Can you Ask Freelance Writing Clients for a Raise?
Doesn’t the title say it all? Asking freelance writing clients for a raise can be a touchy subject. Doing this is every bit as difficult as marching into your boss’s office and telling him or her that you need more money. Not only does it take guts, but you must also deal with the fact that you will be told no. To go along with this, you may aggravate your freelance writing clients by doing this, and in turn push them away. As you can see, this is a delicate situation to say the least.
With that being said, you deserve a hike in pay from time to time. After all, you cannot expect to work for the same rates year after year. If you do, you will find your income staying the same, but the economy passing you by.
So how do you go about asking your freelance writing clients for a raise? I have not had to do this often, but do have some advice from the times that I did. Before I get to that advice, let me first say that you may get lucky in the way that your client may offer to pay you more. Yes, this is rare, but it has happened to me with clients that I have a long history with.
Follow these three tips if you are going to ask a freelance writing client for a raise.
1. Like most freelance writers, you will probably ask for a rate hike via email. Make sure that you are careful about the way you word your message. You want to ask for more money, but at the same time you need to make sure your message does not come across as bossy or snippy.
2. Back up your request with some details. Furthermore, touch on how much of an increase you are looking for, as well as why you deserve it. For instance, you may have a client that pays you $.10/word for one feature article per month. You could ask for $.15/word, and explain that you deserve the increase because you have been working with them for several months, etc.
3. Do NOT make threats. Many freelance writers make the mistake of saying something such as: “I enjoy writing for your company, but will have to move on if my pay rate does not increase.†It is safe to say that your client may take this as a threat of sorts. Again, you need to be careful with the way that you word your correspondence.
As you can see, asking a freelance writing client for a raise is doable. You may not get the answer you want, but if done tastefully, it usually doesn’t hurt to ask.
