Writing as a Ghost Writer - How Much Should you Charge?

Last Update: May 09, 2010

A lot of people are outsourcing their writing work and willing to pay others to the job for them and this is all good, since it makes everyone happy.  The person outsourcing his or her work finds someone who can write for him or her and the person with writing skills can make some extra money.  This is all good isn’t it?

The only problem is showing its ugly face when two things happen such as, either the person outsourcing his work wants articles written for very little money, such as less than $5 per article or the article writer is asking so much for writing an article that he or she can’t find anyone giving them the job.

In a perfect world there would be a balance between the two; the person hiring would not be so greedy that they would want the job done just for pennies and the writer would be willing to write for a reasonable enough price that would make everyone happy.

There are two things that each the writer and the outsourcer need to understand very clearly in order to know how much to charge and how much to be willing to pay.

If you are the outsourcer you need to understand that: 1. Writing takes effort, and it’s a service delivered to you just like any other service that you might pay for.  2. People cannot afford to write for pennies.

Yes, writing takes effort.  Even when you provide your writer with all the keywords they will still need to spend some time doing research, write and edit, before the article is delivered to you.  The whole time from beginning to end would be at the very least an hour or so.

The question you need to ask yourself is would anyone want to work for $3 - $5 per hour?  I know I wouldn’t.

If you are the writer, you need to understand that; 1. People might not be able to afford to spend $25 for you to write for them unless your writing is really specific or that you are writing for people who have a large budget for their article jobs.  2. They don’t know you and might be nervous to pay so much money for articles that are not worth the price.

As the outsourcer, you need to evaluate how much the article will get you back and pay accordingly.  As the writer, you need to find a balance between making a decent income for your hard work while it would still be a good deal for your customers.

Writing articles for others or having someone write your articles for you is great business for both parties, as long as it is profitable for both parties as well.

 

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Ezinewriter Premium
You are right on dear! We actually even have only ONE hand to write, unless you've been blessed to be able to write with both :) I so agree with what you are saying here, I could have wrote that comment myself. Thanks.
mcstir Premium
I totally agree with you. When I write for people, they want a "deal", but I don't use spinners or any other software, except my brain and two hands. Every article that I produce is unique and I ensure that I write quality, not crap. But you are so right, who wants to put the effort in to write a 500 word article for $3? Even at $5, I am being underpaid.
Ezinewriter Premium
Yes, writing for others is more responsabilities so to speak. When I write for people here on WA, I do more like a favor kind of price as a "labor of love" as you are saying Joan.
skyla Premium
Thanks for this post. It really is tricky and trying to keep both parties happy is difficult. I enjoy writing and setting rates is hard. As you say if you are trying to make a decent living you need to charge a good, but affordable rate.
jatdebeaune Premium
It's tricky Sylviane. If I wrote articles for somebody else, I would consider it a labor of love. I put a lot into it. If for someone else, I'd put even more into it. There are people though, who can turn them out fast, and well.
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