What is your hourly rate as a writer on HP and elsewhere?

1. 86

   Marisa Wrightposted 7 years ago

   I agree with Solaras.
   
   I think far too many writers fail to work out their hourly rate, and as a result they waste a LOT of time working inefficiently.
   
   Obviously, when you first start out writing online, you can only guess at what your hourly rate might be, but you can get an idea as time goes on.

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   1. 0

      promisemposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      Yes, agree as well. I've seen other posts from people who say they spend "days" to produce a single article.
      
      When they talk that way, you can tell they don't track their time and are working inefficiently.

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      1. 98

         DrMark1961posted 7 years agoin reply to this

         Not everyone who says "days" means 8 hour blocks of time though.
         For me, "days" means several evenings, when I am free and have time to sit down at my computer and write. I may work on an article only a half hour, over several days, and think about it later when I am out walking the dogs.
         If someone asks, however, I would say it took "days" to put the work together.

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         1. 95

            Solarasposted 7 years agoin reply to this

            Exactly! There are many interruptions throughout the day. And of course it depends on how long or in depth the research is for the article. It will take me 16 hours to create a 2000+ word article that also required research.

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2. 45

   Ashish Dadgaaposted 7 years ago

   Hello Maria,
   
   As per my knowledge, It differs from person to person as per their writing and it's quality.
   
   For Instance, expert like you must be earning $20 dollars per hour and Beginner like me earning $2 per hour....Haha
   
   Happy Hubbing
   
   Ashish

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   1. 0

      promisemposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      I have seen "expert" sites claiming that freelance writers should earn $50 to $100 an hour.
      
      I have never met any freelancer who makes that much in my entire career as a journalist. But I'm sure a few exist.

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3. 70

   ddsurfscaposted 7 years ago

   Honestly, I believe it works out the same for everyone.  The hourly rate would be whatever you can get, anywhere.

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   1. 0

      promisemposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      Yes, it floats depending on the project. If you want to earn a living as a writer, you have to set a minimum hourly rate as a goal.

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4. 90

   Millionaire Tipsposted 7 years ago

   Shortly after I started on HubPages, I had some free time from my job. During this time, I decided to do the 30 hubs in 30 days.  I wrote for 40 hours a week, and earned something like $1 that week.  My hourly pay that week was paltry, but I knew that I had to give the hubs time to get some traction.  Since then I have edited a lot of these hubs, some of which were poor quality, and deleted some.
   
   Some of my hubs never got any earnings, while a few received lots of views and I assume, earnings to go with them.  It's been a while since I have written any hubs and yet I continue to earn some revenue on the hubs I wrote early on.   
   
   All of this to say that it is difficult to compute, since I can keep earning on the hubs I wrote previously.  Also if I gauge it by the hour, I would have to stop wasting time checking on my earnings, reading other hubs or spending time in the forums. And I definitely don't want to count how much time I am wasting.

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   1. 86

      Marisa Wrightposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      But that's exactly what you should be doing!  Similarly, if you are promoting your Hubs or websites, you need to take that promotional time into account too.
      
      As you say, you can't work out your hourly rate at first.  For your first eighteen months or so as an online writer, you pretty much have to just keep working and tracking your hours - then you can look back and see what you've earned and how many hours it took you. 
      
      That's why it took me so long to decide that online writing wasn't a viable option for me!

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      1. 90

         Millionaire Tipsposted 7 years agoin reply to this

         I agree with what you are saying for the most part. In order to make a living writing online, I should stop wasting my time and think about how to work efficiently.  But for me, part of the joy of writing on an online site like this one is that I don't have a boss breathing down my neck. I can do what I enjoy.  If I want to spend my "break time" charting my earnings, reading forums, and participating in social media so my shares don't seem like spam, without feeling guilty about it, and that muddies my actual "working time."
         
         That being said, I do need to focus a bit more on working time and spend less time on breaks.

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5. 94

   agilitymachposted 7 years ago

   My hourly rate will be completely different depending on the article.  For instance, a simple article could take me four hours.  However, I recently posted here three articles that were originally published in a magazine.  These articles were KILLERS to write.  They were highly technical, and they had figures associated with them from a specific software program that I had to learn to use.  I figured I got maybe $4 from writing them for the magazine.  (My reputation in my field skyrocketed from the publication though.)
   
   When I got the copyright back and the articles disappeared from the Internet, I published them here.  I updated them, and I had to redo ALL of the figures because the magazine retained the copyright to those.  These articles will reach a very, very small market.  I expect to make maybe 25 cents an hour for my time posting them here.  Is that good?  Nope.   Why do it?  Because these articles contain detailed information that cannot be found on the internet elsewhere.  The people who need this information can't get it from their regular dog agility trainers.  It's rare, and it's exceedingly useful for those that need it.
   
   These articles also boost my reputation as an agility trainer as they show my knowledge base, so I do get some rep points from them.  Rep points could transfer to cash in other areas, but there is no way to measure that.
   
   So keeping track of hourly rate isn't really important for many writers.  If you are writing for money alone, yes.  I am writing for a combination of things.  Yes, I want the money.  No, it's not the main goal.  My main goal is getting out good, quality information that can help dogs and their people lead happier lives.

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6. 85

   Billie Kelpinposted 7 years ago

   It's hard for me to comprehend the questions and answers.  Given, I haven't written a hub in months, but even from the beginning, I have never earned anything even close to $10 in a MONTH!  I have one article that has gotten over 24,000 views over the years, but I'd need hundreds of these to make $10 an hour, I think.  What am I missing? How many high quality articles would you say it takes to have for someone to average $10 an hour (generally speaking).

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   1. 95

      Solarasposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      You would need to have sales hubs that generate several sales a day per hub.  If you can convince people that they need a $125.00 item once a day, or ten people per day that they need a $12.50 item to solve their problem, and that the best place or cheapest place to buy it is on Amazon via your quick link. You will earn $10.00 a day per hub that can accomplish this.
      
      It's not hard if you think of something people really need a solution for and use SEO to get yourself at the top of the SERPs. The trouble is all those other people out there competing with you.
      
      Edit: On the other hand you could accomplish this with 25 hubs that on average generate 200 views per day, give or take, depending on the topic and its CPM (your actual mileage may vary).

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      1. 85

         Billie Kelpinposted 7 years agoin reply to this

         I couldn't convince a Minnesotan in International Falls in the dead of winter to buy a jacket from me.  It's like I have an anti-sales magnetic shield clinging to my aura.  I can't think of something that people would need to solve any problem - seriously- except I really like Vick's Vapo Rub for colds - there's not too much up-sale on Vick's though.  I think it's because we're so damn broke.  We buy our clothes from Goodwill, shoes from K-mart,l and I never buy expensive make-up.  We did recently get a loan for a Prius, though, and I really like those!  I wonder if there's an Amazon ad for Prius-es    Plus there's that non-promotion deal on hubpages.  I wrote a darling children's book - can't sell a one (I have 200 on my shelf).  I invented a unique card game which really will be collectible after this election cuz you sort the Presidents from Kennedy to Obama.  I have an app which has almost 7000 downloads on "what to say to your wife today".  Everyone wants it free.  I have an audio app in the iTunes store that no one buys.  I think I'm going to try Uber !!!!

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7. 73

   Esperantaposted 7 years ago

   I rapidly found it was not worth my while to pursue hub writing as a way to make a reasonable income, hence the fact I no longer bother to write hubs but only pop in here now and again for a quick break.
   
   I work as a freelance translator and average about $200 most days that I choose to work full time. Anything less than $150 for a full day's work is an exception, which usually has resulted from a job being beset with unforeseen complications.

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8. 81

   earnerposted 7 years ago

   The world changed.
   
   10 years ago I could write something in, say, 1-4 hours that I'd know I'd make £100-1000 from over the next 5 years. 
   
   Back then people Googled from their PC, then found my writing and income would come from clicks as adverts offered what they were after.
   
   Now they're on forums on their smart phones and somebody asks the question and they find my writing on their smartphone and don't click on ads, then rush back to their forum to appear all knowledgeable as they give a one-line succinct answer to the question ... just for forum points/to look good.  And, as forums etc are "more recent" and active, they can often appear higher in search results.
   
   It's most prevalent in, say, recipes.  Every recipe's copy/pasted onto forums these days.
   
   Additionally, back then, there were fewer pages that could appear in results; now there's 1000x the 'competition' - and Google changed their algorithm, so there is no "one top place Google" - the top spots depend on who is asking, what they've browsed in the recent past and their location.
   
   

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9. 91

   Jodahposted 7 years ago

   This is difficult to answer, especially in regard to writing at HubPages..that would be cents per hour for me, not dollars. As far as freelance writing, I will write up to 100 words for $5 and often that only takes me about 10 minutes..which equates to $30 per hour. Some clients pay me $5 for 50 words if it is poetry for a children's book etc.

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10. 94

    FatFreddysCatposted 7 years ago

    I've never sat down and done the math...but I suspect my "hourly rate" would be somewhere between "doodly" and "squat".....

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11. 87

    Will Apseposted 7 years ago

    I would go a long way to avoid writing for other people, partly because the returns are better on content that you own in the long term, partly because, in my limited experience, clients are usually idiots.

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    1. 81

       earnerposted 7 years agoin reply to this

       Yes, especially this last bit .... that's why I stuck with Hubpages instead of going out to find my own clients.
       
       Clients don't "get it" - in the past days of needing article writers and wanting to be high in Google, your perfect work could be destroyed because the client didn't understand that what you've written is a performing article, a high ranking one ....and they crossed it out and wrote nonsensical aspirational fluffy speak instead.... that'd never rank for squat.

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