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General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
A Guide to RPG Freelance Rates: Part 1 (Writing and Editing)
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<blockquote data-quote="77IM" data-source="post: 7777409" data-attributes="member: 12377"><p>If I'm doing the math right,</p><p></p><p style="margin-left: 20px">2,000 words per day * 1 day per 8 hours * $.03 per word= $7.50 per hour</p><p></p><p>So, at the introductory rate (3¢/word), that's a minimum wage job, and I'm guessing it doesn't pay benefits. After a cursory Internet search, it looks like the average cost of living for single person in the US is about $15,000/year before taxes, so you could get by on this rate. (But it's cutting it close, and the "cost of living" varies wildly depending on how you define it.)</p><p></p><p>At the other end, if you manage to get 20¢/word, that looks like about $50/hour (or $100,000/year if you work 50 five-day weeks). That's pretty good, especially if you're doing something you love and being your own boss and working from home and so forth.</p><p></p><p>The average cost of living for a family of four is about $48,000/year. Let's say you're in a 25% tax bracket so before taxes this family would need to make $64,000/year. (Taxes are complicated but 25% should be "close enough" for this sort of estimate.) So if you are a writer and the sole provider of a family, you would want to make around 12.8¢/word. OTOH if another member of the family is taking half the burden, you only need to make 6.4¢/word, which is the "professional" rate, and smack dab in the middle of M. T. Black's 3-to-10¢/word guideline. That's not too bad, especially if you love your job etc.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="77IM, post: 7777409, member: 12377"] If I'm doing the math right, [INDENT]2,000 words per day * 1 day per 8 hours * $.03 per word= $7.50 per hour[/INDENT] So, at the introductory rate (3¢/word), that's a minimum wage job, and I'm guessing it doesn't pay benefits. After a cursory Internet search, it looks like the average cost of living for single person in the US is about $15,000/year before taxes, so you could get by on this rate. (But it's cutting it close, and the "cost of living" varies wildly depending on how you define it.) At the other end, if you manage to get 20¢/word, that looks like about $50/hour (or $100,000/year if you work 50 five-day weeks). That's pretty good, especially if you're doing something you love and being your own boss and working from home and so forth. The average cost of living for a family of four is about $48,000/year. Let's say you're in a 25% tax bracket so before taxes this family would need to make $64,000/year. (Taxes are complicated but 25% should be "close enough" for this sort of estimate.) So if you are a writer and the sole provider of a family, you would want to make around 12.8¢/word. OTOH if another member of the family is taking half the burden, you only need to make 6.4¢/word, which is the "professional" rate, and smack dab in the middle of M. T. Black's 3-to-10¢/word guideline. That's not too bad, especially if you love your job etc. [/QUOTE]
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