I am a college student just finishing my major in Advertising/PR. I plan to copywrite for an agency once I graduate, but want to do some freelance work to help build a strong portfolio. I also need the money to pay for school loans. A couple of businesses are interested in my services, but I'm not sure it it's just because they know they can take advantage of my naivete. What should I charge for ads, radio spots, brochures, etc. Does anyone have any advice to give to a new freelance copywriter?
The minimum rate I would recommend you to start with is 0.02 per word, not less. Those, who offer less payment will not add to your reputation and your portfolio will worth nothing. If you don't trust your customer, ask for advance payment or article-by-article payment. Have a look at copywriting tips here quality-web-content.blogspot.com
Have you researched your competitors to see what the average is amongst people with your skill set and experience? No one here can give you a "right" answer and most of the people here don't know what the hell they are talking about, so go do some research. Good luck
Writing for some content provider companies will be a good idea. Why not send them some samples of your articles.. If you re good, they might consider you as one of their quality content writers..
If you live in the US, you can apply to: http://textbroker.com for writing work. They will give you a subject to write a sample article about. Once you submit the sample, they will rate it on a scale of 2 to 5 with 5 being professional. After being accepted you will be allowed to choose writing assignments for your writer level and below. As you submit articles with them, they are each rated and your level will be determined by an average of your last 5 article ratings. You can request a pay-out up to twice per month. Working with them can be convenient as you can choose to write an article for them whenever you have spare time. You will also want to develop a website to showcase your writing skill and services. You can then write some articles pertaining to copy writing. Such as, "5 Benefits Of Hiring A Professional Copywriter For Your Websites Content". Then submit your articles to the main article websites like, ezinearticles.com , goarticles.com , etc. You will of course promote your website and writing services in the authors resource box. This will not only help to establish yourself as an expert in the field, but it will also provide your website with valuable backlinks and traffic from the high PR article sites. I hope this has helped some and the best of luck.