When it comes to freelance writing income, it’s not only about how much you charge, but also how you charge. Sometimes using advanced fee strategies can increase your income even without directly having to raise your rates.
Let’s take a look at three examples of semi-unconventional fee strategies that can work for you as an experienced freelance writer.
3 Advanced Fee Strategies to Consider
You’re familiar with basic freelance writing fee structures like:
- Flat project fees
- Per-word fees (not recommended)
- Hourly fees (not recommended)
But as you get further into your freelance career, you have more proven experience. That comes with greater flexibility in how you can charge for your work.
Is it time to consider one of these advanced fee strategies?
- Retainers
- Commissions
- Up-Front Fees
Let’s look at what each of these means in terms of your freelance work and who might benefit the most from each fee strategy.
1. Retainers
If you’re looking for more stability in your freelance writing income, it’s tough to beat retainers. You get steady income. Clients get guaranteed minimum availability.
What they are:
Retainers are when a client pays you a monthly fee to essentially “reserve” a set amount of your time (or a specific number of projects).
If the client doesn’t need all of that reserved time, you still get paid the full amount. This is because by taking the retainer, you’ve agreed to leave that time available for this particular client, preventing you from taking on other potential work.
If the client does use the reserved time or projects the retainer covers, but they need you for even more work, you would then bill for the additional work separately and on top of the retainer fee.
Why they work:
A retainer agreement gives you steady income (generally monthly), and it lets you plan marketing around known commitments. It’s also great for clients with variable workloads who want to make sure you’re available to them for a set amount of time each month.
Best for:
Bloggers, content writers, PR writers, newsletter writers, writers who freelance for agencies–Freelancers who take on any project type that tends to be repeatable over the course of a month
What to watch out for:
Make sure you have all details in writing to avoid scope creep. Make it clear what your fees are if a client goes over the project limits covered by their retainer. Clarify rollovers (I don’t recommend allowing for rollovers in retainers). And detail any scheduling requirements or limits to avoid things like a client dumping a huge workload on you in the last week of a month.
Example:
Early in my career, clients started to understand the SEO value of press releases. It wasn’t uncommon for me to take on regular work with SEO firms where I would advise on, and write, press releases for the firms’ clients.
Let’s say you charge $500 per press release. An SEO firm you work with needs an average of 10 press releases each month for their clients. They want you to write all of them, and they want to make sure you keep enough availability in your schedule each month for their clients’ needs.
In this example, I would charge a flat retainer fee of $5000 per month. That means I’m guaranteeing I would be available to take on that workload (which means either turning down some other opportunities or agreeing to put in extra hours to make it work).
If the client only needs 8 press releases one month, I would still earn the $5000 retainer for reserving time in my schedule.
If that agency received 15 orders for press releases from their clients, and if I was available to take on the additional 5 press releases, the fee would jump to $7500. That includes the base $5000 retainer, plus a per-release fee of $500 for the additional 5 releases.
In this case, I would often have a long-term contract for retainer work. So, for example, if you had a one-year contract, this single client would guarantee you $60,000 per year minimum.
It doesn’t require many retainer clients to earn a consistent and lucrative income.
And this is just one example. I’ve also taken on retainer work for ghost blogging (generally writing on behalf of a business owner or one of their high-level employees) as well as for monthly content strategy work.
2. Commissions
If you’re a conversion copywriter (think sales letters and landing page copy), you have a provable track record of conversions, and you’re confident in your ability to help clients sell, why not consider a commission fee structure?
What they are:
With a commission, you’re paid based on performance.
Now, we’re not talking about those sleazy “clients” targeting beginning freelancers where they offer to pay writers based on views or revenue share.
In this case, we’re talking about a commission payment on top of a base fee. You might even offer clients a choice: a higher base rate or a lower base rate plus a commission based on conversions.
This fee structure will make the most sense for copywriters dealing with things like direct sales.
Why they work:
Offering a base + commission structure can work for clients because it means they’ll pay less if copy doesn’t convert as-expected, and they know their copywriter will be incentivized to produce high-converting copy.
For freelance copywriters with a track record of high conversions, a partial commission structure could bring in significantly higher fees, meaning they’re more successful when they help clients be more successful.
Best for:
Direct sales and other conversion copywriters
What to watch out for:
You’ll want to make sure your contract includes some kind of reporting. You can’t make sure you’re getting paid proper commissions if you have no conversion data from the client. And remember, this tracking will require more time on your end, so consider that when looking at the commission fee potential.
Example:
Let’s say you’re a conversion copywriter asked to write a white paper for a software company. It’s focused on enterprise-level sales, and the white paper targets C-suite decision-makers at large companies. The contracts your white paper is designed to sell run around $100k each.
Now let’s also say you normally charge $8k for this kind of white paper at the agreed-upon scope. You might offer an alternative arrangement of a $6k base fee with a 1% commission for 90 days after the white paper is first used (not on delivery because you don’t control how or when it’s distributed).
In a base-pay-only arrangement, you earn $8k. But if the client secures 5 new contracts within that 90-day window, you earn $11k. If they secure 10 contracts, you would earn $16k. That’s a lower $6k base fee plus $1k per sale based on your commission agreement.
You’re happy because you earned more for the same work. The client is happy because your copy helped bring in an extra $500k-$1m in revenue.
3. 100% Up-Front Fees
You’ve probably heard the advice to charge 50% up-front. Maybe you’ve even given that advice. But when you build demand for your services, you can go further. Consider charging in-full up-front.
What they are:
With 100% up-front fees, you invoice (and get paid) the full contracted amount before you begin work on a project.
This is common with things like retainers because the client is paying to reserve your time, not just for completed work. But if you build enough demand, there’s no reason you can’t bill in-full up-front for everything.
Why they work:
Similar to retainers, up-front payments guarantee clients that you’ll maintain availability for their projects. Think of it like reserving your time in-advance.
This works for freelancers because they don’t have to worry about chasing down payments after their work is complete. And it can work for clients because it gets them locked into your schedule even if they don’t have ongoing retainer work.
Best for:
Any type of freelance writer, but especially those with strong demand or waiting lists
What to watch out for:
You’ll want to make sure you and your clients are clear on payment terms like how early payments need to clear before you will begin work. For example, you don’t want to begin if a client is late mailing a check and it takes time to clear.
Example:
This is how I’ve operated for well over a decade with all clients but one (and that’s only because I’ve worked with that client even longer and they generally pay within one business day of being invoiced anyway, so I didn’t feel a need to change anything).
It’s a pretty simple policy to implement:
- You go over project details / get a brief from the client.
- You quote the client.
- When they agree to the fee and planned start date, you invoice them.
- You start work on the agreed start date as long as the invoice is paid and cleared.
Make sure your terms allow for rescheduling start dates if payments aren’t on-time. This way you’re free to commit that time elsewhere in the meantime.
I highly recommend not making exceptions and moving on with the work before payments clear unless you have a longstanding relationship with the client and trust the delay is an exception, not the rule.
You can do full up-front payments in any form, though checks, e-checks, and anything else with a potentially delayed clearing time could interfere with your planned schedule. Cards and payment processors that deliver instant payments would be my preference.
You could also implement a modified version of this policy. For example, you might only charge 100% up-front for first-time clients. You could also charge in-full up-front for smaller one-off projects while still spreading out payment terms for larger projects or multi-project orders.
Will you run into prospects who balk at the idea of paying up-front? Sure. But in my experience, they’re few and far between.
They’re looking to hire you–a business owner–because of your extensive experience. You’re not untested. And up-front billing is a great tool for weeding out the tire-kickers and leaving you with only the best clients to work with.
The best clients understand your rates are on your terms, just as they set their own prices and terms with their own customers. When they really want to work with you, it won’t be an issue.
These advanced fee strategies won’t work for every freelance writer or every project type. But they might help increase your income or stability. What other unconventional billing strategies have you used in your freelance writing career?
