add up the words for your pay. Or, you can charge them based upon the scope of the project. Each of these methods have their own assets and liabilities. But, after you have been a freelancer for some time and have earned your bragging rights, you will gain a sense of how to charge your clients.

Per Hour

Per hour can be a good way to charge your clients, especially until you have built your word rate up through projects. You want to set your hour at about the same rate as any beginning freelancer – and you might want to hit at a bit above minimum wage when your are just starting. Once you have bragging rights on some absolutely perfect projects, with perfect spelling, grammar, and English punctuation – not to mention a jazzy, engaging writing style that appeals to the masses in the worldwide internet community.

Per Word

Per word is the way most seasoned, experienced writers charge—some charge as much as ten cents a word once they have gained a following. This is something to consider. But a typical job is typically 500 words or less for a blog. Figure out whether you would make more on that blog if you charged by the hour, the word, or a basic project fee.

Per Project

If you look at the overall difficulty of the project, you might decide that you need to charge more—especially if it is going to take you away from clients who are willing to pay you more. In the long run, you never want to lose long term clients because that is constant money—constant.

Overall, you just have to get to know the environment in freelancing and to do your research. It won’t take long before you’re seasoned too.

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