Copywriters write words for a living. Just how hard can that be, right?
It’s not exactly rocket science, brain surgery or something else that we assume must be hard. But everyone deserves a wage and creativity costs. Here’s what you should expect to pay in 2019.
Pay to play
First, let’s agree that everyone should be paid for their endeavours. We don’t use interns or unpaid youngsters looking for a way into the industry. Pick up a pen here or whack a keyboard and you’re earning.
If you’re working for someone who will make money from your work (whether that’s a publisher, a business, an agency or even a friend) then you deserve to be paid.
What you negotiate with your copywriter is up to you, but make sure it’s commensurate with their experience and your expectations.
Remember, you’re not just paying for the product, but for their insight, inspiration and a decent dollop of good, old-fashioned and hard work.
What’s fair?
The NUJ provides some useful outlines of freelance rates for journalists:
- £160 a day for online news shifts.
- £170 a day for newspaper news shifts.
- £150 a day for subbing shifts.
- £90 for a commissioned online blog post.
- £310 per 1,000 words broadsheet print newspaper.
- £1000+ page lead in a tabloid print newspaper.
(Imagine slaving away for days on a story for a broadsheet or high-profile mag for just £300. We’ve done it.)
We think these rates are pretty fair really. Nobody is going to get rich quickly, but these rates are a fair return for the effort.
What do we charge?
We’re open an honest about what we charge. you can find a breakdown of costs on our site here.
We know that price matters to you as much as it does to us. It’s why we’re open with our costs and clear with the time jobs will take.
If you’re looking for specialist SEO copywriting or detailed blog posts, case studies or articles then be prepared to pay a little more (but not too much more, we’re not greedy).
If I pay more will I get more?
It’s a big question, short answer: No! You can find some amazing freelance copywriters and small agencies that will produce the kind of work that will blow big agencies with their daunting day-rates away.
A big agency provides the peace of mind that you’re buying from someone with a big office with polished floors and a ping-pong table.
In a lot of cases, at the same time as the account manager is on the phone describing how great their team is, they’ll be bashing out an email to us with a brief.
Cut out the middle man and come straight to us for better service, lower costs and nicer coffee. Sadly, we’ll have to rearrange the game of ping-pong until we move to a bigger office and get less-busy.
