How Much Should You Charge Per Word?
Knowing your worth and earning it
New freelancers with previous writing experience grossly undervalue their services. From charging less than $.02 per word to working for FREE, beginner freelancers need to know that they can earn more!
Most freelancers quit within the first 6 months of starting. That’s because the workload is never worth the money and burns them out immediately.
Don’t be the writer who gives up on their dream so soon!
Here are 5 questions to ask yourself when pricing your writing services:
1. What is your experience level?
Your experience level will directly influence the amount you should charge per word.
Beginners will earn somewhere between $.05-$.10/word, while professionals can usually charge upwards of $.40/word.
If you are a day-one beginner, have no portfolio, and have no experience, I recommend not going below $.05/word as the current industry standard.
This is because beginners find work through content mills or sites like Fiverr or UpWork, which generally require low rates. Also, remember that the $.05/word is not only to pay you properly for a 1,000-word article but to help supplement all that time you used for research.
Plenty of gigs out there will try to charge you only $.01 or $.02 per word (or even to try and get you to do it for free) on difficult topics that take you upwards of 2+ hours to research.
Don’t accept those rates!
If, however, you are a professional with a stellar portfolio who has decided to go freelance for the first time, your word rate will be much higher than a true beginner.
Newly freelancing professionals will rely on their many contacts, previous clients, or colleagues to find work. Networking like this helps you find clients willing to pay better because they know your worth. That leads to the $.10-$.20+/word rates that many professionals enjoy.
Until you have access to great clients or a stellar portfolio, your word count rate will be lower than other freelancers.
2. Is this your only income?
If writing suddenly becomes your only source of income, you definitely cannot undervalue your services.
Yet, finding clients to pay you a livable wage is very difficult when you are new. Most writers start part-time or after work, meaning they can charge lower rates to build up their experience and portfolio.
Full-time writers need a Rolodex of great clients willing to shell out the money they deserve for quality research, writing, formatting, editing, and even photos or videos.
I would not drop below $.07 or $.10/ word if you are a writer sustaining yourself only on your freelancing. The average article is about 1,000–1,500 words, so you would make an easy $100+ per assignment at minimum.
2–3 articles a day could equate to how much you would earn at a 9–5, being paid about $20–30 per hour (before taxes, of course).
3. Don’t forget about taxes!
One thing freelancers should keep an eye on when they use sites like Fiverr and UpWork is the ~20% cut the site takes.
Because of that taken cut, freelancers need to charge accordingly.
For example, if I were to write a 1,000-word article on Fiverr and charge $50, I would only make $40. I would have to charge higher to account for that 20% cut.
The same thing goes for taxes with your clients. If one of your clients is paying you roughly $200-$300 a month for articles, you must consider how much in taxes will be taken.
I put away a hefty 30% per “paycheck” from clients for taxes just to be safe come tax time. That means I only get to keep 70% of the profits post-fees on any site (such as PayPal transfers, Fiverr cuts, or UpWork cuts).
Don’t undercharge yourself! Undercharging means less in your pocket for bills, food, and other expenses after taxes.
Do the math before you go freelance!
You may be left with far less than you think, so make sure to price accordingly for your efforts.
4. What are the expected article lengths?
Most commonly, articles are roughly between 800–1,500 words. Some clients only want a short ad copy of 200 words, while others want what is essentially a research paper of 2,500 words.
Always consider the topic and how many words are expected of you — then price accordingly!
If your client asks for consistent 2,500-word articles weekly from you, that’s a lot of time, effort, and research. Not to mention typing and back pain!
For longer articles, it is better to be firm on the price that you charge. Writing 3 separate 500-word articles in one day is (usually) not nearly as exhausting as having to sustain yourself on 5 separate 2,500-word articles per week.
You’re writing more words and spending 2–3x more time and effort on those articles — so you likely don’t have room for other clients or opportunities.
Price your word or article flat-rate high, and don’t let clients get away with low-balling you. Especially if the topic is difficult to research!
Don’t get suckered into doing free research on long articles.
5. How much research is going into these articles?
Speaking of research, the more technical and complicated your article, the more you should be charging!
If your base charge is about $.07/word on an easy topic article that takes you about an hour or two, then a really complicated topic should be at least $.10/word or more.
Most writers will not only do the research but properly absorb the information and roll it around in their heads for a while. They may watch instructional videos, read peer-reviewed papers, or interview experts.
Many clients don’t realize the amount of work that goes into writing a very technical article, and they definitely don’t think about paying for the research portion of the process.
That is why many writers are against the “paid-per-word” system and will often just charge a flat rate or per hour.
I personally like to calculate my per-word rate based on how much research I think will be required per job, or a total rate that I think will sustain me regardless of how long it takes.
Final Thoughts
Don’t undervalue yourself, even on day one.
When I first began, I barely made a single penny per word. Now, I make a full-time living from my writing.
All it took was knowing my worth, charging accordingly, and only giving those good clients my time of day.
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