How to price copywriting

Per-word pricing pays you for typing, not for the sentence that makes the sale. Here's how to price copy on the job it does rather than its length.

What you're actually selling

Words that move a number — sign-ups, sales, applications, replies. Length is a constraint, not a product, and the hardest copy to write is usually the shortest.

Why copywriters get this wrong

Per-word rates are the most damaging convention in the trade. They pay you more for padding, less for editing, and nothing at all for the research and positioning that make the copy work. A headline that doubles conversion is nine words, and per-word pricing values it at pennies.

How to work out your number

  1. Price the asset, not the word count

    A landing page, an email sequence, a set of ads. Quote one number for the piece and what it has to achieve, with word counts as a specification rather than a pricing unit.

  2. Charge for the research, because that's the work

    Customer interviews, review mining, competitor teardowns, and message testing are where good copy actually comes from. Build them into the fee explicitly, or you'll be doing them for free under a deadline.

  3. Tie the price to what the copy is selling

    The same email sequence is worth wildly different amounts depending on the price of the product behind it. Ask what a conversion is worth to them before you decide what the sequence is worth to you.

  4. Cap revisions and define who signs off

    Copy attracts opinions from everyone in the building. Two rounds included, one named approver, further rounds quoted separately — agreed before you write a line.

Pricing models that fit copywriters

Think twice about: Cost-plus pricing

Marking up your time completely ignores what the copy earns. Per-word and cost-plus pricing share the same flaw: they measure effort rather than effect.

Mistakes that cost you money

  • Quoting per word, which rewards padding and punishes the edit that makes it land.
  • Leaving research out of the quote and then doing it anyway.
  • Accepting feedback from an unlimited number of stakeholders with no named approver.
  • Pricing a sales page the same as a blog post because they take similar time to write.

Ask these before you quote

  • What is this copy meant to make happen, and how will you measure it?
  • What's the product worth, and what does a conversion earn you?
  • Who has final sign-off on the words?
  • Do you have customer research, or does that need doing first?

Copywriters: frequently asked questions

Should copywriters charge per word or per project?

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Per project. Per-word rates pay you for length rather than effect, penalise editing, and price a nine-word headline at almost nothing regardless of what it earns the client. Quote the asset and what it has to achieve.

How do I price a sales page or email sequence?

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Start from what the piece is selling and what a conversion is worth, not from how long it takes to write. Then scope the research, the number of variants, and the revision rounds, and quote one fee for the whole thing.

Should I charge for copywriting research separately?

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Include it in the fee and show it as a line in the proposal, so the client sees they're buying research and not just typing. Splitting it out as an optional extra invites them to remove the part that makes the copy work.

How do I handle endless copy revisions?

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Name one approver in the contract and include a fixed number of rounds. Copy attracts opinions from every department, and without a single sign-off the rounds never end. Anything beyond the included rounds is quoted before you start it.

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