Pricing your work as a freelancer can be tricky, especially at the start, so I want to run you through the different pricing models freelancers use, what to do when someone else sets the rates, and the tools we have at Rachel’s List to help guide your pricing decisions as you start to take on projects or write for editors.
1/ Charging by the word
This is typical for journalists who are given a word rate by an editor, and these rates are usually set by the magazine or publisher so there’s very little wiggle room. A fairly standard word rate might be 70c/word, so for a 500-word piece you might make $350. I usually charge between 70c and $1/word for magazine work.
You can always ask for a higher word rate once you get to know an editor and they like your work – even an extra 10 or 15 cents extra can add up to a chunk of change on a long article. Reasons why I would ask for a higher word rate includes: the articles you’re being commissioned are extremely complex briefs, you need to factor in way more time for research or multiple interviews, or they want you to do different versions (like, one for print and one for online).
2/ Charging a flat fee
We’re still talking journalism and content type work, but flat fees are more common for websites and online publications. So you may be offered a flat fee of $300 per article, instead of a word rate. To work out if it’s worth your time, calculate how long you think it’ll take you and multiply that by your hourly rate. If your hourly rate is $80/hour and it is a piece involving research and writing only and you estimate it’ll take you three hours, that rate might be ok for you. If however the story involves lots of complex research, multiple interviews or the need to source images, that might take you much longer to complete.
Again, you can ask for a higher flat fee if you feel the rate is unrealistic for what the brief demands, but they may tell you rates are set. If it’s a title you want in your portfolio you might decide to take on a flat fee you’re not super happy with just to be published under that masthead and we’ve all been there! The goal though is to get to a point where you’re charging rates you’re happy with.
3/ Charging by the hour
This involves knowing in advance the hourly rate you want to charge, like $100/hour. If a client comes to you with a project, you have to work out how long that project will take and multiply it by your hourly rate, then give the client that final figure. Charging a very low hourly rate in order to get the work is never a good idea, because you need to take super and tax out of everything you earn (if you’re a member of Rachel’s List you can work all this out really easily with our hourly rate calculator).
So, where do hourly rates make sense? They can work if you get hired by an agency as they might ask for an hourly rate or a day rate. They can work for small, one-off jobs that might only take an hour or two. Some people prefer charging by the hour and that’s fine, but just be aware that the more experienced you get, the faster you get, so a project that might take you five hours in the start now takes you two, and so if you continue charging for the time something takes you, you can quickly end up making less money! It can also be hard to raise your hourly rate with existing clients. If you’re just starting out, charging by the hour is probably the simplest to work out, and as you get more experienced you can look at better ways of pricing your services.
/4 Charging by the project
This type of pricing model is something freelancers tend to gravitate towards the more experienced they get. It still involves knowing your hourly rate but we call that your ‘internal rate’ because it’s the figure you use to calculate a project fee, and it’s typically not something you share with the client.
Instead, a client will come to you with a project brief and you need to work out an estimate for the whole job, using your internal rate and also factoring in things like revisions, meetings, additional research, project management and so on. You then give the client a ‘project estimate’ or fee for the entire project, based on a certain scope. Provided the scope doesn’t change, the price doesn’t either.
5/ Using value-based pricing
Charging with a value-based pricing model requires figuring out what the value of your work might be to the client, and charging a percentage as your fee.
For example, if you wrote a white paper that converted hundreds or thousands of new subscribers to their database or designed a company logo that created a powerful brand for a business, those would arguably carry far more value than the amount of hours it took to create those assets. It’s a more complex way of pricing your services and it’s something you might consider if you’re working on projects with high profit margins, but it can come with risks if it involves working on a campaign that doesn’t do well. I wouldn’t recommend it unless the job is your area of specialty and you know the market back to front.
| Pricing model | How it works | Best for | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Per word | Editor or publisher sets a rate, e.g. 50c/word (500 words = $250) | Magazine and journalism work | Little room to negotiate; ask for more on complex briefs, heavy research or multiple versions |
| Flat fee | A set amount per piece, e.g. $200 per article | Websites and online publications | Check it against your hourly rate; interviews or image sourcing can blow out the time |
| Hourly | Estimate the hours, multiply by your rate (e.g. $70/hour) | Beginners, agency work, small one-off jobs | You earn less as you get faster; hard to raise rates with existing clients |
| Per project | Quote the whole job using your internal hourly rate, plus revisions, meetings and project management | More experienced freelancers | Define the scope clearly, since the price holds only while the scope does |
| Value-based | Charge a share of the value your work creates for the client | Specialists on high-margin projects | Riskier if the campaign underperforms; best when you know the market well |
How to calculate your hourly rate?
I’ve heard so many ways to do this. One common way freelancers try to calculate their hourly rate is to take their old salary (say $80k) and divide it by 2080 hours (which is 40 hours x 52 weeks). Two problems with doing that: 1) the rate is only $38/hour which you’ll struggle to survive on and 2) this formula assumes you’ll bill 40 hours every single week of the year, which is never going to happen.
By that I mean, not all hours are billable client work – you’ll be doing marketing, admin, invoicing, client call, social media etc. So if out of 40 hours a week only 25 hours are actually billable client work, your rate needs to reflect that and cover you for everything.
A realistic hourly rate formula looks something like this:
Desired annual salary + business expenses + taxes ÷ realistic billable hours per year
However, if you’re a Gold member of Rachel’s List you can skip all the number crunching and go straight to our hourly rate calculator, one of many tools included in your membership.
Hint: 25 billable hours a week is a lot more realistic than 40.
What is tiered pricing?
Tiered pricing is when you provide options or packages for clients with different values / prices. You might label them things like ‘budget’, ‘deluxe’ or ‘most popular’ and ‘premium, and research shows this can ease the anxiety of decision making and provide a quick, handy way for clients to work out what might suit their budget.
Although freelancers differ on whether they want to offer a pricing page on their website (because it can be limiting for projects that might not fit into your pricing tiers), I think offering packages can work well if you’re often asked for specific things and you’re always bundling those things for clients. It can just save time doing quotes and estimates. Find out more about tiered pricing this way.
Resources to help you figure out how to charge as a freelance writer
I would say over half of the conversations happening in the Rachel’s List Facebook Gold group are about pricing – how to price a project, whether a quote is accurate, what to say if someone wants to pay you a rate that’s too low. If you need the kind of support, apply to join this way. We’ll be in touch letting you know which membership we think would be a good fit for you (we also have a new Starter membership with its own resources and community if you’re an early career freelancer).
Other resources:
- Our pay rates report This free pdf download offers suggested rates for freelancers in a range of creative fields and can give you confidence on how to price your services.
- Simple quoting template If you’re new to quoting and aren’t sure what to include on a project quote, our simple quoting template gives you pdf instructions and a clean cut’n’paste quoting template you can use over and over.
- We also have some great masterclasses related to pricing, including Lynne Testoni’s Essential Guide to Quoting Freelance Projects and Brook McCarthy’s Turbo-Charge Your Money-Making Skills As A Freelancer.
How do you charge as a freelance writer – and have you changed your pricing model over the years? Share your experiences in the comments.
