Comments on: Standardizing Freelance Writing Rates

By: Ria

Ria — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 02:21:22 +0000

A few thoughts hit me as I read your argument. I have to admit they are pet-peeves and sometimes I feel like a salmon swimming upstream as greater portions of main street appear to be moving with the current. The first thought is why are we so quick to adopt “standardization?” I think you can substitute another “s” word very easily – socialism. Why is it necessary for all of us to make the same “equitable rate?” I don’t want to be equal. I don’t want to produce “standard” work. I want to succeed on all levels and be the best at what I do; including making the best rates among the competition. Why should I be content , as a 23-year veteran in advertising/marketing/pr/printing, to make the same hourly rate as someone just entering the marketplace?That idea of standardization violates Darwin’s law of survival of the fittest and in fact is its antithesis. My second thought is that I learned very quickly, when I moved from employee status into the freelance market, that anyone can stay busy if they give their services away for free. And the third thought is that if you do not value your work and set a value on it – no one else will. It’s as simple as that. There is a reason every industry, every occupation has a learning curve.

By: Jennifer Mattern

Jennifer Mattern — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 08:03:57 +0000

I didn’t misunderstand anything at all. We’re not talking about minimum wage as it applies to full-time employment. We’re talking about standardized rates, and pulling an arbitrary number out of thin air for new writers. Why is that stupid? Because someone who only cares enough about their own work to charge $5 per article, has absolutely no business competing for five times that much with writers who actually deserve it, just because someone said it’s the minimum they should earn. If they want to earn that rate, it’s their responsibility to learn how to properly target the correct markets, and market their services effectively. New or not, if they can’t do that, they shouldn’t be freelancing. No one hands you anything in this game, and anyone wanting that needs to stick to the more heavily-regulated full-time employment option. If you don’t want $5 per article, it’s your job as a freelancer to do the planning before you even start working, to know exactly who to target (and who not to). Those who don’t “get it” die off, and the rest are left better off for it. Might not be a “nice” way to look at it, but it really is a case of survival of the fittest. Your starting point is what you can justify based on your value proposition – nothing more, nothing less, and unrelated to what everyone else is charging.

By: New Writer

New Writer — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 07:37:10 +0000

I think you misunderstand the concept of minimum wage, it doesn’t mean that every writer will be paid that amount no matter how much experience they have. If you are as good as you think you are than you can charge or it. It would be nice for new writers to have a starting point at least that they can measure their work against.