Copywriters - how much do you charge?

[RuralPidyll]

I've been writing web copy and press releases for a few people for about a year, for a few hours a week. It's been going well but the trouble is that I have no idea what the market rate should be for work that I've never done before (if you see what I mean!).
How much do you charge an hour? How much for corporate blogging? Any advice would be gratefully received. Thanks.

Put it this way - when you tell clients your rates do they bite your hand off?
It used to be much easier to give a rough guide, but since the advent of web content and SEO a lot of people have entered the market and now some are charging worryingly little (if you have a look on the People Per Hour website some are charging only £50 for a press release for eg).

I used to charge £250 a day for clients who I knew could afford it and £150 for individuals or people I knew. But a lot depends on how much work you're getting out of them. So at the moment I've taken on a project where it will work out to only £100 per day but there's loads of work and it's guaranteed.

Will be interesting to hear what others say...

Hi, thanks for the quick response!
Hmmm ... I think I might be slightly undercharging, but not by much.

Funnily enough, I have also taken on a project which works out to about £100 per day, BUT this client always pays invoices promptly by direct bank transfer which I definitely took into account when pricing the job.
It's the "bits and bobs" I find difficult to price. A good press release can take hours to research and craft, but I suppose all the client sees is a side of A4!

The People Per Hour pricing is worrying but I would be interested to see what the quality is like.

I'm in a slightly different area but basically research and writing.

Generally the shorter the piece, the more you should get per word. If the research and writing takes you a day, even if the final piece is just 500 words, then it should be £100 minimum.

Similar to spotofcheerfulness I will work for £100 per day for a reliable, long-term client who is offering long-term work - but I try to mix that with shorter jobs that pay better, and would aim for £250-£300 per day with those.

A friend who is a very successful and experienced commercial copywriter often makes £500/day, so bear in mind that that is what some clients will pay if you're good.

I find with things like press releases that might take a while that I list in detail what I'll be doing and roughly how long I think it'll take when I give a price so they can see what goes into it.
Also (and this shouldn't be the case but is) I have done quite a lot of work for charities where they actually have a load of cash for PR and marketing and have done my best paid work for them while I often find the private sector stuff is harder.
Do you also distribute the press releases or just write them? If so you should definitely add in quite a lot for time on that.
And another thing (sorry, I didn't mean to turn your thread into a rant!) but it does wind me up how prices stay the same in this industry. I was earning the same or more 10 years ago! There can't be many other areas where this is the case (esp as you'd think you'd earn more with more experience, etc).

So true spot - in my field fees are actually falling and have done so consistently for years - I only keep up because I get more experienced, faster, and cannier at choosing jobs.

I do find though that to get a good reputation and good clients who pay well, it's more important to get a reputation for being quality, reliable, efficient and meeting deadlines, than it is to be cheap. Clients want people who'll deliver - if freelancers don't deliver they'll spend a lot more money putting it right, so it's worth it to them to pay up for a good service in the first place.

Thanks, that's really useful advice - especially about listing exactly what you do. At the moment I am just writing the press releases, rather than distributing them.

I am doing some corporate web stuff and it works out about 30p/word...

Typical article is 700 words, so £210.