Freelance copywriting - rates?

[wordsmithereens]

Hi there, just trying to gauge some ballpark figures as I may have a lead for some initial copywriting. (Subject area somewhat specialist, limited freelance experience.) What kind of rates do you charge - hourly, daily, by project/word count?

I like to charge by the word, like I do for journalism work.

Agencies sometimes prefer you to charge by time instead. I hate that; I prefer to be paid for the finished article...

Copywriters I know charge £300 per day at the absolute minimum (says the bitter journalist to whom that sounds like an absolute fortune compared to what magazines and papers pay per day!)

@whatsgoingoneh Thanks, how much do you charge per word, usually? (Or a range?) What do you prefer about per project costings?

@johnnyfinland Thanks! I noticed journalistic rates seem much lower, any idea why that is?

I used to charge by the hour/day which is the usual for commercial copywriting (as opposed to journalism). It depends how good you are and on your experience. I was a 'heavyweight' - lots of experience, top London ad agencies etc, so could charge accordingly. Lowest rates are around 350 per day, going up to 1200 per day.

@wordsmith journalistic rates are absolute peanuts. They’ve actually decreased in the last ten years in relative terms once you take inflation into account. I think it’s because print products don’t sell as much, online ads don’t bring in the cash so budgets are just being cut everywhere. Journalism definitely won’t make you rich! Probably the only career where you’d earn less as a freelancer than you would on a salary. And if you asked for £300 a day you’d be laughed out the room. Stick with copywriting!

I studied advertising/copywriting at college, then moved into journalism straight after I graduated. I was good at advertising, but put off by the stories of living on the dole and touting your Book round agencies to try to get that first job.

I've regretted that decision many times since, but never quite so much as when I read this:

Lowest rates are around 350 per day, going up to 1200

😭

Tell me about it WhatsGoingOnEh that’s an absolute fortune compared to the across-the-board £120 per day you get for in house shifts at magazines and papers. I can’t stop laughing when people think writing for a prestigious outlet means you’re rich!

I prefer to work on a per word basis. I work from home remotely though rather than going into a client's office to work.

I don't have a standard rate. One client who I work with regularly puts a lot of writing my way I have built up good knowledge of his subject. I can easily rattle off 500 words on his given topic in half an hour. Another client's work is much more technical and it takes me much longer to write, so I charge more. A third client wants each blog written twice to make each one unique for SEO purposes, so in effect you're doing the research once and writing it twice over.