Helpful Tools to Help You Set Your Freelance Rates
Oh gosh. The ‘money’ question. Why are writers so bad at this?
It’s not just the asking for money either; it’s knowing how much to ask for. This goes both ways. I’ve met writers who won’t work for less than $500 per 500-word article (and who keep asking me my secret for having a full calendar of clients), and I know writers who are embarrassed to ask to be paid at all.
Striking a balance between being competitive and making enough money to survive is hard, especially since many freelance writers don’t make their prices public.
So, how do you set your fees?
Well, to start with you need to know what you’re setting fees for.
Deciding Your Rate Type
I had a pretty set fee structure I was happy with, set at a per piece or per project scale. Then I started working with a couple of more prominent clients, and they wanted to know my fee per word for articles. I had to rethink a few things, and it got tricky.
The type of rate you use depends on the kind of project you’re working on and your expertise. Here’s a breakdown of what that might look like:
Per Word Rates
This is where you charge based on how many words you’re writing or editing. The longer the article, the more you get paid, but it’s not always that straight forward and I tend to steer away from per word rates for that reason. For example, if the article requires large amounts of research, but the requested piece is only 800 words - I’ll potentially be out of pocket. You also need to consider getting paid for things like attending briefing meetings orcalls and any follow-up editing.
Per Hour Rates
This is where you charge based on the number of hours you work to produce the piece. This is my preferred way to set my rates and helps to provide adequate clarity to clients on how much a piece of work requires from me. It also means that all my time is covered - including meetings and research - and I can easily breakdown what they’re paying me for on my invoice. Some clients feel apprehensive about this at first, but it’s really about managing expectations. If I’m writing on topics that I’m proficient in, I’ll work quickly and let a client know. If it’s a new area that requires a bit more research, I again, let the client know up-front. Being honest and transparent usually helps clients feel reassured and happy to put trust in you that you’re not taking liberties with your billable hours.
Project Rates
If a client has a very set project for me to work on, I’ll tend to offer a per-project rate. I reserve this for clients I’ve worked with for a while or new clients bringing work to me that I already know I can deliver and what it will demand from me. I also tend to save these rates for the chunkier work I do around course development, editing and educational curriculum projects. I know my clients in this area can move quickly on confirming a project with me when they know exactly how much it will deplete their budget. Project rates are great for work you’re confident and competent on, and that won’t require you to go back and forth with the client, or that are likely to have the client change a brief halfway through.
Setting Your Rates
With many freelancers getting a bit touchy about sharing their rates, it’s good to know where you can find places to start benchmarking yourself.
There aren’t any set industry standards, and there are a few things you’ll need to consider that will be unique to your situation and your clients. But here’s a few places to get started
The #FreelancerPayGap Spreadsheet
This spreadsheet helps you see how much publications paid freelancers and how the amount differed depending on the project, plus the writers experience and demographics. It includes hundreds of entries. I tend to use this resource to see how much freelancers with similar experience to me have been paid, so I know how to pitch myself. I also like to see how much my male equivalents have been paid so I can make sure I don’t sell myself short (or let anyone else sell me short for that matter).
The Contently Freelancer’s Rates Database
This is another excellent resource that provides a place for you to find out how much certain publications paid different writers across various projects. You can leave a review or read others’ thoughts. This database helps me determine whether a publication is worth pitching to, once I know what they’ve paid freelancers like me.
This is a nifty resource that sets standard copywriting rates in both hourly and daily form. You can search by your level of experience, and it helps you compare with more experienced rates too - so you’ll know how to increase your fees as you develop and gain more experience.
Create a Baseline
Getting paid a ‘fair’ rate can be an aggressive topic across the freelance/creative community.
To be honest, I don’t like it, and I disagree with people getting on their angry soapbox to shout at others about rates and fees. I work with so many different clients, at varying stages of their business, and they all have very different needs (and budgets).
My experience so far has taught me that I get better satisfaction when I work with really good people, on projects that I enjoy and get paid a fee I’m happy with, rather then ditching or turning away good clients because they can’t meet a ‘fair’ rate that someone else decided they have to.
The good thing about being freelance is you can decide what you want to be paid for your work.
Create a baseline by creating a monthly budget for your outgoings. Think about everything here:
How much is your rent, your bills, your car and petrol costs?
How much is your weekly grocery costs?
How much do you need to spend to set up and keep your company running, e.g. programs, subscriptions, website costs?
What are you saving up for?
How much do you need to put away for tax and superannuation?
How much do you need to put away for a rainy-day fund?
What about socialising and the miscellaneous daily stuff like your morning coffee?
Don’t forget tax, sick pay and holiday pay.
Once you have this figure, work backwards. Calculate how many hours you want to work a week and then break that figure down into an hourly rate. Be realistic! Don’t say you want to work 10 hours a week if your baseline outgoings are $5000 a month and you’ll be relying on freelance full-time for an income.
This is your minimum amount - and as you gain experience and credentials as a freelancer, it will change and grow.
Freelancing is not an overnight success game. Find the place that works for you as a starting point, set yourself goals, plan a budget and keep growing.
