I know that there have been some threads about monthly income (and even weekly income). But personally I prefer to think about how much I earn per annum / year.
I'm a freelance writer focusing on working with technology clients. I offer a mixture of articles/blogs, ebooks, white papers, and (rarely) speeches. I probably average, conservatively, 40-50 hours of work per week. I'm currently onboarding new clients in the $0.30-$0.40 per word range (I don't charge per word - for comparison) but my main client is grandfathered at $0.22 approximately.
My year to date income is $36,700. I'm currently owed about $6,000 on top of that. So I'm really at about $42,000.
Obviously this is only October, so it's definitely credible that I will pass the $50K milestone by the end of the year.
Personally, I'd like to be making $60-70. I live in Israel, which is blood expensive, and I think that's what required to live a good quality of life here. I've wasted a lot of time this year on marketing and BD that went nowhere (and onboarding clients for a few months). So going forward I want to focus on clients with recurring work - at my target rate. I think once I fill up my book of business to that level and keep it that way my target should be credible. Maybe next year.
How much do you make per year, give or take? What does your client base look like? And what kind of writing do you do.
How much does a Freelance Writer make?
As of Oct 2, 2025, the average hourly pay for a Freelance Writer in the United States is $23.27 an hour.
While ZipRecruiter is seeing hourly wages as high as $32.93 and as low as $7.45, the majority of Freelance Writer wages currently range between $20.43 (25th percentile) to $26.20 (75th percentile) across the United States. The average pay range for a Freelance Writer varies greatly (by as much as 5), which suggests there may be many opportunities for advancement and increased pay based on skill level, location and years of experience.
What is the highest salary for a Freelance Writer in Chicago, IL?
What is the salary trajectory of a Freelance Writer?
Videos
Those of you who have developed a stable income from freelance writing - how long did it take for you to do it?
I love questions like this. At first glance it seems impossible to build or replace your income online.
Everywhere you look there are content mills offering $1 per 1K words, people hating on Upwork, Freelancer, and Problogger and getting started seems impossible.
The truth is you can make a great living freelance writing. Yes you can leave your job and do it full time.
Or.
You could stay at your job and freelance write on the side.
How? Simple.
You need to develop three things.
1)A pitching roster:You need to find job boards (like Upwork) that you like, FB groups you can help, LinkedIN content you can deliver, and more. Build up a roster of places you can pitch proposals, promote, and more.
2)Figure out what you want to make:Most people never do this. To really make money you need to figure out what you want this money to do. Do you want to pay your bills, increase your level of luxury, or just enjoy a few nights out?
Once you know what you want from this you can begin to outline what you need to make.
Example:You want to make $1K a month.
Okay you have your goal ($1K) now you need to look at the time you have to devote to it. Let's say right now you can afford 5 hours a week. That is twenty hours a month. Divide $1K by 20 and that means you need to charge $50/hr to reach your goal.
Awesome. Now we can go to step three.
3)Only pitch and accept projects from your roster that fit your fee: Don't pitch projects to people who pay under your rate. The time you have to work is limited. That means what time you do spend working you should spend making the most money possible.
This last part takes time. You have to read the right blogs, go through some trial and error, and accept the fact that telling people 'no' is okay.
Is it sustainable living like this? Yes. In fact you can increase your life quality this way. The question is are you ready?
Parting Advice:Don't quit your job to freelance. Freelance on the side for six months to a year. This way you can see if you like it, you can build up a cushion of cash, and you can develop your skills on your free time so you can double, triple, or 10X your rates.
More on reddit.comHow much do you get paid as a freelance writer?
I charge monthly, so I try to set up my monthly retainers so that I make about $45-50 per hour.
More on reddit.comAre you happy with what you earn as a freelance writer? If not, what are you doing to change it? (X-post r/freelance)
Since I'm the OP, I am happy to go first.
I write mainly in the tech / business space (especially SaaS), typically long-form content.
I'm pretty happy with my current rates, I feel fairly compensated for what I do.
It took me about a year to get to my current rates.
I might raise my rates gradually with existing clients, and charge more for very specialist content.
I typically bill around 20 - 25 hours a week or so.
In terms of what I charge, in 2017 I've invoiced an average of $400 a day. I almost exclusively charge by the word, typically between $0.15 - $0.18, so that's about 2,500 words written per day.
Over to you.
More on reddit.com