How much is reasonable for a freelance writer to be paid per word?

Grace, it saddens me to even see your question, because writing on a pay per word basis is like saying "I'm no better than any run of the mill writer, good or bad. " Aren't you? Plenty of people think they can write.

Sadly, many of those people can't. Not to a standard that would enable them to get out of the low-paying 'content' environment, and make a higher return from their work. But if you're a good enough writer, and you choose not to accept that all writers are equal, and by implication should all be equally low-paid, there are steps you can take to separate yourself from the pack, and make not just a higher return, but a living, if that's what you want.

I wrote a hub a couple of weeks back about this very topic, which I won't crassly promote here. If you're interested I'm sure you'll have no trouble finding it. And if not, well that's your business too.

I'd just like you, and any other 'real' writers on HP, to lift your head up, and look around at the alternatives that are there for the taking. Not easily, but how many worthwhile achievements do come easily in life? The partial quote from the article that I would like to include here, is, "......you're selling a uniquely valuable skill, not a price-point commodity."

If that sounds fair and reasonable to you, I'd recommend you read the hub. All the best. Cheers.

On Elance. Com, a site for all kinds of freelance work (coding, translation, ghostwriting, etc. ), I've seen jobs offered at between 3 cents and up to 20 cents per word. Realistically, though, if you're just starting out I'd agree with the other answers here and try to bid the job based on total work required to build up your credibility.

Then get beyond Craig's List and work for one of the many freelancing sites. Good luck!

I would suggest a minimum of one cent per word. I recently earned as much as five cents per word I think it all depends on how much research needs to be done; the more research, the more the amount per word should be. I have also earned much less than one cent per word...it all depends on who wants your work and how good it is.

Many places pay on a per article basis; you decide how much you would like to earn and go from there. As a freelance writer, I remain flexible and base my earnings on a per case basis. Occasionally the work falls into my lap, other times I have to work hard to get it.My advice...don't be greedy, but don't sell yourself short either.

Good luck!

I think you should check out writersmarket.com. You will be able to get a better feel of the rate. It's wonderful to romanticize about the art of writing and selling yourself short blah blah blah but as all of us know, romanticizing never paid bills so my friend you do what you have to do for you NOT for anyone else or their opinions.

I would use the content mills (like TextBroker and The Content Authority) as your base. Considering you can get paid 1-5 cents per word writing for them, I wouldn't ask any less than that. Is the ad asking for an opinion-type article?

Or will you be doing a factual write-up? Because I agree with the other answers about factoring research into your rate. Good luck.

I would agree with most others in saying it depends on how much work will go into the article. Writer's Market has been a very helpful tool for me, you should check it out!

It really depends on that piece that needs to written and your writing level. The pay can be anywhere between less than a cent to 25 cents, but some jobs would not pay so much but some would need high quality and pay higher as well. My advise... Just pick the jobs that you like to write about with the money that does not seem too less or too much to you.

After a little while you'll know what to charge for any writing job.

I love writersonline's response, but I don't think there's shame in taking a job at a rate contextual to the job. It's like saying, 'how much is reasonable to pay a cook? ' A lot depends on if you're flipping burgers or working at the Four Seasons, or perhaps doing food prep for Emeril.

If you're making a few extra bucks between better jobs, or if you're just starting out and are building a portfolio, 1-5 cents a word is very reasonable. If, on the other hand, you're an excellent and confident writer and want to create a specialized niche for yourself, you would charge per piece at a higher rate.

I would say that you should pay around .07-1.5 cents per word. Depends on the quality of the article. Just remember that you get what you pay for.

Quality over quantity.

Just like with any other commodity, it's a supply and demand thing. I hire different writers for different writing jobs. For basic articles that require 300-500 words with no need for deep research and with reasonable grammar errors like those you submit to directories and basically used for link building - I ask for a quote in terms of sets like 10 articles for one topic.

Freelancers offer as low as $10 per set. Before you react violently, remember that these are low quality articles and there are lots of freelancers who offer to do this kind of writing. Thus, the low price.

But for high quality content that needs research or some kind of specialty like legal or medical terms, these articles really go as high as $100-$300 per for 500 words. Of course, not so many freelancers can do this type of work. I have a paralegal who ghost writes for my legal blog and she charges .5 per word.

Her writing is really TOPS so it's worth it.

One cent per word is what the majority of people who know English as a first language will earn initially. Writers out of country will often complete work for much less, but the money they earn is up to par with the price of living in their area so it works out. If you have a good amount of work to show for yourself then you should charge maybe .02 or .03, but don't ask for too much unless you have some sort of professional knowledge that will be applied to your writing.

Remember that composition is something that all high school graduates must comprehend, so being able to compose an article is not necessarily the most valuable skill. Some people gave responses saying that if you are a writer you should never accept a payment per word, but they are very likely more financially fortunate than some of us.

The market rate runs about .10-.15 per word -- which is just about unheard of for the vast majority of freelance writers. You'll likely have to start out around .01 per word until you get a portfolio and client base established (assuming you're just starting out) and work up from there. I started out bottom-of-the-barrel several years ago and now I don't take anything under .05 per word, but it's a long hard road to get there for most of us.

I have seen a reasonable offer at $1 per 100 words - so for a 500 word article it will be $5 and for a 1000 word article it will be $ 10. But the going rate I guess is cut-throat and there are sites (content farm sites as they are called) offer only 50% of the above and it is still being taken. Personally these pay-per-word looks demeaning to me (as few others also mentioned).

Writing is a creative thing which should not be calculated per word. Ultimately the readers should judge and the rewards should be accordingly paid ......For few people even the rewards doesn't matter - just an acknowledgment or a thank you note will suffice .......

Depends who you write for. I have seen it vary everywhere. I see people on fiverr who charge 2 500 word articles for only $5 and then some 1 for $5 and some 1 300 word for $5.

Then again, I see people charging $20 per article on direct websites. Just depends who you write for. If native English, you are paid more than foreign writer who writes English.

I think a base of 1.2 cents per word is reasonable. I have seen a lot of crazy requests on odesk. Com for fifty 500-word articles for $5-$10.

This is outrageous, and I hope nobody is actually accepting that pay!

I´ve seen at content sites that the standard rate is $0,01 per word. For basic issue. For a more elaborated theme it can reach the $0,04 range.

In average, I pay $3-4 for 400-words articles. So, you can easily calculate the price of a word. I can't say that the quality is super, but it's enough to submit them to such directories as ezinearticles.Com, articlesdashboard.

Com, etc.

I would say an average write would make between 3 and 7 cents per word.

If you are a good writer don,t bother about ppw concentrate on the whole content you can earn upto $ 300 per page ........if it is of that standard.

When I started out as a free lance writer, I was paid about $1.5 for every 350 word article. But most of these articles are quite normal stuff and require no specific expertise or much research. But this amount can go way up if you consistently produce good quality articles.

Like I earn anywhere between $3-5 for every article I write now. But then this takes a lot of effort and reputation. I have done a bit of research on GAF and most projects there are for less than $200.So effectively you can expect to be paid $1-$1.5 per article initially.

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.