Know-How Exchange : Copywriting

This seems a little too cheap.

I'd say a short article is 250 words.

I'd say a long article is closer to 1,000 words.

What are you writing? About what? Are you researching, too, or just doing this from what you think?

Copywriting is not necessarily the same thing as article writing. Copywriting usually means that you're helping to sell. An article could be strictly about news or opinion.

Whatever you do, don't sell yourself short, assuming that you're any good.

I'd say short is under 450 words

Why not simply ask for their definition?

Prices you've been offered seem low to me. One or two pages typically sells for $150 US per article for the magazines I write for.

For those prices, I would hope you retain copyright and is non-exclusive, meaning you can sell the content anywhere, to anyone, at anytime.

My two cents worth for you.

Tripitaka--

You should ask your potential client for the assignment parameters:

What does the client mean by short or long -- a few paragraphs? 10 pages of double-spaced text?

What is the desired message and its purpose -- inform? sell? persuade? get donations?

Who is the target audience for the article?

Is the client supplying resources/references for your use or are you doing research from scratch?

How quickly is the client asking you to write the piece -- overnight? one week?

Hope this helps. Good luck.

Corpcommer - MC

Beware there are a lot of absolute schisters out there in the SEO content business.

The prices you were quoted seem like that which are paid for hack jobs... cut and paste clasics developed to fill up pages.. and attract readers to pages that advertising space based on hits...

As always, you're getting very good advice. If you're only good enough to get such a small amount (which is unlikely), wait tables or something until you hone your skills enough to get paid decently. Anybody who tries to pay you peanuts will probably ask you to throw in free marketing advice or something.

If you're serious about professional freelancing, get some decent training and learn how much real pros are getting--Google Chris Marlow's site and consider investing in her pricing list, and look through some of the writers' guide books in your bookstore for corollary fee suggestions.

If you care enough about writing to spend time doing it, you should care enough to make sure you're earning what you deserve. Remember, Content Is King again (thank God, and not a moment too soon)!