By Darren Gilbert

With that in mind, here are three things to consider when determining what you should charge for your work.

Consider your experience

For those just beginning their freelance writing career, experience can be a hard thing to come by and especially so if you looking to charge for your work straight away. One tip when beginning your career is to write a few pieces free of charge with the goal of picking up that experience. Once you have a little bit of experience, you’ll have the opportunity to beginning setting your rates.

“The more experience you have, the more you can charge,” agrees freelance writer, Monica Carter Tagore on Writers Living. “Your experience will mean you’ll likely write better, know how to handle certain client issues and concerns better, and produce an overall better product.”

The same goes for education. If you have some sort of education in writing, be it a certificate or a writing course, you can show this to prospective clients. “Investment goes into education and professional development, so ideally your rates should return back the investment plus profit,” writes Stef Gonzaga, founder of The Freelance Pinoy.

Consider how much you need to survive

One easy way of determining how much you should charge is by looking at your daily/weekly/monthly expenses. Now, this is not to say that you should start charging exorbitant prices because your living standard is high. You do need to be reasonable. However, at the same time, you need to figure out a price that doesn’t leave you penniless.

As Laura Spencer, a freelance writer who writes for Freelance Folder says, the aim of your freelance business is to make money. The last thing you want to do is start writing for less. While you may get more writing gigs, you’ll be exploited. This in turn can lead to fatigue and disillusionment with the idea of making it as a freelance writer.

“A good way for a freelancer to price her writing services,” writes Tagore, “is to consider how much she would like to earn in a year and break that down into an hourly rate.” If it is a realistic figure considering your education and experience, your clients shouldn’t have a problem paying it.

Consider how you’ll charge for your writing

According to Allena Tapia, a freelance writer based in Michigan, there are a number of ways to charge for your work. In her article on About.com, one can be paid by retainer, by word, by the hour, per page, and per project fee. Looking at which is better, it really does depend on how you want to approach it.

“Some believe … that charging hourly is a more transparent pricing method, while others think it’s disadvantageous as compared to charging a fixed rate,” writes Gonzaga. However, as she continues – and this is something I agree with, the best way to determine which route to take is to see what works for your business.

There are, of course, other things to consider when determining how much you can charge for your work. Do you know of any? Tell us below.