There’s a great deal of confusion when it comes to charging for copywrite work. It’s not just new writers that are unsure what they should be charging. Experienced writers often find themselves second-guessing their rates because it is such a highly competitive market. 

Remember, when you are being hired to write, you are either being hired by piecework, per project hourly, or on a part time basis. They are not paying for your health care or other benefits, they don’t have the hassle of deductions, and they don’t have to worry about being obligated to keep you on staff. They also don’t have to worry about paying you for wasted time, there’s no vacation pay, and no sick pay. They don’t have to make sure you have an office to work in, which costs money, and they don’t even have to provide you with a computer. 

So the first contractor that wines that you charge so much, needs to be awoken to the benefits they are enjoying because you work the way you do. This arrangement saves the employer large sums of money, and allows him or her a great deal of flexibility. It’s also a good arrangement for you if these things aren’t important to you and you love being an entrepreneur. 

If you are a professional writer and/or editor you should be making at least $30 an hour, and rates that are double that are not unheard of if you have the credentials and expertise behind you. Don’t be scared off by the ridiculously low rates that are floating around the internet. Those are not professional writers or editors, and most times English is not the primary language. There’s a huge difference in the work of someone asking $30 an hour for their services and someone asking $10 an hour. 

So how do you go about figuring out what your copywriting rate will be. The best way to set your rate is to decide how much money you want to make in a month. Then focus on bringing that amount of money in from the various contracts that you obtain. 

However, you need to take it a step further and determine how long each project takes you to complete. For example, let’s say you are doing articles by piecework and it takes you a half hour to complete each article. If you are only charging $5 an article, you will be working for $10 an hour. That’s unacceptable for a professional writer. However, if an article takes you 15 minutes then that would make your rate $20, which might be acceptable.  

The biggest problem you will face you are trying to set your rates is that clients don’t understand that there is a big difference in quality, and that they really do get what they pay for. Don’t be intimidated into charging too little, because if you are good, you’ll get the rate you set.