Freelance writer rates - real statistics

Here's a contentious topic: the rates of freelance copywriters. This shouldn't be a touchy subject (no more so than any financial topic, anyway) and yet somehow it is the source of so much confusion and animosity. Some writers fret over what they should charge, some clients try to low-ball them, and misconceptions over what's "average" or "fair" spread like an oil spill. It can make the client-creative relationship very tense.

So anyone who's hired writers or worked as such might be interested in the 2012Freelance Industry Report. Carol Tice shares a few figures for copywriters: 78% earn over $50/hour, 53% make over $70/hour, and 24% make over $100/hour. Those are valuable stats for the many, many would-be clients who thinks writers "should" earn $15-20/hour. Or some other cockamamie figure they've pulled out of thin air.

Earlier this month someone called me and delivered a standard flattery-insult approach. She loved my writing, she gushed, I was so talented, had such a perfect voice for her blog, and was a league above her current freelancer. And after listing the current freelancer's many faults... she offered me the exact same bargain-basement rate. I gave her my actual (reasonable) rate and she was aghast, then irritated. Why wouldn't I write blog posts for fifteen dollars? Why didn't a good writer cost the same as a bad one?

I've heard all of the arguments for trying to pay writers badly: that's more than I make an hour; I could write it myself; I'll wait and see the ROI first; I could hire someone in Thailand for $5 an hour; writers are a dime a dozen; are you out of your mind; and so on. People who think nothing of spending two hundred dollars to get their hair highlighted, who don't blink at paying a plumber three hundred dollars for a service that took under an hour, will screech with horror at the idea of spending more than fifty dollars to have a web site written. Even though they're talking about the face of their business - their livelihood, their career.

There's a mental disconnect that often comes into play between service and income when the service is creative. But professional writing in particular seems to incur a certain contempt; an ill-informed but unquestioned conviction that good writing is so easily had and so infrequently needed that a writer should be grateful to receive even pennies as compensation.

Experienced clients know the opposite is true - it's not easy to find a skilled writer, let alone one who can quickly comprehend your business initiatives and partner them with compelling copy that smoothly incorporates SEO, branding and strategy. Which is why the above rates are as high as they are. Good copywriters aren't desperate or starving because we provide a high-value service that makes money for our clients - and our rates are worthy every penny and more.