How to Set Your Freelance Writing Rates

Two questions are most common from beginning freelance writers: “How do I find work and how do I set my rates?”

Most people starting out set their rates too low. They don’t take into consideration all of the costs associated with being self-employed. You usually can’t get the same kind of money working for nonprofits as you can for corporations, but you can still get paid a fair and reasonable fee.
Debra Jason has a good, but long, article on setting rates. She reviews all of the major considerations and also provides some real numbers. All new freelancers should go through this exercise, and experienced pros should also run the numbers every few years to make sure they are still on track.

My quick and easy method for knowing if you are in the ballpark? Find out what an independent plumber charges in the same city where your client is. Of course, the jobs are different. But freelance writers and plumbers are both independent contractors providing specialized services that most people could probably do themselves, but not all that well.

While I strongly prefer project fees over hourly rates (more on that in another post), if you establish an hourly rate, and can accurately estimate how long a job will take, you can come up with a project fee that works.