How Much Should a Freelance Writer Charge?

There are two schools of thought when it comes to charging for freelance writing.  One school is to charge as much as you think your time is worth and the other is to charge what you think you must charge in order to get the writing gig.

Some older more experienced freelance writers believe that newbie writers are not charging enough for their services.  They believed new freelance writers are enabling publishes to get away with paying for next to nothing for freelance writing work.  They blame the new guys for the extremely low rates of a couple of pennies per word being offered as writing compensation.

New Freelance Writer Pay

In defense of new freelance writers, it's not always easy to start out earning a high rate of pay for freelance writing work.  Many times sue to lack of confidence or experience new freelance writers are willing to accept anything they can get.  They don't truly understand the rules of the game as yet and are afraid to charge too much for fear of not getting the assignment.

After gaining a little experience and confidence, freelance writers quickly learned that very low pay rates for a quality piece of work does not make sense.  They soon increase their rate as their experience and confidence increases.  Some freelance writers find that they are so busy with writing assignments that they have to increase their rate in order to avoid being sidetracked by low-paying gigs.

Earning Residual income

With so many residual income writing sites available on the Internet, the question of what to charge for a piece of work may soon become moot.  When a freelance writer has developed a strong base of articles on various residual income sites, the monthly income may be enough to live on without having to worry about what to charge for a piece. Earning several thousand dollars a month in residual income reduces the pressure of having to accept low-paying writing gigs.

A Philosophical Writing Approach

When it comes to what to charge for freelance writing, the worst that can happen is that a writer under charges for her services.  Writing one piece for a rate that is too low will quickly be corrected the next time around.  If the writer charges too much, she won’t get the gig.  Either way, the writer learns from the experience for the next time.

As long as the newbie writer doesn’t give up, there will always be a next time.