BEYOND THE BASICS How Much Should I Charge? by Lynn Wasnak I f you’re a beginning freelance writer, or don’t know many other freelancers, you may wonder how anyone manages to earn enough to eat and pay the rent by writing or performing a mix of writing-related tasks. Yet, smart full-time freelance writers and editors annually gross $35,000 and up—sometimes up into the $150,000-200,000 range. These top-earning freelancers rarely have names known to the general public. (Celebrity writers earn fees far beyond the rates cited in this survey.) But, year after year, they sustain themselves and their families on a freelance income, while maintaining control of their hours and their lives. Such freelancers take writing and editing seriously—it’s their business. Periodically, they sit down and think about the earning potential of their work, and how they can make freelancing more profitable and fun. They know their numbers: what it costs to run their business; what hourly rate they require; how long a job will take. Unless there’s a real bonus (a special clip, or a chance to try something new) these writers turn down work that doesn’t meet the mark and replace it with a better-paying project. If you don’t know your numbers, take a few minutes to figure them out. Begin by choosing your target annual income—whether it’s $25,000 or $100,000. Add in fixed expenses: social security, taxes, and office supplies. Don’t forget health insurance and something for your retirement. Once you’ve determined your annual gross target, divide it by 1,000 billable hours—about 21 hours per week—to determine your target hourly rate. Remember—this rate is flexible. You can continue doing low-paying work you love as long as you make up for the loss with more lucrative jobs. But you must monitor your rate of earning if you want to reach your goal. If you slip, remind yourself you’re in charge. As a freelancer, you can raise prices, chase better-paying jobs, work extra hours, or adjust your spending. ‘‘Sounds great,’’ you may say. ‘‘But how do I come up with 1,000 billable hours each year? I’m lucky to find a writing-related job every month or two, and these pay a pittance.’’ That’s where business attitude comes in: network, track your time, join professional organizations, and study the markets. Learn how to query, then query like mad. Take chances by reaching for the next level. Learn to negotiate for a fee you can live on—your plumber does! Then get it in writing. You’ll be surprised how far you can go, and how much you can earn, if you believe in your skills and act on your belief. The rates that follow are a guide to steer you in the right direction. LYNN WASNAK (www.lynnwasnak.com) has freelanced full time for nearly three decades as a writer, editor, and small publisher. Her international newsletter for childhood trauma survivors, Many Voices (www.manyvoicespress.com), is now in its 17th year. How Much Should I Charge? 69 This report is based on input from sales finalized in 2005 and 2006 only. The data is generated from voluntary surveys completed by members of numerous professional writers’ and editors’ organizations and specialty groups. We thank these responding groups, listed below, and their members for generously sharing information. If you would like to contribute your input, e-mail lwasnak@fuse.net for a survey. Organizations For more information on determining freelance pay rates, negotiating contracts, etc., you can visit the following organizations’ Web sites. (Editor’s note: A special thank you to the members of the organizations listed below for their thoughtful responses to our survey.) ● American Literary Translators Association (ALTA): www.literarytrans lators.org ● American Medical Writers Association (AMWA): www.amwa.org ● American Society of Journalists & Authors (ASJA): www.asja.org ● American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP): www.asmp.org ● American Society of Picture Professionals (ASPP): www.aspp.com ● American Translators Association (ATA): www.atanet.org ● Association of Independents in Radio (AIR): www.airmedia.org ● Association of Personal Historians (APH): www.personalhistorians.org ● The Cartoon Bank: www.cartoonbank.com ● Editorial Freelancers Association (EFA): www.the-efa.org ● Freelance Success (FLX): www.freelancesuccess.com ● International Association of Business Communicators (IABC): www. iabc.com ● Investigative Reporters & Editors (IRE): www.ire.org ● Media Communicators Association International (MCA-I): www.mcai.org National Association of Science Writers (NASW): www.nasw.org ● National Cartoonists Society (NCS): www.reuben.org/main.asp ● National Writers Union (NWU): www.nwu.org ● Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ): www.spj.org ● Society for Technical Communication (STC): www.stc.org ● Washington Independent Writers (WIW): www.washwriter.org ● Women in Film (WIF): www.wif.org ● Writer’s Guild of America East (WGAE): www.wgae.org ● Writer’s Guild of America West (WGA): www.wga.org Beyond the Basics ● $100 $150 $100 $100 $150 $100 Book jacket copywriting Campaign development or product launch Catalog copywriting Copyediting for advertising Direct-mail copywriting E-mail ad copywriting $167 1 Per project figures based on 30-minute speech. Speech writing/editing (general)1 $80 Public relations for schools or libraries Public relations for businesses $90 $180 Press/news release $80 $180 Press kits Public relations for organizations or nonprofits $180 Political campaigns, public relations Public relations for government $110 $125 Fundraising campaign brochure $85 $180 Event promotions/publicity $150 Advertorials HIGH Advertising copywriting Advertising, Copywriting & Public Relations Beyond the Basics $43 $50 $20 $50 $50 $35 $30 $45 $69 $50 $50 $50 $20 $25 $50 $40 $50 $35 LOW $81 $60 $53 $64 $89 $97 $96 $88 $91 $63 $80 $87 $58 $60 $89 $71 $97 $92 AVG PER HOUR $10,000 n/a n/a n/a n/a $1,500 $5,000 n/a $3,500 n/a $3,500 $50,000 n/a n/a $8,750 $700 n/a $9,000 HIGH $2,700 n/a n/a n/a n/a $125 $1,000 n/a $300 n/a $200 $600 n/a n/a $1,500 $350 n/a $150 LOW PER PROJECT $5,480 n/a n/a n/a n/a $479 $2,334 n/a $1,525 n/a $836 $8,248 n/a n/a $4,250 $500 n/a $2,278 AVG n/a n/a n/a n/a $500/day $500/page $2/word n/a n/a n/a n/a $4/word $1,200/page $1/word $350/item n/a $1/word $3/word $1,875/page $3/word HIGH n/a n/a n/a n/a $200/day $150/page 50¢/word n/a n/a n/a n/a $1/word $200/page 25¢/word $25/item n/a 50¢/word 75¢/word $300/page 25¢/word LOW OTHER n/a n/a n/a n/a $367/day $297/page $1.30/word n/a $1/word $500/day $2/word $1.50/word $400/page 65¢/word $84/item n/a 75¢/word $1.92/word $550/page $1.63/word AVG 70 How Much Should I Charge? $75 $35 $110 $100 Educational/training film scripts Beyond the Basics $100 n/a n/a $45 $1,500 n/a n/a $70 1 Other figures based on length of speech (min=minute). 2 Run min=run minute. Script synopsis for business Script synopsis for agent or film producer Screenwriting (original screenplay) Radio stories (over 2 minutes with sound production) n/a Radio interviews (3 minute interview) n/a $30 $50 $85 $70 Radio editorials & essays (no production) Radio commercials/PSAs Movie novelization $85 n/a $1,500 n/a n/a $15,000 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a HIGH $58 n/a $100 $75 n/a $106,070 $400 n/a $60 $56 $68 $96 $129 $36 $22 $88 $150 $100 $85 $150 n/a $92 n/a $60 $150 $86 AVG n/a $30 $200 LOW PER HOUR Corporate product film Copyediting audiovisuals Business film scripts2 (training and info) Book summaries (narrative synopsis) for film producers1 Audiovisuals & Electronic Communications Speech writing for political candidates Speech writing for government officials HIGH $60 $60 $56,500 n/a $150 n/a n/a $3,000 n/a n/a n/a $600 n/a n/a n/a LOW PER PROJECT HIGH n/a n/a LOW OTHER n/a n/a $650/15 min $4,500/ 20 min AVG $75 $65 $81,285 n/a $400 n/a n/a $6,750 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a $200/run min $850/run min n/a $500/run min $500/run min n/a $500/run min n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a $45/run min $120/run min n/a $100/run min $100/run min n/a $50/run min n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a $109/run min $504/run min n/a $300/run min $300/run min $50/page $229/run min n/a $1,269/15 min $2,114/30 min $4,006/60 min $34/page $15/page $20/page n/a n/a AVG How Much Should I Charge? 71 TV scripts (nontheatrical) n/a Fiction book writing (own) n/a $20 $19 $23 $30 $50 n/a n/a $50 $40 $40 $23 $35 n/a $35 $70 $60 $55 LOW n/a $34 $49 $52 $51 $63 n/a n/a $60 $65 $57 $52 $75 n/a $89 $90 $73 $80 AVG PER HOUR n/a $5,500 $20,000 $4,500 $15,000 n/a n/a $500 $300 $10,000 $1,500 $7,900 n/a n/a $20,000 n/a n/a n/a $2,000 $1,000 $500 $525 n/a n/a $120 $200 $500 $250 $4,000 n/a n/a $10,000 n/a n/a $3,000 LOW PER PROJECT $5,000 HIGH n/a $3,500 $7,988 $1,859 $6,119 n/a n/a $200 $250 $4,512 $792 $5,967 n/a n/a $15,000 n/a n/a $4,083 AVG $40,000 $6/page $40/page $9/page $20/page $5/word $4,000 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a $2/word $500/run min $1,000/day n/a $2,500/ 30 sec spot $500/run min HIGH $525 $1/page $3.75/page $3/page $4/page $1/word $1,500 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a $1/word $100/run min $550/day n/a $150/ 30 sec spot $100/run min LOW OTHER 1 30 sec spot=30-second spot 2 $1,201 Writers Guild of America minimum/story. 3 TV scripts 30 minutes or less average $6,535/story, $19,603 with teleplay; TV scripts 60 minutes or less average $11,504/story, $28,833 with teleplay. $75 Copyediting $125 $75 Children’s book writing (work for hire) $100 n/a Children’s book writing (advance against royalties) Content editing (trade) n/a Book query writing Content editing (textbook) $100 Book query critique $125 $100 Book proposal writing Content editing (scholarly) $100 $80 $125 Book proposal consultation Anthology editing Abstracting and abridging Book Publishing n/a $100 $150 TV news story/feature2 TV scripts (teleplay/MOW)3 $85 $125 HIGH TV commercials/PSAs1 Scripts for nontheatrical films for education, business, industry Beyond the Basics $14,203 $4.10/page $7.50/page $4/page $6/page $3/word $2,920 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a $1.50/word $300/run min $800/day n/a $963/ 30 sec spot $300/run min AVG 72 How Much Should I Charge? $45 $20 $30 $36 $180 $125 $150 $150 $100 Annual reports Associations and organizations (writing for) Business & sales letters Business & government research Beyond the Basics $30 $69 $81 $86 $68 $87 n/a n/a n/a $63 $46 $30 $45 n/a $85 $72 n/a n/a $2,000 $15,000 n/a $15,000 n/a n/a $10,000 $50,000 n/a n/a $400 n/a $75,000 $2,000 n/a $150 $300 n/a $500 n/a n/a $7,000 $4,000 n/a n/a $150 n/a $1,300 $150 n/a $5,000 $5,500 LOW PER PROJECT $80,000 HIGH $70 $100,000 $73 AVG 1 Per project figures do not include royalty arrangements, which vary from publisher to publisher. 2 Other figures in cents are per target word. Brochures, fliers, booklets for business Business $35 n/a n/a n/a n/a $25 $120 n/a $15 $15 n/a Translation (poetry) Translation (nonfiction) Translation (fiction)2 Rewriting Research for writers or book publishers Proofreading $75 $30 $60 $150 n/a n/a Nonfiction book writing (own) (advance against royalties) Novel synopsis (general) $70 Nonfiction book writing (collaborative) $100 $22 $40 $36 $50 $30 $100 $115 LOW PER HOUR $100 Manuscript evaluation and critique Indexing Ghostwriting, no credit Ghostwriting, as told to 1 HIGH n/a $762 $2,777 n/a $6,147 n/a n/a $8,500 $14,500 n/a n/a $275 n/a $25,297 $835 n/a $36,229 $22,800 AVG n/a n/a $2/word $2/word $800/page $400/day $600/day $15/page 15¢ 12¢ n/a $600/day $5/page $30/page $50,000 n/a n/a $5/page $3/word HIGH n/a n/a $1/word 35¢/word $50/page $300/day $400/day $0/page 8¢ 6¢ n/a $450/day $2/page $10/page $4,000 n/a n/a $2/page 50¢/word LOW OTHER n/a n/a $1.42/page $1.28/word $387/page $350/day $494/day $7.50/page 10¢ 9¢ n/a $525/day $3.09/page $20/page $17,909 n/a n/a $3.69/page $1.65/word AVG How Much Should I Charge? 73 $125 $135 $180 $135 Corporate periodicals, editing Corporate periodicals, writing Corporate profile Ghostwriting for business (usually trade magazine articles for business columns) $125 n/a Newsletters, editing writing1 Translation (commercial for government agencies, technical) 1 Per project figures based on four-page newsletters. Computer-related manual writing Computer, Scientific & Technical $165 $100 Newsletters, desktop publishing/production Newsletters, $150 $135 Grant proposal writing for nonprofits $75 $180 Corporate histories Government writing $125 Copyediting for businesses $90 Catalogs for businesses $180 Business-writing seminars Consultation on communications $150 $200 Business plan $150 HIGH Business editing (general) Beyond the Basics $60 n/a $30 $30 $35 $43 $20 $25 $65 $50 $40 $35 $25 $70 $35 $60 $50 $25 LOW $105 n/a $82 $63 $76 $96 $50 $96 $102 $93 $70 $87 $61 $120 $65 $103 $88 $72 AVG PER HOUR n/a n/a $5,000 n/a n/a $3,000 n/a n/a n/a $7,500 n/a $35,000 n/a n/a $10,000 $8,600 $15,000 n/a HIGH n/a n/a $800 n/a n/a $500 n/a n/a n/a $1,000 n/a $1,000 n/a n/a $2,000 $550 $1,000 n/a LOW PER PROJECT n/a n/a $2,000 $3,600 n/a $1,767 n/a $750 n/a $4,000 n/a $12,500 n/a n/a $5,000 $2,450 $6,000 n/a AVG n/a n/a n/a n/a $1.40/ target line $5/word $230/page $750/page n/a $1/word $2/word n/a $2/word $3/word n/a $2/word $4/page $1,200/day $1,500/page HIGH n/a n/a n/a n/a $1/ target line $1/word $150/page $150/page n/a 25¢/word 50¢/word n/a $1/word $1/word n/a $1/word $2/page $500/day $200/page LOW OTHER n/a n/a $1.20/ target line $2/word $185/page $391/page n/a 63¢/word $1/word $500/day $1.50/word $1.75/word n/a $1.50/word $3/page $740/day $684/page n/a $1/word AVG 74 How Much Should I Charge? Beyond the Basics $100 $35 $50 $100 $68 $55 $70 n/a $39 $70 n/a $57 $107 $83 $62 $90 $84 $72 $58 $98 $51 $66 $73 AVG n/a $2,500 n/a n/a n/a $15,000 n/a $2,500 n/a $7,000 n/a $4,000 n/a n/a n/a $5,000 n/a n/a n/a HIGH 1 For more information about photography rates, see 2007 Photographer’s Market. 2 Per project figures based on 4 pages/8 photos Educational consulting and designing business/adult education courses Educational & Literary Services Slides/Overhead n/a $40 n/a $100 Photography (corporate-commercial) Picture editing $65 $20 $75 n/a $70 $20 $30 $45 $150 $135 n/a $32 $100 $125 $50 $150 Photo research Photo brochures 2 Greeting card ideas Desktop publishing Editorial/Design Packages 1 White Papers Web page writing Web page editing Web page design Technical writing Technical editing $33 $30 $110 $30 $30 $180 Online editing $100 $18 $125 Medical and science proofreading $125 $30 $125 Medical and science editing Medical and science writing $35 LOW PER HOUR $100 E-mail copywriting HIGH n/a $500 n/a n/a n/a $400 n/a $800 n/a $100 n/a $500 n/a n/a n/a $1,000 n/a n/a n/a LOW PER PROJECT n/a $1,000 n/a n/a n/a $4,913 n/a $1,650 n/a $1,251 n/a $2,000 n/a n/a n/a $2,875 n/a n/a n/a AVG $1,000/day $90/slide $65/picture $2,500/day n/a n/a $300/card $150/page n/a $1.25/word n/a n/a n/a n/a $4/page $2/word n/a $4/page $2/word HIGH $600/day $50/slide $35/picture $1,000/day n/a n/a $50/card $35/page n/a 35¢/word n/a n/a n/a n/a $3/page 25¢/word n/a $3/page 30¢/word LOW OTHER $800/day $63/slide $45/picture $2,000/day n/a n/a $125/card $92/page n/a 86¢/word n/a n/a n/a n/a $3.50/page 90¢/word n/a $3.50/page $1.12/word AVG How Much Should I Charge? 75 $50 n/a n/a n/a $40 $40 $30 $35 $35 n/a n/a n/a n/a $125 $30 $15 $35 LOW $90 n/a n/a n/a $64 $50 $75 $84 $72 n/a n/a n/a n/a $294 $85 $38 $56 AVG PER HOUR n/a n/a $500 $300 n/a n/a n/a $5,000 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a $1,500 $15,000 HIGH n/a n/a $50 $100 n/a n/a n/a $550 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a $200 $500 LOW PER PROJECT n/a n/a $190 $167 n/a n/a n/a $2,502 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a $500 $8,084 AVG n/a n/a n/a $3,400 $400/event $1,000/ event $30,000/ event HIGH n/a $250/column n/a $1/word $1/word n/a $450/article $4,400/event $550/day $175/story $3,000/event 1 For specific pay rate information for feature articles, columns/departments, fillers, etc., see individual market listings. $150 n/a City magazine, calendar of events column Consultation on magazine editorial n/a n/a Book reviews $100 Arts reviewing Article manuscript critique Magazines & Trade Journals 1 $60 $220 Writers’ workshops Writing for scholarly journals $125 n/a Readings by poets, fiction writers (highest fees for celebrity writers) $115 n/a Presentations to school classes (5-day visiting artists program) Teaching college course/seminar (includes adult education) n/a Presentations to local groups, librarians or teachers Short story manuscript critique n/a $500 Presentations at regional writers’ conferences Presentations at national conventions (by well-known authors) $90 $100 Manuscript evaluation for theses/ dissertations Poetry manuscript critique $100 HIGH Educational grant and proposal writing Beyond the Basics n/a n/a n/a n/a $50/column n/a 15¢/word 10¢/word n/a $100/article $250/event $150/day $50/story $50/event $2,500 $50/event $50/ event $1,000/ event LOW OTHER n/a n/a n/a $450/day $134/column 75¢/word 48¢/word 78¢/word n/a $252/article $1,663/event $367/day $115/story $200/event $2,750 $228/event $336/ event $5,000/ event AVG 76 How Much Should I Charge? $35 $44 $70 $100 n/a n/a n/a n/a Craft projects with instructions n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a Institutional history (church school) Beyond the Basics Manuscript typing $30 $80 Gagwriting for cartoonists Family histories Encyclopedia articles n/a Comedy writing for nightclub entertainers n/a n/a n/a n/a $20 n/a $125 Cartoons (gag, plus illustration) Miscellaneous Trade journal feature article Trade journal column Rewriting Reprint fees Proofreading Magazine research $20 Ghostwriting articles (general) $20 $125 $200 Fact checking $50 $20 $50 $75 $75 $20 $25 $125 Copyediting magazines Content editing n/a n/a Consumer magazine feature articles n/a n/a LOW $20 $50 n/a $65 n/a n/a n/a n/a $75 $56 $60 n/a $34 $37 $100 $41 $40 $48 n/a n/a AVG PER HOUR Consumer magazine column HIGH n/a n/a n/a $30,000 n/a $300 n/a n/a $2,000 n/a n/a $1,500 n/a n/a $3,500 n/a n/a n/a $11,700 n/a HIGH n/a n/a n/a $7,000 n/a $50 n/a n/a $150 n/a n/a $25 n/a n/a $1,100 n/a n/a n/a $100 n/a LOW PER PROJECT n/a $150/joke $500/group $575 $3/word $1/word $600/column n/a $1.50/word n/a $500/item $2/word n/a $10/page $6,500/issue $3/word $1.50/word $2,500/column HIGH n/a n/a n/a $17,400 $3/page $125/page n/a n/a n/a $2,000/article 35¢/word $175 n/a n/a $962 n/a n/a $397 n/a n/a $2,088 n/a n/a n/a $2,993 n/a AVG $1/page $75/page n/a n/a $50/article 15¢/word n/a $5/joke $100/group $15 17¢/word 27¢/word $250/column n/a 10¢/word n/a $100/item 60¢/word n/a $2.90/page $2,000/issue 14¢/word 37¢/word $75/column LOW OTHER $1.27/page $100/page $30/gag n/a $300/article 25¢/word n/a $50/joke $250/group $100 95¢/word 78¢/word $342/column n/a 59¢/word n/a $225/item $1.08/word n/a $6.30/page $4,250/issue $1.28/word 84¢/word $717/column AVG How Much Should I Charge? 77 n/a n/a n/a Reprints Stringing Syndicated column, self-promoted (rate depends on circulation) n/a n/a n/a $18 n/a n/a n/a $25 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a LOW n/a n/a n/a $20 n/a n/a $35 $30 n/a n/a n/a $50 n/a AVG PER HOUR n/a n/a $300 n/a n/a $1,000 n/a n/a n/a $200 $200 $250 $500 HIGH n/a n/a $50 n/a n/a $75 n/a n/a n/a $15 $15 $0 $200 LOW PER PROJECT n/a n/a $163 n/a n/a $338 n/a n/a n/a $98 $93 $55 $300 AVG 1 Some pay in gift certificates or books. Judging of finalists may be duty included in workshop speaker’s fee. n/a Feature $25 n/a Editing/manuscript evaluation Proofreading n/a Copyediting Obituary copy n/a $35 Column, local n/a n/a n/a n/a Book reviews judging 1 HIGH Arts reviewing Newspapers Writing contest Résumés Beyond the Basics n/a $35/insertion $2,400/story n/a n/a $225/story $1.50/word n/a n/a $250/column 60¢/word 60¢/word $20/entry HIGH n/a $4/insertion $40/story n/a n/a $35/story 10¢/word n/a n/a $50/column 25¢/word 10¢/word $10/entry LOW OTHER n/a $8/insertion $378/story n/a n/a $112/story 54¢/word n/a n/a $103/column 40¢/word 37¢/word $15/entry AVG 78 How Much Should I Charge?