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How Much Do Freelance Writers Make? The Complete Guide

Breakdown: How Much Do Freelance Writers Make?

Freelance writers are in high demand these days, but how much do freelance writers make? As you can imagine, there are a lot of variables that go into how you price and value your work:

  • Your experience as a writer
  • The quality of your writing
  • Additional skills that enhance the value of your writing
  • The industry you write in (some bill way higher than others)
  • How you bill: per hour, word, asset, project, etc

The answer is different for everyone, but the great news about writing is how well you write is far more important than years of experience.

How Much Do Freelance Writers Make for their skills

Great writing speaks for itself.

In general, writers with performance writing experience (writing that gets business visibility, clicks, leads, and $$$) and marketing skills (like SEO writing) will make more than general editorial writers.

Can You Really Make a Living as a Freelance Writer?

Yes. Freelance writing is one of the most lucrative, high-demand, and low barrier-to-entry professions in today’s job market.

Every industry and business on the planet needs great writers.

Can you think of any businesses that don’t need great writers for content, websites, sales copy, projects, presentations, leadership, and even just better email communication?

Can You Really Make a Living as a Freelance Writer?

And the best part is that you don’t even need a college degree to become a great writer. There are millions of great free and paid resources online that can help you become a world-class writer in record time.

These will help you get started…

Since the massive shift to remote work in 2020, there has never been a better time in history to make money as a remote freelance writer.

Recommendations | How Much Do Freelance Writers Make?

A lot of writers start writing what they like or what they know first. Then ask, “can I make money at this?”

If your current field of expertise, hobbies, education, or industry already pays its writers well, that’s awesome. Mission accomplished!

If you aren’t a writer and/or don’t have an established niche, I recommend working backward.

  • First: Find a niche or two that pay writers well.
  • Second: Start reading about, writing for, and specializing in that niche.

Before you start peeling oranges, make sure the juice is worth the squeeze.

recommendations for how much do freelance writers make

How can you do that? Start with these Google searches, or searches like them, to see what you can find:

  • How much do [insert industry here] writers make
  • How much do [insert industry here] writers make
  • Writer salary in [insert industry here]
  • Writer pay in [insert industry here]

Keep reading for some other handy tools you can use to gauge writer pay across industries.

Average Pay for Freelance Writers in the US

The national average for freelance writers is $31 per hour in the US. Salary-wise that would be over $60,000 per year. Not a bad start, right?

Here’s what’s great about freelance writing though –– the better you get and the more proof you have (your portfolio and results), the more you can charge.

Over the last 2 years, I really focused on leveling up my writing skills, supplementary skills, and software arsenal.

In that short time, I’ve moved up from charging $50/hour to $200/hour for some high-paying industries and niches.

Average Pay for Freelance Writers in the US

You may be thinking, “yeah dude, but how many other writers are actually charging that kind of dough?”

I’m not the only one. There are tens of thousands of writers on today’s market that are billing those rates, and their clients are happy to pay them for it.

Read this: LinkedIn ghostwriters are making up to $700 per hour.

Sure, that’s the exception –– not the rule. But it’s proof that people are paying truckloads of money for good writers.

Highest Paying Industries for Freelance Writers

So what are the highest paying industries for freelance writers?

Highest Paying Industries for Freelance Writers

Start with thinking about or researching which industries have the deepest pockets. Here are some impressive national averages for hourly rates for freelance writers:

From personal experience in legal writing, you can make $100+per an hour.

How Much do Freelance Writers Make | Tools to Check Rates

If you want to scope out pay in other industries, use the below tools to take a look at rates for writers in different industries and markets:

How Much Do Freelance Writers Make | Quick-Wins for Beginners

If you’re a new freelance writer and are working on getting experience and building your portfolio, I have a couple of recommendations.

checklist for beginner freelance writers

Remember that doing free or cheap work, in the beginning, isn’t a bad thing. After you build your own website and/or start fleshing out your portfolio, you can:

  • Join writing groups on Facebook and LinkedIn: Join in the conversation, ask questions, learn as much as possible, and let them know you’re open for work.
  • Post to all of your social profiles: The easiest way to get your first clients is through people you already know. Post your portfolio link to all of your social profiles
  • Strategic Emailing: Why not hit up your network more directly? Send personalized emails out to friends, friends of friends, acquaintances, previous coworkers, friends from high school or college, and even buddies from the gym and let them know you’re writing.
  • Fiverr.com: Every new writer needs to get used to selling and meeting deadlines. Create and completely fill out a seller profile on Fiverr.com so you can start charging for your work.
social media for freelance writers

For more tips on getting your first clients and getting plugged into the freelance writing community, read How to Become a Freelance Writer with No Experience.

Even though Fiverr initially built its reputation on marketing bargain-bin freelancer products and services, they’ve adapted its payscale so writers and freelancers can make solid money on the platform.

If you want to make some money and cut your teeth as a freelance writer, here’s what I recommend:

  • Create a Fill out a Fiverr Sellers account.
  • Post a link to your portfolio and/or some of your published work.
  • Set your prices based on what other writers in your skill range are charging.
  • Make a unique offering: What makes you better or different?
  • Start closing orders.

How to Price Yourself as a Freelance Writer

If you’re a new freelance writer, the great thing is you don’t have to do a lot of guesswork for the biggest riddle in the industry: “How much do I charge as a freelance writer?” You can straight up Google that exact search and get a lot of good reference points.

You can use the tools listed above to figure out exactly what you should be charging. Indeed’s Salary Tool, Glassdoor’s pay tool, LinkedIn Jobs, etc., can spit out recommended salary and hourly pricing based on your niche, industry, skills, and years of experience.

Different Pay Structures for Freelance Writers

You aren’t limited to a single pay structure as a freelance writer. You can mix and match different pay structures to find what works best for you, your client, and the project at hand.

Different Pay Structures for Freelance Writers

Here are some of the most common pay structures for freelance writers:

  • Per word
  • Per article
  • Hourly rate
  • Flat rate or project rate
  • Retainer
  • Payment upfront
  • Payment upon completion
  • Half upfront, half on completion

You can also offer a mixture of these pay structures. For example, you could charge a per word rate for the majority of the project with a flat rate for any additional work that falls outside the project’s scope.

The most important thing is to make sure that both you and your client are clear on the pay structure before starting the project. This will help avoid any misunderstandings or confusion down the line.

Top Tips

1. Don’t Undervalue Yourself as a Freelance Writer.

If you are brand new to freelance writing, it’s okay to do some free or inexpensive work to cut your teeth and build your portfolio. If you have 1-2 years under your belt, don’t undervalue yourself as a writer.

Want to make more money and increase your value as a freelance writer?

digital marketing for freelance writers

Complementary skills are a massive value-add and pay builder for writers. The more supplementary skills you have, the more you can charge as a freelance writer. I recommend choosing 1-3 of these to start with:

  • Digital Marketing
  • SEO
  • Social Media
  • Blog, Article, and Long-Form Content Writing
  • Online Advertising
  • Journalism and News writing
  • Web Content Writing
  • Email Campaign Writing
  • Ad Writing
  • Copywriting and Sales Writing
  • Script Writing for Video or Podcasts
  • Ebook Writing
  • Technical Writing
  • Ecommerce writing

There are tons of great free and paid videos, articles, courses, and books that can help you master any of these

2. How to Start from Scratch

If I started from square one again as a freelance writer, I’d learn social media (writing, marketing, and advertising) and SEO writing first.

marketing skills for freelance writers

Every business on the planet needs social media and reputation management.

Few have time to do it themselves. Ergo, there are a lot of businesses that will pay for freelance, part-time, or full-time social media marketers, writers, and managers.

SEO is strategic writing for search engines. It’s all about making sure your writing website, blogs, articles, etc., get visibility on search engines –– clicks, traffic, engagement, leads, etc. Lots of businesses are hiring SEO writers, content writers, blog writers, content managers, etc.

“But doesn’t acquiring a new skill take time?”

Any skill takes time to learn, but not near as long as you think.

For example, I have a client who has some writing experience and knows how to use WordPress. I taught her SEO writing in three weeks, and all it took was a few articles, videos, and a couple of hours on Zoom. Three weeks later, her first blog started ranking and generating traffic for her business!

In my experience in lots of rapid-fire learning, skill acquisition, and teaching others, you can get good enough at a skill to start charging for it in 4-8 weeks.

new skills for freelance writers

You don’t need Malcolm Gladwell’s 10,000 hours to be a great writer or acquire a valuable skill.

It’s actually more like running from a bear. You don’t have to be an Olympic Sprinter (the best writer or marketer) to get ahead. You just need to be slightly better (or faster) than the average person you’re running with.

3. Continue to Stack Skills, Experience, and Revenue.

This is the best time in history to learn skills, and you don’t have to go to college for it. I would say that 80% of my career has come from being a self-taught writer, and only 20% has come from my formal education.

Use free resources like YouTube and Google to learn as much as possible. Check out the best writing courses on the top e-learning platforms as well. Don’t be intimidated. Accumulating new skills is way easier (and more fun) than you think.

In Conclusion

If you want to get started as a freelance writer or are looking for ways to increase your rates, sign up for my FREE 21-Day Freelance Writing Challenge.

There you have it! We’ve outlined some of the highest-paying industries for freelance writers along with what and how they typically charge. Remember to use those helpful payment tools from the job and freelance websites to help you figure out what you should be charging as a writer.