Math and the humanities don’t necessarily go hand in hand, but many potential clients seem to assume a writer can’t perform simple math.

I recently came across a solicitation from Above Story, an outfit that hires writer to produce fiction series. They produce “enchanting fantasies, mysterious paranormals, and compelling contemporary romances.”

That’s right up my alley! Where do I sign up?

I read the job description.

The job description looked pretty good. Producing a required 12,000 to 15,000 words a week would be a challenge. I honestly don’t know if I could sustain that kind of production. Perhaps a writer who doesn’t care about quality can crank out that much content per week, but that writer will spend a lot of unpaid time revising and rewriting after the editor goes through it.

  1. Freelance is good. Freelance is what I do. It’s what I like and prefer.
  2. Fiction projects in the named genres are a perfect match for me.
  3. Ten chapters (12,000 – 15,000 words) a week is rather demanding.

Then I read the next section of the advertisment. The red flags waved. Sirens blared.

I did the math. Because doing the math is part of business. (Yes, I am in business.)

  • The $15 per chapter works out to $0.0125 to $0.01 per word.
  • The average writer needs three hours and 20 minutes to draft, edit, revise, and polish 1,000 words of content.
  • The total output of content (12,000 – 15,000 words) would require 39.6 to 49.5 hours of work per week. That’s full-time work.
  • The total compensation to produce that content would be $150 per week.

Now let’s dig into the allure of making $2,000 to $3,000 per month.

At the stated rate of one cent per word, a writer would have to produce 200,000 words a month to earn $2,000. Delivering 200,000 words of polished content would require 6,600 hours. A 30-day month only has 720 hours. If you work eight hours a day every day, then producing 200,000 words would take you 825 days or 2.26 years. But let’s say you only work 40 hours a week. That same 200,000 words will take you 3.17 years to produce.

For $150 per week.

In no way, shape, or form is this opportunity feasible. It is exploitive to a grotesque degree.

Other platforms lure in unsuspecting writers, too, and often with worse terms. They post an unrealistic monthly salary that a writer could potentially earn, but doesn’t include the reality of what it takes to produce high quality content.

Here’s another consideration: None of these platforms compensate writers for the hours spent on editing and revising content after it’s been submitted to the client or the company.

When it comes to chasing down freelance creative writing opportunities, it behooves writers to do what doesn’t come naturally: the math.

If you’ve been thinking of hiring yourself out as a ghostwriter, it behooves you to consider the client’s demands. My skill and time are worth more than $150 a week for full-time work. Yours should be, too.

Every word counts.