How do you set a price for your work?

Hello to all!

I've been filling in my time checking different blogs to see what questions people seem to want answers to, and one of them happens to be how much do I charge my clients for each piece of writing I do? Do I charge by the word, the topic, how much research?expertise is needed or a hundred other further questions.

I am not an expert on this topic, nor for one minute do I pretend to be. It's a question that has troubled me on occasions. Mostly I have a set scale for anything I write. An article of 500 words on almost any topic you can think of will cost a certain amount. But I do narrow that down a little further. If the article I am writing will take more than ordinary research, such as checking several search engines, then it will cost more. This is figured out as soon as I see what the request is for.

I rarely if ever write acedemic works. I consider them not in the topics I am comfortable with. I do not like Chicago style, different types of referencing and so I do not work with this stuff. I had the same problem when I was at University, so it is nothing new, but then I had to use them. :) Now I do not have to, so I choose not to. Other people do this work better than I can anyway, so why try to compete with them? The stress is not worth it. But, if you like academic writing, then by all means do it. Only try to balance your price against the actual work. If you have to write something that is 1,500 words, referenced and styled, plus research, then it should be worth more than an ordinary 1,500 word article.

When I first started in writing for money, I was terrified that I would charge too high. Then, as now, there were developing nations vying for the jobs as well. I had another job as a trained person, so writing was simply something I wanted to try out. After a time, I decided on a price per word. That was not set in stone, but it would not drop either. I could scale the amount per word according to the feedback I got from the jobs I landed. So, you might decide to do the same.

I know you have heard it a thousand times, but you really do get better the more you write. You learn the quickest ways to research, improve your speed, understand what the client wants. To be honest, you are foolish if you don't. So, if you set your rates at one cent per word, then you are wanting a very low pay and will probably get burned often. Five cents per word is not very much, but a 500 word article at five cents per word is $25. Write three of these per day, fifteen hundred words, that are clean, on topic, give good information and are easy reading and you will have $75. Not a fortune by any means, but if you can do that for several days, then you will have a reasonable amount to spend.

You do not have to be perfect. Clean writing, with no mistakes in spelling, grammar perfect and on-topic have a huge market as something you can deliver. Specialise. Don't be a jack-of-all-trades for long, if you can help it. Set yourself up a small website. You can start free on Weebly for instance. As soon as you can, remove yourself to a hosting service, as free websites are often viewed with a type of contempt. There really is nothing wrong with them, but many mentalities have this harmless snob value built in.

If you want to write for a living, do not expect to get a job that will do that straight up. Unless you are very successful with a book, a coaching service or something like that, you have to build yourself up and become visible.

Ask for feedback on what you write for clients. Clients are funny people at times. They will give you on how bad you are without thought, but often they need a gentle prod to give positive words.  But no feedback should be wasted. Take the critism on board and really check it out. Above all, do not take it as personal. It is not directed at you as a person. If it is vague, accept it and move on. If it is specific about something in your writing, take note of it and work on that aspect. If one person has noticed it, then there is a great possibility that another client is going to also.

Above all, ensure you are giving your best. No one starts off perfect, nor do they ever reach perfectionism. If you are just starting out, then set a price for your work that is fair, but not extravagent. No writer ever born was worth X amount of dollars per word immediately they started. All of them worked their way up the scale. So should you.

 Do not have an inflated opinion of your writing. You will always find a client who does not like your style, your use of words  or some other reason. But do not sell yourself too cheaply either. This will only result in you feeling miserable, broke, frustrated and dciding to give writing away as a bad joke. And do not drop your rate in order to gain more clients. This is a very bad mistake. You cannot start with a price, get a client or two, have one of them disappear for a while, lower your rate, and have the client come back. It makes for very bad relationships with them if you try to set the first rate again because they are an old client.

Set your base rate. It may be two cents per word, or it may be twenty dollars per 500 words. As you gain positive testimonials, you can move your base rate upwards.

If you haven't a client to write for, try the content mills. But I strongly suggest you do not stay there lomg. The rate of burnout is high and the lack of positive feedback is overwhelming. I don't knoiw why this is, but very few clients seem to give their millers any or, if they do, they have used the freelancer for several jobs.

I hope this had helped all of you who worry over this question. Feel free to comment or share it! Or get in touch with me if you wish.