Comments on: Writing Pay – How Low Will You Go?

By: Ty Haley

Ty Haley — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 08:21:44 +0000

Hello Sharon, my name is Ty and i love to write. I enjoy writting for the peace of mind it gives me, the ability to use my imagination and create characters and themes. Writting gives me a sence of power that I have never experienced, it’s like i can get lost in my own world and noone knows where I am or where I am going. That’s an awesome feeling.

I want to learn how to get paid for writting and where do I start. Can you please give me some advice on what I should do and how I can get started?

Thank you,

By: dava

dava — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 17:48:28 +0000

Thanks for your two pennies, Dana, and thanks for avoiding the flaming rhetoric. My business almost breaks into two parts, the cheap, fast, easy copy I write to make quick money and fill in the gaps and the better paying, more involved, complex stuff I do for regular clients. Hopefully, as time goes on, I will have more of the complex stuff and less of the easy stuff, but for right now, sometimes I NEED those smaller, low-paying jobs. Being willing to work to make extra money when you need it is not a bad thing.

By: John Soares

John Soares — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 23:19:54 +0000

I’m glad to see the All Freelance Writing Site will only begin listing higher paying jobs.

My key suggestion for breaking into higher paying assignments: specialize in a niche. It’s what I’ve done, and it’s allowed me to make a middle-class income.
John Soares´s last blog ..

By: Dana Prince

Dana Prince — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 04:58:22 +0000

Thanks, Allison. I agree with you.

But, I was making about double what I make now in my former life. The thing is, though, is that I was treated terribly by the company so money isn't everything

Sometimes I look at the balance sheet and sigh remembering my old bonuses and the co-worker outings and other perks but really…the lousy coffee, office politics, being tied to a clock in my little cubicle, pantyhose budget, friday afternoon conference calls that ran past 5:pm, lack of consideration for my having a life outside the place, and being treated like plankton on the corporate food chain wasn't worth the extra cash. But I'm not bitter. LOL.

Really, I can't imagine going back to that life. Ever. I would if I had to but God Bless the Internet!

My recent post Examiner.com Now Accepting Canadian Writers

By: Allison

Allison — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 13:18:34 +0000

This is a great post! Something else that occurred to me though while reading it was that you need to take into consideration what you were earning in your last job before becoming a writer.

My first few writing jobs paid maybe $8 to $10 per article. But since they were easy and I could write maybe three or four short pieces in an hour, I was making about four times what I did in the lousy job I had while I was building up to go full time as a freelancer.

Everything is relative and that's why no two writers will ever agree on what constitutes a good fee. We all have different requirements and goals, but as you say we should all aim to constantly increase what we are paid for our writing efforts.
My recent post Blog update – problems with Feedburner RSS feed

By: Dana Prince

Dana Prince — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 00:07:36 +0000

Hi Lillie! I haven't seen your lovely smiling face in way too long! Off to read your post now. Cheers, Dana My recent post Examiner.com Now Accepting Canadian Writers

By: Lillie Ammann

Lillie Ammann — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 20:18:14 +0000

Dana,

I just completed a survey on freelance writing rates. Unfortunately, I didn't get as many responses as I'd hoped, but the results were interesting. I've posted them at http://lillieammann.com/2009/11/21/freelance-rate... and will be following up with a couple more posts on pricing.

This excellent post will be one of the resources I link to.

By: Dana Prince

Dana Prince — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 15:55:47 +0000

@Laura , I've been there! I had a $50 article not long ago that took 4 rewrites to get just how the client wanted it and this week a job that should've taken me an hour for $60 took about 4 hours. Then again, not long ago I took a job that I thought would take the better part of a day and made great money in less than 2 hours (and took most of a day off!). Sometimes there's just no way of knowing how long / hard something will be until you get into it. @Sharon: Right. There are clients that I had in 2006 that would definitely benefit more from hiring me now more than they did then because of the knowledge I've accumulated in the past few years! My recent post Examiner.com Now Accepting Canadian Writers

By: Laura Spencer

Laura Spencer — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 15:44:18 +0000

Good balanced post on the topic Dana!

I like that you factored in the amount of time spent.

Not too long ago I wrote a $50 article on a topic that was so technical it took me all day to write. It doesn't take a math genius to realize that my hourly rate on that one was not so good. (I'll be more careful about what I accept next time.)

Thanks for the interesting discussion.
My recent post Read This Before You Write Your Next Press Release…

By: SharonHH

SharonHH — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 15:21:07 +0000

I couldn't agree with you more, Dana. Earnings level is very much an individual choice and having that balance between work you can do easily and work that might be more challenging but pays more can help make a freelance writing career a joy. Like you, I started low, but have raised my rates over the years and will do so again in 2010. Not only is it a good idea to keep pace with inflation (if that's possible) but writers gain more experience every year and that's worth more to clients.