How much does it cost? Value-pricing good copy
I am British. Somewhere deep in my DNA is a strong aversion to talking about money.
However, I’m also a freelance business owner, which makes the subject pretty much unavoidable.
At some point you’re going to (rightly) ask: “How much do you charge?”
And my answer is going to be: “Well, it depends.”
Here’s why…
How to charge for writing has been a thorny issue since the first Grub Street hacks started scraping out a living. Charge by the word? By the hour? A fixed day rate, or a sliding scale?
A couple of years ago I wrote/ranted about the truly terrible rates that some people expect to pay for a copywriter. You can check it out here. (TL;DR? You need to pay for the good stuff.)
This post is a more temperate and hopefully more informative discussion about rates and fees.
The first thing you need to know: I don’t charge by the word, and I don’t think you should pay by the word either. Many per-word rates are well below UK minimum wage. We don’t have an MW in Zürich, but it’s below minimum in Geneva, New York, Berlin, Paris and plenty of others too. Not cool. Not cool at all!
And anyway, copy or content writing isn’t a commodity – it’s a professional service, where actual writing can take up less than a third of the time.
Smart man, that M. Pascal.
Second, I have above-average experience, and I produce above-average results. So I’m happy to charge above-average prices. I’m not going to bankrupt you, but I value what I do, and I work with clients who value it too.
Third, I absolutely don’t work for ‘the exposure’, a mention on your blog, a handshake with your famous friend, a quick drink, or anything other than our agreed fee. There are lots of ways for us to work together. Free isn’t one of them. As the old saying goes, please don’t ask as a refusal often offends.
So: that’s what I don’t do. Here is how I do charge…
I work out an agreed price for each job, or series of jobs. That price is unique for your business and your project, and takes into account all kinds of variables. These can include:
The quality of the brief and how much development it needs.
Planning and strategy (you know what they say about planning and performance!)
The complexity of the subject. I can handle the tough topics, and I think it’s a skill worth paying for.
Who you are: charities, start-ups, and big blue-chips all get the same level of service and professionalism, but at slightly different rates. It levels the playing field.
Where you are: Züri prices for Züri businesses (If you’re based here, you know why!)
Amendments and revisions. I include a number of free revisions in each quote (only fair), but after that I start to charge.
Alternative versions for testing or approval. Even if you only use one of them.
Desk-based research and data wrangling. I love a good spreadsheet, but let’s not pretend it’s not time-consuming.
Meetings and related travel and material costs. Face-to-face in Kanton Zürich, on Zoom everywhere else.
Working with your customers, partners, collaborators and other third parties. Writing is often a cooperative process, but teamwork can be time consuming.
Before I start working with you, I’ll give you a quote for the job (along with my Ts and Cs – probably best to read those too).
If the project starts going off the agreed rails for whatever reason then I’ll let you know how that will affect the price and – if necessary – what we can do to keep to budget.
As for payments, if your project is going to take more than a few days, I charge 50% up front – which is not refundable – and 50% on completion. Terms are 30 days, and there is a 10% late payment fee.
I’ve developed my pricing model over the years, and it’s based on experience of the great, the good and the occasionally terrible client. I’m sure that’s not you! But this way, you don’t get any nasty surprises. I get peace of mind. And our working relationship is based on solid ground.
