Freelance Rates Survey Reminder
October 12, 2009 by Lillie
I’m planning a series on freelance writing and editing rates. Freelancers want to know what others charge, and potential clients want to know how much to expect a project to cost.
As mentioned in a previous post, I am trying to collect real-world data from freelance writers and editors through a short anonymous online survey.
There are only six multiple-choice questions:
An optional seventh question gives you the opportunity to add comments and further information.
The more responses I get, the more valuable the information will be. If you are a freelance writer and/or editor (part-time or full-time), please complete the survey and encourage fellow freelancers to do the same.
Lillie, when do you intend to close the survey? I am very eager to know the response rate and the average $ quoted by freelance writers. and btw did you know that today is World Arthritis day. I was kinda expecting another informative post from you. Not sure whether you are preparing one while I am commenting here.
Mack@Las Vegas Homes´s last blog ..Commercial Real Estate Bubble
Mack,
I’ve had very few responses, so I plan to keep the survey open awhile and try to get more people to take it. I am focusing on Domestic Violence Awareness Month during October, so I don’t plan to start the freelance rates series until some time in November. I’m not very active in social media so I’m not doing a good job of getting the word out about the survey. If you’re on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc., please spread the word and try to generate some interest.
I did not know it was World Arthritis Day. I have too many things happening at once.
Done!
Thanks, Deb. Please help spread the word.
Thanks for sharing this, i have forwardet it to all on my news-mail list.
Paw Hellegaard´s last blog ..Boligkøberne holder igen
Paw,
I hope you have a lot of freelance writers and editors on your e-mail list and that they all take the survey.
I use freelancers all the time and rates are all of the place. I get lots of freelancers on elance. Roughly 50% have turned out to be good and I use them often. Most of my freelancers prefer project-based work but will do hourly if requested.
Looking forward to seeing the survey results.
Lisa,
Thank you for the client perspective. Interesting that about half the freelancers you find are good and encouraging that you use the good ones often.
I’d like to know too. I end up guessing the rates or sticking to the rates I’ve had a year ago.
K L,
Did you take the survey? We won’t have good results unless we get a lot of people taking the survey. I’m getting lots of comments from people who want the results but not enough people taking the survey to make it worthwhile yet.
I think your rate depends also from your experience and the past work and success you have achieved.
By the end it is a question of negotiation with your client which rate you are able to take.
Dragan,
Please fill out the survey if you haven’t already. I need as many responses as possible to make it valid.
Thank you for the survey, Lillie. I filled mine out moments ago; I hope this helps.
Pay is a huge issue in this field. I’m not quite satisfied that all of my customers fully understand what it takes to research, draft, write and edit an article, especially for a magazine.
I look forward to reading your results and have checked the box at the end of this article to follow the conversation.
Matt Keegan´s last blog ..Franklin Graham Reaches Out To North Korea
Thanks, Matt. As you know, I’m not very active in social media, and I know you are great at several. I’d appreciate any attention you can draw to the survey so we can get as many responses as possible.
Glad to help out. I tweeted this thread on Twitter and tagged it for writers. Hopefully, others will find this page and fill out the survey.
Matt Keegan´s last blog ..Franklin Graham Reaches Out To North Korea
Thanks, Matt. I appreciate your help.
It will be interesting to see the results. I know for sure that being on social network sites has made me more visible to potential clients.
Helen
Straight From Hel
Helen Ginger@writer editor´s last blog ..Two Fabulous Books
Helen,
Hope you’ll use your social networks to get the word out so we can get enough responses to be valid. Thanks.
The result of the survey will definitely provide useful information for freelance workers.
Jeremy Craven@Homes in Brooklyn, New York´s last blog ..Political scientist pays $1.2M for Clinton Hill home
Jeremy,
I just hope I can get enough responses. So far I don’t have very many.
The results would be interesting, waiting for that!
Paul,
Please pass the word so more freelancers will participate and give better results.
Just took the survey, hope it helps! As a wedding photographer I can tell you that you learn a lot about business from being a freelancer
Mike,
People often forget—or don’t even realize—that being a freelancer is running a small business.
You know… a lot of these kinds of surveys are so poorly thought out that the questions lead people in a certain direction or the results end up having little to no value at all. But for such a short survey, it looks like you covered the bases nicely with your question choices.
I’ll be popping over to take a look and contribute right now.
Jenn Mattern´s last blog ..Chris Bibey Joins All Freelance Writing
Thanks, Jenn—both for your observation and for taking the survey. One thing I should have included that I didn’t is the location of the freelancer. Someone mentioned that in comments, and it would have been helpful.
This is a great survey. I get my writers online, and I noticed they have varying rates. I guessed they just based it on their experience, and I try to get an average.
Patrice Kelly´s last blog ..Aromatherapy to Heal and Tend the Body
Patrice,
I hope to get enough responses to make the results valid. It will be broken down by average rates for varying amounts of experience.
True. I’m not sure if SurveyMonkey’s stats let you see where the survey visitors are coming from. While not an ideal solution, you might be able to check your actual site stats for visitor locations of people who exited the site on the survey link. At least something like that might give you a general idea if the bulk are in the US, Canada, UK, etc. (where you’d expect rates to be higher) or if the overall numbers are skewed downward by a large group of writers from other countries. It’s just a matter of keeping it in perspective.
Jenn,
Good point. I took a look at the information available to me, and Survey Monkey shows IP addresses. I think I can get a good idea from the IP address where respondents are located.
I’m pretty excited with the result of your survey. Now, we can make use of the result to justify on going per article rate. I also agree that location can also be an important factor when it comes to determining the rate.
John Mcknight´s last blog ..Choosing a Layout for your Kitchen
John,
Please help spread the word on the survey. We haven’t had the number of responses I’d like to see yet.
Yes! I already did the survey! I think that it is great to help out other freelancers, and hopefully employers of freelancers can begin to understand that rates need to be more even and fair because you do get what you pay for.
Mark,
Thanks for taking the survey. Hope lots of freelancers do.
I filled it out. Hopefully I made the deadline. I’m interested in seeing your results.
Good idea!
Thanks, Laura. I haven’t set a deadline because I’m trying to get enough responses to be valid. I’ll announce a deadline and put out another push in a couple of weeks.
So this is for writer or editor only..wwhheeww.. I am not going in writing..
Kyla,
Yes, this survey and the articles will result from it are focused on writing and editing. Thank you for your interest.
I had a great experience with elance when I found a fantastic writer in India who was just starting out. She only charged $5/500 word article. But the mistake (?) was giving her glowing recommendations. Now she is too busy and I have to use other more expensive writers!
simon @ online surveys´s last blog ..Paid Survey Earnings
simon,
I hope she’s making some decent money. $5 for 500 words would be poverty level wages in this country, but perhaps in India that constitutes a living wage. However, if she’s so busy, maybe she needs to raise her prices and make the same amount of money doing less work. People who work for companies typically work 40 hours a week; freelancers typically work much more than that.
I also had a similar experience with Elance. Although she has become quite popular now and last time I checked, she said she was booked solid for the following 3 weeks. But there seems to be no shortage of ‘new’ writers who are proficient in English from countries where money goes a lot further than it does in the US.
sharon @ online surveys´s last blog ..Paid Survey Earnings
sharon,
I’m booked solid for longer than that, and I charge WAY more than elance prices.
Same here — I’ll be surprised if I can take on any new clients at all in the new year, and if I do it would probably be more a favor to an existing client offering the referral than anything. Having the steady demand is definitely not about pricing — it’s about proving value to the clients (value doesn’t equal cost) and showing them you have a serious role to play in their business. Writers on Elance are often replaceable for the very reason Sharon mentioned. Making yourself irreplaceable is key.
Jenn Mattern´s last blog ..Freelance Theater has Officially Launched!
Excellent advice about making yourself irreplaceable, Jenn. Thanks.
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