Fee Advice for IT Security Copywriting/Editorial Services

[wasabipeanut]

I am currently employed 3 days a week writing for my IT Security employer - everything from whitepapers, prospecting newsletters, case studies, product literature etc.

I am planning on going freelance in the new year as I have been doing some case studies on the side and its all been going rather well.

I have been charging £1200 per case study (and that was something that the customr sort of "told" me they would pay and considering the whole thing takes about 5 hours I was happy with that) but not sure how fees would work with other companies.

I have rummaged through some older threads but can't find quite what I'm lookign for, What I do is very, very niche - is it the norm to charge per hour or per picece/project? Does the fact that my services are very focused mean I can charge more?

Would be really grateful for any advice.

Please ignore the typo's.

Am aware of irony

When I was working as a marketing manager I used to pay a freelancer £500 for a 2 side case study which included all research interviewing and chasing for sign off but no creative work. £1200 sounds a bit steep to me unless you are providing full creative service as well.

If you can get this rate in the wider market then go for it - but be prepared to be flexible on what you charge.

For jobs such as case studies, white papers etc I would expect a per job price. If you can offer a highly specialised service then you can probably charge a bit more but be prepared to drop your prices

I am currently freelancing and the role is essentially an interim manager and charge a daily rate.

Could be worth doing some 'market testing' and phone up a few other copywriters to check their rates.

I would assume that if you have lots of IT Security knowledge and background, yes, you should definately be charging more than 'standard' prices.

Are you talking about selling directly to the clients of your current employer? Would your current employer be happy with that? Does your current employer provide things for that money that you couldn't (e.g. reliability if you are ill, professional indemnity insurance)?

Charging per piece/project (or per page? or per word) makes more sense to me - I'd talk to the clients about it.

Thanks Potplant - I had thought about calling up other copywriters but also thought "why would they tell me?"

The £1200 covers all interviewing and creative content including headline etc. - I deliver it to a PR company "ready to go"
I must admit when they gave me that amount I nearly fell off my chair.

Its a bit sneaky but you could call up saying you are calling from your current compnay and are looking to outsource some work, how much do they charge.

If you called them up saying that you are going into business as competition then they will probably tell you to sod off.

Are you a member of CIM, you could post on their boards and get an idea of what to charge.

one of my clients in a similar area charges £500 per day. Not sure how they calculate how long pieces of work take (I'm not invovled at the start of projects). Invoices show x no of days/fractions of days rather than "total for project". Does that help any?

It does, thank you Violet.

Potplant I'm going to sound like a complete novice now but what is CIM?

Chartered Institute of Marketing