How to Set Your Freelance Writing Rate As a Newbie

Did you recently land a new freelance writing job? Ive been a freelance writer for a few years now, and Im at a good place right now with my workload and my freelance writing rate. But, I didnt start out like that. I had to figure out what my rate was as a new freelance writer. If you were like me when I first started out, I had no clue what were freelance writing rates. How do you decide what your writing is worth to prospects? I asked other freelance writers, but they couldnt tell me what MY writing was worth. So, the only thing I did was pick a number, and I thought $.04/word was a good freelance writing rate as a starting point. Boy, was I wrong! I quickly learned that any freelance writing jobs that came my way, were low-quality and low priced. Why was that happening? It was because I was telling everyone thats what I was worth!! To check out what you need to set your freelance writing rate, check out my YouTube video and make sure to subscribe to my channel! Freelance Writing Rates Some things to consider when setting your freelance writing rate are: What your niche is – some niches are more profitable than others The level of your writing skill – you need to have some basic understanding of the English language and forming engaging content How you define yourself online – you can do this easily by starting a service-based blog Your network – you can land some sweet gigs if you have a network to fall back on What others say about your writing – by guest posting you can find out what others are saying about your work Where you live Your ideal client With those in place, you can decide the value of your writing. For my course students, I suggest to start at around $.10/word. This is standard for blog posts of varying niches. How to Grow Your Freelance Writing Income You cant make a living at $.10/word. You have to grow your business so that you can start making a living as a writer. Typically, this is a progression of a freelance writer: 1. One Off Pieces In the beginning you might land a freelance writing job thats only one project or one blog post. This might even be a paid guest post. These types of gigs are fun and exciting and it helps you figure out your niche. 2. Specialize Once you have a handle on freelance writing, you soon start to realize where the money is. And that is with your niche. From the one-off pieces you learn which topics you enjoy writing about and which ones give you the most income. You also learn what type of clients you enjoy working with. At this point you can be a bit choosy on which freelance writing jobs you pick. 3. Recurring Work When youre in the thick of freelance writing, you will try to find ways to sustain this workflow. So that means finding recurring work. You also might explore other services to diversify your income. Some extra services you might offer are: Editing eBook writing Ghostwriting Copywriting Social media marketing Virtual asisting 4. Fine-Tuning At this point – probably a year into freelance writing – you start to really fine-tune your hustle strategy for marketing your freelance writing business. This might mean optimizing your pitch so that you land the right type of client. Or, it might mean using cold pitching as a new tactic for high-paying projects. As a more established freelance writer, you will learn what to do to land more projects and raise your freelance writing rate. Work From Home As a Freelance Writer Its up to you to set your freelance writing rate and learn how to negotiate a higher rate when the time comes. Its also up to you to pick the right jobs so that you can turn this into a livable income.