How much to charge for new forms of Web writing?

by angela.booth on September 24, 2008


An enthusiastic Web writer and ezine subscriber asks: “I’m getting a lot of social media writing jobs offers – like posting to Facebook and MySpace, Twitter… and writing YouTube scripts. How much could I charge?”

Here’s my response.

Charging for social media writing jobs

Social media writing jobs are fascinating. Let me weasel a little by saying that it depends on what your buyer wants you to do.

Answer these questions first:

* Does he already have a Facebook, Twitter etc page and want you to add content to it regularly?

If he doesn’t have a page, then working out his goals, creating a plan for achieving those goals, and creating a timeline for achievement must come first.

ENSURE YOU’RE PAID FOR PLANNING, please. I’ve seen several situations where the writer created a plan, created the page, and was then left hanging. The client either didn’t respond at all, or said that they were “getting back to the project later.” Weeks later, the writers checked, and the clients were using the plan the (unpaid) writers had created.

Therefore, charge for planning, as well as for setting up the page.

* Can the client provide you with a clear outline of exactly what he wants done, and when?

If you know exactly what you’ll be writing for the job (including research time), you can create an hourly rate that’s commensurate with the effort. If the client can’t provide that, you’ll need to budget extra time to do the planning and research yourself.

A base rate for anything should be your hourly rate. (Double the number you first thought of – everything takes longer than you expect.)

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