Pricing Articles

[jentypist]

Does anyone have any insight as to proper pricing for articles? CC gives a guide based on number of words and license type. They do state that this is just a guide, not meant to be set in stone. I want to keep my prices competitive, but don't want to grossly over or undercharge. The suggested rates differ greatly from some of the very low prices I've seen based on number of words and licenses. I've seen 500 word articles quoted as $7.00. We all work hard and should be compensated as such. The problem is, I'm not exactly sure how to measure the worth of a piece.

[Celeste Stewart]

Pricing is a sticky topic. I can't see selling anything for $7 - In my opintion, it's not worth the time it takes to upload the article let alone research, write, and proofread it. Plus, we don't get the full $7; we get less than $5. I've only seen one writer who's the exception to this. She's able to sell the same article for use time and time again and I assume she has these articles posted elsewhere. She's making that work for her though I bet she could get more.

Factor in what you think your time is worth and what you want to earn. Need to earn $30 an hour? That means you'll need to write an article in an hour and sell it for around $50 (which accounts for your time and CC's cut). Happy to earn a mere $2 an hour? Then price your articles dirt cheap. However, a cheap price doesn't guarantee a sale. Take a look at some of the top writers and see what they're doing and how they're approaching price. You'll see several different strategies, each of which must be working. You may need to try a few different approaches but you'll figure it out.

[jentypist]

Thank you Celeste.

[jak]

I have often priced articles according to what is listed in a public request, hoping for a quick sale. I think many people do. If you do that, it's a good idea to edit the price later if it hasn't gone to the requester. Occcasionally I've forgotten to do that and then kicked myself when a piece has sold at that rock bottom price later.

[jentypist]

Thank you for the feedback. I'm also noticing as I go in and adjust my prices, that there are many hits for each of my articles. One of my tutorials has approximately 200 hits, but no sales. Is this common to have an article that's been accepted, has many hits, but never sells? Or is it just the law of probability?