Freelance Writing: What Is The Job Worth?

One of the hardest areas to handle as a new freelance writer is how to charge for your work. Writers want to get paid fairly for their articles, stories or other writing work. If writers don't earn a fair wage, they won't be able to freelance for long. Writers need to ask the following questions:

What Do I Want To Earn For Writing?
Writers need to choose a figure that will allow the lifestyle they want. This may depend on other circumstances. Writers who are the main breadwinners will need to earn more than those who are writing part time or as a secondary breadwinner. Writers who are moving from full-time employment to freelance writing may decide that they need to replace their current salary. Remember to account for tax in your country. Around 25% should be added to your target salary to account for the government's take.

Example: I have decided to leave my job and go freelance. Because of my responsibilities, I need to earn $50,000 from writing to keep my home running. This is an after tax figure. To account for the tax, I add $12,500. So I need to earn $62,500 from writing this year.

How Much Time Will I Spend On Writing?
Writers should treat writing like a job. They should spend the same time writing as they would in an office job. A typical work week is eight hours a day, five days a week, 52 weeks a year. That's 2080 hours. Writers need to allow for the days when they're too sick to write, public holidays and vacation time.

Example: I have a chest infection and cannot leave my bed for five days. Subtract 40 hours from my writing time. There are 8 public holidays in my country. Subtract 64 hours from my writing time. I want to take a three week trip to Australia this year. Subtract 120 hours from my writing time. I now have 1856 hours left.

How Much Time Will I Spend on Other Tasks?
Let's be honest. Writers don't spend all their writing time on writing. Internet research, reading, blogging and making cups of coffee all take time. Writers may spend as much as two hours of their eight hour day on other tasks. Subtract 25% of the work week and that leaves 1392 hours of writing time.

So What Should I Charge?
Once writers have worked out how much they want to earn and how many hours they will work, it is easy to work out an hourly rate. Just divide the amount of money needed by the number of writing hours.

Example: I need to earn $62,500 from writing this year. I am going to have 1392 hours of writing time. $62,500 divided by 1392 gives me a target hourly rate of $44.89.

What Else Should I Consider?
There is one more area for writers to think about. This is the cost of pens, paper, ink jet or toner cartridges, wear and tear on the computer, travel and so on. All of these are costs that the writer has to pay. The hourly rate should take these into account.

Example: A replacement toner cartridge for my printer costs $50. I use four a year. That's $200. If I divide that by the number of writing hours, I need to add 14 cents for every hour I work. That increases my hourly rate to $45.03.

Summary
To set an hourly rate and get paid fairly for their freelance writing, writers need to consider:
- their target salary
- how much time they will spend on writing tasks
- how much time they will spend on non-writing tasks
- the cost of consumables and wear and tear.