In flipping through sites like Guru and Elance, you realize you have to bid on projects, and you have no idea what you're worth. Welcome to the world of copywriting, where writing isn't about the warmth, fuzziness and literary skills of the writer. It's all about commercialism and/or communication.
In copywriting, you’re providing copy for people who want to sell ebooks, create a great web site, advertise a product, solicit customers or improve a process. You provide a service now, not a story to tell the grandchildren, read on a rainy weekend or enjoy on your morning commute. You're in business, baby.
So how do you go from earning pennies per word to hundreds of dollars? How do you know what you are worth when you bid on a project?
First, look at the entity wanting your services. The point is to determine what the market can bear.
--How successful are they?
--How reputable are they?
--How old are they?
--How much have they paid for services in the past (assuming you can find this out)?
Second, what are you worth?
--How experienced a writer are you?
--How much do you already make with your writing?
--How much inherent knowledge do you have about certain topics?
--How much do you need to make as a freelancer?
--How quick are you at churning out your writing?
--What projects are competing with this one for your time?
Third, what are the parameters of the project?
--How is the project measured? Word count? Page count?
--Is the project more research intensive and technical or more creative writing?
--What is the time limit for the completed project?
--Who approves the project? Are there one or two levels of approval?
--Is desktop publishing, web site coding or photography involved?
There is no right or wrong answer on what to bid, at least in the grand scheme of the copywriting business. However, you can shortchange yourself or chase away customers, so give crucial attention to your bid.
Remember, you are the product being negotiated as well as the project. You have no inventory. Your writing ability and brain power are what’s for sale. It’s important to know how to dole it out, and that often takes blind faith and guts, packaged with a little market study.
Your writing isn’t just about the words. It’s also about your office costs, taxes, retirement, insurance and fees. Twenty dollars an hour might sound good at first, especially if you’re just starting out, but once you deduct expenses, you could be operating in the negative. Put a dollar figure to these items you’d normally take off your taxes as a business.
You also have to allow for the hours you spend marketing, billing, driving to the post office and updating your website – administrative duties. In reality, you’re limited to about 1,000 billable hours per year, unless you’ve become very efficient. Let’s assume you wish to make $50,000 per year. That means you need to receive $50/hour for your billable work – the time you actually spend performing projects.
Once you have your hourly figure in mind, you develop a better comfort level when bidding jobs. You’ll overshoot some and underestimate others, but soon you’ll learn how to judge a project. Oh, and don’t forget to add a dollar or two in there for the ICK factor. That’s your compensation for handling a difficult client or a last minute deadline.
Finally, if you have the latitude in your copywriting contract, bid like a mechanic. Give the client an estimate based on X number of hours in X number of days for X number of drafts. If the client exceeds the contracted limits, you can bill for the inconvenience.
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