helen,

There is no such thing as "per word" in direct response copywriting. The range of fees varies greatly...

Some copywriters make $5,000 for a sales letter... Others make 12K. Still others make 25... 40... even $50,000 (plus a percentage).

I don't know anyone who quotes direct response gigs by the page. I'm sure they exist but I've never seen them.

So... you're a newbie. I have to think if you don't know how much to charge, then maybe you don't know enough about copywriting to even charge at all. But that's for you and your first clients to worry about.

Instead of speaking hypothetically I'll give you a real world scenario. I have a copywriter that I coach. His first cw gig was for $3,500. That was for a sales letter. How many pages? It turned out to be around 12. How many words? Who the hell knows or cares? It doesn't matter. A copywriter writes until he/she has successfully "sold" the product. Then he or she stops.

Back to my student... His second copywriting job was again for a sales letter. He was paid $4,500.

Around the 5th job his fees went up yet again, to $5,500. Just a few months after his first writing job he's getting $7K for a sales letter.

So... how much should you charge? If you're making your clients a lot of money you can pretty much charge as much as you want. If you're not at the stage where you know how to make them money, I don't know how you can charge at all. But again... that's between you and your clients.

I know this much...

There are a ton of copywriters charging $1,000 - $2,000 for a sales letter. And there's a ton of work for them.

Others are charging 5 figures (between 10K and $50K) and there's a ton of work for them too.

Figure out which category most closely represents you... Then pick a number that works for you.