How much should you charge for freelance writing?

[Mila]

I am trying to get an idea of what most people charge. Do you charge per word or do you charge for a total sum of words dependent on time? I don't know which is too much and which is underselling myself because the answers I read online are all vastly different. 

[Lana]

Depends on the work. I think you should charge by how much you write. So the more you write, the more you'll charge. I like to think doing blog articles are a good way to make money. You can charge based on paragraph, word count, pages, etc. Whatever works for you essentially. You make the prices and the rules if you're making your own service. 

And don't undersell yourself, because writing is key for a lot these days, and if you have talent for writing, people will take notice and will continue to work with you. 

[James]

I have worked with all different kinds of writers over the years. I have paid by the word, by the article, and by the hour. I have gotten good and bad outputs from all different pay styles. The writers that seem to be able to charge the most for their work just add other value such as uploading and formatting content, keyword research and planning, content planning, and so forth. 

To get top dollar if you can offer something where you can build content clusters for a client or something similar it seems they are able to fetch some decent rates. I know anytime I find a writing team I enjoy I try my hardest to hold onto them as good content creators can be hard to find. 

[Scarlett]

I think charging by the hour is fair to both the writer and the buyer as most writers can produce a lot of words in a short amount of time. The hourly cost however would account for the time they take to research a topic and get the best information.