A few months ago, we launched an anonymous Freelance Copywriter Survey to gauge how rates, working hours and challenges varied around the world.
We’re now (finally) ready to publish the results.
We had 97 submissions from all over the world.
The majority of respondents were from Australia, but we also had submissions from Canada, Costa Rica, Croatia, England, Germany, Italy, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Scotland USA and the UK.
The majority of respondents (68%) were female.
Most respondents (77.3%) been a copywriter for less than 6 years.
The split between full time and part time was fairly even.
Most copywriters (70.1%) charged a mix of hourly and fixed-price rates.
Most copywriters (79.3%) charge between $40 and $120 per hour.
Over half of copywriters (57.8%) worked on average between 11 and 40 hours each week.
The majority of copywriters (67.7%) felt that only 31% to 70% of their time was billable.
38.1% of copywriters earned under $10k (after tax) in their first year.
International figures converted into AU dollars.
Only 7.5% of copywriters are earning over $150k a year (after tax) in their 5th year.
International figures converted into AU dollars.
The majority of copywriters (62.9%) work mainly for small or medium-sized businesses.
Copywriters regularly work on jobs involving writing website copy (83.5%).
Copywriters mostly found clients via word of mouth from previous clients or friends (55.7%).
Over half of copywriters (57.7%) have no formal training.
Of those who had taken training, 38.1% chose ecourses and/or webinars.
37.1% of copywriters chose freelancing for the freedom it gave them.
Other answers here included:
- All of the above
- I wanted to leave IT
- I love writing
- I lost my job
- The job market sucks
- To have a career I enjoy
- To stop losing my personality in the corporate world
- Wife told me to
- To make money while building my online business
- Got preggers
“If I weren’t’ a copywriter I’d be …”
- A Fiction writer
- A CEO
- A Chef
- A Beekeeper
- A Belly dancing astronaut
- A Broke travel writer
- A Designer
- An Artist
- A Horticulturist
- A Journalist
- A Lawyer
- A Musician
- A Painter
- A Drum kit master
- A Psychologist
- A Brand Manager
- A Sommelier
- A Surfboard shaper
- A Successful author
- A Zoo keeper
- The Australian Jackie Chan
- An ESL teacher
- An IT support engineer
- An Antiques dealer
- Broke
- A Barista
- Retired
- The Stage Manager at the Albert Hall
- A Web developer
- Working in sales
- A Comedian
- An Underwater photojournalist
- A Yoga teacher
- A Private investigator
- A Psychologist
- Very poor
FREELANCE COPYWRITER SURVEY 2015 (PDF 44 pages, 44KB).
Thanks to all those who took part in this year’s survey. We hope you found the results useful. I would love it if you would share this post.
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