Finding Rates

[Mr.Shiro]

Greetings,

I've been writing for about three months now and everything is going very well, apart from one thing. I really don't know what I'm supposed to be saying when somebody asks for my rates since I've always been given rates by the clients.

But I feel at some point I have to figure out my rates in order to become a better freelancer. I've done some research, but the advice I always get is "Work out your needs."

The problem with this is that I really don't have any needs. I live with my parents so I don't have any costs or bills to deal with so I can't use that advice. Does anybody have any ideas as to what to do to figure out my rates?

Thanks in advance!

[starbirdy66]

This is a good guide to start:

EFA: Resources: Editorial Rates

[Kecia08]

Decide what your time is worth to you. Do you enjoy writing for $0.01 or would you rather be earning $0.03+ per word? Even if you do not have much need for the money, you still want to be earning rates that you are happy with. This money could be put in the bank for your future or invested into passive income so that you don't have to write for others. Evaluate your goals and plans with working online, and that should help you decide what to charge.

[JNLister]

A common rule of thumb is to take the hourly rate you'd expect to earn as an employee doing the same type of writing work and then double it to take account of your overheads, your non-paid time (admin, marketing), and the lack of employee benefits.

You can translate this to a per-word rate based on the type of work and how long you'd expect it to take.

[adbullock]

You may not have needs but I'm willing to bet you have goals. If you don't; there's no time like the present to start setting a few.

How much money would you need to make in a week in order to meet your goals in a timely manner?

How many articles can you typically write in an hour?

Are there topics that slow you up or that you dislike writing about enough to charge premium rates to write about (I have a few I refuse to write about and others I charge a King's ransom to write about in order to discourage people from offering them and keep me motivated to write them if they do).?

How many hours do you plan to work in a week?

How much money would you LIKE to make in a week?

It isn't all about meeting needs but you do need to make sure it's worth your while to continue writing. Otherwise you begin blowing off deadlines and have a hard time staying on task and on target.

[Del S]

Once you figure out what you'd like to earn, you may want to create your own rate card. I just use an index card, where I print my rates for writing articles, blogs, research, etc. It's for my own use and I don't show it to clients but it's handy to have all the info right there in case someone asks "what do you charge?"

[Mr.Shiro]

Thank you very much for the help, all of you. I would also like to thank you, starbirdy66, especially for providing me with that link as I found it very helpful.

I have found some rates which I think will be good for me, and in the next few days I'll get to try them out as a potential client is coming back from her mini holiday to discuss rates with me next week.

[CJWrite]

Originally Posted by Del S

Once you figure out what you'd like to earn, you may want to create your own rate card. I just use an index card, where I print my rates for writing articles, blogs, research, etc. It's for my own use and I don't show it to clients but it's handy to have all the info right there in case someone asks "what do you charge?"

That's a good idea! I also have a hard time figuring out what to charge, and usually I won't reply to ads asking for this info. Which means that I've probably missed out on some good opportunities...