Why low rates don't always win the clients

One of the things our last poll on freelance writing rates showed us is that there are still a number of writers out there who are charging what seems like an incredibly low rate for the job - we're talking less than $5 for a 500 word article, here, which is pretty amazing to many of us.

Of course, there are lots of reasons why a writer may decide to pitch their rates low, but I'm willing to bet that the overriding one is that they think it helps them win clients.

Here's the thing, though: it doesn't.

When you value yourself low, you encourage other people to do likewise. You may win some clients - you'll get lots of attention from the type of people who advertise on Craigslist looking for people to work for nothing, or close to nothing, for instance - but perhaps not as many as you'd think. And for every $2 article client you win, there's a high-paying potential client lost. Here's why:

1. Charging very low rates makes you look like an amateur

Quite simply, professional writers don't charge less than $5 for a 500 word article: in fact, they don't charge anything close to that amount. By charging at this kind of level, you're clearly marking yourself out as an amateur, and high paying clients don't want to work with amateurs.

2. Low rates reek of desperation

As I've already mentioned, there are lots of things that drive writers to charge very low rates. When you tell a potential client that you'll only charge them a few dollars for your work, though, one of the first questions that pops into their head will be, "Why?" And whatever the real reason for your low bid, the assumption they're going to come to is that you must be desperate for the work - probably because you're just not good enough to be busy. That's not the type of assumption you want people to be making about you.

3. Low rates often indicate that the standard of work will be equally low

See point number one: professional writers don't come cheap. It stands to reason, then, that writers who do come cheap probably aren't professionals. Most people just won't spend a lot of time carefully crafting an article when they're only going to make a couple of bucks from it, and a lot of $5 article writers rely on churning out a huge quantity of articles every day in order to make a living wage, which means that they don't have a whole lot of time to spend on each piece. Maybe you're great at producing well-researched and carefully crafted pieces of writing in short spaces of time, but the fact is, your rates make you look like someone who'll just crank out the words as quickly as possible - again, that's not the image you want potential employers to have of you.

I should say at this point that these rather harsh statements aren't just my own opinion - they're based on feedback we've had from employers, plus our own experiences as a company that hires freelancers from time to time, and are assumptions, not necessarily the truth. For instance, there may be excellent, professional writers out there who really can produce a great article for $5, and who have their own reasons for charging that amount. But the fact remains: by valuing yourself so low, you're just encouraging other people to value you that way too.

Is that really a good basis for a successful freelance writing career?

Comments

[Amanda Nicole]

I completely agree with you, Amber. Why set yourself up for burnout and weak reputation with low standards? Great follow-up post to the poll.

[Marce]

Completely agree with everything you have written here. When someone charges a low rate they are not going to produce the quality they would if they were getting paid more. I just posted on my blog about charging .01/word when you just first start out but no one should ever get stuck there.

[Karen Swim]

I completely agree. I talk to many writers who don't consider themselves to business owners. Even if you are a "freelancer" it is a business and your pricing strategy is also part of your branding strategy. There are many clients who will only pay more and won't choose writers with low prices as they perceive it as a lack of quality. This is a great topic and I look forward to the press release survey results.

Karen

[The Old Vic]

Hi Amber,

Thanks for the excellent site and some really useful information. Just out of interest do you find that globalization has driven prices down or has created more work ? I work as a freelance translator but am finding that as clients can find translators all over the globe, it is becoming very difficult to increase rates, as people in certain other countries can live on one quarter of what I would need in the UK.

[Janey]

Excellent article, and very useful. A lot of writers are very squeamish, talking about hard cash. Sadly I've noticed loads of those 'bidding' sites have sprung up where writers have to bid for a job. It seems in most cases, the person who offers to do the job for the lowest rate gets hired, not the more qualified. Ugh. The whole things has a sweatshop feel to it.