Freelance Writing Jobs Advice: How Much of a Salary Should You Pay Yourself as a Freelance Writer?
October 5, 2010
I recently received the following question from a freelance writer about how much you should be paying yourself as a freelance writer. She wrote:
I hope you are doing well, and enjoying the carribean life (Note: I most definitely am!). I’m actually writing because I would like to know how much should we pay ourselves as freelance writers. I know the basics that we have to take into account our business expenses and personal expenses. But my goal is to make $ 5,000 a month, that’s the salary I would like to pay myself. But, it gets confusing to me, if I pay myself $5,000 a month, don’t I have to generate at least $10,000 in revenue?
I’m thinking $5,000 to myself and $5,000 to the business, is this realistic? Or are freelance writers a little different because we don’t have much overhead costs? I would like your thoughts on this when you have time. Thanks again!
The bolded portions are the central pieces that I want to address.
I hadn’t thought about this in years. I’m going to tell you how I pay myself, and then give you a formula to follow that may better help you determine how much you should be paying yourself as a freelance writer. First, a little “research lens” through which to view what I’m about to tell you.
How Much Do Freelance Writers Make: What is the Average Salary of a Freelance Writer?
Freelance writing is such a wide field that answering this question is like asking how long should a piece of string be because there are so many diffferent types of freelance writing. Eg, there’s seo writing, grants writing, white paper writing, case studies writing, technical writing, legal writing, medical writing, online writing, etc. And, they all have their specialties within specialties.
To further complicate answering this question, as we’ve discussed on numerous occasions on this site, freelance writing rates (which determines salary) are all over the place. Then, you have to take into account geography in some cases.
HOWEVER, I did want to give you some kind of a gauge by which to go.
So as I know this person is a web writer, I’m assuming she meant how much these professionals should pay themselves. In the graph below from Salary.com, you can see that the U.S. national average for web (online) writing ranges from $37,000 to $51,000.
Based on my experience, this is dead on. Of course, the more experienced you are and the longer you’re in the game, the more money you make. This I know from personal experience as well, of course.
How Freelance Writer Salaries Compare with Overall Median Household Income
How does this stack up to the median income for Americans as a whole. According to a press release put out by the Census Bureau in September 2010, the “real median household income in the United States in 2009 was $49,777, not statistically different from the 2008 median.”
So as far as freelance writer salaries go, we’re in the ballpark here; not exactly starving artists like a lot of people think. Now, to answer this freelancer’s question in particular. First, I’ll start with how I pay myself, then I’ll give you an easy-to-follow formula that will help you know exactly what to do with every cent of money you earn as a freelance writer.
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thanks