How much do copywriters charge?

How much would you charge to write a website/ brochure/ press release/ blog post/ advert/ article (delete as required)? It’s the question every copywriter dreads and the answer every client wants to know.

So you’d think by now copywriters would stop answering “well, it depends…”

Yes, it does depend on a whole load of stuff - like what’s the subject, who’s the target audience, how many words are needed, how much the writer knows already, is there an R in the month and would you eat bacon when it goes a bit green and shiny?

The point is while there’s not a Recommend Retail Price one can look up, any writer worth his stripes should be able to give a ballpark figure based on previous experience.

For example, it is extremely unlikely that a copywriter would charge £10,000 to write the About Us section of a website. It is equally unlikely he/she would charge £10. So while there are a lot of numbers between 10,000 and 10, you can immediately see that the writer HAS an idea of how much the job will cost.

That idea is generally based on his/her hourly or daily rate AND how long he/she expects the job to take.  Note the use of capital letters on the word AND because the daily rate alone tells you absolutely nothing.

One writer can quote you £350 a day, another £500 and a third £1,000. If you opt for the cheapest and it takes the writer a week because he/she needed to read your entire website plus all of your technical data sheets and product brochures, and then interview your product manager, marketing manager and receptionist in order to write the damned thing, it makes a complete mockery of the ‘reasonable’ daily rate.

If copywriters can’t give a rough estimate for the whole job, then they haven’t been in the business as long as they say they have. Yes, the job might be more complicated than originally thought (I’ve NEVER done a job that’s been LESS complicated) and yes the information won’t be available when needed, or in the right format, but none of these things should come as a surprise. Good copywriters know to allow for delays/problems/additional work in their estimate.

 

So… here’s my advice:

• Ask for their daily/hourly rate but insist they give you an estimate for the whole job based on how long they think it will take
• Ask for examples of previous work they’ve done and how much those jobs cost – e.g. the cost of producing three 500 word newsletter articles (from eight telephone interviews with six people) was £1,800  
• Get the quote in writing and make sure it covers how and when payment is to be made - you don't want to pay upfront only to receive something that sounds like it's been written by an 11 year old or a language student (or an 11 year old language student)
• Do expect to pay more for fewer words – yes it sounds bizarre but it’s a lot easier to bash out 500 words on a subject you’re passionate about than it is to come up with one decent headline that stops people in their tracks and makes them do exactly what you wanted them to do

If you would like me to quote you for a job (and give you a realistic ballpark figure based on experience) Get In Touch or email me on lorraine@forrest-turner.co.uk.