Ruthibelle asked last week how to find what other writers are charging. Great question. Anne Wayman wrote a post about this a few years ago, and it holds true today. She includes a link to Eldon Sarte’s Profit Goal formula, which I think is brilliant for determining how much you need to make to pay your bills and still have some left over. For beginning writers who are unsure where to start, this formula is a great place to begin and end. What he includes in the formula is a 6-hour workday, which will also account for vacation time, sick days, and time off for good behavior. What it may not take into account is that you won’t be billing all of those hours. In fact, you’ll be lucky to bill half of them. And remember, this rate is your profit, not your per-hour rate.
I double that rate. Seriously. My rate, which has held steady for nearly five years, is $100/hr. I was about to raise it when the recession came barreling into the freelance world. Taking into account my expenses, I’m probably bringing in a $50/hr. profit. Since I work on actual projects about 15-20 hours a week during a slow period, that doesn’t add up to a lot, does it? However, there are times I work myself sick and double or triple that amount. But those weeks aren’t typical.
Other writers – how do you determine your rates? Is it an arbitrary number? Is it your fee because it’s what others charge, too? How did you come to that number and do you think it’s viable for your experience and skills?
I was just approached by someone with whom I’d talked about work several months ago. She went with someone cheaper, who didn’t work out (gee, there’s a surprise). She wants me, now, but the numbers are still to low for too high a volume of work for it to make sense for me to take on. The amount of research it takes plus the rate per word would make it pennies per article, and not worth it.
Plus, my workload and my priorities have changed since we firs talked.
That should read “first talked”.
I THOUGHT I had enough coffee this morning, but so far I’ve polished and article, written a review, and spat at Microsoft for not having a Conficker patch on the site, just a bunch of totally useless information.
“An article” — jeez, I should just pack it in. And it’s not even noon!
LOL! Steady, girl. It’s Monday. :))
Lori, is that $100 per hour for all work?
Here in Chicago, I can’t justify $100 per hour for editing. I’m at $60 (and that’s with publications that see the value of $1 per word for writing).
I’m able to charge $75 per hour for writing. I think that should be higher, but I haven’t been successful.
That’s just it, Gabriella. Some areas will support that rate – some won’t. I’ve been able to charge it for five years here on the east coast, and for west-coast clients. And yes, that’s my editing rate and my writing rate.
Proofreading, obviously, is a lower rate because you’re not restructuring anything – you’re simply pointing out/amending simple mistakes or inconsistencies. That’s a lower rate for me – averaging between $30-40/hr.
thanks so much for responding, lori. this is helpful info
Any time, Ruthibelle! It’s a question that comes up a lot, and obviously one we all need help with. 🙂
For those of you who are quoting hourly rates, I am curious to know why you do so, instead of quoting project rates. I have found it’s much more palatable for a client to hear “the brochure copy is $1200” vs “My hourly rate is $100, and I estimate 12 hours for this.” For some reason, too many people seem to think $30 an hour is more than enough to pay a writer. By quoting by project and not by the hour, sure, sometimes I end up making less, but more often I end up making more than $100/hour.
Eileen, it’s not often I will give a client my per-hour rate up front unless they ask for it specifically. This post was to answer Ruthibelle’s question, which was how much to charge. 🙂
I do this – I figure how much time it will take, add 25 percent to the total, and multiply by my per-hour rate.
To be honest, I’ve had people think $30 per hour is too much. I like to be as straight as I can with a client. I tell them what they’re getting for their money and how much of their money they’ll be using for me to deliver that.
Thanks, Lori. That’s why I think everybody wins with a flat rate. The client knows exactly what he or she is going to get for exactly how much money.
People are so funny. I once had someone perfectly happy with the flat fee I quoted and they accepted it. When they found out that meant I’d make $100 an hour (don’t recall how that part of the conversation unfolded, but clearly I didn’t handle it well), they changed their mind. They felt very strongly that it was overpaying if it was only going to take me X hours. If I’d lied and said it was going to take three times as long at 1/3 the rate, they wouldn’t have been bothered in the least – despite the fact that the end result was the same either way.