How to Set Your Price As a Freelance Writer

Once you start your carrier as a freelance writer, you will find many impediments in your way-

- You have to compete against many writers who are as talented as you.
- Again you have to compete against writers who write inadequately and who offer their services at preposterously low rates. These writers can do it to get jobs. Many times you will tempt yourself to lower your rates to match or beat the bids of the job.

Please do not do it! Because professional writer never lower their rate just because to get the job, it is your passion and money matter should not be come in the way of your passion. More precisely passion cannot be compromise with money.

There are many individuals who are deficient in writing skills drive down their rates while professional writers can fairly charge. If the professionals do not keep up their prices then this will be a great problem in near future. Just because writers from other countries want to work for eight or nine dollars per hour, this does not mean that you should. As a professional writer, you can earn far more than them. Remember it is your passion and Passion cannot be priced by money.

If you visit any writer marketplace and go through their projects you will find all types of bid prices and proposals. The things which surprised is that you will not find out any parameter that how these writers came up with their prices or how they decided what and what not to include in their bid proposals. Often times these writers do not know how they come up with their fees for bidding either. It becomes obvious when you see the same project posting listed under different varieties or price ranges. And the funniest thing is that the same authors will bid on the same projects with a huge amount.

If you are looking for and I think obviously you are looking for, prospective clients to take you seriously, you need to do the following three things:

- You need a website that lists your prices.
- You need to be consistent with your prices; and last but not least,
- You need to collect a retainer up front before you start.

As a Freelance Writer you need to know what you can charge based on the job at hand. This can vary with market price and when it comes to freelance writing, here is the main point. You may charge whatever you want. The thing is finding someone to pay it who believes your service is worth.

Sometimes you may find Freelance Writers are rare species. Many of them are quite thorny. No need to be one of them. Decide on your fees and stick to them. Take your job as a fun. Do things in stride out. And more importantly please do not chase money, money will chase you.

Keep the following points in your mind; this information will help you to set your prices. These prices may vary person to person because basically it depends on your experience and specialization.

How and What to charge?

It is very difficult to say the exact figure of price because many writers will charge way too much for their services while others will charge way too little. You can find current market rates in Writers Market. I have given you an idea below; you can use this as a guideline until you feel you have a good sense of what you want to charge. Remember, you can charge anything you want to charge. Always ask yourself what your time and skills are worth. More importantly, do clients feel you have the worth what you are charging?

Have a look!

- News Articles (web related): $15-45 per page
- E-books: $20-25 per page
- Novels and Books: $100 per page
- Radio Commentary: $200-220 per hour
- Magazine articles: Expect anywhere from $650-$2000 per article
- Articles for web content, not related to news: $10-$50 per article based on word count and other aspects of the job (such as keywords, etc.)

You can charge per word too. This is somewhat different as it varies on several factors. If you are charging per word basis, decide how much that is and stick with it on all your projects irrespective of lengths and subject matter. Sometimes the price per word can fluctuates by writer depending on what the writer is writing (article, book, and web content).

How much you are considering your worth, it is up to you but do not forget the time you spend creating the work. Remember, if you are an educated and experienced writer in your field, you can earn from $50-$75 per hour.

Some points should consider when you are setting your prices.

It happens with everybody that sometimes you may not please everybody all the time with your services. It does not mean that you lower your rate. Often you will find publishers, editors, and clients who hire you on a fast turn-around. Remember every client expects a top class services from you even though they are not paying that much.

Again if a client tells you that deadline is important then you must talk about the upfront but be realistic because you are in a disadvantage, you may not deliver a good content keep this thing in your mind, if so then do not hurry, ask for more time.

It is a good idea if you can prepare a price list of your services on some parameters and then stick with your rate, it will help you in long run, your time will be saved, show the rate list to your clients. Sometimes dead line and bulk order can compel you to compromise with your list but think twice before compromising. Do not repent afterward.

One important point is there which often creates a problem for writers, whether writer should charge for re writing of content, it depends, if you think that it is your fault then it is better that you should not charge but if it is because of client then you should charge but make sure that you are not the victim.

Finally, it is you who know yourself better and of course your worth too.