Social media marketing relies, to some extent, on freelance writers. Writers are the most common kind of freelance worker in the US. How well does the freelance market treat freelance writers? And if your company employs them, do you treat them as well as other companies? Or maybe better?
Infographics Labs put together this infographic about the current state of freelance writing. And the picture it paints is somewhat discouraging.
It doesn't seem like freelance writing pays very well. 48% of freelance writers make less than $10,000 a year. And only 13% made more than $30,000. 78% of freelance writers made less than the hourly rates suggested by the Editorial Freelancers Association. Oddly, it seems like freelance writers aren't unsatisfied by a low rate of pay. (The infographic was based on a survey of 247 freelance writers.)
58% of freelance writers have other jobs that actually support them and only 25% if them pay for their own health insurance.
The inforgraphic also explores the relationship between freelance writers and Google Authorship. It turns out that most writers don't know about it.
77% of freelance writers have a blog or a website. Only 35% actively guest post.
If you are a freelance writer, what should you do with this information? It was interesting for me to learn that the Editorial Freelancers Association suggests that an hourly rate of between $40 and $100 is a decent average hourly wage (even if only 19% of the freelance writers who were surveyed received those kinds of rates). It's hard to know what to negotiate for when working for a new brand or publisher. Maybe we should all be asking for between $40 and $100 an hour.