Charging Writing Services for Beginners

This has been a freelance writer’s dilemma ever since. I’m not referring to starting the articles itself, although it proves to be as hard,however, I am talking about pricing theirwriting services. Those who are veterans in the fields are already recognized for their market value in ways that they are comfortable pricing their services in 3 figures or more. On the other hand, those who are just starting may be having a hard time putting a price to their services. Pricing too high may not get them the contract and pricing too low may mark them as “cheap spinners.” Some freelance writers who are just starting may agree on cheap prices for their services seeing this as “experience.” However, when this continues, you will gain the reputation of doing cheap services, which does not do any good for your business. The secret to rating your service is to be honest to yourself. You should be realistic in what you are capable of. This does not mean carrying that false humility to the point of low-balling yourself. Rating high on articles you are uncertain of pulling-off does not only make your customers unsatisfied, it also creates a bad reputation for your name.

By the Hour vs. By the Word vs. By the Project

The most common rating done by veteran writers are by the hour, by the number of words, or by the project. If you charge per hour, you get to consider the number of hours that your customer will start to pay. Are researching, marketing and pre-writing processes included in that charge? If you charge per hour, consider the niche and the time it will take you to finish doing it. This goes true with charging by the project. Charges really vary on the type of the projects you are doing. You may consider this:

• Copywriting/advertising: $300
• Article Writing with comprehensive research: $150
• Content Writing w/ Keywords: $15-$50
• Book Summaries: $250-$1000
• Press Releases $200-$500
• Proofreading: $25-$70/hour
• Technical Writing/Editing-$50-$100/hour
• Web Content: $10-$100/hour
• E-book writing: $10-$50

Base it on the Market Price

The above mentioned prices were gathered from different forums. Simply put, these are the average price writers charge for their services. As it is, you should attune your rate to your skills HONESTLY. Search on forums and you can see writers who share how much they are earning with their writing skills. More so, those who outsource SEO article writing service also participate in forums and post on their expected services given that amount.

How about the Beginner in the Field

As mentioned, those who have already established their names and have gathered enough experience may likely rate them higher than average. Those who have just started may come desperate and rate themselves lower than they deserve to get the contract. When this happens, always think of your skills. Just because you are starting does not mean that you know nothing. You can charge according to your skills. When starting, you do not have to grab all the writing opportunities to get the job. We all need money, however, you should think how accepting all these “opportunities” affects in the end. As to sticking rates or giving off discounts, always consider the niche that you will write for.