It’s been years since I’ve done it. That may surprise you. I advocate for it here quite often. And for some people, it still makes sense. But for freelance writers who have built a successful freelance writing career, it no longer does.
I’m talking about charging by the hour.
That’s right — I no longer do. Ever.
It’s a bold move, but it’s necessary. When you get to a certain level of your career, hourly rates just don’t make sense any longer. Why? Because of this:
You’re now more experienced.
That means you work faster and with fewer revisions or issues. The work is familiar to you, if not your specialty even. You don’t have to come up to speed on anything but the deliverables and the timeline.
That’s worth something.
But if you’re charging hourly, it’s worth less than if you’re charging some other way. A lot less.
A hell of a lot less.
I’ll give you an example:
A client got in touch last month with a project. It was a 600-word article, complete with one interview, that they would put in their newsletter. It was a specialized topic, but one I’d written about many times. Between the interview and the writing, the entire gig took me two hours.
I got paid $600 for it.
My hourly rate used to be $150. By charging per hour, I would have lost $300, and cheated myself.
Why charging more is fair — the client is paying (happily) for my skills and, in this case, my speed. They didn’t have to overexplain, babysit me, suffer through multiple revisions, or even hear from me until the project was finished. And it was finished the same day. Plus, it was done accurately — no revisions.
Oh yes, that’s definitely worth something.
And that’s an example of why I charge per word or per project. My speed, my accuracy should be compensated just as much as my skills.
So should yours.
Is it fair to the client? Sure. A friend of mine took a gig last month in which the client wanted 700 words and was offering $700 for it. She was new to the topic area, so she calculated the time it would take her to complete the job. Turns out, $700 was really close to the total it would be if they’d asked her hourly rate (just a few dollars off).
Had she had experience in that area, the price might not have met her needs.
[bctt tweet=”When should you move from an hourly #freelancewriting rate to a more lucrative method?” username=”LoriWidmer”]
The answer to that question depends on a few things:
Your background
How much experience do you have? Four years or more? And in that time, have you built a specialty, and has your income gone up steadily? Not that that stops you from charging per-word or per-project prices; you can do that any time you like. But your background could indicate that you’re working faster, smarter, and with more knowledge than when you first started. At least I assume you are.
Your speed
Maybe you love working slower. That’s perfectly fine, and that could mean an hourly rate works best for you. But if you’re finding you’re finishing much faster, don’t penalize yourself for it. The client is paying for your abilities. You’re more skilled than other freelancers, so you’re able to work faster. It makes no sense to pay a writer with less experience more money because you work faster and they don’t.
Your clients
Let’s just address the elephant peering out from the white spaces — some clients simply won’t pay more. That may indicate that you’ve outgrown that client, or it could be that they could be the one you keep, but at the old arrangement. Just be careful not to make every client the exception. Look at your clients and ask this question:
Do they still have the ability to pay for your skills?
Note the word “still” in that sentence. As you’ve worked with them, you’ve grown as a writer. Your knowledge has expanded. You know their business well, and you know their voice, their approach, their message and hell, even their personalities. It’s those soft skills — and your hardcore writing talent — that could price you out of their league.
Your confidence
I’m going to level with you — you’re undercharging. Without even knowing you, I know you should be charging more than you are. It takes confidence to give yourself a raise. But the weird thing is that higher rates attract clients. It’s a damn fact. And that higher sticker price you put on your skills attracts better clients: ones that aren’t in it to argue your rate, but to get the job done. They see you as professional because hey, your rate says you see yourself in the same way.
But Lori! How is charging per-project any different than what I do now? I’m just adding up my hourly rate and the estimated time.
If you change nothing about your rate, it isn’t different. That’s why I’m going to suggest this to you: Don’t change to charging per project. Not just yet. Make it a per-word rate because then you won’t be tempted to undersell your skills. And make it high, or as they say in the profession, competitive.
One thing is certain — changing to a better charging method is going to boost your income right now without you having to take on more clients. The only thing that changes is how you value your skills.
Writers, How do you charge?
What would your income look like if you switched to per-word rates?
Any other pricing method you use that has worked?
I prefer per word or per project. There’s a lot of pushback on it, so then I make my hourly rate high enough to cover what I would have charged per word or per project. That hourly rate is going to go up again in the fall. It’s not as bad now that I’m off-Cape as it was on Cape — where they expected all writing to be done for free because “we don’t pay for that.” (then I don’t work for you).
Earlier this spring, there was more eagerness to be flexible, on the part of the companies. But they are reverting to pre-pandemic policies, and not realizing that there’s no way back.
Two of my magazine clients pay EXACTLY per published word, which means (of course) that they wait until issues goes to print to tell me the final word count. To be fair, it’s usually more than I guessed, since these clients aren’t cutting words to save money. Occasionally they add a few words. The downside: it can take 2-3 months to be paid for my work.
Two of my clients pay flat rates, and pay quickly. I know Client A will pay exactly $400 for a short article and Client B will pay $200 per blog post. They know exactly what the cost will be and I know exactly how much I’ll be paid, and can adjust how much time I put into each job. Even if it breaks down to under $100/hour, being paid immediately upon invoice is a wonderful thing.
Others pay project rates that we determine based on the scope and length of the assignment. That’s what I prefer.
Unfortunately, last summer during a second phone interview with a potential client, they said they only pay by hourly rates. I explained that I dislike hourly rates because they reward sloth and penalize efficiency. Still, they pushed to know my hourly rate. I clarified that it was the “hourly rate” I use to help be calculate if an assignment is worth my time—pointing out that because I’m very efficient, lower-sounding flat fees can be more feasible than a long, research-heavy piece that pays $2/word. She kept pushing. Even over the phone I could tell she flinched when I mentioned my ideal hourly rate. Nearly a year later and the woman who had gushed over my clips and versatility and said they would have lots of work for me still hasn’t assigned anything. I’ve followed up a couple times. Then I spoke with someone who has taken some assignments from them as filler work—and who has turned down extra work they’ve tried to assign her while they told me they didn’t have anything “in your bailiwick”. They initially offered her $25/hour, but she got them to go up to $37/hour, but they “cap” how many hours can be billed per assignment. (Why not just use that “cap” as the per project rate?)
That’s not my ideal client. I’m done following up with them.
I’ve charged per project from the very beginning. It’s not that I was so super strategic as much as it was what I knew. I came from a corporate consulting world and that’s what we did. Of course, if anyone asks, I did it that way because I was so darn clever. LOL! 😀
We always think of you as clever, Cathy. 🙂
I’ve often preferred per-word rates, Devon. It makes it easy for clients to see the total cost — maybe more transparent for them, which I’ve felt builds trust. I have an hourly rate, but I rarely use it anymore. It’s a bookmark for where my rates need to be.
Paula, yes. Those jobs are fantastic. They’re the surprise gigs that don’t take a ton of time, pay quickly, and occasionally toss some really lucrative side projects your way.
That hourly rate is absurd. You can’t survive on that. No one can. Even $37 an hour is ridiculous. Make it around $100 an hour or more and we’ll talk.
That client never directly told me THEIR hourly rates (but they demanded to know mine). I said Iw as negotiable. Just not THAT negotiable. I might drop to $75/hour, but not $25-37.
I just learned a friend accepted four “quick” assignments from them — supposed to take two hours each, by the client’s POV — and she already resents having to spend time on them.
Isn’t that ironic? That’s nuts. Why the hell wouldn’t they have a budget in mind, and why not share that?
[…] it becomes a penalty. If you’re charging per hour, you could be underselling your expertise. This post explains how per-word can be more equitable for you and more transparent for your […]