There’s quite a lot of dialogue on-line about writing charges. What’s one of the best ways to bid a undertaking? By the phrase? By the hour? By the undertaking?
All of them have their makes use of, particularly since some publications and companies are sort of within the behavior of utilizing one or the opposite of those strategies for deciding what they’ll pay.
Which writing price is one of the best ways to cost jobs?
To my thoughts, it’s by the hour.
Time is your most treasured useful resource. You solely have so many work hours within the 12 months, so that you must make as a lot per hour as you’ll be able to. Which leads me to my one vital rule of pricing jobs:
Regardless of the way you worth the job, monitor your hours and work out your hourly price
As a result of in the event you don’t know your hourly price, how will you work on elevating it? How are you going to evaluate shoppers and know which to maintain and which to drop?
Now, in the event you’re working for an ongoing copywriting shopper, I personally consider bidding by the undertaking is greatest. Your shopper is joyful as a result of they know precisely what they’re going to pay, and you may funds for the quantity you’ll earn.
The trick to selecting the most effective writing price is making a flat price for that undertaking that will provide you with what you need
You may solely do this by getting some expertise with how lengthy it takes you to do issues. Clearly, this setup rewards effectivity. Should you’re unusually quick, you’ll be able to bid on a par with different writers, however find yourself with a greater hourly price, and earn extra over the course of the 12 months.
Earlier than the downturn, I assumed excessive per-article charges had been the reply to maximizing earnings. However I’ve realized that’s not all the time true. After I was scrambling round for a number of new shoppers in late 2008/early 2009, I bought a proposal from an outdated editor good friend to write down some fast articles for $100 apiece, simply based mostly on my information of enterprise subjects, supplemented with just a little on-line analysis. (Hey, it’s above my $50 an project restrict, individuals!)
At first I used to be appalled. Previous to this time interval, in regards to the very lowest article price I took was $300. Then I assumed what the heck, and gave them a attempt.
I discovered I may write them in an hour to 90 minutes. Slightly fast math and hmmm…that’s $70-$100 an hour. Not too shabby. I’ve saved this work nearly as good occasional filler tasks . A fast scan of my payments confirmed I picked up $1,700 this manner in 2010 in perhaps 20 to 22 hours. So the lesson is: Any work that earns a excessive hourly price is sweet writing work.
In fact, getting a shopper the place they’ll allow you to merely invoice for nonetheless many hours you’re spending on their tasks every month is the perfect. Then you’re getting paid for each hour you’re employed. I had a shopper like that at $95 an hour for greater than a 12 months, sending me work each month. I feel proper now, these jobs are more durable to return by.
However billing hourly protects you in opposition to the evil that’s scope creep: the state of affairs the place you bid a flat undertaking price, however then the parameters of the undertaking continue to grow, as does your time spent. Been a lot of dialogue of find out how to deal with this sticky drawback on LinkedIn.
Most publications are likely to assign a worth per phrase or give a flat article worth. By which case, you might must work in your effectivity to verify your price stays nearly as good as potential.
However you’ll be able to all the time ask for extra money. I’ve gotten corporations so as to add $50-$200 to an article project or extra in the event that they ended up wanting sidebars, or an extended size, or I knew they had been a gradual payer.
What do you like? Billing by the undertaking, the hour or the phrase?
Picture through Flickr person zoutedrop
