You can get a general idea from these Occupational Employment Statistics for Writers and Authors: http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes273043.htm
You won't earn $13.96 per hour minimum here on DP lol. Per year, maybe. Well, not quite true, I've earned this and more at various times.
The prices are low on here because typically the quality is low. Also, the website owners only care about the price of what they're going to spend, so they almost always go for the cheapest writer. This is also why their websites mostly fail to make real money for their businesses.
My advice to Sarah would be to charge what you think is fair for your quality level of writing. There are tons of guys on here that are going to undercut you by a longshot, but some of them can barley understand english. If the webmaster wants to pay a low amount, he is going to get some crappy articles and not end up making money on his website end. If the niche you are writing for is already a passion or hobby of yours you are obviously going to come up with great articles having to do little or no research. Remember: you get what you pay for!
Hey all, The way I learned to do this was start off with a %. This way if you do really well you get paid more than you expected (and the best part is that it builds your rep quickly). I started out at 25% and gave the guarantee if I hadn't earned them at least $10k in their first week after sending good traffic to it, they would pay me nothing. So I made sure they made money so I could. Eventually I got known as a good writer so I started charging more. But try this out as that's what John Carlton taught me.
If you're just starting out as a freelance writer and thus have very little or no experience or positive feedback on this site (like me), it won't exactly be easy to get good writing gigs. On the other hand, if you send PMs and e-mails for offers you think you can complete well, you will eventually find people who'll give you a chance. From the little experience I have, I'd say that you can expect about $3-$5 per 500 words for the easier, rather brainless jobs (but, as was said earlier, a lot of people will still undercut you for these). For more specialized niches and/or higher quality work, you'll get more, but don't expect to immediately get hired for these unless you can produce extraordinary content
Everything including copy writing is now a global market. You are going to have to prove that your quality is worth your price. There are many services on the web where others post requests for writers. Once you prove your worth and are able to obtain some referrals it will be easier. Take a few lower level assignments and show them how you can put some shine into an assignment.
Well are you talking about copywriting or content writing? Two very different things in itself but they have the same pricing strategy. I would suggest you specialize. Most of the content writers here are writing for $3-5 an article just to undercut everyone to get some business. For some reason those that aren't business savy this is there first choice when offering services. Do you think Apple bases their prices off of their competitors? NO! They dictate their price. Here is what I would suggest you do. Specialize in a specific niche. Be the go to person in that niche for content writing or copywriting. Make sure your quality is top notch. Do a lot of research before writing an article or sales letter. You might have to do some free articles/sales letters for yourself or others just to build a portfolio. Once you become the go to person for that particular niche you can pretty much name your price. It is much more better to write 1 article for $40 - 50 than it is to write a bunch of articles for $5. I could go into this more if you like. Just specify whether you are talking about content writing or copywriting. Hopefully this help you out. Merry Christmas, John
To choose the income target you want from freelancing, remember that as an independent business person you must pay all your overhead, health benefits, vacation pay, retirement savings and taxes. Also, you must set aside regular time for marketing, accounting, and other nonbillable work. Total cost of living, expenses, and overhead are then divided by billable hours to figure the minimum per-hour rate you need to stay afloat. Billable hour estimates range from 1,000 to 1,500 hours per year. A quick ballpark estimate takes hourly rate X 1,000 hours to project potential annual income i.e., $55/hour X 1,000 hours = annual income of $55,000. (To fulfill this goal, though, you need 1,000 hours of billable work!)Once you have determined your estimated hourly rate, you can use it to decide if you'll earn more than the average fast-food employee on a particular assignment. You can also use the rate to prepare project rates-a single all-inclusive fee where Project X is delivered for Y amount by Z deadline. Many clients and publishers prefer project rates, since they know the total cost in advance. It's good for the freelancer who works fast, too. If a given assignment pays $500, but takes 40 hours to complete, you've earned $10.50 an hour. But if you do that same assignment in 10 hours, you've earned $50 an hour-and have 30 hours left over to devote to another paying project. Some freelancers add an extra "hassle factor" charge for difficult clients or rush jobs.The following rates are generic basics to get you started in setting a personal fee. Learn the going market rates for specific projects of interest by networking with other writers in your region and joining professional writers' organizations. The benefits received from membership in professional writers' organizations--learning to thrive as a writer--will more than offset the annual fees.