Writer’s Market Freelance Pricing Guide

As a result of Ameel’s comments on my previous post, I have decided to post a link to a source which I think freelance writers and editors will find useful. The resource is a pricing guide for freelancers from Writer’s Market, which you can find here on the Writer’s Digest website.

I discovered this guide after I was gently told by a couple clients that I was far under-pricing my services. I had only experienced the peanut-sized pricing of Fiverr and similar sites at that point–even my experience there was minimal–and so I had no clue what my prices should actually be. I won’t say what any of those original prices were (and you better not either, Ameel!) but I will say that all my book reviews went for only $10 back then.

What can I say? I was new, I was trying to build a client base, and I was naïve enough to jump in blindly without any real research to speak of.

It hasn’t been more than a few months since then but I’ve learned quite a bit, and one of the most important things I’ve learned is to use the Writer’s Market pricing guide.

The guide is an excerpt from Writer’s Market Companion, 2nd Edition. The excerpt includes calculating your expenses, calculating hourly rates, negotiation, raising your rates, and sample rates.

Did you know that it’s acceptable to charge $1 to $3 per page for proofreading a book? Or that you can get $28 to $150 per hour for writing brochures and fliers? That’s just a sample of what you will find in this pricing guide.

The best part? It’s free to download! You only have to give them your e-mail address. (Don’t worry; Writer’s Digest and Writer’s Market are well-established and reputable, so you don’t have to worry about giving them your e-mail.)

One caveat: this is only a pricing guide, so you shouldn’t take it as the pricing gospel. Each client and each project are different and it might be necessary to keep your rates negotiable until you’re more established as a freelancer. You can afford to be firm on higher prices once you have more experience, but you’ll want to retain some flexibility in order to keep the jobs coming.

Do you know of any guides or other resources which could help freelance writers and editors? Have any good examples or horrible warnings from your personal experience you would like to share? Leave your thoughts in the comments below or e-mail me at thewritersscrapbin@gmail.com and your wisdom might appear in a future post.