Payment & Rates | Words on the Page

Freelancer’s Guide to Better Rates

Posted on January 28, 2025March 10, 2026 by lwidmer

Imagine doing one thing right now that gives you a higher earnings total. You’d do it, right? Sure. But I bet many of you haven’t. That one thing? Raising your rates. Yes, you’ve heard this from me before. It’s important. That’s why I repeat myself. Imagine this — you have a new client in front…

Avoiding the “Work for Free” Freelance Trap

Posted on January 23, 2025March 10, 2026 by lwidmer

If I had a dollar for every time someone contacted me asking me to do work for free, I’d be a hell of a lot richer than I’d be working for free. In the past month alone, I’ve been asked four times to “partner” with or “look at” someone’s work. I had a stranger write…

When a Client Breaches a Freelance Contract

Posted on December 12, 2023March 10, 2026 by lwidmer

We’ve all had our share of flaky clients. By flaky, I mean clients who: Disappear at payment time Reappear three months later to complain about quality (oddly about the same time you’ve threatened litigation/collection) Change the project parameters after you’ve done the work Revise more than twice (my record is 12 revisions) and get farther…

Freelance Rates & Raises

Posted on July 19, 2023December 21, 2023 by lwidmer

Sometimes you go online and for some reason, you simply don’t expect to see the stupid shit people will say in public let alone the tangle that is their thought processes. I was on a writing forum yesterday when I saw what has to be some of the most absurd thinking I’ve seen in a…

Freelance Rates: Where Should Yours Be?

Posted on January 5, 2023March 25, 2025 by lwidmer

It’s 2023, writer: Do you know where your rate is? If it’s still at the same level it was a few days ago in 2022, you’re cheating yourself. I mentioned this several times over the last year: I spent 2021 undercharging (and overworking) and lost a shit-ton of money as a result. In fact, had…

How To Increase Freelance Article Rates

Posted on January 19, 2022January 18, 2022 by lwidmer

I love it when someone shines a light on a truth and your own lightbulb comes on. That’s how it was for me in 2013 when Walt Kania (whose blog is pretty fabulous, by the way) wrote this guest post for Writers Worth that still resonates. What you charge is determined by one person —…

The Freelance Writing Compromise You Shouldn’t Make

Posted on January 11, 2022January 14, 2022 by lwidmer

I remember when I was first starting my freelance writing business. I don’t always remember fondly, though. It was rough. Finding clients seemed like this secret step that only insiders who’d found clients could manage. Sort of like those job listings for entry-level positions, but you have to have a year or two of experience…

How to Earn More Freelancing (with one simple shift)

Posted on July 16, 2021July 14, 2021 by lwidmer

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…

The Great Freelance Rate Debate

Posted on January 15, 2021January 14, 2021 by lwidmer

There was another discussion on yesterday’s Twitter #FreelanceChat about rates. Ironic since the chat was about negotiation, but rates are indeed part of that. And not saying the rate discussion isn’t warranted — far too many writers don’t know what to charge for their services. What I am saying is the discussion isn’t needed. I…

Friday Frank Talk: The Myth of the Freelance “Going Rate”

Posted on October 2, 2020October 2, 2020 by lwidmer

Sharon Hurley Hall, who is one of the smartest freelancers I know, said something the other day that made me nod my head in agreement so much I thought I’d sprain my neck. It’s about this notion of a “going rate” in freelancing. This came up in a discussion on a private forum about yet…

Paula Hendrickson

October 2, 2020

Maybe 5-10 years ago I was shocked when a friend who was freelancing on the local level thought charging $50/hour would be greedy. She was then charging $35/hour.

She was thinking in terms of an employee’s hourly pay, like her husband was earning at a well-paying factory job. You know, those people with no overhead because they work in an office they don’t pay for, and who get a long list of perks through their employers on top of their hourly pay: health insurance, paid time off, retirement plans, maybe even free doughnuts at meetings. After I explained that, she realized she was undercharging and said she’d go up to $40/hour. I told her even $50/hour was low here, and someone charging that little won’t be viewed as a true professional. I have no idea what she eventually raised her rate to, but it’s probably little surprise that she’s no longer actively freelancing.

1. lwidmer
  
  October 2, 2020
  
  $35 an hour? Good grief! How does she pay her taxes and still eat? That’s way too low.
  
  Think how many clients she’s missing out on, Paula. I remember a friend referred me to her company for content work. I quoted some low rate. She called me and said, “You meant to write $125 an hour, RIGHT?”
  
  She told me privately that her company would not have looked twice at me if my rate was under $100 an hour. That’s why the rate has to be a serious one. They don’t want to work with people who price like amateurs because they may actually behave like amateurs.
2. Paula Hendrickson
  
  October 5, 2020
  
  That friend didn’t have to worry about paying bills because her husband’s income was enough to cover bills if her income dipped a bit.
  
  In other news, a friend who works in a different profession mentioned a colleague who had underpriced a freelance rate, so she she forwarded her friend’s bid on to the bosses, she upped the hourly rate by another $50, if I recall.
Cathy Miller

October 2, 2020

“There is only what you want to charge.” That’s it right there, Lori. I get the insecurity about rates – in the beginning of your career. But that needs to change if you ever want to make a true living at freelancing. No one is going to do it for you.

1. lwidmer
  
  October 2, 2020
  
  “No one is going to do it for you.”
  
  Take that to the bank, Cathy Miller. 😉 That sums it up beautifully. You have to look out for YOU because if you don’t, who’s left to do it?
Libby Mitchell

October 3, 2020

Thank you for this, Lori! Sometimes I feel like I’m smacking my head trying to get others to understand that you are your own company – whether you are a freelance writer, a fiction writer, ghostie, write only about puppies-never sell yourself short. Keep up with these great articles of common sense. When this is your living, you should never sell yourself short.

1. lwidmer
  
  October 12, 2020
  
  “When this is your living, you should never sell yourself short.” This all day long, Libby!
  
  And yet so many writers do sell themselves short. They don’t think like business owners, which even that small of a mind shift can do wonders for how one approaches this gig.
Sharon Hurley Hall

October 3, 2020

“Honey, you should be asking where is that rate going for me?”. I cackled out loud at this, Lori. This discussion comes around so often,and it seems to be a hard mindset for some to shake, but you have to shake it or you hold yourself back, Thanks for highlighting this issue, AGAIN.

1. lwidmer
  
  October 12, 2020
  
  And I suspect we’ll both be highlight this one far too many times in the future, Sharon.
  
  Glad I could give you a chuckle. 🙂
Gina

October 4, 2020

What about quoting number of hours?

1. lwidmer
  
  October 12, 2020
  
  Hi Gina! Good question. I typically give clients a ballpark number of hours that are attached to the per-project fee. If the project is big enough or complex, I’ll put stipulations on how many hours that fee entails, and how much I’ll charge per additional hour.
2. Gina
  
  October 15, 2020
  
  Got it. Thanks, Lori. Have you always been good at estimating your time, or did you have to eat some hours earlier on? Also, do you find that different writers spend significantly different amounts of time on the same kinds of projects?
3. lwidmer
  
  October 15, 2020
  
  Oh honey, the time I ate early on was just crazy! One job I quoted $3,500. It took me MONTHS to get it done, so obviously I made next to nothing on it.
  
  That taught me to attach a time estimate to larger gigs, and charge separately for overages. One could also just say anything over and above this would require another agreement, but only for those black-hole projects (the big ones that aren’t clearly outlined or defined).
  
  To your second question, yes. It’s going to depend on the client. Example: The first white paper I wrote was for Pinkerton. It was a 14-18 pager (can’t remember offhand), and had extensive research that I had to read through and turn into the white paper. Really comprehensive project (and they were excellent in their research), which meant I had to do a good bit of reading and translating to readable points.
  
  The next white paper I did for a different client was a four-pager, no extensive research. It was based on existing research that I had to find to back up the points the client wanted to make. (I know I used data from a PriceWaterhouseCoopers study.) One interview with the client’s experts, then off I went to pull it together. That was easier for a few reasons: they told me the outcome they wanted, they gave me a verbal outline, and I pulled together a few studies from other sources to validate their points.
  
  So it may not depend so much on the project type, but mostly on the client’s approach, information, communication, etc.
  
  Does that help?
4. GIna
  
  October 15, 2020
  
  Lori, yes, that was helpful. Thank you. I don’t think I made my second question as clear as I could have. What I meant was, is it not true that different writers will spend different amounts of time given the same project? Or, in other words, is it common for a hiring manager to see vastly different time quotes from different writers for the same project ? I hope I make sense.
5. lwidmer
  
  October 15, 2020
  
  Yes, that’s very true, Gina. It will be dependent on each writer’s style, speed, thoroughness, current workload, you name it.
  
  How I would address that should it need to be is to let the client know you strive for accurate results, not fast ones. Frankly, if they’re nitpicking at that level, you may want to rethink working for them at all. Your body of work should speak for itself.
6. gina
  
  October 15, 2020
  
  Thanks, Lori. Thanks for the permission to tell clients to take me or leave me the way I work. Haha. Somehow you’ve made this ancient issue finally make sense to me.
7. lwidmer
  
  October 16, 2020
  
  It’s a tough issue, and I’m glad you brought it up. Happy I was able to lift the fog a little. 🙂
Devon Ellington

October 7, 2020

Remember when one of the major news shows (I think it was on CBS, but it could have been ABC or NBC) did that story on the content mill writer working “by her pool’ writing dozens of articles for $1/each and how “successful” that made her? Crashed so many rates, because potential clients would point to that.

As you work your way up the tiers of clients, you realize that your formula for rates is different than anyone else’s. It has to fit your skills, goals, and needs.

As you know, I stopped working with most local clients because of the “I don’t pay for that” — “you should work for exposure” — “it’s not a real job” attitude that’s prevalent around here. I don’t even argue with them, or try to sell them on the rate, I just say no and move on.

That’s made a huge difference.

It’s a hard realization, but a necessary one — your rate IS the ‘going rate’. If they don’t want to pay it — you GO somewhere else.

Devon Ellington

October 7, 2020

PS I miss Compuserve news group!

lwidmer

October 12, 2020

Oh Devon, I remember that all too well! Yea, it hurt freelancers because this woman sold the notion that $1 an article was acceptable. No. It’s not. Ever. I charge that per word, not per article. My time is worth a lot more than a fraction of minimum wage.

“Your rate IS the ‘going rate’.” A perfect statement if ever there were one!

I miss those groups, too. They’re probably still going on, some of them. 🙂

Gabriella

October 13, 2020

Lori, I’ll always remember something you said years ago in my freelance career, which I now tell everybody else: If you’re really busy, you need to raise your rates. That was like a thunderbolt. And I’ve done it now for years, and I’ve told friends in other industries the same. A friend who’s a personal coach was struck when I told her that. Then a month or so later, she reported back that not one of her clients balked at her recent and significant rate increase.

I’ve had publishing/PR/other companies approach me to write for their clients, and when I’ve told them my rate, they’ve said, “Well, if you charge that much, we can’t find you work.” Honey, I’m not coming to you looking for work. You came to me!

Charge what you’re worth! Keep saying it, Lori!

1. lwidmer
  
  October 13, 2020
  
  Gabriella, that’s great to hear! And you can thank my husband; he first said that to me years ago. It was like a lightning bolt for me, too.
  
  Great response to the companies that approach you and say that. It’s hilarious in a way because it’s clear who needs whom in that scenario, isn’t it?
  
  Charge what you’re worth! I’ll say it to my last breath. And what you’re worth is what you SAY you’re worth, not what someone else says you’re worth.