by Doreen Martel

Created on: June 03, 2010   Last Updated: November 09, 2011

As a freelance writer you may occasionally encounter a client who wishes to pay tby he hour hour. There are some advantages to this method of payment, however the downsides are far more dramatic.  Article and content writing do not always lend themselves well to hourly payment. Here are some of the reasons that freelance writers should not charge by the hour.

Difficulty of work - Freelance writers who know their topic well often find that writing a four hundred or five hundred word article can take them significantly less than one hour.  If this is the case, you may often find that you are getting paid a fraction of what a job is worth.  This can also present some issues when trying to determine how to bill the client. For example, if you write an article in twenty minutes you will have to bill your client for one third of an hour. 

Consider this: If you have several articles that you know the topic well and do not require time for research, chances are you are going to bill less than one hour for each of them.  Later, if you are asked to work on topics that you do not know as well, you may find that you are taking upwards of two hours to complete one article of the same length. This can result in distrust by the client.

Typing Speed - There is no doubt that the rate one types at has an impact on how quickly they can type an article after they have completed research.  Typists who are average (65 to 70 wpm) can type approximately 650 words in an hour while those who are faster (100 words or more) can type more than 1000 words in an hour.  This can make a significant difference if you elect to bill by the hour.

Additional tools that can assist freelance writers such as the software package Dragon Naturally Speaking can also mean that you are completing an article in a very short period of time.  If you are billing hourly, this can seriously curtail your earnings from a single assignment.

For the most part, freelance writers will do far better if they charge their client a flat rate for all work.  The rates should be charged based on the type of work, the length of time the work will take, the difficulty of the work and other specific considerations.  If you are considering freelance writing as a career choice, you should not charge by the hour. Not only can it make billing difficult, but it can also result in billing far less than your services are worth.

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