A toddler on a plane. You have to have been experiencing a different state of mind when you made those plans. Nice of you to find the gushing link and post it for a fellow writer. And bluewriter, writers are notoriously bad accountants. I picked up photoshop and powerpoint in mere hours. My quicken software still makes me insane after 3 years of using it.
I'd like to thank jen for writing this really helpful article. Goes beyond the per-word cr*p when you're writing to earn a living. And that's what I'm doing now (working as a freelance writer) and what jen has written is a godsend (or make that 'jensend' ). Webgal, I agree that writers are generally bad accountants. I've flunked my math subjects a number of times when I still went to school. Never thought the numbers game would haunt me later on.
On a lighter note...since reading Jens site, my husband has become totally fed up of hearing about 'billable and unbillable hours' On a different note, Ive found that by applying this, there are some clients who I charge more for work, simply because they cause me too many 'unbillable' hours eg., emailing me at 10pm because they cant open a file - as in need instructions on how to do it. However, when I have clients I 'like' I tend to charge them lower...its wrong I know - I need a good talking to! Does anyone else do this? The business side of writing is not my strong point, and I will readily admit to being someone who does a lot of writing for writings sake - but Im getting there slowly. Ive printed off the original posting, and my new years resolution is to get a grip on the business side of things Christine
Thanks for such a useful post; yes, this is something I plan to study and make an essential part of my working life in the New Year. Thanks once again.
Jen, thank you so much for this great article. I am going to have to do the figures and see exactly what I want to be charging this new year. I am also happy to see that my current rates are not absolutely ridiculous and that I could even charge more. Thanks for giving me that extra motivation!
WOW You are awesome. I was just turned on to freelance writing last week here on DP. Since then I have written about 40 articles for peoplet on DP. I am only making $3-$4 per 400 word article. I love the work and it was fun in the beginning but the money isnt that good. I noticed your article was geared more to "real" freelance writing... I guess. Looking around DP for the past two weeks at the freelance writing rates in the buy, sell, and trade forum, I have come to the comclusion that I am not going to make more than $100 a week. I would have to write 20 articles a day just to make OK money. That isnt easyh when there are guys writing for $1 per article. Volume would be difficult. My question- Can I take this off DP and make money in the internet world? If so, where do I begin, how long will it take to build my business, how much am I going to put out in advertising? Any secrets or tips on building my freelance writing business would be great from scratch would be great.
Hi JHMattern - Excellent post -- glad you made reference to it from our other discussion here (http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=626475). Of course, I agree. If you follow the "professional blogging" employment market, however, you will see persistent postings wanting "professional" blog writers for $5 - $10 per 300 - 500 word post. This, when you do the math, works out to about $5 - $7 per hour. And, in my experience, there are a number of half-experienced writers that actually will work at that rate. How can they afford to? Your post here goes a long way towards opening eyes so that people can see what they need to charge to make a decent and respectable living. But I would like to see some discussion about the persistence of underpaying blogging and writing jobs that are out there today. Is education the only way to address the issue? Yours - Scott Frangos, Managing Editor - WebHelperMagazine.com
Scott, I addressed the same issue in this thread: forums. digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=633755 With all the raised eyebrows and angry fists I might cause amongst content buyers, yes, they need to be educated to respect the writer and ultimately, themselves.