Writers: Ask for More...But Only If You're Worth It

Great post!!! I feel that way about a lot of things I do. If you price yourself out of the market, there are tons more people to step up and take the business away. And if you charge too little, people may think you're "cheap" as well as inexpensive.

Kind of like my bookmarks. My competition charges for every tiny aspect - set up fees, customization fees, printing on both side of the bookmark fees, fees for tassels, OMG fees. LOL

Why make it so hard for the customer to order? I have a very low overhead and know how to buy supplies cheap, so I pass that on to my customer and now business is starting to pick up.

And like you say, if you're getting great feedback and repeat business, you can think about upping your price, but that doesn't necessarily mean you "have" to.

I haven't raised my bookmarks prices once, yet I've added rounded corners and photo editing to my menu of things I'll do to make my customers' bookmarks look way better than my competition, and less expensive.

I could raise them, sure; not to brag, but I'm really good at what I do. It would increase my profit margin and I "might" make more money. But I could also lose business to iPrint.com or even my competitors.

So I just kind of consider how I run my business as Over Delivering and my clients love my work. If I'm still doing this in another two years, then I'll up my prices for my five-year anniversary. LOL

Hey Tiff,

long time no speak - this is very good advice, something I've been having drilled into me for a long time, since the days of doing $87 minisites. Suffice to say those days are long gone - but the clients still keep coming.

Fear plays a big part, especially for a freelancer, simply because when the work dries up, the bills don't get paid - but, like everything, fear can be overcome through constantly exposing yourself to the things you're afraid of.

If you're putting your absolute best into everything you do, clients WILL come, and their friends, and their friends. The upshot is, you can afford to take on less work if you charge more, and you'll have more time to do a better job.

Kindest regards,
Karl.

Sometime i buy articles but it's hard to find a good writer. If i can find a good writer i
will pay more, and do pay more.

Good advice a good writer is worth millions.

Great advice, Tiffany.

If it's okay I'd like to share my bit of experience on
writing for clientele:

When you're making more than you imagined writing
for others and they rarely flinch at your prices -- in
-stead of boosting your prices...take a closer look...

maybe it's time to think about reasons *why* they
are paying you what they're paying you.

...maybe you should look at *their* business model
for clues.

A great marketer knows a great writer/sales writer
when they see one and those are the ones who will
pay virtually any price to get you on board...

because good writers that bring *results* are very
hard to come by -- therefore, I never had a problem
getting referrals or repeat business.

...getting more business wasn't the crux of the issue.

...it was not recognizing that my clients were fairing
off much better than I was and generating residual &
passive income on my efforts in return for *one-time
-payments*.

In my mind I thought it was worth it.

I thought getting payed a good deal of money upfront
made it worth it until you get burned-out and bored...

then it's no longer *fun* and it's a choir to do.

If you're making several thousands of dollars a month
writing content for other people

...*maybe* it's time you moved on.

I'm not saying you should *stop* writing if it's what
you love to do -- but as a writer you hold incredible
value you can use to build your own mini-empire that
kick out thousands of dollars per month in income.

...and you only have to do it once.

Charge more money, sure. But at the same time look
into putting your own skills into income generating
assests that don't require you to write constantly
to generate a solid stream of income.

What are your thoughts on having your value as a writer being matched to some sort of quantitative thing, like conversions, traffic, views, etc? Sometimes I think "a good article" shouldn't always be the qualifier to money, so curious everyones thoughts on this!

Tiffany,

In your original post, you wrote, "Writers especially are very proud of their work (as they should be, especially if they've written from scratch)."

Isn't this a bit of an open-ended approach in that it could be interpreted that you don't always advocate "writing from scratch?"

I always write from scratch! Not to do so entails copying, rearranging and rewording, which equates to plagiarism and as you know, plagiarism is illegal and ethically immoral.

I think most writers are notoriously bashful about not charging enough for their work. We dread the thought of "raising" our prices but don't share the same concerns about lowering them. We should look at our pricing not as increasing or lowering but "moving." Truth is, raising our prices, (upward price moves), are often harder to sell to ourselves than our clients.

Tiffany is always so insightful in her posts. This is another gem. Thanks for sharing, Tiff!

One thing I did back when I ghostwrote that shot my "worth" way up was asking clients why they needed my article, ebook, etc. If you can adjust your writing style based on the use your client has for that content, they will get better results. That's how you go from being "worth" $10/article to $50 or more.

First, of course, you need to learn how to write to suit their purpose. But once you get the hang of that, you can be one of those elite writers earning a good full-time living writing online.

John

Great piece! I have definitely run into writers who were asking for more than they were worth, and I've also talked writers who were charging much less than they should. I think price should be determined by talent and talented writers shouldn't be afraid to ask for what they're worth.

Thanks for this great post, Tiffany! You are definitely right saying that writers should be paid for the quality they do. And that does not count his color or location. It does not matter that I live in a secluded island having coconut juice and fresh fish for lunch, and just because I get the food free from nature, I should be paid less. Same holds true that since I do not speak the English language the day I was born does not follow that I can't write it better than those who speak it the day they were able to say "mama" and "dada"! Bottom line, check the quality, not the color or country. Thanks again!

In a free market system, only one person decides the price
of a commodity - the customer.

The only way to get out of that rut, and command your own
price, is to become a PREMIUM provider. Often, that means
better/higher quality. Always, it means better positioning
and marketing.

"Build a better mousetrap and they'll beat a path to your
door" has always been a trite overstatement. You still need
banners pointing to your doorstep - and enough trumpeting
about what makes it worth coming to!

All success
Dr.Mani

It never hurts to try. Potential clients are like buses, there is always another one coming shortly. So you may as well go for it. If you can not get paid more than what you are currently being paid, then in worse case you can always just go back to your old price.

Everyone charging less than 2 cents a word does.

Even if your spelling and grammar suck, if you can write semi-coherent sentences in the English language, you should get $2 for 100 words.

If nobody is willing to pay that for what you write, you can't actually write. Please stop it and go do something else.

Look, we've all got things we're not good at. I'm absolutely horrible at higher mathematics and organic chemistry. I would have loved to be a physicist or work in genetics, but I can't. That's just life.

I do happen to be a pretty damn good writer, though. Good thing, too, because I was never going to be a professional skateboarder either.

The world is full of crap you suck at doing. When you find something like that, it's almost certainly the wrong career path for you. Do it for fun, sure. But it's no use trying to make a full-time living at it, because you can't.

Thanks for starting this great thread Tiffany. I have been a bit too glow with my pricing with some people when I know I should be charging more as I do tick the boxes you mention. I am determined to do better. I know I can because of the referrals and work I am getting now compared to even 6 months ago.

Thanks to everyone else for their input as well. This is a thread I am definitely bookmarking.

Jake you rock! I'm going to mention your post to my list today - love that idea.

To build on that idea, let me add that one good strategy might be this:

When you contact the web owners, you might choose the ones either:

#3-10 on the page 1 SERPs (because they want those coveted 1-2 spots)

Those on page 2, who are struggling to get to page 1.

You could also look at web owners with fresh content, but not as well written - and promote your better writing skills to them.

For those who abandoned their sites, you might offer to continually provide fresh content to them to revive their site. With my PLR sales, I always have people mention to me that they're so glad I put out a pack of PLR on whatever niche, because they have an abandoned site and they'd "love to revive it with fresh content." People leave good site ideas because they sometimes get bored writing about it, struggle with writing, or move on to another shiny object - but they hate letting the idea die altogether.

I would also maybe mention the Google slant of craving fresh content - and how you could be the one element that tips the scales in their favor when Google is deciding whether to show one domain over another, and you've provided fresh content that the search engines will prefer to show in the SERPs.

Tiff

As always, I really appreciate your posts Tiff.

I also really appreciate CDarklock's straight up post too.

People, if you are a crappy writer, please stop selling your crap.

Evaluate your strength(s) and develop that strength or strengths into a skill that better serves the marketplace.

While you may be getting a buck or two per article, here's the defining point on whether you're a decent writer or not:

Are your customers consistently coming back to you and hiring you again?

If you're not getting a lot of repeat business, chances are your writing sucks.

Please, do us all a favor. Get out of the writing business. Find a way to deliver a service that provides real value.

Just needed to do a mini-vent. Thank you OP.

I write for both the web and print publications. My actual web content is much more article spinning than writing. I was able to build up my spinning business by following the steps Tiff outlined. I have earlier clients grandfathered in at some original pricing and gradually increased until where I wanted to be.

The repeat customers keep returning and new clients keep showing up. One thing I did learn was not to be shy about what I do well, as one individual pointed - writers tend to do that - and that made a huge difference.

When people question my spinning rates (or writing rates) these days I tell them - you can find someone cheaper but you will not find a better spinner out there. If you can hire them.

One thing I learned from Tiffany as well not to have the "I'm too poor" mentality. When I started all of this I was not able to afford many of the things I wanted to invest in to learn and grow. I almost had a welfare mentality about it much to my shame!!!!!!

But I learned to save, invest and put sweat and blood into building up enough to get what I needed - like the Best Spinner. No more whining about my situation here lol just hard work. My next investment - DLguard to get my PLR site up and going - an investment in my financial future!

Excellent thread and excellent advice.

Belinda

CD I use ghostwriters, too! I have tons of niche sites and no way I can operate all of them solo. What I'm saying is there's a bottom level of "worthy of pay" content.

I've used some where I paid, but had to tweak. Those are "okay" and maybe in a pinch I'd use them.

But what you described - riddled w/spelling and grammar errors - nah. I wouldn't pay $8 per page for that!

Someone might. But my experience is, not many. Not $8. Maybe $2.60 iwriter prices or something, but from what I've heard, even those clients bitch and moan when the quality is (shockingly lol) less than decent.

Thanks Tiffany!

For those that really understood what I was doing in my last post, I gave you a business model - not just a helpful tip. Many of you that are good businesspeople know this is what I was doing.

All by itself, doing this one thing can make you a very comfy living - at the very least it is a new income stream.

I only pulled that 30' curtain back a couple of inches though.

New ways of making a lot more money from the same efforts that pay pennies are grand - aren't they?

Much of what I do these days is long-form sales copy AND articles in the 900-2000 word range. I test everything and have found that longer, more extensive stuff is working better and better.

And article syndication is a great way to go for writers that are capable of producing stellar content and are solid marketers that want passive income streams.

But back to the knitting ...

Since I think like a copywriter, I already know a couple of questions many of you have.

Tiffany hinted at one or two ways this can be done. But we can go dog-nuts with this one tiny little biz idea.

Want one of my best ways to close online and offline merchants without saying a word to them?

First let me explain a few things.

We are an especially assumptive lot as writers aren't we? Yet I think most people fall into the assumption trap.

Assumption kills productivity, creativity, growth and income. We assume because hundreds of people in the forums we frequent are experts - they are telling us all of the truth and nothing but the truth.

This is crap.

This is why this discussion is so valuable and I am glad Tiffany began it. As writers, we have allowed others to tell us our work is only worth $1, $5, $8 - or whatever the hell nonsensical pricing they spout off dictates MUST be our pricing.

Let's blow this mirage up right now.

You guys cool with this?

Great!

John Q. Public has absolutely no idea what your work is worth - any work!

Of all the factors I count on - this one is at the top. This is what I count on people that try to compete with me doing - making assumptions about what a client will or won't pay.

You assume that because Sally or Jack the writer was only able to get $20 for that 600 word article that this is the ceiling. You can't possibly charge more, right?

Doing so would be an act of literary heresy, correct?

You'll lose that business for sure, won't you?

BS - 110% BS.

This gets back to the mental conditioning that happens in my previous post.

And it's the biggest difference between poor writers and top dog earners.

I count on people just like you setting a ceiling on the value of your work. Sorry, but this is the single most important value in a free market - I eat it up.

You've always got a choice - you can ask for a little or whatever your definition of fair is - or you can ask for top bucks. This is your gig - your business.

Me - I'm more than a bit crazy and I admit it. But I don't assume A-N-Y-T-H-I-N-G!

And I am definitely a "Type A - Rhino" personality. (This is a topic for another post though.)

If I approach a site or blog owner, I do not make any assumption they know content prices - or prices about anything related to the web. For that business owner - $500 may be the going rate for a piece of top notch content.

And before you ask, I have sold quite a few 500 word pieces for as much as $700 each and they weren't even sales letters - though as I stated earlier - everything I write has a bit of "soft peddling" going on.

Crazy huh?

But not to the business owner - my copy works wonders for them. They write me checks with big smiles on their faces. Often, they want more of those magic words - they call me.

Hell, they buy me lunch and invite me to their family social gatherings!

Initially, I have NO content for sale - zero, zip, zilch. I may even turn them down if they want to buy anything in our first conversation.

This is my illusion - this is how I create value - I am the one in control - the expert.

What I am selling them is something that will get them more customers, keep them on their sites longer, take an action - and absolutely love my clients for all the attention they get.

This makes what I do infinitely more effective and valuable than offering words on pages. What I bring to the table is the ability for them to make more money - it is priceless.

I do this regardless of what I have already decided I want them to buy from me.

Yep, as a pro - I decide before they ever respond exactly what they need to buy - and I allow them to buy it.

I don't sell a thing - I simply eliminate all the reasons for them not to buy.

I go as far as to visualize them writing those checks for exactly what I am proposing - before we ever talk for the first time - through email, on the phone or in person.

Guys and gals - they DO NOT know how to put a price on getting more business as a result of what I do for them!

If you never read anything else I write - burn this into your memories PLEASE!

You will make a ton of money.

I am the expert and I am there to help them. Initially I don't even have a jelly bean to sell them - that's not my role in first contact.

I am the Rainmaker and I am there to tilt the playing field decidedly in their favor - against all present and future competitors.

Truthfully - they aren't really sure what I do at first - but they know whatever it is has dollar signs for them attached to it.

So here's another tactic for those of you that will drop-out after only contacting one site owner and getting no response - then deciding this doesn't work:

Take a piece of their copy - something already on their site.

Rewrite it like you know you can - you know you've got the talent, right?

It can be 150, 200 or 500 words - it doesn't matter.

Only rewrite it like you are writing to save someone's life. Mentally picture taking a jackhammer to their heads - I don't care - just do it like you want the business.

Often I choose the About Us page - this is typically the worst writing on their site - but anything will work.

Even an article they tried to write themselves.

Doing and giving them this one thing along with your offer will blow them away.

Then your proposal must be short, sweet and simple:

Dear Mr./Ms. Jones,

I was referred to you by a customer of yours and I noticed a couple of things you may want to have written better on your web site (or blog).

I rewrote one of these problem spots and entered it here between the pair of three asterisks - I hope this was okay.

***
Paste the content
***

Please accept this as a free sample and replace your existing page. It is yours do with as you like.

You see, I write to help (plumbing, cookie, bridal, etc.) businesses just like yours get lots more customers that spend more money. Stuff like mine works wonders for clients just like you - they are getting lots more buyers by using my copy on their sites.

Please email or give me a call and maybe we can talk about getting lots more customers/visitors to your pages - this is what I do professionally.

My email is: XXXXXX@gmail.com
My phone number is: 222-222-2222

Talk soon.

Thanks!
(Name)

This is as difficult as it needs to be. And please, at this point do not utter the words:

1. SEO
2. SERPS
3. Google
4. Article
5. Meta Tags
6. Keywords
7. ETC.

KISS - Keep It Simple & Smart

There are many things that can happen after this "first contact" - and nearly all of them are good things - and as I stated, I have offered nothing for sale - yet.

If you do this right, it would amaze me if you got less than a one-in-ten conversion rate - if you do nothing else!

If you apply good follow-up, your rate should be much better than this. The secondary part of the sales process would be another long post - follow-up.

This is simple and lethal. You can place a dollar value you are comfortable with when you get the emails or calls. I would go with a minimum of having a $50 value per article or $100 for web page, but this is your deal.

Test, Test and Test More.

This works especially well with local merchants - but you are not limited. That's why this works so well on the internet - the global economy is open to everyone.

As to who is fair game for this process - how high is up? As Tiffany said, local merchants scramble for the top spots in local search, as does everyone on the web.

I'm beat and it's late - so this is Jake the Peddler - signing off.

Go out and make some money today - preferably lots of money!

Jake

Jake,

Your two posts combined are the equivalent of a wso on a successful writing career. Thanks.

Great post,

Alot of writers need to understand that there are a variety of different types of buyers. I personally have never paid under £20 for an article but this is because I am looking for content that actually interacts and captures the attention of my readers. Not just 1-2% keyword density and a load of rubbish in the gaps.

However I know people that only charge $1-$2 per article and they get swamped with orders, I keep telling them that instead of writing as quick as possible to steam through the orders, they need to put their prices up to $30-$40 dollars and offer extremely valuable content. This way just 3-4 orders a day will give you a nice wage. Meaning you can spend 2 hours a day per article = High quality conent.

if you write an article for somebody that converts a lot better than the rest of the pages on his site, or gets more attention then guess who he's going to keep going to for articles

The sad fact is that there are a few average writers being vastly overpaid, and very many more good ones who devalue their work through lack of confidence.

The good writers with confidence, know their talent, so they will not waste their time on earning penny.

But a good writer without confidence can do silly things.

Wow! Excellent and very encouraging thread.

This reminds me of when I got my very first regular, long-term client several years ago. A mutual acquaintance had referred him to me after he had complained about some ridiculously cheap writers he had tried out, as well as the shortage of good article writers. He wanted quality articles, he told me, and he was willing to pay a fair price for them.

Not having any idea at that point about the going rate for articles, and not being willing to put in time that would result in my making about $2 per hour, I quoted him a price that I thought my writing was worth, based on my hourly rate at my (then) freelance day job. (I was also a slower writer back then.)

"Uh, $75 an article? Does that sound fair?" I said to him.

He agreed that it did, and for several years (until I took a hiatus from
Web writing to pursue some other things for awhile), I wrote regularly and often for him at that rate. He also hired me to do some larger projects.

He was savvy, and knew what others were charging. But I got the gig, because I had found someone who wanted quality, and who saw its worth. I kept the gig because quality was what I consistently delivered.

Since then, I have learned that many marketers think that half, or even a fourth, of that rate is far too expensive. Part of me wishes I hadn't lost my naivete (and resulting boldness) about pricing.

These days, I sometimes find it discouraging when I see people offering themselves up for crazy rates like $1 per page. Having returned to writing for the Web, I have often thought, "Is this really all anyone is willing to pay now? Have writers (almost literally) become a dime a dozen?"

But I can't possibly afford to write all day and make about $10, so I don't. None of us really can. And good marketers know that they can't afford to throw money away by paying for a pile of bad writing that they can't use, even if it's at bargain basement rates.

Thanks again for this great reminder, and for, as Jake said, the business model!

Hi Folks,

This was an impromptu, quickie, unscripted, and very un-pretty video that will help you get going with the business model I have been posting about - starting TODAY!

For those of you that want to take action - this is exactly how I do this model.

Enjoy!

Wow thankyou Jake I really enjoyed the video it's like watching a Master Class.


Much appreciated

Keren

Jake I can safely say that's probably some of the best information on writing/marketing I've read on any forum anywhere - like you said you like over-delivering and this video has given me SO many ideas to work with :-)

Many thanks!

J,thank you for coming around. And thanks for the video.

Hey Folks!

For anyone that needs to contact me, my details are in a couple of places in my posts.

I care about delivering informative posts, not getting to an arbitrary number of posts before I can receive all of 10 emails.

Just in case - I can be reached at jakesarabia AT gmail.com. If a question is asked often enough, I will post answers here.

Thanks!
Jake

Wow, Jake - that post was fascinating and amazing. I can see your writing chops, too - it read like a fine piece of gonzo journalism.