How to Make More Money Writing
By focusing on Monthly Clients vs. Projects
When I first started taking on clients and making money as a paid writer, I took on whatever projects came my way. They were mostly smaller, more specific projects, like homepage copy, a press release, or an individual blog post.
I was pricing myself at the top of the bell curve for average per-word pricing, or making it up as I went along, often undervaluing myself.
One of my earliest clients actually asked if I was interested in possibly setting up a monthly fee, and continuing to work together.
I confidently answered, “Of course. Let me send you a proposal.”
As soon as I hung up the phone, I started to do some math.
OK, if I am doing 4 blogs per month, and each blog takes me 3 hours to come up with a topic, research, write, edit, and post, then that is 12 hours per month. If I charge $300, then that is $25 per hour. Respectable, but I am currently making more than that per hour. Well, they also mentioned possibly needing editing for website copy, so I should build in some padding. OK, $400 feels good.”
And that’s how I got to $400 per month for my first monthly retainer. In the end, I was undervaluing my time, as well as underestimating the time commitment, but it…
