Freelance Writing Poll: How much do you charge for a 500 word web content article?

   

One of the questions I'm asked most frequently by people new to freelance writing is "How much should I charge?"  Unfortunately, it's yet another one of those questions that are very difficult to answer, because one writer's fortune is another's pittance, and what counts as an "acceptable" rate of pay in one part of the country or world can seem very like slave labour in another.

This is something I grapple with every day when I put togther our freelance writing jobs roundup. I tend to just ignore those jobs which seem to me to offering offensively low rates of pay, but perhaps it's wrong of me to try and judge what is and isn't acceptable to the writers who read the listings. After all, we all have our reasons for charging the rates we do, and my idea of what's "acceptable" may not be the same as everyone esle's.

In order to try and get some sort of idea about what you think constitutes a "reasonable" rate of pay, then, and also in a bid to get a rough idea of what the "going rate" is for certain types of job, we're going to be running a series of polls over the next few weeks, asking you what you'd charge for certain types of freelance writing work.

Clearly this is a very unscientific survey as it doesn't take into circumstances such as where each person lives and what type of living costs they're faced with - not to mention the all-important fact that every writing job is different - but the results could be interesting all the same.

For the first poll, then, the piece of writing in question is a 500 word web content article. For the purposes of the survey, assume that the subject is one that you're familiar with, so research is minimal. You should also assume that the deadline is three weeks from today, and that you're not required to optimize the article for any particular key words.

You'll find the poll itself in the sidebar to the right of this article.  Tell us: What would you charge?

(Note: this poll is anonymous, so no one can see your answer, not even me. Please feel free to elucidate on your answer in the comments if you wish.)

Comments

[Sanggar Mewah]

Thank you for this articel, but Can I write in Indonesia language?

[Janey]

I'm really depressed at the prevalence (sp?) of these contract bidding sites. Where you bid for a job and the person who bids the lowest gets the job. Awful. It's like slave labour.

Would you hire a plumber and expect him/her to work for free because it's 'good experience'?