Tags
freelance writing tips, freelancer, getting published, writing, writing for magazines, writing goals
I received an email from a writer who has accrued several pro-bono writing clips. She now wants to start earning money from her writing. What’s not included with her question is that she has already partnered with a semi-professional photographer in her area. This is a smart move because she can not only offer editors an interesting article, but high quality photographs to accompany it. She took summer classes at a community college to refine her writing and computer skills. One day she would like to earn her MFA in a writing area.
Her challenge is two-sided: Making the move from working for free to working for a fee, and believing her work is worth charging for. Sometimes us writers forget that non-writers generally don’t care for writing and will gladly pay someone else to write for them.
Email I received:
How do I start charging for my writing services?
My response:
There are a few angles to your question about charging for writing services. If you have existing clientele who are used to you volunteering your time, I would alert them that as of X date your writing fee is $X and explain your invoicing schedule. Give them ample time to decide whether or not they will continue.
For new clients, I’m sure they will ask you how much you charge so that is when you price everything out. 🙂 I typically do not talk numbers in casual conversation with prospects – I push for providing them a written proposal. That way they can see the value of everything they are paying for, the proposal is a writing sample itself, and you can include information about your experience you did not share in person. You deserve to get paid!
It’s a similar situation with blogging, I think. You don’t have samples of the market you are trying to break into, so you post on your blog, which obviously you don’t get paid for. Then, even if your samples are good, it still takes a while to break into paying publications. Of course if your ideas rock the editors’ world, things become easier:)
Posting content to your own blog just for the sake of samples may be a mistake. This all depends on the type of ghostblogging (or feature) work you are looking for and the intent of your personal blog. For example, I wouldn’t start posting topics like labor laws and parenting here on Write Naked, but I do write a significant amount of paid content on those topics every week.
Yes, ‘rocking the editors’ world’ with your snazzy ideas can get the ball rolling sooner for sure. 🙂 Make your own editorial calendar so you can stay ahead of what may be on editors’ agendas.
Of course, relevancy is key.:) I started my first blog on topics I was passionate about, but it was also a way to learn everything I could about blogging in a relatively shorter period of time. When the categories expanded, I created their own blogs. And when some editors see you can manage to write a compelling blog post, they are willing to give you a shot in areas where you don’t have clips. 🙂 Can I have the links to some of your articles in those other areas? Would love to read them.
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