4 Ways to Change the Conversation on Writing

WRITING | FREELANCING

How freelancers can position themselves to charge what their writing is worth

Negotiating freelance writing rates can be a minefield. There are several reasons why.

Sometimes, it’s just about being new and uncertain. When I first started freelancing, I was a terrible negotiator and felt pretty unsure about whether any client would really pay what I felt my experience was worth. (I’d been a pro writer for a long time, but since I was only just moving online, it felt like starting from scratch). The result: clients often got what they wanted, but I rarely did.

Working for copywriting agencies didn’t help much, because in order for them to make money, they didn’t pay writers very well. I got valuable online writing experience, but I wasn’t going to get rich any time soon.

Something had to change — and that something was me. I set out to put myself in a better negotiating position.

1. Finding Out about the “Going Rate”

The first step was to get informed, so that I had a baseline for charging for writing jobs. Since I was mostly working for US clients, I used the Writer’s Market rates guide as one starting point but I also looked at resources like the Rate for the Job database from the London branch of the National Union of Journalists. And these days I can check rates out on Contently’s freelance rates database.

One thing I liked about Writer’s Market is that it gave low, middle and high rates for different types of writing. I usually aimed to quote somewhere north of the middle rate, unless I had examples of my work to support charging the top rate.

(It’s worth noting that new freelancers should take the “going rate” with a pinch of salt; the important thing is whether you feel you are earning what you’re worth.)

2. Making My Website Work Better For Me

My first client-facing website was designed before social media. Unsurprisingly, it wasn’t doing a great job for me in a new social age. I decided to make it more professional by switching to WordPress, updating the theme, and, most importantly, making sure it showcased my skills. It’s a process I’ve repeated many times in the last 10 years. Keeping your website fresh and effective is an ongoing task for every freelancer.

I also got a couple of external website assessments so I could see what potential clients saw when they landed there. That gave me some more ideas for tweaks. Again, I’ve done this more than once over the years, as sometimes I feel too close to the content, and need an unbiased opinion.

3. Investing My Time in Free Marketing

At one stage, I did a lot of ghostwriting, but the problem was that this didn’t give my bylined work I could use to get even better work. I took a few unpaid guest blogging gigs so I could get credit for my work and have clips to share. I still do it very occasionally.

The important thing here is mindset: for me guest blogging is an investment in marketing my business. And I assess it with business eyes. I guest blog on sites with large active audiences, who promote content well and often, and who cover areas that I want to write about.

Writing high quality guest articles proves to prospective clients that I can deliver value — and I don’t have to sell my services. This has paid off many, many times over the years, as people have seen my work and asked to hire me. That’s inbound marketing in action.

4. Displaying Rates on My Site

Those first three steps helped put me in a much stronger negotiating position. Then I did one more thing. I put some guideline rates on my site. I don’t mind telling you that for some items, I wondered whether I had gone too far. But I had a look at the rates charged by writers of similar experience and went for it.

I’m glad I did.

The benefit of having guide prices on my website is that potential clients can estimate what my writing services will cost. They can also see the quality they’ll get via my online portfolio. When they come to me, I don’t have to argue about rates — and neither do they. The conversation is all about what I can deliver for their budget, rather than whether I’m charging too much (After decades of writing, I’m tired of that conversation, and I don’t plan to have it ever again.)

My point: even if you’re not a good negotiator and even if you’re not confident about what to charge, you can put yourself in a position where you don’t have to talk about it. And then you earn your worth, every time.

This is an updated version of an article that originally appeared on Lori Widmer’s Words on the Page blog . Other articles in the series include:

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Sharon Hurley Hall is a professional B2B writer and blogger, and co-host of The Introvert Sisters podcast.