Hi guys, I wasn’t exactly sure where to post this, so if I’ve made a mistake, I deeply apologize to the mods. I recently graduated from college with a degree in professional writing and a minor in biology. Someone I met on Craigslist is interested in having me write 500-700 word health related articles, in addition to the possibility of forming a long term business relationship. They sent me an email today, asking about my pricing. I was wondering if you all could please give me some advice on what to tell them, since this is literally the first time I’ve done a freelance gig. I read a blog post with an advanced writer who said he charged like .80 cents a word. I’m thinking about charging like .25 cents a word. Is this way too low? Way too high? I don’t want to undervalue my work, but I don’t want to charge too much either. Any thoughts on this would be deeply appreciated. Thanks.
Currently, the going rate for, for example, short science fiction, is $.08 (eight cents) a word. I haven't researched the kind of writing you're talking about, but I doubt if it would be more than that.
That's almost a dollar per word. At that rate, this forum post alone would cost $59.20. What was he writing? That kind of rate might be reserved for very short things, such as tweets or slogans. The Society Of Authors has links to organisations that collect and collate data about the fees charged by freelance editors, writers and proofreaders. I'm sure you'll be able to find what you're looking for there.
I'm a professional non-fiction writer and my hourly rate is £72 or $105-ish. 500-700 words would probably take me half an hour, longer if I had to research the subject first. I'm not freelance and I don't write blogs though, so I don't know how helpful that is...
I think that the .80 cents a word means 4/5 of a cent = $0.008, not 80 cents. This would equate to $5.60 for 700 words. Stevesh's rate of $0.08 would equate to $56.00 for 700 words. @Tenderiser 's $105 p.h. would equate to $52.50 for half-an-hour's work, which would only require typing at 25 wpm, so time enough for some reflection, interpretation, composition, etc.
