How to tell if you'd like to be a copywriter Part 4 - The Invoice

I’ve been a bit of a slacker on my postings and will explain why later, but to finish up Part 3 of “How to Tell if You’d Like to be a Copywriter,” I billed the client $112.50 for the party invite job, which is 1.5 hours @ $75/hr. Normally I charge $65/hr but just recently started a “rush” job rate, which I should have put into place years ago.

Even that amount is still very cheap. What I should really do is get away from the whole hourly thing in certain situations and just charge by the job. I always remember a story about a photographer who charged $500 to a client for a picture he took. The client said, “How can you charge that much when it only took you 15 minutes?” And the guy answered, “Yeah, but it’s my 25 years of experience that allows me do it 15 minutes.”

In other words, he’s getting paid what he’s worth.

Anyway, that gives you an idea of how the billing thing works. Here’s what it looks like on the invoice:


Project Services Hours Rate Amount Total Due

Party invitation Copy 1.5 $75/hr $112.50 $112.50


Figuring out how much to charge, keeping track of your hours, billing clients, filing your invoices, etc. is all part of being a copywriter. It’s the business side and it’s something I really enjoy. While I can’t say I like adding up the hours (it’s a total pain) I sure love sending out those invoices every month, knowing that the checks will start rolling in about a week after I do.