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Freelance Writing Tips: How much should you charge?

One of the number one questions asked by new freelance writers is this: how much should I charge?

High or low?
When you're first starting out, it can be hard to know what to charge. It's tempting to try and make your prices as low as possible to try and attract clients, but try to avoid this if you can. If you start out low it can be almost impossible to get people to accept a price rise. Far better to price yourself a little higher and then either negotiate down, or offer discounts.

How much do you NEED to charge?
When you're working out how much to charge, think about how much you need to make in a month. Remember to factor in costs such as electricity, your internet connection, travel, telephone calls… As a business owner, you have to cover all of these costs, and also feed and clothe yourself.

Work out what your costs are each month, and then calculate what you need to make to cover those costs. Now work out how much work you're likely to bring in during the month. You should be getting close to an idea of how much you should be charging. For example, if your expenses total $800 per week, that's a lot of $5 articles you'll have to write.

Charging by the hour, by the project, by the day
Some writers bill by the hour, and some bill by the project. Some prefer a combination of the two, offering set-price services (a per-page charge for proofreading, for example) and an hourly or daily charge for projects which fall out with these services (ghostwriting a novel, writing a feature). The method you use is up to you.

No matter how you decide to charge, however, bear these points in mind:

 Get a clear brief
Before you start work on a project, make sure that you know exactly what the client wants. If at all possible, get it in writing. There is nothing more frustrating than finishing a first draft, only to find that the client has completely changed his mind.

 Decide how many sets of revisions will be included in the price
When you quote a client a set fee for a project, specify the amount of revisions this includes. Many writers will allow the client to request three sets of revisions, for example, for the fee they've been quoted. Once those three sets of revisions have been completed however, the client starts to incur further charges if they need more. By doing this, you help to ensure that your client doesn't end up with twelve hours of work for the price of two. (If you have a very indecisive client, this can happen, believe me).

 Have a "kill fee"
Imagine the scene: you've just spent an entire week working on a client's project, when they call and say they changed their minds, and they no longer require a brochure/ebook/press pack after all. But you already put in the work! What do you do?

This is where a kill fee comes in. Your kill fee specifies how much you will charge (normally a percentage of the final fee) if the customer cancels on you at the last minute. It's very important to have a kill fee in place to protect you from time wasters. Trust me on this one, too.

So, do you know how much to charge yet? No? Try this:

 Find out how much your competitors are charging.
This will give you a good idea of the market value of what you're providing

 If you're in the UK, check out the National Union of Journalists' Guide to Freelance Fees, at

 In the US, check out WritersMarket.com 's "How Much to Charge":

Work from Home Freelance Writing Jobs Roundup

Writer needed for new site
Freelance rock music writers
Freelance writers needed for Hispanic publication
Copywriter required
Freelance proofreaders - English, Spanish and Arabic
Health Diabetes Lifestyle Copywriter Wanted
Copywriter for teeth whitening site
Freelance travel writers
Writer for business womens magazine
Breast cancer blogger
Weight loss blogger

How to Write the Perfect Press Release Part 5: Making Your Own News

Here’s a basic rule of public relations for you: if you don’t have a good news story to tell, you create one. Here’s how to do it:

1. Throw a Launch Party

It doesn't matter if your business is a few months old, or just newly opened: if you haven’t thrown a launch party, it’s time to do it. Invite everyone you can think of to your party: invite the local councilors and MPs (who will never turn down an opportunity to either have their photo taken or attend a party. Trust me on that one.), members of your local business community, your friends, family and prospective customers - and, of course, the media. Here’s another secret for you: journalists rarely turn down parties either - or not if they can help it.

2. Run a Competition

Just as everyone loves a story, you'll find that there are very few people who can resist a freebie. By running a competition, you'll be able to tap into that opportunistic streak all of us have – and promote your business at the same time.

3. Give something away for free

I know, I know – when your business is new, you want to hold onto every last penny. The very idea of giving something away for free is anathema to you! But trust me – freebies not only help you get into the local media, they also help bring in more business. By offering freebies, you do two things:

1. Generate goodwill towards your business
2. Gain media exposure

The media couldn't care less if you're selling something (even at a discount) – that's why they have an advertising section. Once you start giving it away though – that's when they'll be more likely to take notice.

4. Get sponsored in an unusual way

As any PR-person will tell you, sponsorship doesn't just benefit the charity you're raising money for: if you're a small business owner, it can be of great benefit to you as well. Cynical? Well, probably. There's no getting away from the fact, though, that being sponsored to do something, whether it’s a charity hike, sponsored silence or a walk halfway round the world will give you a better chance of seeing your business name in the paper.

If you can be sponsored to do something unusual (because let's face it, thousands of people do sponsored walks every year: and when you work for a newspaper, you get to find out about every single one of them), then so much the better. Get a good picture of you either completing your sponsored task or handing over the cheque to the charity benefiting, and your local paper may just find a space for it.

5. Sponsor someone else

If you don't fancy being sponsored yourself, then try sponsoring someone else. Local clubs, sports teams and organizations are always on the lookout for extra cash, and while you may not be able to spring for a sponsorship deal with your local premiership club, sponsoring your local kids' football team will earn you goodwill – and your business name on eleven shirts for a year!

6. Piggy-back on someone else's press release

We've already discussed politicians and how media savvy they are. The same goes for many other organizations and businesses, who are just as desperate for publicity as you are. It makes sense to get to know the PR people working for these organizations. Say your business is in a health-related industry, and you find out that your local hospital is about to put out a press release about an issue affecting them. Why not contact the hospital press officer and ask if you can help? You may be surprised at how willing they are to have your voice of support quoted on their press release – and that means getting your business in the media.

Want to be a freelance writer? Better get your finances in order first...

We all dream of being able to just walk out of the day job one fine morning, and walk right into a comfortable freelance writing business. A tip? It’s not going to happen. As with any business, when you start out as a freelance writer, it will take time to build your reputation, acquire a solid client base and have enough steady work coming in every month to stop you worrying about paying the bills.

Paying the bills. It’s the one big obstacle that prevents many talented writers going freelance. You see, freelance writing isn't what you'd call a stable career. Some month you may do really well: you'll have money to burn and the not a worry in the world. Other months? Other months you won't be quite so flush.

It's hard to adjust to a freelance career if you're used to a steady income. It can be really tough when you don't know where next month's mortgage is coming from. Sometimes it can be so tough that the worry will break you: you'll stop thinking about how to find those freelance writing jobs and start wondering whether your old employer will have you back.

Those kind of circumstances aren't exactly conducive to productive writing. That's why I strongly recommend that you don't start a freelance writing business unless you have enough money in the bank to see you through at least six months of mortgage, groceries and other bills – even if you make nothing.

If you don't have those kind of savings and you don't want to wait, then I recommend one of two thing:

1. Start your freelance writing business without leaving your dayjob.

Yes, that means working evenings and weekends. No, it won't be fun. But it will get the bills paid, and until your business is making enough each month for you to give up the day job altogether, it'll do.

2. Go part time - at least umtil you're making enough from freelancing to cover your part-time salary.

Of course, you could ignore all of this advice and just start freelancing anyway. That's what I did. And that's why I'm recommending that you make sure you have some security behind you before you make that leap.

Work from Home Freelance Writing Jobs Roundup

Seeking writers
Writers wanted - electrical experience desired
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Seeking writer to polish a novel
Write press release
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Pro-Blogging: Developing a thick skin

Sometimes professional blogging is hard. Actually, scratch that: blogging professionally is hard pretty much all the time: it's just that some weeks are tougher than others, and this has been one of those weeks. The fact that it's still only Tuesday doesn't do much to cheer me up about this...

One of the pieces of advice I normally give to people who're thinking about starting a blog is to develop a thick skin. When you write for the public, you are, of course, opening yourself up to criticism, and sometimes abuse, and this is particularly true of blogging, where we tend to actively solicit feedback by leaving a handy little "comment" box at the bottom of each post.

Sometimes the comments are good ones. And actually, a lot of the time the comments are good ones - or are at least constructive ones. Other times? Not so much. Every now and then, every blogger gets negative comments. In the past, I've been called "butch and ugly" because I wrote a post in which I admitted to not being fond of sneakers; I've been told I deserve to be "shot in the head" because I admired a particular handbag; called "fat" because of a post mentioning a certain dress, and have opened myself up to a whole world of abuse by writing about Crocs.

Often, it's easy to see that the people who write comments like this aren't quite sane. Normal people, for instance, don't go around wanting to shoot people who don't share their taste in handbags. Sometimes, though, it can be hard to just shrug off negative comments, and as I mentioned at the start of this entry, this has been one of those weeks.

One thing I've noticed in the time I've been blogging is that when the negativity comes, it tends to come in waves. I'll get normal, polite comments for months (and by "normal" I don't necessarily mean people singing my praises and telling me I'm wonderful. I just mean people who, if they disagree with a post, are capable of voicing their disagreement without telling me I deserve to die.) and then all of a sudden there'll be a little run of aggressive people telling me I'm ugly and fat and my blog sucks.

When this happens, it can be very hard not to take it personally. Is it me? I wonder. Have my posts gone downhill? Have I suddenly and dramatically lost touch with what my readers want? Am I just really bad at what I'm doing, and everyone's suddenly realised it, all at the same time?

Well, I certainly hope it's not that - and the fact that the negative comments I've had this week haven't just been on new posts, but on older ones, which had previously not inspired any kind of aggression, would seem to back this up. Sometimes, though, when you're in the midst of all this negativity, it can be really hard to convince yourself that you shouldn't just give up blogging altogether and go and work in McDonalds or something. It can be very, very hard to keep coming up with posts when nothing you say seems to be right. It can be hard, in other words, not to take the comments to heart.

Hopefully things will go back to normal soon. In the meantime, my advice to would-be bloggers remains the same: grow a thick skin. You're going to need it.

Work from Home Freelance Writing Jobs Roundup

Be a real life Carrie Bradshaw
Freelance writer for home improvement guide
Medical news writer
Lifestyle writers wanted
20 minute writing project
Freelance writer/blogger
Looking for bloggers to write eco-friendly content
Need Writer to do article on Actor/Author Baron Jay
Sales copywriting
Ghostwriter required - non fiction
Travel bloggers wanted

Why All Freelance Writers Should Have a Website

We'll be looking at the technicalities of setting up a freelance writing website soon. For now, though, just trust me: if you’re serious about your freelance writing business, you’re going to need a website.

Most people who find themselves in need of a freelance writer or editor don’t have a clue where to look for one. I’m not talking here about magazine editors or other publishing professionals: they’re a whole other nut to crack, and not the subject of this post.

What I’m talking about are the employers who find themselves looking for a writer for the first time: the new business owner who needs content written for his website, the established business owner who realizes she could be doing with a writer for that brochure she's putting out, the new novelist who finishes his magnum opus and suddenly finds himself in need of a proofreader or editor.

These people often have no idea where to find the professionals they need to help them with their projects. If you need a plumber, joiner or electrician, you’ll normally look in your Yellow Pages, or in your local paper. The same goes for accountants, lawyers, chiropractors - in fact, just about any other profession you can name. Writers, though? Where do you find them? Well, on the Internet, of course.

Often when an employer realizes he or she needs the services of a freelance writing business, he’ll do one of two things:
1. Ask around to find out if anyone he knows has ever used a freelancer
2. Look online

If you don’t have some kind of online presence, then, you won’t be found. It’s as simple as that.

How to Write Perfect Press Releases Part 4: How to find a story that journalists will bite your hand off for

In part three of this series, we discussed the importance of finding a good, newsworthy angle for your press release. Here are a few places you might want to look for one...

1. Use your startup story

What made you decide to start a business of your own? In our case, it was serious illness, which forced us to take stock of our lives and work out what we really wanted to achieve. Hopefully you’ll have a happier story than that one, but whatever your reasons for starting up, think carefully about whether it’s interesting enough for you to use in your press release.

Remember, your story doesn’t have to be a particularly dramatic one in order to make it work as a press release: say you were laid off your job, and used your redundancy payout to start your business. The chances are your local paper at least will have covered the redundancies, and they may well be interested in a follow-up feature focusing on the people who were laid off, and where they are now.

Or maybe you got divorced and decided to start up your own dating agency. People love human-interest stories, especially ones they can identify with, so if your start-up story is one that you often find yourself telling people about - or, better still, find people asking for more information about - chances are it’s interesting enough to qualify.

2. Use your unique selling point

Every business needs a unique selling point - that one thing that makes you different, and which sets your business apart from the rest. If your unique selling point really is unique, you may be able to use it as the basis for your press release.

Yes, I know I’ve already told you that no-one’s interested in your business, but now I’m going to qualify that: if your business is truly unique, people will want to hear about it. For example, I recently read a feature in a women’s magazine about a new restaurant which specialises in making food for people with eating disorders. Doesn’t sound like a particularly fun eating experience, but it was different enough to get it a double-page spread in one of the top selling glossy magazines in the country, just by existing.

Now, very few businesses will be unique enough to fall into the “interesting just because they exist” category, but nevertheless, think about your USP and how you can use it. For example, if you're a hairdresser whose salon has computer terminals at each chair, or a travel agent offering holidays for pets, you may just get away with it.

3. Think about what kind of experience do you have to offer?

I’m not just talking about business advice here, but about your life experience in general. For example, if your spouse is your business partner, why not work your press release around the idea of offering advice on how to work with your husband/wife without divorcing them? Or if you started your business abroad, you may be able to offer a unique insight into living and working in another country. Remember, press releases don’t necessarily have to end up in the news section of your target publication: if your story would make an interesting feature or interview – or even provide material for a weekly column – the publicity you gain could be even better.

Work from Home Freelance Writing Jobs Roundup

Ghostwriter wanted
International literary magazine needs editors
Press release writer
Blogger with business/finance background
Wind farm project description wanted
Ebook writer needed
Editor for resume
Articles about money and finance
Press release writer
Five articles needed
Copywriter needed for magazine