Copywriters - What do you charge?

[shugah]

i just picked up some freelance work, and need to get an idea of price. at the moment, we're going by the piece. what would you charge for a brochure, a direct mail postcard, web copy (text only, i'll not be designing).

if there are any copywriters here that could give me at least an idea of price range, i'd be ever so grateful.

[Auggie]

1. I'm a designer, not a copywriter

But design can range from $50.00 an hour to $250.00. I estimate the number the hours and multiply, keeping in mind the size of the business and print run. Larger jobs/profitable companies get charged more. Just make sure everything is in writing before your start, including what you would charge for revisions if the client changes strategy mid-project. Hope this helps.

[shugah]

4. thank you for your input

the company i'm working with right now is small and just getting started, so i had to factor in that as well. ideally, they will make lotsa $$ and then so will i ;-)

i find it difficult sometimes, to estimate the number of hours - i can spend an inordinate amount of time perfecting a piece and really have to discipline myself to STOP when the clients objective has been satisfied - just because i can spend 20 minutes perusing the thesaurus doesn't mean the client should have to pay extra when ultimately one word is as suitable as another in context ;-)

thanks again, Winebrat.

[blondeatlast]

2. I'm about to step into that word myself.

My work has become way too stressful for my health's sake (I have a chronic illness that slows me down but hardly stops me).

The commute is killing me, almost literally, and I have adequate resources to manage the lower income.

I figure I will start out with a lower fee to get experience and raise it slowly. I'm considering about $25 an hour for copy writing and about $30 an hour for research.

Let's keep each other posted--I'm both scared and very excited about this!

[shugah]

3. kind of my strategy too

my current client is getting top-notch copy for bargain basement prices! $25/hr is about what i'm charging, with some flexibility for ease/difficulty of project. i've gone with the lower rate because i really want/need the work and independent copy writers seem to be an abundant resource in the market these days. i'm happy to have a foot in the door!

wishing you good luck blondeatlast - let me know how it's going for you!

[Dave Caputo]

5. SEO Copywriting can pay well or frequently, but often not both

I both do Copywriting at my SEO company, and hire out SEO copywriting to subcontractors. I bill my clients $75/hour and pay between $10 - $30 / hour for the raw copy (depending on how raw I get it). It's then tweaked for SEO, tagged, and used in a web site.

I'm currently hiring, so send me your links / samples and I'll take a look.

SEO copywriting is a tricky beast, and has different imperatives than copywriting for a print brochure, catalog, or other application. It's trickier because you have to make it sound good and be compelling to both organic and non-organic interpreters.

For more info see examples from my SEO Company web site, PositronicDesign.com. See our portfolio for many examples of SEO copywriting in action.

If you're not writing with SEO in mind, you can expect to get paid less than you would otherwise. If you CAN write effective SEO copy, then you can get a lot of work, maybe even from me.

Good luck.